Photo: sarah-ji

By: Justin Chan

It seems like the hottest new buzz word going around the food world is CSA, or Community supported agriculture. For all us city dwellers who most often than not get our produce from supermarkets and may not know yet what a CSA is, here’s a simple explanation: Community supported agriculture is a practice that has been heavily championed by local farmers and advocates who believe that local farms offer the freshest and safest produce available. Although many of them agree that it is a better alternative to purchasing chemical-ridden goods from chain supermarkets, there has recently been a huge disagreement among them over the very definition of CSAs.

According to NPR’s The Salt, traditionalists worry that farmers have reinterpreted the concept of CSAs and have unfairly pocketed the money that should go to local farms. Read More

Photo: Tim Crook

By: Allana Mortell

Considering the diverse amount of radical products sold in retail stores all over the world, I suppose it shouldn’t be too alarming to know that the world’s first urban farming hub is taking place in a local shop near London’s East End. FARM:shop is more than a farm – it is a workspace, events venue, cafe and grocery store. While customers can nosh on sourdough sandwiches in the cafe, employees are simultaneously growing mushrooms in the basement, chicken coops on the roof and watching over fish tanks filled with tilapia. Though specific “exhibitions” change with season, the three tenants of FARM:shop remain sound :

1. To excite and inspire city dwellers to grow their own food, fabric and medicine and to make an income doing this
2. To create direct links between farms in the countryside with communities in the cities
3. To grow food commercially via a network of FARM’s across cities and retail this food at FARM’s shop.

The shop didn’t open its doors until March of 2011 but the idea behind FARM:shop has been brewing for over two years. Read More

Photo: Macomb Paynes

By: Justin Chan

As the United States Department of Agriculture faces criticism from concerned parents over the use of pink slime in school food, another agency is facing heat for not doing enough to limit the use of crop chemicals.

According to Reuters, scientists, environmentalists and farm advocates have been increasingly irked by the use of agricultural chemicals in boosting crop production. As the world’s population continues to grow, critics are worried that the consequent demand for food has led to health and environmental risks. Some have already issued warnings and calls for government action, while the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has taken a more serious route by filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Evidence reveals that agricultural residues have been found in water supplies and air samples of some of the farming communities across the country, causing more anxiety among critics. Read More

Photo: The Real Estreya

By: Justin Chan

In one California region, the local-food movement is in danger of weakening, and some are worried about the economic costs it may have on their businesses.

According to the Wall Street Journal, small chicken farmers in the Bay Area are struggling to find slaughterhouses for their chickens and fear that it may now be more expensive to sell locally produced food to customers. The Bay Area is considered the home of the local-food movement, but businesses such as the slaughter operations in Sonoma County have shut down, forcing local farmers to travel miles to find alternative locations. Three slaughter operations have closed already, and most farmers now find themselves driving at least 100 miles to Stockton and the Central Valley in order to get the appropriate services.

“Sonoma County has this huge farm-to-table movement, and yet we’re being put out of business,” said Adam Parks, owner of Victorian Farmstead in the city of Sebastopol. Read More

By: Justin Chan

Many people are accustomed to going to their local grocery store and picking up fruits and vegetables that have been processed through conventional methods. More often than not, these products have gone through a series of chemical spraying, which keeps parasitic pests from cluttering around the food consumers eat. Some critics have voiced health concerns over this procedure but concede that these products are affordable to those who cannot purchase healthier food. One organization, the Rodale Institute, is determined to change the perception that only the rich can afford organic food and that organic farming is not sustainable.

Headquartered in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, the Rodale Institute is a nonprofit organization that focuses on promoting organic agriculture and farming through research and outreach. Its Farming Systems Trial, for instance, compares conventional chemical agriculture with organic farming. The institute also offers workshops, tours and programs geared at raising awareness about the benefits of growing food organically.

We got an inside look at the workings of The Rodale Institute through an interview with the organization’s executive director, Coach Mark Smallwood. Check out what he had to say about their mission… Read More

Photo: Urban Sea Star

The amazing chef, cookbook author, and food activist, Bryant Terry is collaborating with One Economy Corporation to explore ways Americans can live healthy lives by harvesting and eating local foods. Terry visits iconic cities to showcase their methods of urban farming. The series investigates fascinating characters and their unique approaches to urban farming.

It is very difficult to be self-sufficient in a low-income urban location, so it’s inspiring that Terry is the host of a show that will focus on how to grow food in an urban setting where grocery stores and local farming is scarce. The series will feature cutting-edge chefs, urban farmers, and social innovators who are bringing urban agriculture to the low-income neighborhoods that need them most. Read More

Photo: scyrene

By: Michele Wolfson

At what cost do out of season organic tomatoes get delivered to your market thousands of miles away? While organic agriculture is all the rage, growing by leaps and bounds to meet increased consumer demand for healthier food, the products are increasingly removed from the traditional organic ideal: produce that is not only free of chemicals and pesticides but also grown locally on small farms in a way that protects the environment.

Community Supported Agricultures (CSA’s) have become increasingly popular in the past few years, but when it comes to purchasing items like tomatoes or blueberries in a state like New York during this time of year, consumers often have to rely on grocery store produce that are imported from south of the border. This time of year, the tomatoes, peppers and basil certified as organic by the Agriculture Department often hail from the Mexican desert, and are nurtured with intensive irrigation. Read More

Photo: Sunset Parkerpix

By: Michele Wolfson

Our well-being is tied to the small farmers. Their recent obstacles stay financially-sound are quite alarming and it is crucial to reinvigorate our rural farmlands so that our nation can remain healthy and sustainable. It’s truly devastating to hear that farming is a dying business and that young aspiring farmers are finding it very difficult to make a living off of the land.

One example is Northern Maine farmer, Jim Gerritsen who traveled a great distance from his rural farm to Manhattan’s Wall Street to speak at the Farmer’s March in Zucotti Park. Read More

Photo: Saira Malhotra

By: Michele Wolfson

Tucked away in the West Village is a spot where one can dine on very local, organic vegetables in an innovative “rooftop-to-table” way that has never been done before- that is, until now. Bell Book & Candle uses aeroponic towers to grow its menu ingredients on the rooftop, located six flights above the basement kitchen. Talk about using local products!

As we enter the winter season, the cold weather might not seem ideal for an eatery that uses produce that is grown in Manhattan during this time of year, but the rooftop garden actually supplies Executive Chef John Mooney’s restaurant with 60% of his produce on a year-round basis. Read More

Photo: Martin LaBar

By: Michele Wolfson

We recently reported about the United Nation’s announcement that the world population recently hit 7 billion, a rise of two billion in a little over a quarter of a century. This population explosion is occurring while millions go to bed hungry and more than a billion do not have access to clean drinking water. The UN predicts that at this current pace, the world inhabitants will rise from 7 to 9 billion in the next fifty years and the majority of the increase will be in poor countries.  Will our planet be able to feed everyone? Read More