http://www.justmeans.com/editorials/sustainable-food/427.htmlJustmeans's blogs for Sustainable FoodSat, Nov 21 06:27:35 -21600http://www.justmeans.com en hourly 1 http://www.justmeans.com/What-is-Food-Sovereignty/5480.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:22:56 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/What-is-Food-Sovereignty/5480.html
Localization has become the mantra of many people who are concerned about issues like peak oil and climate change. It's a matter of self-reliance. How can we develop communities that can better serve our needs: our need to clothe ourselves, our need to move around, our need to eat, our need to have health care. The list goes on and on. The need for food sovereignty is often bandied about.

What is food sovereignty? Like the sovereignty of a nation, the idea of food sovereignty is the idea that we must do more within our own national boundaries to feed ourselves. In my world, these boundaries could also extend across nations but between communities. In Canada, we have many ties with our United States neighbors, and the ecosystem that I live in spreads across our national boundaries into Washington as well. To me, that's local too. Why support food sovereignty? Well, we're starting to rethink the distances that we ship food, the ethics and production of the food that we ship. It's not just an ethical conundrum either. As oil prices rise, we may be pushed into local eating through economic necessity, and it would be useful to have the capacity to respond.

What enables a community to become more self-reliant and to develop sustainable sources of local food? First of all, community members need to develop an understanding of the land, which means developing an understanding of the general climate and the very specific neighborhood and backyard-level issues that accompany growing food. Is the area rainy much of the year? When is the first and last frost? What crops grow well in a semi-shade backyard?

We need to work together in our communities to build local places that support food security. Does the local government allow chickens? Are community gardens supported? Do fruit trees grow on public land? Are farmers supported instead of told to sell their land to growing suburban sprawl? Local bylaws can be a driving force for change, but they can also be limiting for potential urban farmers. Reshaping a community to support local food can be a daunting task, but it's vital to becoming a community that eats well and eats locally, even in lean economic times and in a changing world of transportation and climate.

There is more to food sovereignty than an understanding of plants and climate, though. In my mind, the largest impediment to relocalization is our fear of the local, long-developed by living in urban and suburban areas where our neighbors are strangers. To find mentors who can help us create and sustain urban food plots, we need to get to know our neighbors. We need to share our skills with them, and they with us.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Getting-Meat-of-Matter/5476.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:18:01 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Getting-Meat-of-Matter/5476.html
North American economies are hurting right now, but we must admit that our societies have a very high basic level of wealth. Even those of us who are struggling financially can use the resources that other, wealthier members of society have left behind. We can shop at thrift stores that process immense quantities of unwanted items. We can find free goods through Craigslist and Freecycle. This embodied social wealth also extends to food. We can buy meat, even if that meat is a hot dog.

All of this meat consumption translates into 60 billion food animals. Where do these food animals live? While some live in urban areas or in the pig pens of small farmers, eating scrap food, many of them live in areas that could support crops and they eat food that could be eaten by people. This poses an environmental conundrum for the ethical eater: is meat consumption completely antithetical to creating a sustainable food system, or is it possible to eat meat and still

Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has released a report that analyzes global meat consumption. As a global average, people's diets contain about 38% animal protein. It goes without saying that North Americans are higher than this average. We're eating a tremendous amount of animal-based food. Do we need to eliminate it altogether? Surprisingly, the study found that the world could sustain 9 billion people - those people would just need to eat meat only three times a week.

Is this impossible? Not for me. The great value in being an ex-vegetarian is that I still think like a vegetarian. I plan my meals around vegetables rather than meat. To me, meat can be part of a recipe, but it's not the main attraction. These days, our family's main culinary goal is to consume all of the vegetables that we get from our abundant farm share. I love eating this way, and based on my experiences in places around the world, this is the way much of the world eats. It's not vegetarian, but it's definitely not carnivorous. It's delicious, and it's healthy. The question is - can North Americans embrace the idea of eating meat sometimes, and in small quantities? I'm not sure if we can.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Grocery-Gleaning-Second-Harvest-Reduces-Food-Waste/5338.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:55:29 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Grocery-Gleaning-Second-Harvest-Reduces-Food-Waste/5338.html
A long, long time ago, I was in high school. I was interested in canning, so I went to the local grocery store to buy some pears. A staff person was loading the overripe pears into a cart. I asked to buy the pears so that I could can them that day, but I was told that they were no longer suitable for sale. When I asked the management of the store, they confirmed that they needed to move out the older produce and replace it with newer items that people would buy.

