Sharing the Harvest
One excellent resource for more information on all things CSA - including extensive attention to how CSAs can work to meet the needs of low-income members-is the 2007 revised and expanded edition of Sharing The Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide To Community Supported Agriculture, by Elizabeth Henderson and the late Robin Van En.
It thoroughly covers every aspect of organizing and operating a CSA, as well as providing a history of the CSA movement in the U.S., from its humble beginnings at the first CSA at Van En’s Indian Line Farm to the modern-day explosion of them.
Sharing The Harvest includes case histories and hard-learned lessons from CSAs all over the U.S., legality ins and outs, comparisons of the diversity of CSA models throughout the U.S. and around the world, and more. And it has an entire chapter dedicated to reaching low-income people, including acceptance of Food Stamps, sliding scale subscription rates and fundraising.
Sharing The Harvest
320 pages ----- available from
Chelsea Green Publishing for $35.
One excellent resource for more information on all things CSA - including extensive attention to how CSAs can work to meet the needs of low-income members-is the 2007 revised and expanded edition of Sharing The Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide To Community Supported Agriculture, by Elizabeth Henderson and the late Robin Van En.
It thoroughly covers every aspect of organizing and operating a CSA, as well as providing a history of the CSA movement in the U.S., from its humble beginnings at the first CSA at Van En’s Indian Line Farm to the modern-day explosion of them.
Sharing The Harvest includes case histories and hard-learned lessons from CSAs all over the U.S., legality ins and outs, comparisons of the diversity of CSA models throughout the U.S. and around the world, and more. And it has an entire chapter dedicated to reaching low-income people, including acceptance of Food Stamps, sliding scale subscription rates and fundraising.
Sharing The Harvest
320 pages ----- available from
Chelsea Green Publishing for $35.
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IN A PERFECT WORLD.........
our research on regional sustainability (100 Mile Diet), started us thinking if biofuel from plant oils becomes a success, there will be a great need to maintain a healthy balance of food, energy source, and good soil (crop rotation). In a perfect world, our solution could be a farm policy to allow any farmer to grow an energy crop every 4th year, raking in the $$cash$$ that would sustain a healthy 3 years of food crops. This would give them a comfortable living -- out of debt! -- and would take care of the country’s food problems, keeping the cost down. Once again we could have family farms AND be rid of our dependency on oil. So, anyone got any ideas on this?
Let us know what you think!**
IN A PERFECT WORLD.........
our research on regional sustainability (100 Mile Diet), started us thinking if biofuel from plant oils becomes a success, there will be a great need to maintain a healthy balance of food, energy source, and good soil (crop rotation). In a perfect world, our solution could be a farm policy to allow any farmer to grow an energy crop every 4th year, raking in the $$cash$$ that would sustain a healthy 3 years of food crops. This would give them a comfortable living -- out of debt! -- and would take care of the country’s food problems, keeping the cost down. Once again we could have family farms AND be rid of our dependency on oil. So, anyone got any ideas on this?
Let us know what you think!**
F A R M I N G / A G R I C U L T U R E N E W S
EWG Website Discloses Farm Subsidy Claimants Hidden from Public View
For decades, American taxpayers have provided tens of billions of dollars in federal farm subsidies to some of the largest and wealthiest farm businesses in the nation. But thousands of people who benefited from the subsidy flow were shielded from public view behind layers of partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability corporations, cooperatives, and other business structures that obscured their personal subsidy claims……Not anymore……A new Web site, developed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) from millions of previously unpublished USDA subsidy records and released today, provides nearly full disclosure of federal farm subsidy beneficiaries for the first time. The disclosures include individuals, sometimes numbering in the dozens, whose subsidy benefits pass through one or more plantation-scale farm businesses that produce vast.......
UPDATE: March, 2009: USDA, IRS Crack Down On Wealthy Farm Subsidy Recipients The IRS and the Agriculture Department are cracking down on millionaires who receive farm subsidies.... A report released last year shows that a sports team owner, a financial firm executive and 2,700 other millionaires were receiving farm payments even though they probably were ineligible. ..... Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to announce.... that his department will now work with the IRS to verify the incomes of subsidy recipients...The new rules are part of an administration effort to improve coordination between agencies and trim waste from departmental budgets.
TAKE ACTION Support Farmland Stewardship
Stonyfield Farms recently joined the Environmental Defense campaign to promote conservation programs on our farms. Will you join them? This is a critical moment in our efforts to better reward farmers for environmental stewardship. Join us in supporting farm reforms that help reward farmland stewardship and provide healthier food choices.
