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As demand grows for locally raised meat, farmers turn to mobile slaughterhouses
Lyndsey Layton, The Washington Post
When Kathryn Thomas wanted to turn her sheep into lamb chops, the federal government required her to haul them across Puget Sound on a ferry and then drive three hours to reach a suitable slaughterhouse.

Not anymore. These days, the slaughterhouse -- and the feds -- come to her.

A 53-foot tractor-trailer rattles up to her farm on Lopez Island, the rear doors open and the sheep are led inside, where the butcher and federal meat inspector are waiting. When the job is done, the team heads out to the next farm.

The slaughtermobile -- a stainless steel industrial facility on wheels -- is catching on across the country, filling a desperate need in a burgeoning movement to bring people closer to their food. It is also perhaps one of the most visible symbols of a subtle transformation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, long criticized for promoting big agribusiness...
(20 June 2010)

Prince of Wales launches new fund to save the countryside
Kamal Ahmed and Andrew Alderson, The Telegraph
The heir to the throne has obtained widespread support from big producers and retailers, including Waitrose, to set up the Prince's Countryside Fund.

The initiative, which is Prince Charles's own brainchild, will give a much-needed lifeline to some of Britain's most vulnerable farmers and small communities.

The Prince has spoken exclusively about his motivation for setting up the new fund, which is expected to raise millions of pounds for depressed rural areas over the coming years.

"I have felt for a long time there is a particular need to ensure that the smaller family farmer, in particular, was able to survive in the future," he said.

The Prince believes that the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001 and other problems have had a devastating effect on the countryside.

He said: "It is terribly important to have a fund which is available to draw on in the event of these emergencies and also [in] the countryside generally and rural communities there is a great deal more hardship than people realise.

"It looks wonderful but it isn't always like that."...
(4 July 2010)

AgriLife Research Economist: Manure Provides Higher Returns Than Chemical Fertilizers
Agrilife, cattlenetwork
No significant differences in corn yield were found between organic and chemical sources of nutrients, but a Texas AgriLife Research economist said manure generates higher economic returns than anhydrous ammonia.

Dr. Seong Park, AgriLife Research economist, recently had his research published in the Agronomy Journal. The work was from studies he conducted in the Oklahoma Panhandle while at Oklahoma State University and finalized while in his new position at Vernon.

The long-term experiment involved the use of pig and beef manure on irrigated corn fields, he said. The testing was conducted in part due to a rapid growth of animal population and density in that region, as well as the northern part of the Texas Panhandle.

Park said when swine manure, which is normally stored in open-air lagoon systems, is properly applied and the economics figured, the effluent can be used as manure with minimal environmental and nuisance concerns...
(28 June 2010)
Note: The above article seems to be a press release, but interesting findings, nonetheless.
Thanks to kalpa for the articles above. -KS

AM Launches Allotment Report
Staff, Welsh Icon
Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood says she hopes a new report will improve allotment provision in Wales.

The AM for South Wales Central was the catalyst in persuading the Welsh Assembly’s Environment and Sustainability Committee to look into the issue after research by her office found evidence of long waiting lists for plots throughout the country.

The report, unveiled today, was the culmination of several months of hearings, gathering evidence from allotments holders, council officials and representatives from the National Trust.

Contained within the report are 16 recommendations which Ms Wood said she hopes will make a difference to the many aspiring allotment holders waiting for a chance to grown their own fruit and vegetables.

One of the key recommendations is that the Welsh Assembly Government “indicates how it will take into account the role of allotments in dealing with any potential issues arising from the Peak Oil.”...
(16 July 2010)
The report can be found here.

Food Conference on food production, human health and landscape health (audio)
Keiren McLeonard, ABC (Australia)
There are three great global and local challenges that need to be dealt with this century - food production, landscape health and human health.

An international forum in Brisbane is linking all three, suggesting the solutions are in the way we farm.

Terry McCosker is an agriculturalist and is hosting the international gathering. He believes if we can focus on big changes to farming practices we can avoid the long term ramifications of these threats...

Listen to or download story.

(20 July 2010)
Suggested by EB contributor Michael Lardelli, who says:
This program is a must listen for your readers. Interview with an organiser of a food conference in Brisbane, Australia on future agriculture. Mentions we are past peak phosphorous, ways of making more phosphorous in the soil available, farming without fossil fuels, millennial cycles in agriculture etc. Terry McCosker's website is here. -KS

Revenge of the Weeds
Robert C. Koehler, CommonDreams
... "Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers' near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds," the New York Times informed us several months ago.

"To fight them . . . farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides. . . ."

The Times goes no deeper into the matter than this,

... As I read the Times story, which seemed like a dispatch from the front ("In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big . . ."), I couldn't help but think about some words of Rupert Ross, who delves deeply into the Aboriginal worldview in his book Returning to the Teachings. The Lakota, he wrote, "had no language for insulting other orders of existence: ‘pest' . . . ‘waste' . . . ‘weed.'"

This starts to explain why we are the way we are, and how we've reached the zenith of our arrogance: Whether geopolitically, agriculturally or in the privacy of our relationship with ourselves, we come out fearful and fighting. (I will sometimes, for my own amazement, count the number of "wars" we're waging: on drugs, terror, crime, cancer, illiteracy, ignorance . . . weeds, etc., ad infinitum).

Is there another way? Can we retire the myth that we've created, and that has created us, which depends for its sustenance upon a perpetual enemy and dozens, maybe hundreds, of fronts?

Our transition to peace will be as slow, complex and backlash-prone as our transition from monoculture to sustainable farming practices, such as the permaculture movement, which seeks to partner with nature, not use it up and throw it away.

"Permaculture's sensible answer," writes Mary DeDanan, "is for humans to ally themselves with nature instead of trying to control nature. . . . Permaculture insists on the whole picture, from soil microbes to global weather patterns. It takes advantage of every relationship and synergy. It uses local resources, or grows its own. It wastes nothing."

Our transition begins with awareness, evidence of which I long to hear when I tune into the mainstream voices of my culture.

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer.
(15 July 2010)

Raids are increasing on farms and private food-supply clubs—here are 5 tips for surviving one
David Gumpert, Grist
When the 20 agents arrived bearing a search warrant at her Ventura County farmhouse door at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday a couple weeks back, Sharon Palmer didn't know what to say. This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat's milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.)

But her 12-year-old daughter, Jasmine, wasn't the least bit tongue-tied. "She started back-talking to them," recalls Palmer. "She said, 'If you take my computer again, I can't do my homework.' This would be the third computer we will have lost. I still haven't gotten the computers back that they took in the previous two raids."

... What's behind all these raids? They seem to stem from increasing concern at both the state and federal level about the spread of private food groups that have sprung up around the country in recent years -- food clubs and buying groups to provide specialized local products that are generally unavailable in groceries, like grass-fed meats, pastured eggs, fermented foods, and, in some cases, raw dairy products. Because they are private and limited to consumers who sign up for membership, these groups generally avoid obtaining retail and public health licenses required of retailers that sell to the general public.
(14 July 2010)
Suggested by reader LT who adds:

The implications of the report are worrisome, to say the least, and maybe some of your contributors/authors would be able to make suggestions for addressing the threat to local resilience implied. This seems to me to be a very serious problem that needs attention.