Things have changed, at least somewhat. Now we recognize that a vast quantity of food is wasted in grocery stores. There is also recognition that people can still eat much of this food - it's not overripe, it's just too ripe to sell. Yes, it's an issue that is carefully monitored by health departments, but food banks and soup kitchens have started grocery store gleaning programs, and they're getting fruit and vegetables into the hands and mouths of those who need them. Even college campuses are getting into the act. Determined to reduce the amount of food that is wasted from campus cafeterias, the Campus Kitchen Project redirects cafeteria food to those in need. Student volunteers deliver the meals.

In rural areas, farmers have invited people into the fields to harvest excess or blemished fruit and vegetables. Like the gleaners who go into farmers' fields to collect the food that would otherwise go to waste, these urban gleaners are reducing waste and finding a new source of food in an urban setting. While some might wonder about the health implications of harvesting unwanted fruits and vegetables, in our area it is the local health authority that is funding some of the new gleaning programs. They recognize that without fruits and vegetables, it's harder to be healthy, and these items are the least available at food banks.

Food waste occurs at many levels of the food supply chain. Farmers may not harvest all of a crop. The food sold in grocery stores is discarded before it can be purchased. Families throw out food before they eat it - every year, the average British family throws out food that is worth 420 British pounds. And at each step of the chain, people can do something to stop the waste and to make our food system more sustainable. Food sustainability is not always about improving what and how we grow our food - it's also about using what we have, and using it wisely.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/-Land-Provides-Sustaining-Access-Traditional-Foods/5270.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:08:25 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/-Land-Provides-Sustaining-Access-Traditional-Foods/5270.html
My work as an outdoor educator stands in contrast to this grocery store experience. This time of year, the rain pours, and there is no fluorescent light anywhere. The food is also different out in the forest. Here on Canada's West Coast, I can eat Western Hemlock needles as I walk along. If I'm lucky, I'll find a root of a licorice fern - this tastes like black licorice. In the fall, I can eat wild mushrooms, while in the spring I can harvest the new shoots of the salmonberry plant.

At a workshop a few weeks ago, we discussed sustainable food. At one of the tables there was a discussion group about aboriginal access to food. The discussion participants made the point that access to and the ability to gather traditional sources of food was very limited, yet it is critical to the social and cultural sustainability of aboriginal people, and most of all, to their way of life.

All around the world, as development covers forests and people become more urban, knowledge about traditional food and medicines begins to dwindle. Partially, this is a matter of shifting cultures: we urban folks tend to do the majority of our shopping in supermarkets instead of farming, hunting, or gathering our food. But it's also a matter of access. In our local urban parks, there's a "no touch" policy. We are asked not to harvest the berries or the shoots. People do, of course. Usually the harvest is minimal, a small taste of the wild berries and leaves along the path.

In Canada, there has long been a debate about hunting and fishing regulations for indigenous people. There are regulations which strive and sometimes fail to ensure access to animals that have traditionally been hunted for food. But what about plants? Food plants are vitally important for subsistence, and in most cases plants form the basis of the traditional diet. As we move into an era when local food is regaining its importance, we are challenged to understand the place of gathering traditional and native plants and reframing this in the context of our urban and suburban communities.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Chickens-In-City-Goats-on-Roof-Keeping-Livestock-in-Urban-Environments/5155.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:37:39 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Chickens-In-City-Goats-on-Roof-Keeping-Livestock-in-Urban-Environments/5155.html
Different cultures have different ideas about the social acceptability of urban livestock. In Asia, animals have been a socially-acceptable part of cities for centuries because they are used to turn waste into food. In Africa, early colonial powers resisted the idea of urban livestock as backward, yet the practice prevailed. In Europe and the United States, the keeping of urban livestock has historically been a fringe activity that is rarely discussed. Many of the world's urban farmers are landless and rely on restaurant scraps and the leavings of urban horticulture to feed their animals.

While urban livestock provide a valuable source of food and income, these animals are often feared as a source of noise and disease. In urban areas where rats roam the sewers and cars zoom busily around the streets, fears about the potential disease and noise from urban chickens seem a little extreme, but these fears are there. While all animals bring the potential for disease, access to veterinary services and good public health codes can moderate potential problems. Some argue that keeping small flocks of urban chickens may actually be a solution to controlling disease outbreaks like avian flu, since birds in urban, free-range flocks have smaller populations than those in factory farms, and therefore there is a smaller chance that the virus will spread and mutate.

