KYF2 Now on the Web / Facebook Chat Thursday

Felled by the flu last week, I missed the launch of USDA's new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Web site, the Department's virtual town hall on issues relating to food, agriculture and local and regional food systems.

Maybe, then, this is all old news to you, but I'm guessing there are still a few of you out there who don't know the scoop on KYF2.

The overarching initiative shines a light on local agriculture. It looks to develop local and regional food systems, spark economic growth and strengthen rural areas. It also works to support healthy eating and protecting the environment. And it seeks to do all this through existing USDA programs that are innovatively applied.

KYF2 also seeks to open up the doors on this Department to let in more ideas and more perspectives. The new Web site's Ideas and Stories page, though not yet fleshed out, will be the hub for that. And the invitation there is quite compelling:

This is the start of a national dialogue between the USDA and you - farmers, ranchers, businesses, community organizations, governments, schools, consumers. Government doesn't have all the answers - the issues that we're addressing require local solutions and local resolve. That's why we need your help. Send us your ideas and stories about food, agriculture, and local and regional food systems and we'll share them. Call, email, write, videotape, photograph, you name it, and thank you for taking the time.

You can also become a Facebook fan of USDA at www.facebook.com/USDA.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Food and Nutrition and Marketing and Trade and Natural Resources & Environment and Organic Production and Plants and Crops and Rural Life on September 29, 2009 EST | Permalink

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To Community Gardens and Their Gardeners

I know this might have snuck up on you, but believe it or not, it's officially National Community Gardening Week. So, to all you community gardeners out there, Congratulations!

It's not exactly like you can just run out and buy a card for these kinds of occasions, so instead, I'm pulling together great places to go on the Web to learn more about community gardening and related topics. Many, I must confess, are re-gifts of sorts, namely, previous postings on InfoFarm, but rather than call me cheap (or worse, gauche), just consider it a wise use of existing resources. Those postings are simply gifts that keep on giving!

• American Community Garden Association, the go-to group for information about starting a community garden, networking with others and developing resources that support community greening. They can even help you find a community garden near you, though I know their directory to be incomplete.
• Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening, from the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center here at NAL. A list of ten of the best starting points on the Web to learn more about this great movement.
• The People's Garden Initiative from USDA, the Nation's demonstration plot illustrating the simple ways we can all support healthy eating and a healthy environment. Check out last month's blog post for a bit more.
• Enrich Your Soil with Worm Composting, InfoFarm's starter's guide to vermicomposting, with a enthusiastic nod toward Will Allen, one of the leaders of today's urban farming movement.
• And speaking of . . . Urban Farming & the D.C. Land Grant takes a look at the oxymoron "city farmer" and the resources available to help him (or her).
• Any chance the "her" we're mentioning is Michelle Obama? Well, no, but that didn't stop me from pretending as much in The First Lady Talks Up the New Garden. Despite the tongue-in-cheek content, you will find some worthwhile gardening links there.
• And though Mrs. Obama's work stands upon an international stage, it doesn't compare in size to the community garden, make that farm, The Farmer Next Door has going in Colorado.

Got something else to recommend? Leave your tips below. After all, this blog, like community gardening, is really a group effort.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Organic Production and Plants and Crops on August 24, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Excellent site, keep up the good work

Submitted by: Bill Bartmann on September 2, 2009 01:58 AM

Food Fight

Libraries are, by design, intellectually neutral territory, hubs for rational exchange that give credence to the many facets of an issue, the many sides of an argument. This library is no different.

With that in mind, I'm venturing into the current cultural food wars with a quick review of a few recent offerings from different points along the ideological spectrum. All look at the American agricultural system, but each delivers its own perspective, biases and solutions.

Read them all and you should come away with a fair idea of the issues on the table, along with the multiple points of contention -- at least those present in the (more-or-less) popular media.

• Time re-entered the food fray yesterday with its lengthy cover story, "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food." It's main message: The current industrial food system cannot be sustained nor can it sustain us. The solution proposed: "A distributed system of many local or regional food producers" instead of large-scale, industrial farms, and a shift in how we all think of food."
• Coming from another direction, Blake Hurst's "The Omnivore's Delusion," from last month's The American magazine, vigorously defends modern agriculture and the experience, care and knowledge today's farmers bring to the process. As a long-time farmer, Hurst also highlights the consequences, many unintended or overlooked, of different production methods. In other words, states Hurst, "there are environmental and food safety costs to whatever kind of farming we choose. . . . But farmers have reasons for their actions, and society should listen to them."
• "Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008," Paul Roberts' piece from Mother Jones, puts traditional and organic farming through their paces, finding problems with each. Farming's future, Roberts opines, will not be found in some variation of current practice. Instead, "we're going to need not only new methods for producing food, but a whole new set of assumptions about what sustainability really means."
• Similarly, James McWilliams, in an April interview in the Dallas Morning News, proves nettlesome to both sides. He roasts industrial agriculture for ignoring its detrimental impact on the environment but also skewers the locavore movement for its narrow emphasis on food miles. His agricultural future relies upon concessions from all comers, including consumers. "We [need to] stop polarizing our discussions of food into big industrial and small organic, and start seeking common ground over compromises that split differences."

