| Cooperative
effort launches new nation-wide effort to market food
from sustainable family farms
There’s a new force championing the viability
of family farms with sustainable attributes. The American
Association of Family Farms [www.associationoffamilyfarms.org
] is the product of collaboration between the Leopold
Center’s “Agriculture of the Middle”
task force organized by Fred Kirschenmann and a U.S.
Department of Agriculture initiative launched in 2003
by California extension leader Larry Yee.
Launched with grants from foundations and food businesses,
the AFF plans to develop standards for its own label
to identify eligible farms cooperating nationwide to
serve the growing market for source-identified, values-added
food.
www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/nwl/2005/2005-4-leoletter/middle.htm
BLAST
youth ag initiative seeks nominations of young leaders
revolutionizing
the way food is grown to kick off new publication
BLAST, a national initiative of The Food Project, is
starting an online magazine called reap/sow. This publication
will be a forum for creative thinking and expression,
both for and by young people working to change the food
system.
An early story will celebrate young people who are
revolutionizing the way that food is grown, distributed,
and eaten. The article in the premiere issue will share
innovative models with the larger network. Give someone
– or yourself – the recognition they deserve
by Monday, February 20 at the URL below.
http://hotpepper.thefoodproject.org/blog/?p=93
Organic
dairy competitors announce drives to support new
family farm conversions to certified organic production
Organic Valley, America's largest cooperative of organic
farmers, has launched “Generation Organic,”
its attempt to nurture the next generation of organic
farmers. Offerings include a nationwide program of "barn
meetings" and workshops, a farmers speakers bureau,
web resources, a farmers’ hotline, financial and
technical support for farmers transitioning to organic,
partnerships with university-based farmer training programs,
organic school curriculum, a farmer ambassador program
to heighten public awareness of organic farmers and,
an organic farmer mentoring and internship program.
OV, which had 723 farmers in 22 states in 2005, says
its “Gen-O” agenda includes saving family
farmers from extinction, honoring farmer wisdom from
past generations, creating respect for farmers as food
producers and food safety based on sustainable production
practices.
www.organicvalley.coop/newsroom/article.html?cat=1&id=201
Horizon Organic, the nation’s leading marketer
of organic milk and a brand of Dean Foods Company, supports
more than 130 transitional dairy farmers through its
Horizon Organic Producer Education (HOPE) program. It
says it will spend $500,000 to $1 million annually for
several years to assist these farmers with organic feed
purchases and other transition costs. It announced in
December it will invest $10 million in its original
dairy farm in Idaho to significantly expand its organic
pasture land by 1,400 acres, construct new barns and
build a state-of-the-art milking parlor.
Currently 75 percent of Horizon Organic's milk is supplied
by more than 300 certified organic family dairy farms.
It will be working with Holistic Management International
[www.holisticmanagement.org ] to develop best practices
for its Idaho farm, including a holistic grazing plan
and new techniques designed to regenerate and improve
the health of the land and increase biodiversity.
www.horizonorganic.com/aboutus/press/2005_12_06.html
Organic
pioneers named to organic research, outreach posts in
Minnesota
Jim Riddle (former chair of the National Organic Standards
Board and a NewFarm.org colulmnist) and Carmen Fernholz
(recognized as 2005 Farmer of the Year by the Midwest
Organic and Sustainable Organic Services) are joining
the staff of The University of Minnesota’s Southwest
Research and Outreach Center.
Fernholz, from Madison, Minn., will be the organic
agriculture coordinator for research management; Riddle,
who lives in Winona, Minn., will be the organic agriculture
coordinator for outreach.
www.misa.umn.edu/sites/2e889d49-6a82-4b7e-8d7a-c1c383aa1d65/uploads/
SWROC_orgcoord.doc
USDA’s single-repository,
mandatory animal ID proposal dealt setback
There won't be a mandatory U.S. animal identification
program by 2009, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
has dropped a 6-month-old plan for contracting with
a privatized central database to launch the cattle segment
of ID. Critics had questioned the USDA's intention to
concentrate the data with a system the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association organized, then spun off as a free-standing
nonprofit organization.
Instead of a single database, USDA, state and tribal
animal health agencies will use multiple databases,
relying on those who contract with the USDA to furnish
livestock tracking information.
www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=782&
ArticleID=22499&TM=32515.85
Restaurant students
help grow food for college eatery, work with local farmers
to understand seasonal highlights, challenges
Twenty four students in Colorado State University’s
restaurant operations classes work 8 hours each week
in the Aspen Grille, a campus eatery that serves as
their “working classroom.” The business
model of the restaurant and the intention behind the
classroom rests on the use of local, organic products
wherever possible. The restaurant works with the university’s
Specialty Crops Program to grow much of its produce.
Meanwhile, students travel to local organic farms,
dairies, and sheep and bison ranches building personal
relationships and working directly with local farmers
and livestock providers to seasonally source the best
produce and meats. In the process, they get to know
the struggles of small farmers and develop greater awareness
of the efforts and inputs required to produce organic
food. The classroom restaurant is now in its second
year of operation and has reached profitability ahead
of the timeline in its business plan.
www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050921
/ENTERTAINMENT0301/509210317/1024/LIFESTYLE
&template=printart
Salatin speaks out against
Virginia law that could target pasture poultry flocks
Internationally known grazing pioneer Joel Salatin
of Swoop, Virginia, opposes the law, which has been
proposed as public health measure to regulate live bird
markets, even though none now exist in the state. He
said it fails to distinguish between the squalid conditions
of poultry pens in Asia where highly contagious avian
flu has been recorded and the healthfulness of well-operated
outdoor systems. The Cornucopia Institute is aiding
Virginia group that champions local food production
in channeling grassroots sentiments to the state’s
officials.
http://cornucopia.org/index.php/90#more-90
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