Attitudes towards urban livestock may be changing. In the United States, there is a movement slowly clucking its way into suburban homes across the nation. In Atlanta, classes on raising chickens are filling up. Andy Schneider, owner of Atlanta Pet Chickens, says that most of the chicken owners are suburban folks with minivans. Atlanta allows people to keep up to 25 backyard chickens, and with the promise of new pets and fresh eggs, chickens are making their way into homes throughout suburbia.

What lies down the road for those who keep animals for food in the city and the suburbs? As populations become increasingly urban and we struggle to feed ourselves closer to home, the idea of urban livestock is slowly gaining acceptance. It's a practice that challenges urban dwellers to live beside their food. It also challenges our concept of cities: will they become the new farms of the twenty-first century?]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Hedgerows-Secret-Gardens-That-Support-Sustainable-Agriculture/5130.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:05:00 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Hedgerows-Secret-Gardens-That-Support-Sustainable-Agriculture/5130.html

The lofty hedge - it's both a victim of topiary madness and the alternative to a fence for those who farm. It's also a secret garden that supports sustainable agriculture across Britain. There are nearly two million hedgerows in Britain. Many of them sit beside farm fields and delineate the boundaries of these fields. They also create a boundary that sheep and other livestock find difficult to cross. The hedgerow plays another, more subtle role in British agriculture. In an area with open fields, hedgerows are a refuge for wildlife and help support a sustainable farm ecosystem.

Many hedges have been safeguarding farms for hundreds of years. Ancient hedges can date back to Saxon times, making them a thousand years old. Plants like hawthorn are common in hedgerows, and these planted areas also support more than two hundred species of non-hedge plants like ferns and flowers. These diverse and thriving rows of plants prevent soil erosion and create wildlife habitat and wildlife corridors, a last refuge of wildness in a human-dominated landscape.

How can a shrub be so important in the ecological life of a farm? On a farm that strives to connect with its local ecosystems, refuges for wildlife are important. Bees are critical pollinators of farm crops, as are butterflies. Hedgerows are a place where wildflowers still grow, so they are important food sources for these pollinating insects. Most hedgerow plants are deciduous, which means that they lose their leaves in the fall. This layer of leaves is an important place for beneficial insects to survive the winter and replenish their populations in the spring. For larger animals, hedgerows are also sanctuaries. Birds eat the insects that can eat farm crops, and they hide their nests in nearby hedgerows. Larger predators like foxes use hedgerows as roadways to hunt mice and rats, animals that eat food crops.

Hedgerows are not only places for wild animals: they also conserve farm soil. Soil is a valuable commodity, and when there are no barriers between farms soil can blow easily from farm to farm. This has been a problem in East Anglia where many hedges have been removed. Hedges sustain the soil because they form a physical barrier between farms. They're also a permeable windbreak, allowing some air to flow in and out but preventing the wind from moving soil from farms.

Hedgerows are an ancient human invention, and they have grown to play an essential role in sustaining an ecologically diverse and thriving farm. The hedgerows that people have created are a source of pollinators and predators that play a part in the sustainable farm. To those who consider the farm to be an ecological system of sorts, hedgerows are a quiet addition to sustainable agriculture: they are secret gardens for wildlife whose ecological interactions can help a farm thrive.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Sustainable-Food-for-Prince-Edward-Islanders/5039.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:52:49 GMT Justmeans Staff Justmeans Staff http://www.justmeans.com/Sustainable-Food-for-Prince-Edward-Islanders/5039.html
Lorraine MacKinnon, a graduate from the University of Guelph conducted a study on how the P.E.I (Prince Edward Island) farmers were perceived by the islanders and it was concluded that more than 90% of islanders are interested in buying locally grown food in the wake of supporting the rights of local farmers and causing less destruction to the environment. This study also showed that as compared to 53% Canadians supporting the provision of income to farmers, 65% of Prince Edward islanders were in support of providing general financial assistance to the local farmers. The fact that more than 90% residents on this island are ready to shell more for organic food, the hope to make the sustainable food movement popular across the world has also increased. It is a welcoming fact to know that people are becoming concerned about environmental issues, including the use of harmful pesticides and chemicals for farming. Residents on this island feel that it is essential to support sustainable agriculture methods and realize its importance as a major economic driver.