Of course, food, along with the systems that generate it, is endlessly complex. These articles, then, are just drops in the bucket when it comes to really understanding what it takes to feed the people of this country (if not the world). Perhaps they've sparked your interest in learning more. I hope so.

To get started, explore NAL's Web site. Not just one page. A lot of it.

Read about sustainability in agriculture, precision farming, manure management and biotechnology and plant breeding. Learn what goes into raising beef cattle or poultry. Ask questions.

And if you've got other articles to recommend, leave a note here. Reading other points of view, like eating your vegetables, is good for you. Trust me on that. I'm a librarian.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Animals and Food and Nutrition and Organic Production and Plants and Crops on August 21, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Wow! It is "a jungle out there" - in my cupboard. I do think we all have lots to learn about the real (& unreal) possibilities and expectations we embrace with regard to food and the future (however long or short-term we might be able and willing to consider). Thanks for this neat overview and your invitation to expand our knowledge and understanding! Some common ground will be nice to share, when/if we might find that, :) - Karl Schneider

Submitted by: Karl S on August 24, 2009 07:25 AM

Catching Up with HQ

Wow, the folks downtown have been busy, and I hate to admit it, but I have not been paying them enough attention. Time to make up for that.

• USDA recently launched a new Web site, RuralTour.gov, that lets you know where Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been and where he's going on the Obama Administration's Rural Tour. He'll be joined by a variety of Administration Officials and Cabinet Secretaries as they visit rural communities asking for people's thoughts on how to best rebuild and revitalize America. They're definitely seeking input, feedback and opinions, so if you can't make one of the tour's stops, you can submit your ideas online. The tour also has a Twitter feed, so check there for the latest info fresh from the road.
• Secretary Vilsack has also committed a lot of time and attention to the new Food Safety Working Group, a team he co-chaired with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The Working Group has been formed to coordinate Federal food safety efforts and develop short- and long-term agendas to make food safer. It released its key findings just last week, after which the co-chairs participated in a online chat about the results and related food and public health issues.
• Another new Web site highlights the Department's efforts to spark economic recovery and restore jobs. This site, http://www.usda.gov/recovery, also serves as a venue for Americans to share stories and provide feedback about how USDA stimulus funding is impacting their community. The site delivers a slick interactive map that allows anyone to see where and how those funds are being invested across the country.
• The folks at Headquarters have also planted their flag on YouTube, establishing a USDA channel on the popular video site. That ag channel, part of the larger U.S. Government channel, currently hosts 55 videos, but that number is expected to grow quickly, so keep checking back.
• And speaking of planting and growing, the Department is also nurturing what they've called The People's Garden, an organic garden on the grounds of the Whitten Building, adjacent to the National Mall. The garden is both beautiful and productive -- harvests are donated to a local food bank -- but it is primarily intended as an educational tool, demonstrating the simple ways we can all support healthy eating and a healthy environment. The garden is also playing host to a series of "Healthy Garden" Workshops every Friday from noon to 12:30pm through September 25th and is offering tours every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00pm through the summer, the latter according to the People's Garden Twitter feed.

Does this list jibe with your priorities for the Department? Anything missing?

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Food and Nutrition and Natural Resources & Environment and Organic Production and Plants and Crops and Rural Life on July 13, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Well great if this tour is to really create good, however the bills before the house say otherwise, not to mention the leaders advising the president. The problem with the Us Agricultural sector is GMO's Monsanto and all the other Chemical Companies who have poisoned the food, the water , destroyed the environment and created such sickness in once a great bountiful country. If you are serious about doing good then the only way to go is to honour the farmer, get rid of Monsanto & all other companies who are so violent and destructive to life. Respect Mother nature and care for her then people are healthy the environment is healthy. The only true way forward is sustainable farming practices who respect mother earth, Biodynamics is the only way forward which will clean up the devastation wrought by these destructive companies, providing highly nutritiuos food which in turn creates healthy people. Every farmer respected, big business out of farming chemicals banned,GMO's banned, food commodities out of the stock market. The natural cycles respected. Then & only then will you have a chance of creating a healthy environment with healthy people who will be free of this chemical cocktail and the drug drip system of big Pharma. So you also create a situation where the health system will be free of these parasites who create the sickness to begin with. We can only hope you do the right thing, we would like to see this reflected in the bills before the house and you free this country of this sick cartel of the chemical , GMO drug and weapon companies. They should all be banned then the natural environment & man can have a chance. So take your wifes Organic Garden out to the wider farming world. Biodynamics is somewhat more sophisticated and very potent form of Organic farming. I suggest also stop the chem trails, Haarp, and all the other destructive devices at use in that country all of which have a negative effect. Get back to life, stay away from death.

