New Food First Backgrounder Addresses Land Reform and Resistance in the United States
OAKLAND, Calif., May 1, 2014 – The disastrous effects of widespread land grabbing and land concentration sweeping the globe do not affect all farmers equally. The degree of vulnerability to these threats is highest for smallholders, women and people of color—the ones who grow, harvest, process and prepare most of the world’s food. A new […]
A New Perspective on Succession
On the weekend of April 4th- 6th, I was lucky enough to have attended The New Farmers Summit hosted by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services (MOSES). The diversity of people in attendance was truly astonishing. From teenagers to veterans of the farming community, we all came together to learn, discuss and network. Many […]
FarmHer: Documenting Women in Agriculture
Check out Iowa photographer Marji Guyler-Alaniz’s work to document the rise of women in agriculture. From FarmHer: Photography My name is Marji Guyler-Alaniz and I am a photographer from Iowa. My goal is to use my camera and my vision to further this cause. FarmHer is about documenting women in agriculture. The only way for […]
Solutions Farms Teaches Homeless to Grow
This story is from the U-T San Diego website. It was written by Teri Figueroa. A small Vista aquaponics farm run by a nonprofit that works with homeless families is about to, well, grow. If all goes to plan, the agricultural enterprise called Solutions Farms will cultivate more produce for its biggest client: the Vista […]
The Cuban Agroecological Experiment
Small farms thrive under Cuba’s unique blend of agrarian reforms, farmer autonomy and state support By Christina Bronsing-Lazalde, Food First Cuba Tour Coordinator and leader of upcoming Cuba delegation. The son of two pioneers of the Cuban agroecology movement, Fernando Funes-Monzote has been steeped in sustainable farming his entire life. Two years ago, he decided […]
Wall Street Banks Eye American Farmland
From the Oakland Institute: The wolves of Wall Street are eyeing millions of acres of U.S. farmland that will soon come up for sale, much of which has been in the hands of family farmers for generations, according to Down on the Farm, a new study from the Oakland Institute. “Institutional investors”–including hedge funds, private equity, […]
News in Farm Justice from Agrarian Trust Advisor Elizabeth Henderson
Farmworker Organizations Give Strong Support to the Agricultural Justice Project By Elizabeth Henderson Unique among domestic fair trade claims, farmworkers and farmers negotiated directly with one another to hammer out the standards of the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP). The goal of these standards, which are the basis of AJP’s Food Justice Certified label, is to […]
At Long Last . . . Legislation
For those of you following the Illiad of the 2014 Farm Bill (once called the 2012 Farm Bill . . .), the final passing gives us 5 years of regulation surrounding Agriculture and other national food concerns. This graphic from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition helps show the ups and downs of the version passed […]
Where did the land go?
From the newly freed slaves of 1863 to today’s black farmers, African-Americans have fought to acquire and maintain land, and have encountered crippling obstacles along the way. In 1910, nearly one million black farmers in the U.S. owned a total of 15 million acres; by 1969 they held only 6 million acres. In 1920, blacks […]
How Globilization Effects Farmers and the Food We Eat
Early in 2013, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), published this paper on what we call “land grabs”, or purchase of farmland by non-farming parties. Land Grabs and Fragile Food Systems: The Role of Globalization, by Sophia Murphy Used under creative commons license from CIMMYT. Farmers around the world are having land they’ve […]