The present need for consumers across the world is to realize the fact that locally grown food is not only healthy but it also supports farmers and communities. Would you like to make wrong food choices and become the reason for local farmer families going hungry or floods and droughts taking place in different parts of the world?]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Small-Matters-How-Bicycles-Are-Powering-Sustainable-Food-Enterprises/4989.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:44:50 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Small-Matters-How-Bicycles-Are-Powering-Sustainable-Food-Enterprises/4989.html
Recently, Global Cycle Solutions has worked with small farmers to address the need for more efficient labor. Global Cycle Solutions creates bicycle-powered technologies that vastly increase the efficiency of farm labor. The technologies work with a universal bicycle adapter, so many different types of farm equipment can connect to the power of the bike. The adapter doesn't change the bicycle, but it allows its power to be used in other ways. For example, corn that is processed with the power of a bicycle can be shelled forty times faster than a person can do it by hand. For those farmers who would otherwise need to rent a gas-powered machine, the bicycle is cheaper. For farmers who are just breaking in to the small-scale market, the bicycle is an accessible technology that is much more efficient than manual labor.

Global Cycle Solutions was founded at MIT by a group of students. The organization is working with small entrepreneurs to bring bike-powered energy to different applications worldwide. In addition to corn processing, the company also offers a grain grinder and a cell phone charger. The organization also sees applications for home energy, like charging batteries. The idea of using bicycle power to help small farmers make a living is such a small idea, but it has the potential to make a big impact on the lives of small farmers to use human energy to transform their ability to make a living.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/A-Rose-With-Any-Other-Label-Ethics-of-Food-Labeling/4893.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:29:43 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/A-Rose-With-Any-Other-Label-Ethics-of-Food-Labeling/4893.html
There are many potential labels that may sit on your food these days. Often, they are longer than the name of the food itself. Understanding these labels can feel like a full time job, especially if you eat processed food - and most of us do, to some extent. Looking at the carbohydrates and the different types of fats on the side is too much for us to bear, as is a peek at the first few ingredients on the list. However, as consumers we know that we should be looking, and that we should remain aware of what's going into our bodies. We also know that we should be concerned about the conditions that our food grows in and that we should think about the workers who grew it. But this can feel like a daunting task.

Sometimes, we look for a cure-all, a one stop symbol that will show us whether that food is good for us or not. The newly-developed the Smart Choices program provided consumers with such an option: a single green check mark on the front of the box would show prospective buyers that a product was a healthier choice. The program was developed by a coalition of food companies like General Mills and Kellogg, and it had limits to the allowable fat and sugar in a product. Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that it was going to crack down on food labeling. Since that time, the Smart Choices program has suspended operations.

The Smart Choices program was a controversial one from its inception, since it seemed to promote sugary cereals for children, items that one would not immediately think of as healthy. However, its demise brings up broader questions about food labeling. As the fair trade and organics industries have grown, the debates have raged about what constitutes fair trade and about what to do with products that claim to be organic in nature but are not USDA certified.

While I know the farmer who grows many of my vegetables, we're not all lucky enough to know those who farm our food. We can't tell if the produce was sprayed, or whether those who picked our bananas were treated fairly. Our food has a story to tell, and we need organizations to tell it - organizations that are independent and have standards that are visible and in the best interests of those who grow our food and those who eat it.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Organic-Food-Market-of-Belgium/4867.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:47:24 GMT Justmeans Staff Justmeans Staff http://www.justmeans.com/Organic-Food-Market-of-Belgium/4867.html
If you are looking for organic produce in Belgium, look for products with the Belgian label Biogarantie. This is private label that is used on products only when it has been tested as sustainable and received an additional certificate. However, this is not a compulsory label as some products just mention 'biologique' or 'biologisch' along with the name or code of the inspection body. It was during the 1960s that the first switch from conventional to organic farming took place in Belgium. However, based on studies it has been found that a large number of farmers started using organic farming methods in the country only in the last ten years. Walloon Region is one of the places in Belgium where farmers are certified organically as conventional farming in this region is very extensive.

