By Petra Page-Mann

Petra Page-Mann, a life-long seed saver native to the Finger Lakes of New York State, has spent the last decade traveling the globe, soaking in the wisdom of small scale, ecological agriculture. Petra and her partner, Matthew Goldfarb, recently started a certified organic, regionally adapted seed company, Fruition Seeds, which provides seed grown in and for the Northeast. We asked her to share her perspective on the global seed situation and her motivations for becoming a small-scale seed farmer.

There is so much in a seed.

Each seed tells the story of its entire history of its species, millions of years in the making. A few seeds, in a single generation, may travel the globe. Most will stay within their watershed, and, most likely, their microclimate. The successes of each season become encoded in the genetic diversity of each seed. In this way, over successive generations, each species becomes profoundly adapted to place. Continue reading →

David Zuckerman is a Vermont State Senator and runs Full Moon Farm with his wife, Rachel Nevitt. David will speak at the UVM Food Systems Summit on June 27. In anticipation, we spoke with him about his legislative efforts to bring GMO labeling to VT and what makes VT’s alternative food system just so successful.

University of Vermont: For the past several years, you’ve been working on legislative efforts related to labeling GMOs. Why is this issue important to you?

David Zuckerman: GMOs are important to me because the introduction of these foods into our diets has essentially turned humans and farm animals into guinea pigs. We don’t know the potential health effects of these products. A recent documentary called Genetic Roulette shows some interesting correlations between the introduction of GMO corn in our diet and an increase in gastrointestinal problems. While more study is needed, shouldn’t it be our choice whether we want to be test subjects? Continue reading →

By Chuck Ross

Chuck Ross is Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets. Chuck has a history of civic and agricultural leadership in the state, as a farmer, former state legislator, and former State Director for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. He will speak at the UVM Food Systems Summit on June 27.

Last fall the Farm Bill, a sweeping $955 billion omnibus bill supporting a vast expanse of agricultural programs, expired.  The Farm Bill touches everything from rural development, to conservation programs, to crop insurance, to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP). For better or worse, it is a huge driver of our national food system, a system that permeates our health, ecology, economy and the very communities we call home. Continue reading →