For decades, American taxpayers have provided tens of billions of dollars in federal farm subsidies to some of the largest and wealthiest farm businesses in the nation. But thousands of people who benefited from the subsidy flow were shielded from public view behind layers of partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability corporations, cooperatives, and other business structures that obscured their personal subsidy claims……Not anymore……A new Web site, developed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) from millions of previously unpublished USDA subsidy records and released today, provides nearly full disclosure of federal farm subsidy beneficiaries for the first time. The disclosures include individuals, sometimes numbering in the dozens, whose subsidy benefits pass through one or more plantation-scale farm businesses that produce vast.......
UPDATE: March, 2009: USDA, IRS Crack Down On Wealthy Farm Subsidy Recipients The IRS and the Agriculture Department are cracking down on millionaires who receive farm subsidies.... A report released last year shows that a sports team owner, a financial firm executive and 2,700 other millionaires were receiving farm payments even though they probably were ineligible. ..... Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to announce.... that his department will now work with the IRS to verify the incomes of subsidy recipients...The new rules are part of an administration effort to improve coordination between agencies and trim waste from departmental budgets.
TAKE ACTION Support Farmland Stewardship
Stonyfield Farms recently joined the Environmental Defense campaign to promote conservation programs on our farms. Will you join them? This is a critical moment in our efforts to better reward farmers for environmental stewardship. Join us in supporting farm reforms that help reward farmland stewardship and provide healthier food choices.
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Around the world, farmers and ranchers are experimenting with a different form of agriculture, a more sustainable way of producing and distributing food and fiber.
Their approaches are so varied; sustainable agriculture encompasses broad goals, and farmers and ranchers develop specific strategies for achieving them. Using a great variety of farming strategies allows producers to meet their needs: in their operations, their environments and their communities. The primary goals of sustainable agriculture include:
• Providing a more profitable farm income
• Promoting environmental stewardship, including:
- Protecting and improving soil quality
- Reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, such as fuel and synthetic
fertilizers and pesticides, and
- Minimizing adverse impacts on safety, wildlife, water quality and other
environmental resources -- Impact / Control of Agricultural Runoff
• Promoting stable, prosperous farm families and communities
How producers reach those goals is as different as prairie flowers dotting a Midwest landscape.
A cattle rancher might divide his rangeland into sub-sections for his herd to graze in a rotational strategy to better manage natural resources like streams and soil while improving animal productivity.
A field crop farmer might plant different crops each season - and include “cover crops,” non-cash crops grown for their benefit to the soil and ability to suppress weeds - to break up pest cycles, improve soil fertility and cut costs.
A fruit and vegetable grower might try a new approach to selling her harvest, such as directly to restaurants in a nearby city, to gain a larger share of the consumer food dollar.
No single practice works in every field. No one recipe works on every farm. There are thousands of ways to farm more sustainably.
Explore the world of the sustainable organic farmer
Growing Community: Urban Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture: A New Vision
List of Sustainable Organic Family Farms in NW
Modern biotechnology, as it is applied to agriculture (pdf), poses a common challenge to countries and societies worldwide: the need for careful decision-making to ensure that society enjoys the benefits of this technology while minimizing or avoiding its potential costs.
Around the world, farmers and ranchers are experimenting with a different form of agriculture, a more sustainable way of producing and distributing food and fiber.
Their approaches are so varied; sustainable agriculture encompasses broad goals, and farmers and ranchers develop specific strategies for achieving them. Using a great variety of farming strategies allows producers to meet their needs: in their operations, their environments and their communities. The primary goals of sustainable agriculture include:
• Providing a more profitable farm income
• Promoting environmental stewardship, including:
- Protecting and improving soil quality
- Reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, such as fuel and synthetic
fertilizers and pesticides, and
- Minimizing adverse impacts on safety, wildlife, water quality and other
environmental resources -- Impact / Control of Agricultural Runoff
• Promoting stable, prosperous farm families and communities
How producers reach those goals is as different as prairie flowers dotting a Midwest landscape.
A cattle rancher might divide his rangeland into sub-sections for his herd to graze in a rotational strategy to better manage natural resources like streams and soil while improving animal productivity.
A field crop farmer might plant different crops each season - and include “cover crops,” non-cash crops grown for their benefit to the soil and ability to suppress weeds - to break up pest cycles, improve soil fertility and cut costs.
A fruit and vegetable grower might try a new approach to selling her harvest, such as directly to restaurants in a nearby city, to gain a larger share of the consumer food dollar.
No single practice works in every field. No one recipe works on every farm. There are thousands of ways to farm more sustainably.
Explore the world of the sustainable organic farmer
Growing Community: Urban Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture: A New Vision
List of Sustainable Organic Family Farms in NW
Modern biotechnology, as it is applied to agriculture (pdf), poses a common challenge to countries and societies worldwide: the need for careful decision-making to ensure that society enjoys the benefits of this technology while minimizing or avoiding its potential costs.