Thanks to the popularity of sustainable food movement across the world, food consumer behavior in Belgium is also changing. According to climate change experts, rise in popularity of organic food items is a welcoming fact because organic production will help address serious global issues such as climate change and crisis of energy. The growth rate of global organic food market in 2007 was 19% and it is being predicted to grow at a faster pace. At the same rate, the global organic food market will reach to 70.2 billion US dollars by the end of 2010. If industry experts are to be believed, the sale of organic produce in Belgium will increase considerably in the coming years.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Keeping-Bees-Sustainable-Pollinators-for-Sustainable-Food/4767.html Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:21:20 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Keeping-Bees-Sustainable-Pollinators-for-Sustainable-Food/4767.html
Humans have created a world that is distinctly unfriendly to bees. Large agricultural systems are often monocultures. This means that a single crop is grown in one vast area, an area especially vast if you're a bee. The crop all blooms at approximately the same time and then the nectar is gone: feast or famine for the bees. Aerial applications of insecticides or the spraying of pesticides when crops are blooming also make life harder for these pollinators. To accommodate, farmers have come to rely on honeybees for crop pollination, and beekeepers often move the hives to areas that require intensive pollination. Ironically, this essential bee species is rather new to both Europe and North America. It migrated into Europe centuries ago and was introduced to North America in the 1600s. Today, honeybee colonies are collapsing as worker bees disappear from the colonies, leading to their collapse.

Native bees may fill in the pollination gap, yet these bees are also in distress. There are over 20,000 species of bees in the world, and they are becoming extinct before they can even be counted. Parasites, disease and invasive insect species are impacting the populations of both honeybees and native bees alike. Bees are also losing habitat. Messy spaces at the edges of forests and fields are removed and made into neat, planted areas. Our less than sustainable tendency to pave urban areas also means that bees have fewer food sources. Over the last 70 years Britain has lost all but two percent of its wildflower meadows. These are tough times for bees.

Of course, bees are only one way that plants are pollinated. Some plants self-pollinate. Others move their pollen via wind and water. Still others rely on animals like birds, bats, beetles, and butterflies to help them reproduce. Yet bees are of great importance in many ecosystems, and they're of great importance to farmers, too. Worldwide, the value of the service that these pollinators provide is in the trillions. These small insects are the buzzing heartbeat of our sustainable global food system. To restore them, we have to reconsider our use of pesticides, the paving of our wild spaces, and the construction of agricultural monocultures. Bees are such small creatures, but they give us fine food for thought as we ponder the sustainability of our agricultural systems.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Breastfeeding-It-s-Healthy-Is-it-Sustainable/4716.html Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:01:29 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Breastfeeding-It-s-Healthy-Is-it-Sustainable/4716.html
Mothers-to-be are deluged with so many messages about what we should and should not do. My plan was to avoid all of those messages by smiling nicely at people, plugging my ears, and singing "la, la, la." However, a few of the messages got through, despite my best intentions. One was the idea that breastfeeding was important for my child's health. As I struggled to nurse my baby in her first days and weeks, working to move off formula to exclusive breastfeeding, this was my mantra. And we did it - we persevered, and we made it to exclusive and extended nursing. This act that is so healthy comes with a host of environmental benefits as well: it's a sustainable food for babies.

UNICEF and international health organizations promote breastfeeding as the healthiest food source for babies. In places where there is limited access to food and where water supplies may be contaminated, the lives of babies can depend on their mothers' ability to nurse. Less prominent are discussions about the sustainability of breastfeeding. Infant formulas are usually made out of cow's milk or soy. This means that livestock are fed grain so that they can make milk for infant formula. Cows are rather notorious for their production of both methane and feces, which contaminate our air and water. Soy formula depends on the production of soy beans, which have become controversial in recent years due to the clearing of tropical rainforests to grow the crop, an act that is now under an industry moratorium. There are organic infant formulas, but for many mothers around the world these are unavailable or financially out of reach.

Bottles, liners, and tins: the packaging that accompanies infant formula is staggering. In Mother Nature Loves Breastmilk, Dia Michels states that "If every child in America were bottle-fed, almost 86,000 tons of tin would be needed to produce 550 million cans for one year's worth of formula." What does breast milk require? Usually it involves more food and liquid for the mother. If the mother pumps, she will buy bottles and sterilize them. Otherwise, nature has provided her with a handy milk delivery system, no sterilization required.

While the American Academy of Pediatrics encourages mothers to breastfeed for at least a year and as long as mutually desired, there's a social push towards formula. In my grandmother's generation, formula was promoted as the thing to do for women in the middle and upper-classes. Now, in many circles, the trend is swinging back towards breastfeeding, but lack of social support still makes it difficult to breastfeed.

