Archive for the ‘Reaping The Green’ Category
How Many Farmers’ Markets Can Survive?
Here is an interesting article from the Seattle PI on whether having more farmers’ markets makes economic sense. What are your thoughts on this? How do you think recent code changes allowing people to sell food they have grown might affect local food access and farmers’ markets?
There’s a weekly ritual savored by a lot of foodies: Stroll to a farmers market, buy some freshly dug heirloom carrots or richly hued purple potatoes, and feel fabulous about supporting local farmers.
Except these days, those farmers are starting to feel stressed out.
As more neighborhoods clamor for their own farmers markets, farmers are watching their revenue shrink, as markets compete with each other and dilute profits.
The recent explosion in farmers markets – including new ones in Belltown and Georgetown this year, and in downtown and South Lake Union last year – have prompted many to ask: In culinary-conscious, urban-ag-loving Seattle, is it possible to have too many farmers markets? More…
Sustaining an Urban Fruit Gleaning Program
The question that gets raised over and over with programs aimed at getting food into people’s bellies is how to sustain these programs in an era when grants and charitable donations are vanishing. To keep these vital programs going, innovative strategies need to be developed, and our friends at City Fruit have come up with a good one.
One of the main reasons we started City Fruit was to develop ways to become more financially sustainable, rather than depend on an ever-shrinking pool of grant money for funding. More…
Beech Hill Farm – UFH on the Road, Part Three
On a recent trip to the East Coast, I had the chance to visit Beech Hill Farm on Mount Desert Island near the Maine coast. It is a MOGFA-certified organic farm with five acres under cultivation, heirloom apple trees and 65 acres of forest. This working farm is a hands on project run by the College of the Atlantic. I was lucky enough to run into farm manager Alisha Strater and ask her a few questions about the farm and the local food system. Here’s what she had to say:
“There needs to be a switch at some point from people being food consumers to their getting involved in food system policies. It needs to go beyond people just buying local produce to a point where they are really building community and creating a culture where people are active in shaping the polices that affect our food system.
In addition, we need to address how to make healthy, locally grown foods economically viable for low income people. We accept WIC and EBT but we don’t get anyone out here using them. Box stores are more time efficient and cost is definitely an issue. More…
People’s Garden Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is launching a pilot program for the People’s Garden School. This program will allow organizations to develop and manage community gardens at schools in low-income neighborhoods. Students will be taught how to tend to the garden, and will learn about the importance of including fresh food in their diet.
There is $1 million up for grabs to implement the program in up to five states. Public and non-profit organizations can apply to run the program, and school sites must have 50 percent or more students qualifying for free or reduced-price school meals. Applications are due November 8.
If you are interested in learning more, check out this press release from the USDA, sign up for the webinar and/or check out the request for applications document.
Growing Food Provides Fresh Produce and Gardening Skills to Inmates
From the Sustainable Life blog, here is a unique approach to green jobs training in a somewhat unlikely location.
Sustainability is a logical goal at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, the Wilsonville prison that houses Oregon’s entire population of female convicts.
There, inmates help reduce costs by reusing materials and growing their own food. And, through environmental stewardship, they are gaining skills and confidence that are crucial to recycling imperfect lives.
Which is the whole point.
This spring, a crew of six inmates completed an innovative greenhouse built from used plastic soft-drink bottles. At 6-by-12 feet, the building is small. But it’s part of a growing trend at Coffee Creek and elsewhere that may help improve America’s prisons. More…
The Nitty Gritty of Seattle’s Urban Ag Code Changes
Marra Farm Harvest, Photo by Steve Tracy
Seattle City Council unanimously voted to pass the urban agriculture land use code amendments yesterday (with the exception of Councilmember Jean Godden who was not present when the vote took place). These amendments were drafted in response to the Local Food Action Initiative’s call on the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to find ways to promote growing food in the city.
Throughout the process, the largest debate on these code amendments swirled around chickens. At first, it was proposed that roosters be banned in the city. But an appearance by a local urban farmer, her children and her rooster at a council meeting seemed to sway councilmembers to drop that part of the proposed legislation. (Council President Richard Conlin and Councilmember Mike O’Brien seemed to be convinced that the problems some roosters present were covered by the noise ordinance.) More…
Value-Added Producer Grants from USDA
Would you like to try making value-added products but lack the funds to do so? Then this USDA grant may be for you.
Grants may be used for planning activities and for working capital for marketing value-added agricultural products and for farm-based renewable energy. Eligible applicants are independent producers, farmer and rancher cooperatives, agricultural producer groups, and majority-controlled producer-based business ventures.
Since the beginning of the program, 950 grants have been awarded with 2008 recipients ranging from Morning Star Organic Farm to Blue Sage Farm.
An interesting success story is Amazing Grains who used a grant to develop, then market gluten-free flour made from Indian rice grass.
For more information about how to apply, check out the guidelines here.
Brookwood Community Farm – UFH on the Road, Part 1
CSA prepping area
My family and I are on a trip to the East Coast, and they are totally indulging me by visiting some local farms.
The first place we stopped at was Brookwood Community Farm. “Is it sustainable?” I asked a group of people trimming up garlic. ”That’s the idea, well, yes we actually are sustainable through our CSA program and by using donated land,” replied a man tossing a silvery head of garlic into a waiting box.
From their website, here is more information on the farm.
The Brookwood Community Farm is a working organic farm and education center located in Milton and Canton, MA. The farm is dedicated to preserving historic farmland through sustainable agricultural production that improves access to healthy, affordable, freshly grown fruits and vegetables in urban communities. The farm operates a community supported agriculture program, sells produce at local farmers markets and provides on-farm employment, educational and volunteer opportunities to members of the surrounding communities. More…
Subsidies Send Mixed Messages About Diet
Corn harvest
Sightline has found a couple of studies that indicate that as food with poor nutritional quality gets relatively cheaper, our waistlines grow larger. Since 1985, the price of food in the “sugar and sweets” category of the University of Washington study actually fell (when adjusted for inflation). While nutritional foodstuffs cost significantly more today than in 1985, with a price increase of more than 20 percent. Not surprisingly, we buy and consume more of what’s cheap.
Seattle Times asked the lead researcher, Pablo Monsivais, for an explanation of the price disparity. He responded that government subsidies may be to blame since they do not cater to “nutrient-rich agriculture.”
Conversely, many junk food producers that rely on corn and soy (and all of their wondrous by-products) get a major break thanks to federal subsidies. In the last ten years, U.S. subsidies for corn alone has totaled more than $75 billion. The corn that’s not used in making processed food often goes to fattening livestock. More…
Can Gardens Pay for Themselves?
One of the biggest questions in urban agriculture is how in the world can we make this movement economically sustainable? Many things are being tried such as community supported agriculture box subscriptions, selling produce at farmers markets and the latest, changing city code so people can sell from their yards.
Looking at other cities, another thing that helps make gardens more economically viable is by producing value-added products like jam or cosmetics.
From the Rebel Tomato site, here is a list of value-added More…
Categories
Copyright Urban Farm Hub 2010 | Designed by Woonerfs