Farm to Fork Appetite for Sustainable Farming Grows
FINDING AND FUNDING THE PERFECT LAND FOR ORGANIC FARMING -- Information & Resources:
The Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) is an excellent place to start. Their Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunities page has advice on how to locate land that suits your purpose, how to obtain financing, and how to specialize your endeavor for today’s market trends.
Watch the regularly updated funding opportunities listed on ATTRA’s (National Sustainable Agriculture Network) Web site, and contact your local USDA Rural Development office (here’s the contact info for Oregon) for other options regarding grants. Source: Mother Earth News
Bee Culture -- The Magazine of American Bee Keeping
FINDING AND FUNDING THE PERFECT LAND FOR ORGANIC FARMING -- Information & Resources:
The Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) is an excellent place to start. Their Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunities page has advice on how to locate land that suits your purpose, how to obtain financing, and how to specialize your endeavor for today’s market trends.
Watch the regularly updated funding opportunities listed on ATTRA’s (National Sustainable Agriculture Network) Web site, and contact your local USDA Rural Development office (here’s the contact info for Oregon) for other options regarding grants. Source: Mother Earth News
Bee Culture -- The Magazine of American Bee Keeping
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BRIGHT MIND ~ HEALTHY BODY
S U S T A I N A B L E L I F E I N F O
S U S T A I N A B L E L I F E I N F O
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Sustainable Life Info Copyright © 2005-2009 DLH Business Associates.
All rights reserved.
2009 International Year of Natural Fibers OCA
According to the FAO, "Since the 1960s, the use of synthetic fibers has increased, and natural fibers have lost a lot of their market share. The main objective of the International Year of Natural Fibers is to raise the profile of these fibers, to emphasize their value to consumers while helping to sustain the incomes of the farmers. Promoting measures to improve the efficiency and sustainability of production is also an important aspect of the Year."
U.S. Needs 50-Year Farm Bill--Wendell Berry
[Nat'l Sustainable Agriculture], "Keeping Energy Costs Down,"
Calendar of Events for National Sustainable Agriculture [ATTRA]
According to the FAO, "Since the 1960s, the use of synthetic fibers has increased, and natural fibers have lost a lot of their market share. The main objective of the International Year of Natural Fibers is to raise the profile of these fibers, to emphasize their value to consumers while helping to sustain the incomes of the farmers. Promoting measures to improve the efficiency and sustainability of production is also an important aspect of the Year."
U.S. Needs 50-Year Farm Bill--Wendell Berry
[Nat'l Sustainable Agriculture], "Keeping Energy Costs Down,"
Calendar of Events for National Sustainable Agriculture [ATTRA]
Nat'l Sustainable Agriculture News [ATTRA]
Center for Rural Affairs News
SustainableAgriculture.net
Environmental Working Group
The Voice of Agriculture (Farm Bureau)
Farms.com (news, classifieds, information)
Center for Rural Affairs News
SustainableAgriculture.net
Environmental Working Group
The Voice of Agriculture (Farm Bureau)
Farms.com (news, classifieds, information)
World Farm News (World News Network)
Terra Daily Farm News
Organic Consumers Assoc. OR News
Organic Consumers Assoc. WA News
Terra Daily Farm News
Organic Consumers Assoc. OR News
Organic Consumers Assoc. WA News
Backyard Farming for profit
Help keep medicinal plants from going extinct!
15,000 medicinal plants face extinction [pdf] According to .... the international conservation group Plantlife, 15,000 of the world's 50,000 plants used as medicines now face extinction. Not only are most of the patented, synthetic pharmaceutical drugs used in Western medicine originally derived from naturally occurring medicinal herbs, in addition, the majority of the world's population in the developing world still obtains most of their medicines from plants. Scientists warn that this mass extinction is a result of over-harvesting, loss of habitat, pollution, and invasive species. Sara Oldfield, the secretary general of Botanic Gardens Conservation International says, "The loss of medicinal plant diversity is a quiet disaster."
Help keep medicinal plants from going extinct!
15,000 medicinal plants face extinction [pdf] According to .... the international conservation group Plantlife, 15,000 of the world's 50,000 plants used as medicines now face extinction. Not only are most of the patented, synthetic pharmaceutical drugs used in Western medicine originally derived from naturally occurring medicinal herbs, in addition, the majority of the world's population in the developing world still obtains most of their medicines from plants. Scientists warn that this mass extinction is a result of over-harvesting, loss of habitat, pollution, and invasive species. Sara Oldfield, the secretary general of Botanic Gardens Conservation International says, "The loss of medicinal plant diversity is a quiet disaster."
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