In a year, the world gains about 130 million babies. What will they eat? How much waste will their food produce? Truly, breastfeeding is one of the most neglected areas of environmental activism. Like me, some of the mothers of these babies will struggle with breastfeeding. They will need support from work places, families, and health departments, and with that support, they may be able to breastfeed their children. Nursing a child is a quiet act, but it is also a quiet and sustainable revolution, this one happening in the arms of mothers around the world.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Sip-Organic-Coffee-Save-Environment/4629.html Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:18:27 GMT Justmeans Staff Justmeans Staff http://www.justmeans.com/Sip-Organic-Coffee-Save-Environment/4629.html
So, what is special about organic coffee? According to farming experts, production of organic coffee can be considered a special practice for environment conservation. It can be effective in protecting the environment from harmful chemicals and fertilizers that cause soil erosion by polluting and destroying the groundwater. Apart from protecting the environment, production of organic coffee also reduces the chances of farmers getting cancer and other degenerative diseases.

Due to the rise in consumer demands for products that are healthy for the body as well as the environment, production of organic food and beverages have been encouraged in the last few years. With the concept of sustainable food catching up in countries across the world, beverage manufacturers are realizing the benefits of going green.

Coffee farmers are being encouraged to prefer organic farming methods so that less harm is caused to the soil and consumer demands are also fulfilled. The concept of organic coffee farming is catching up and emphasis is also being placed on composting, recycling, biological activities of the farm and health of the soil used for growing coffee. This contributes to the long term protection of the farms as well as the environment. It is notable that the initial investment required for growing organic coffee is less as compared to the traditional crop. This is because there is no upfront purchase of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers involved.

Not to forget, organic farming methods are extremely beneficial for our planet. Even forests can be preserved since organic coffee is mostly shade grown. But how will consumers know if coffee labeled as 'organic' has been grown sustainably? In the US, organic coffee farmers need to pass laws maintained by the Department of Agriculture to be able to market a certified organic. We have been buying organic coffee for flavor and social and environmental health of the community, what about you?]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Sustainable-Food-From-School-Cafeterias-Investment-Portfolios/4553.html Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:46:01 GMT Justmeans Staff Justmeans Staff http://www.justmeans.com/Sustainable-Food-From-School-Cafeterias-Investment-Portfolios/4553.html
In the last few years, investors from all sectors have been encouraged to invest money into local and sustainable agriculture enterprises. More green venture capitalists are being sought to provide financial backing to the organic food growers, farmers markets, independent food merchants and restaurants that use organic produce for cooking meals. Let's Be Frank food trailer is a San Francisco company that serves sausages and franks made from cows or pigs raised sustainably. This venture, offering sustainable food items is partly funded by venture capitalists that target clean water, food and energy businesses. There are many such small enterprises and local farmers markets that support the concept of sustainable food and require local investments in order to succeed.

The USDA fund is a part of "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" campaign under which farmers will receive help to market their produce at a fair price.  In a similar attempt, government of Ontario will be building an infrastructure that will help the development of the regional food economy. With the help of a regional system, the government plans to extend support to diversified farming methods and reduce carbon footprint. Earlier this year, 24 million dollar fund was announced for the development of logistics that will direct sustainably grown Ontario food in schools, companies and hospitals.

By attracting more investment towards sustainable food, organic farming, farmers markets and independent food entrepreneurs, strong local economies can be built. It will also contribute to the enhanced supply of healthy food items and a healthy environment.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Growing-Urban-Grains-Local-Wheat-On-Edge-of-City/4506.html Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:48:46 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Growing-Urban-Grains-Local-Wheat-On-Edge-of-City/4506.html
Farmland around cities is dwindling. It's hard to eke out a living as a farmer when the plush jobs of the city call. It's also hard to resist the intense pressures of development - when the prices for your farm far outweigh the cost of the food that you hope to produce on that farm. Such is the tale of agriculture on the urban fringe.

When Vancouver's Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon began a year-long study in eating locally, they didn't expect it to become a large-scale movement. However, with the creation of their web site for the 100 Mile Diet and the birth of their book Plenty, they popularized the movement to relocalize food in North America. One of the grimmer segments in the book outlines their attempts to find grain grown within a hundred miles of Vancouver, Canada, their home city. In a desperate move to make pancakes, they use grain that is less than edible and full of wriggly bugs.

Ironically, despite the fact that it is a moist and distinctly un-prairie-like environment, the areas around Vancouver used to be a hub for growing grain. In fact, one of Canada's original experimental farms was located in the Agassiz area just outside of urban Vancouver. One of the dominant wheat varieties of the early twentieth century was developed here. Until the 1950s, Marquis wheat provided up to 90 percent of Canada's wheat crop.