Submitted by: Anonymous on July 28, 2009 09:27 AM

Submitted by: Lori Finch on July 28, 2009 01:06 PM

Submitted by: steve stamos on July 29, 2009 05:30 AM

Submitted by: Brian on August 10, 2009 07:53 PM

Enrich Your Soil with Worm Composting

We've talked about urban agriculture here before, and since I actually live in D.C., it's also something I see first-hand, from the Common Good City Farm to the community gardens that dot the city. And so it was with interest and admiration that I read last week's New York Times article on Will Allen, the force behind a growing urban ag movement in Milwaukee.

I'd read about Allen before, back when he won a MacArthur "genius grant," but this time around, in an article offering much to inspire, I was particularly struck by his commitment to worm composting (also know as vermicomposting).

According to the Times, Allen's enterprise generates 100,000 pounds of compost every four months from the six million pounds of food waste and wood chips he manages to collect from markets and the city. His efforts generate income, but they also fertilize the densely-packed greenhouses that comprise his Growing Power farm.

Allen's story, obviously, is worm composting writ large, but the act itself can be done almost anywhere. Urban farmers can do it, sure, but so can apartment dwellers looking to fertilize nothing more than a pot of geraniums.

The basic idea of worm composting brings together a bin, your garbage and some worms. The worms eat the garbage, converting it to rich dark castings (um,...worm poop) which you can then use as fertilizer.

It's easy, but also not. Worms can be pretty picky when it comes to where they'll live and what they'll eat, so you'll need to use the right kind of bin (one that's aerated, either purchased or made), the right kind of bedding materials (moist, shredded newspaper works), the right kind of food scraps (egg shells, fruit, veggies, no meat), an adequate amount of moisture and, of course, worms (commonly the redworm, Eisenia fetida).

That's it, but don't just jump in uneducated. As noted, the worms can be kinda picky.

First, head North of the border, where our friends in Vancouver, Canada offer short videos on the basics and on harvesting the precious compost.

Then, once you're ready to make the leap, I heartily suggest you check out from the library the vermicomposter's bible, Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof. It is a great, practical, how-to guide you'll be glad to have when you have to decide how much food, water and heat are too much.

Then, for more on the ins-and-outs of composting, see what my colleagues from the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center have collected. It's not all about worm composting, but then, maybe you're not either, right?

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Organic Production on July 06, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Cool amendment to this post: I dipped into NAL's Digital Repository and came up with this, an article from the 1978 Yearbook of Agriculture titled "You Can Start Producing Earthworms in a Washtub." For those of you with more space, it includes diagrams on making large, rectangular beds for your new friends.

Submitted by: Mary Ann on July 8, 2009 06:43 PM

USDA Commits to Organic

Organic will be finding a place in the work of more agencies across USDA, according to Kathleen Merrigan, the Department's Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.

Speaking at the third annual Organic Summit last week, Merrigan made clear that "organic can no longer be stove-piped at USDA." She further emphasized, "Organic should be integrated across all the agencies . . . Each and every agency at USDA should have some engagement with the organic sector." [Watch video of Merrigan's address]

Merrigan's comments come a month after she announced that $50 million has been committed toward the Department's 2009 Organic Initiative, a nationwide program to provide financial assistance to National Organic Program organic producers or producers in transition to organic farming.

Her comments also dovetail with USDA's first-ever, wide-scale survey of organic farming in the United States. Going on through June 17, the Organic Production Survey, a supplement to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, will examine how the growth of organic farming is changing the face of U.S. agriculture. Survey results will help shape decisions regarding farm policy, funding allocations, availability of goods and services, and many other key issues.

