Land, Co-ops, Compost: Boston Neighborhood Takes Back the Land
Growing local food starts with the land, and the current flourishing of food initiatives would not have been possible without residents fighting to control their land and development in the 1980s. Today, the Dudley neighborhood, which sits between Roxbury and Dorchester, has a 10,000-square-foot community greenhouse that has become a hub for the local food […]
Farm to Truck
Last year, Clawhammer Farm in upstate New York’s Broome County made just four thousand dollars in profit. So owner Nick Westervelt stopped raising pigs and started trucking them instead. Read The New Food Economy story here.
World Forum on Access to Land WFAL 2016
The goal of the WFAL 2016 call is to address the major issues linked to unequal access to land, natural resources. For that, they call to discuss the last 10 years world evolutions in matter of access to land and natural resources since the World Forum on Agrarian Reform (WFAR, 2004) and the International Conference […]
The 15-Year-Old Who Is Suing Obama For Not Stopping Climate Change
Currently in Paris for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, where 15,000 official delegates from more than 190 countries have gathered in the hope of addressing climate change, 15-year- old Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh made headlines yesterday when he announced that he and 21 other young people are suing the Obama administration for failing to “adequately protect the […]
Land Trust 101 for Farmers
How can farmers work with land trusts to access land? Last month the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), California FarmLink, and Equity Trust presented a workshop for farmers on the process of working with land trusts to access land. Read NYFC’s blog post summarizing the top three things farmers need to know about partnering with […]
Increasing Demand For Farm Loans Forecasted for 2016
The Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) loan programs provided over 37,000 farm loans to farmers in the U.S. over the past year, an increase over the previous year. The FSA programs include loans to beginner farmers and socially disadvantaged farmers, down payment loans, and microloans. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s blog analysis provides additional data and links […]
Access Story: Native Hill Farm and Poudre Valley Community Farms
Farmer Nic Koontz of Native Hill Farm in Fort Collins, Colorado is going to be able to have a long-term lease – likely 20 or 30 years – as a result of a land cooperative model. Poudre Valley Community Farms (PVCF) is a land coop in Colorado. They’re seeking 150 households, restaurants, and others to buy a […]
Young, Idealistic Farmers Help Keep Land in Production
Read the Associated Press’ November 8th article reporting that young farmers with an interest in growing healthy, local food are helping keep farmland in production. “Organic farms can actually provide a quicker route to profits,” writes the AP’s Michael Hill, “because farmers can fetch higher prices. Premiums paid to organic farmers can range 29 to 32 percent above […]
Become a Signatory to the 2016 World Forum on Access to Land and Natural Resources
Sign on to the 2016 World Forum on Access to Land and Natural Resources (WFAL 2016), which will address the major issues linked to unequal access to land and natural resources (see “The Call“). According to the organizers, “ten years after the World Forum on Agrarian Reforms (Valencia, Spain, 2004) and the International Conference on Agrarian […]
How To Revive A Neighborhood: With Imagination, Beauty and Art
Watch this video of potter Theaster Gates’ TED talk. “Gates, a potter by training and a social activist by calling, wanted to do something about the sorry state of his neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. So he did, transforming abandoned buildings to create community hubs that connect and inspire those who still live there […]