What changed? Over the decades, the push for cost efficiencies moved grain production out of British Columbia to the Canadian prairies. Like heritage apples, the heritage and local grain varieties that were well-suited to British Columbia's locales began to wane in popularity. Now relocalization is making a comeback, as the need to produce the food that we eat becomes more prominent in peoples' minds. The wheat that's making our blueberry pancakes comes from the 100-acre Cedar Isle Farm in Agassiz, just down the road from that old experimental farm. Today, as we eat the wheat that's been grown less than 100 miles from our doorstep, we've come back to the land that used to sustain us, and we look on it with an eye fixed on the sustainability of our local food supply.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Urban-Gardening-Local-Food-A-New-Sustainable-Food-Editor-for-Justmeans/4430.html Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:27:03 GMT Tricia Edgar Tricia Edgar http://www.justmeans.com/Urban-Gardening-Local-Food-A-New-Sustainable-Food-Editor-for-Justmeans/4430.html
Since the publication of Plenty: The 100 Mile Diet, the idea of local eating has made enormous leaps in popularity. Victory gardens sprout on urban lawns. The food and gardening scene in Vancouver, Canada has certainly been influenced by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon's year-long exploration of eating locally. In this climate that is so unlike the prairies, a local grain cooperative has emerged, and the rain city residents are growing tomatoes from balconies and harvesting fruit in the urban jungle.

For over twenty years, I've been involved in activism. When my daughter was born, I felt the need to set down roots in new places, so I joined an emerging food organization, The Edible Garden Project. We encourage people to grow food in urban areas to feed those in need. This summer, I also began The Growing Traditions Project, an intergenerational sustainable skills mentorship program inspired and supported by Vancouver's Sustainable Living Arts School.

As Canadians celebrate our Thanksgiving weekend, our family is blessed to eat local and organic food. The jam that adorns our weekend breakfast can be traced back to several local farms. For the past two years, I've engineered a sort of blueberry madness: in August, I take a truck out to a local farm for the day and return with 1000 pounds of blueberries, which my friends and acquaintances pick up far into the evening. Last year, a local bear made his way up the driveway to take a look, too. As a family, we are members of a local farm and get a share full of plenty of beets, greens, squash and carrots every week throughout the summer and fall. This year, we also became members of the first urban grain cooperative in the Vancouver area, and my freezer is full of locally-grown, locally-milled flour. That might not seem like much to prairie folk, but to an urbanite from the rainforest, it's an accomplishment.

The world of local and sustainable food is as big as the locales that we humans grow it in, and the culture and ethics of food are ever-shifting. I look forward to exploring these places, people, and questions with you.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/UK-Food-Production-Threatened-with-Loss-of-Soil/4334.html Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:30:25 GMT Justmeans Staff Justmeans Staff http://www.justmeans.com/UK-Food-Production-Threatened-with-Loss-of-Soil/4334.html
With almost 200 years of industrial pollution and intensive farming, the quality of land in UK has degraded steadily. Even though the present situation cannot be regarded as critical as the condition of agricultural land in African and Asian countries, why take the risk? The problem of soil erosion is rising in underdeveloped countries due to poor farming practices, heavy usage of dangerous fertilizers and pesticides and overgrazing. The fact that conventional farming practices are affecting the quality of agricultural land all over the world, the concept of sustainable food is gaining more attention than ever.

In the UK, development of transport infrastructure and housing has also put more pressure on the soil and the current rate of erosion costs 9 million pounds to the farmers annually. Due to climate change, soil is becoming prone to wind erosion due to hot and dry conditions and intense rainfall. The rate at which climate change is creating havoc across the world, countries will be required to produce twice as much food. But with soil erosion also increasing due to change in climate, it will be a challenge for countries make it possible.

Approximately 10bn tons of carbon is present in the British soil and if this carbon is lost in the atmosphere due to soil erosion, it will result in emission equivalent to 50 times more the annual greenhouse gas emission in UK. In order to solve this issue, the government is encouraging farm owners to use organic farming methods and produce seasonal sustainable food.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Are-You-Supporting-Sustainable-Food-Movement/4283.html Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:56:28 GMT Justmeans Staff Justmeans Staff http://www.justmeans.com/Are-You-Supporting-Sustainable-Food-Movement/4283.html
The concept of sustainable food goes beyond reawakening of taste buds. It is also about the transformation of what we eat everyday. When you are having organic food items, you are not only avoiding harmful pesticides and chemicals that are traditionally used in commercial farming but you are also avoiding obesity. Experts believe that there is no need to hike in the mountains in order to commune with nature. Consumers can do the same by choosing in-season, locally grown fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.