As many of those involved in organics already know, NAL has been helping those engaged in organic production for many years now. The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center continues to locate, organize and distribute authoritative and comprehensive information on the topic through its publications and Web site. The site's special section on Organic Production covers a range of related topics, from the nutritive content of organic foods to seed sources, production methods, marketing and food safety issues. It's a great starting point for consumers, farmers and wannabe farmers alike. Tell 'em Deputy Secretary Merrigan sent you.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Organic Production on June 08, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Vilsack's Confirmation Hearing

Yesterday, the Senate held its confirmation hearing for Gov. Tom Vilsack, President-elect Obama's pick for the next Secretary of Agriculture.

The hearing touched upon the most, if not all, of the major agricultural issues facing the new administration, including renewable energy, food safety, sustainable ag, rural development, trade issues, farm subsidies and commodity programs.

But some of the most enthusiastic language came in support of childhood nutrition and school lunches.

We can work with our schools to make sure fruits and vegetables are available. . . . We will be very aggressive in this area. . . . It’s going to be important for us to promote fresh fruits and vegetables as part of our children’s diets. . . . That means supporting those who supply those products.

Such ideas are in keeping with Obama's plan to work through the USDA's various nutrition programs to end childhood hunger by 2015.

The hearing, which ran just over two hours, is available as a Webcast from the Senate Ag Committee's site.

From all reports, Gov. Vilsack is expected to be confirmed as the new Secretary of Agriculture as early as Tuesday and sworn in soon after.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Biography and Farm Bill and Food and Nutrition and Marketing and Trade and Natural Resources & Environment and Organic Production and Plants and Crops and Rural Life and Water Quality on January 15, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Will my daughter eat fruits and vegetables? Nutrition is good, as a small farmer I really would like more support. How are they going to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables though?

Submitted by: BradJ on February 26, 2009 05:51 PM

Submitted by: Jessica G. on March 16, 2009 09:13 AM

Submitted by: John1410 on May 19, 2009 07:47 AM

Submitted by: immutleReully on May 20, 2009 06:44 AM

Submitted by: saunseetherma on May 21, 2009 06:30 AM

The Crossroads of Ag and Public Health

What is the connection between what you eat and how you feel?

Does the way an animal or crop is raised impact its nutritional value?

How are farming methods contributing to environmental problems and human health issues?

These questions and others like them represent the crossroads of agriculture and public health, that complex interdependency between what we eat and how it is raised with our individual and collective well-being.

They are the kinds of questions that seem to be popping up more and more, from the mainstream press to scientific journals and trade publications.

But clearly the frequency of the questions does not mean we have answers. In fact, as any researcher knows, most so-called answers just lead to more questions, more debate and more avenues for research.

To help bring some order to all that research and to the multiplicity of answers derived from it, the Center for a Livable Future, a research institute partnering Johns Hopkins University with its School of Public Health, recently launched a new Web site, the Agriculture and Public Health Gateway.

The gateway provides a central starting point for anyone interested in exploring the ag-public health connection. It lets you simultaneously search four key databases dealing with agriculture (NAL's AGRICOLA), ag safety (the National Agricultural Safety Database), medicine (PubMed) and the environment (Earthtrends). Or you can browse a range of Web-based goodies -- articles, reports, databases, programs, videos and more -- organized by topics such as crop production, community and occupational health, or food safety and labeling.

You'll find more details about the site on the Center's blog, or just jump in and start exploring. And when you find answers to the questions above, let us know.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Animals and Farm Safety and Food and Nutrition and Libraries and Natural Resources & Environment and Organic Production and Plants and Crops and Rural Life and Water Quality on November 04, 2008 EST | Permalink

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Hey! What a rich and inviting pool you left for exploration here. Thanks!! I also noted related ideas from an NPR broadcast today. This was on gut (human) microflora, and their contributions (or detraction) from our physical well-being. See: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95900616 These connections are not new. JI Rodale started "Prevention" magazine - then soon added "Organic Gardening." This witnesses his belief in food production and health outcome relationships. Thanks for these neat notes! - Karl

Submitted by: Karl Schneider on November 4, 2008 09:55 PM

Submitted by: Mary Ann on November 5, 2008 11:23 AM

Submitted by: Karl on November 6, 2008 10:00 AM

Submitted by: Water Damage on November 21, 2008 08:12 AM

Submitted by: Alex Tiller on November 26, 2008 01:42 PM

Two Shows Worth Watching (and Discussing)

It's not often that we get two thought-provoking documentaries on agriculture and farming in the same week, but PBS is serving up a couple of conversation starters, beginning tonight.

"King Corn," a film looking at the corn's central role in American agriculture and food production, makes its television debut in just a few hours on the Emmy award-winning series Independent Lens, PBS's showcase for independent films. Not all PBS stations will be airing the show today, however, and many will be repeating it as well, so be sure to check your local listings for air times. You still might be able to catch it.

Here in the Washington area, Independent Lens will also be re-broadcasting "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" later this week, a 2006 film that follows an Illinois farmer, John Peterson, as he tries to transform his family farm in a way that is at odds with his community. Hopefully, this film too will crop up where you're at in the coming months, so keep checking those local listings.

If PBS lets you down, or you'd just rather watch on your own timetable, "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" is already available on DVD, and "King Corn" will be released later this month.

I haven't seen either film yet, so I'm very interested in seeing what they're about. And, of course, I'd love to hear your take on things. Once you've watched either or both, come back and let us know what you thought. I'm sure our community of readers can get a good discussion going.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Biography and Food and Nutrition and Organic Production and Plants and Crops on April 15, 2008 EST | Permalink

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Duck...Duck...Goose

Next week, mixed in with the last of their holiday cards and the first bills of 2008, farmers and ranchers across the U.S. will be getting their packets for the 2007 Census of Agriculture. The folks at USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service are dropping them in the mail today.

NASS conducts the survey every five years to count the nation’s farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Census questions cover land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, crop yields, livestock count, and machinery used, along with income, expenditures and other topics.

Maybe this is where that old game "Duck, Duck, Goose" got its start -- farmers counting their animals for the annual ag census. Okay, I admit that's not likely, but you do have to report your poultry numbers on the survey, so there actually might be folks mumbling that very phrase to themselves as they walk through barnyards across the country this January.

But lest you think the ag census is equally silly, let me assure you that the reponses provide vital information that factors into a range of decisions, from crafting agricultural policy like the farm bill, to making funds and services available to rural communities. Businesses might use the information to determine the locations of facilities serving agricultural producers, while the farmers and ranchers themselves can use census data to make informed decisions about the future of their own operations. (More ducks, perhaps? Or maybe more geese? Hmmm, let me run around in a circle while I think about it.)

So, when that envelope arrives next week from the government, don't just toss it into recycling. Open it. Look it over. Fill it out. Or grab your Census ID from the mailing and click your way to the online response version.

After all, filling out the ag census is not only a good idea, it's the law (Title 7, U.S. Code), regardless of the size or type of your operation. Fortunately, the same law makes your responses confidential and limits their use to statistical purposes, so no worries that your survey will be passed along to the IRS or your local inspectors.

Instead, think about getting yourself counted so that decision-makers know you're out there. If nothing else, it'll be a great way to spend a cold January evening, right? Right? Um, right?

Census reports are due February 4, 2008.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Animals and Farm Bill and Marketing and Trade and Organic Production and Plants and Crops and Rural Life on December 28, 2007 EST | Permalink

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Starting Right with Turkeys

Turkey raising offers a most interesting project. It will fascinate your friends who visit you. You will be envied by them, especially as Thanksgiving approaches and you have no worries about having a tasty bird for this feast. The project will offer diversions from the anxieties of office work or business. It can be excellent training for a boy or girl, particularly in 4-H Club work, or any kind of a home project.

Thus opined G. T. Klein in his 1947 publication Starting Right with Turkeys, a product of his days working as an Extension Poultry Husbandman at the Massachusetts State College, Amherst.

The book, a no-nonsense manual on raising turkeys, tackles the practical details of a do-it-yourself backyard turkey project from a time when such a thing was more feasible than most city ordinances make it today. (Though urban chickens are gaining ground, so maybe the pendulum will swing back for turkeys as well.)

Klein's work joins over 1,800 other books and journals in Cornell Library's collection of the Core Historical Literature of Agriculture. The materials there track the evolution of farming, agriculture and rural life through the 19th and 20th centuries, providing a deep look into a social, economic and industrial phenomenon.

But more than that, this early literature records information about sustainable agricultural methods that is still relevant today. It is, in large part (pre-1942, that is), farming without pesticides and chemical fertilizers using techniques that, by their nature, are more "organic," more geared toward ecological balance (even if that contemporary principle wasn't in the forefront back then).

The Library's Alternative Farming Systems Information Center has pulled together a similar collection specifically on organic agriculture called Organic Agriculture Information Access (aka Organic Roots). This budding database contains almost 200 historic USDA publications from before 1942, clearly making what was old new again.

So over this holiday weekend, in between the eating, sleeping and shopping, explore the history of the agricultural field of your liking. You might be surprised by what you find -- a new hobby, new methods or just a way to fascinate your friends (even if the tasty bird you're eating didn't grow up in your own backyard).

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Animals and History of Agriculture and Organic Production on November 21, 2007 EST | Permalink

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