For decades, environmentalists and health experts have voiced their concern over the highly toxic system of producing industrial food. Today, this concern seems to be turning into a silent yet powerful revolution. This revolution doesn't require the consumers to fight for their rights or stage a protest against the bureaucracy of Washington. Accepting the ongoing sustainable food movement is as simple as saying no to exotic and imported produce and consuming vegetables and fruits that are growing in a sustainable manner.

Sustainable food supports sustainable farming methods within which the farm dwellers work in humane conditions and grow crops with minimal use of harmful pesticides and fertilizers. If you thought that organic food items in high end supermarkets are out of your reach, try buying from local farmer markets. The items available in such markets are not only affordable but for every purchase you make, you will also be supporting the welfare of farmers who follow sustainable faming methods.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Sustainable-Food-Affordability/4210.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:10:27 GMT Justmeans Staff Justmeans Staff http://www.justmeans.com/Sustainable-Food-Affordability/4210.html
You need to consider the place from where you purchase organic products. If you are visiting some high end organic supermarket, you might end up spending more than expected on their packaged gourmet items. Prefer buying from the local grocery stores as they often carry sustainably grown local fruits and vegetables. There is no harm in choosing in-season produce that has been grown sustainably on the local level.  If you know about a food co-operative in your city, try their products. Food co-ops are also a great place to shop for sustainable food items at an affordable price. Becoming a member of such co-operatives can also prove beneficial in getting healthy products at reasonable prices. Bulk buying will also help you save money because a small can of diced organic tomato will be any day costly than a large can. Affordable and healthy organic food products are also available at farmer markets. Compared to retail outlets, farms that follow sustainable practices offer milk, eggs, grass fed beef and butter at very low prices.]]> http://www.justmeans.com/Michelle-Obama-Brings-Her-Support-of-Sustainable-Food-from-Garden-Market/4019.html Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:48:58 GMT Colleen Hanlon Colleen Hanlon http://www.justmeans.com/Michelle-Obama-Brings-Her-Support-of-Sustainable-Food-from-Garden-Market/4019.html
Last week, Michelle Obama once again voiced her support for local sustainable food by introducing the opening of the White House farmers' market. For the duration of last Thursday, H Street, Vermont Ave and part of I street were completely shutdown to make way for the unveiling of FreshFarm Markets' new addition to Washington D.C.'s growing market scene. As to be expected, Michelle was followed by an entourage of security, press and local citizens. Also to be expected was the resulting press that both praised and criticized Michelle Obama's involvement in the local food movement.

The Washington Post reported two articles on the new farmers' market: one interviewing local residents and asking them why farmers' markets are important to their community, and the second a diatribe on how unsustainable Michelle Obama's contribution is to the sustainable food movement. While the first article is a wonderful promotion of how farmers' markets create and support the local community, the second article unearths many of the questions that linger in the minds of those who begrudge the hype surrounding the local, sustainable food movement. The gist of any rational argument made (necessarily) questions the following: what is the place of publicity in the sustainable food movement? How does celebrity support and culinary/agricultural entertainment catered towards the wealthy (intentionally or not) contribute to making healthy food affordable to the masses?

While Dana Milbank's trifling OpEd lightly touches upon these critical and poignant questions, his beef is directed towards First Lady Obama's elitist approach to local food (as is evident by her support of "overpriced baby arugula") and he completely ignores the root of the problem: small, organic farmers can't afford to reduce their prices if they are to compete with larger, government subsidized farms (that mainly produce soy, corn and potatoes, of which the majority is not even grown for human consumption).

A current columnist for the Post and a former contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The New Republic, Milbank is obviously an educated man. One that would surely understand the need for education and promotion to drive a healthy, sustainable economy, and a man that would no doubt understand the basic economics of a competitive market with two models: one of which is heavily subsidized, the other of which is provided little funding. It is unfortunate that his report of last Thursday suggests the contrary:

"The first lady said the market would particularly appeal to federal employees in nearby buildings to 'pick up some good stuff for dinner.' Yet even they might think twice about spending $3 for a pint of potatoes when potatoes are on sale for 40 cents a pound at Giant. They could get nearly five dozen eggs at Giant for the $5 Obama spent for her dozen."

I'd encourage Milbank to talk a walk past the Hill and visit some of the farms and producers that surround Washington, D.C.]]>