Agriculture Bridge

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Wish this could have been around when I was a student! This short video talks about a new program linking agricultural researchers in the field with students to disseminate information about sustainable agriculture and encourage collaboration. Cool!

Spotlight on Lighthouse Farm

I received a lovely email from Lighthouse Farm in Princeton, MN updating me on spring happenings on the Mesko family's farm. They recently purchased two milk cows which they intend to milk by hand (I presume primarily for the family's consumption). One of the cows, Valery, has a damaged utter from when she slipped and fell at the commercial dairy from which she was sold. She could no longer be milked on commercial milking machinery, so they were going to send poor Valery to slaughter! Instead, the Mesko's are nursing her back to health, taking her off her diet of corn and putting her on a more natural diet of 100% grass, and they are still getting plenty of milk by milking her by hand. This is something that could only happen on a small family farm, and it is just a wonderful example of the kind of compassion that small family farms engender. (The photo above shows Valery -- on the left -- being milked.)

Please check out their website: www.lighthousefarm.com

Recession Impacts Americans, While Oil Companies Make Off Like Bandits!

Since 2001, the top five oil companies have increased their annual profits by an average of 500%!!!

Here are some good tips from the OCA on how to increase your vehicle's fuel efficiency:

1. Don't be a jerky driver: Jumpy starts and fast getaways can burn over 50 percent more gasoline than normal acceleration. Use cruise control once accelerated. (And, let's be honest, slamming on the gas doesn't really get you there any faster!)
2. Drive slower: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, most automobiles get about 20 percent more miles per gallon on the highway at 55 miles per hour than they do at 70 miles per hour.
3. A well maintained car (oil change, fuel filters, tire pressure, alignment) gets an average of 10 percent better fuel efficiency.
4. Turn off your engine if you stop for more than one minute. (This does not apply if you are in traffic.) Restarting the automobile will use less gasoline than idling for more than one minute. (That's one I never knew -- I always thought it would be better to let the car idle...)
5. Decrease the number of short trips you make. Short trips drastically reduce gas mileage. If an automobile gets 20 miles per gallon in general, it may get only 4 miles per gallon on a short trip of 5 miles or less.

Local Foods Website

I just discovered a new source of information about finding locally produced foods in Minnesota! It's call the Local Foods Partnership and it appears to be a project of the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships which is part of the U of MN. You can find all different kinds of products and it also links to the Buy Fresh Buy Local chapters. And, it's searchable!

Go to http://www.localfoods.umn.edu

Farm to School: Willmar, MN Makes the News

Props to the news team at KSAX for airing a story on the Farm to School program in Willmar, MN!

Watch the clip here.

Farm Bill: Where are YOUR tax dollars going?

This fantastic website was recently brought to my attention (thanks Mom!) that allows you to browse through the entire database of farm subsidies without slogging through reams of fine print. You can search by state, county, region and congressional district and you can view the top recipients of farm subsidy monies (yep, their names are right there!). So, snoop on your neighbors and notice who's getting the big bucks. Is it ma and pa farmer down the road? Nope. More like big corn and big beef. You can also see total funds received from various programs for the region, and they also supply some other interesting demographic data like how many children in that region are living below the poverty line.

Check it out!

Conferences, Conferences, Conferences!

You can almost see me in this photo -- I'm waaaaay over on the left, with the short short hair (I cut it recently -- you can see the new "do" better in my Cuba photos). To my right is my lovely travel companion (we've been to TWO conferences together already!), Miss Caroline. This photo was taken at the Urban Agriculture Conference in Milwaukee last weekend. I've been soooo busy with work and everything else that I'm just now getting a chance to sort through my experiences and tell you all about them.

I think the Milwaukee conference will be the last in my series of farming conferences this year. We kicked things off in January with the "Garden Goddess Greenhouse" conference in Milan, MN (for those of you non-natives, that's pronounced MY-lan, not to be confused with the fashion capitol of the world in Italy). For those of you who haven't heard about what they're doing with passive solar technology, you should definitely check them out. Chuck Weibel and Carol Ford have put together this amazing winter CSA using a lean-to style greenhouse that operates all winter long with virtually no heat added from fossil-fuel sources -- it's all sun! They grow micro-greens and cool weather crops like kale, broccoli, cabbage, etc., and CSA members also get stored squashes, carrots, etc. Incredibly innovative! Check out their Yahoo Group and look at their photos: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gardengoddessnetwork/

The next big conference was the MOSES Organic Farming Conference two weekends ago in La Crosse, WI. It used to be called the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, but since they realized they're the biggest deal in the country, they're just calling it the "Organic Farming Conference" from now on! It was huge indeed! 2400 people attended the conference this year! It was exciting and totally overwhelming for me to have all those organic farmers and organic supporters all in one place! I'm used to having to defend my preference for local, organic, sustainable foods and fibers, but for once I was not in the minority on that account. I think anyone who aspires to farm nowadays generally feels like an oddball, but at MOSES I definitely found "my people."

And then, I found them all again next weekend in Milwaukee! Ok, not all 2400 of them, this conference was much smaller, which was a bit easier to digest for me. I felt like I got more out of the workshops, too, since the smaller size gave more folks a chance to get their questions answered. The highlight of that conference for me (aside from the amazing food!), was the SPIN farming workshop. SPIN stands for Small Plot INtensive, and was developed by a couple cannuks in Saskatchewan. They've figured out how to make $50,000 on a half acre of land by growing and strategically marketing vegetables! If you don't believe me, check out their website at www.spinfarming.com. I've been so jazzed up about farming since that workshop that I'm ready to run out and buy a farm! But, no... I'm restraining myself for now (my monthly visits from Sallie Mae are a helpful reminder that I'm in no position to invest in land). Also, I discovered that Milwaukee is a really fun place to hang out. The first time I visited there when I was in high school I pretty much just went to see a band play, and spent most of the time at an outlying KOA. Also, I wasn't yet of age to enjoy Milwaukee's greatest tourist attraction -- the beer! So much irresistible microbrews! We went to the Milwaukee Ale House, and then at the conference we were served Capital Brewery beer and liquor from Death's Door (both made from wheat and juniper grown on Washington Island in Door County). Finally, to round out my blue collar experience of Milwaukee, I went to see the Drive By Truckers at the Pabst Theater! The concert was great, and the beer flowed like... ok, there was just a lot of beer drinking going on! Also, thanks to Caroline's friend Christy for putting us up (and putting up with us!) the whole time!

So, that's my little update. More servings of tasty local food stories from around the web coming up soon!

Action Alert: Farm Bill Deadline March 15

Debate on the 2007 Farm Bill is STILL underway, which means we need to keep pressing for a fair farm bill that supports small, family, organic, and sustainable farmers!

If your senator or representative serves on the agriculture committee, please contact him/her before the March 15th deadline. Please ask your representative to fully fund these critical priorities:
$2 billion in additional mandatory funding over the next five years for the Conservation Security Program (CSP)
$15 million in annual mandatory funding for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and $5 million in annual mandatory funding for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account Program
$40 million in annual mandatory funding for the Value-Added Producer Grant
$16 million in annual mandatory funding for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative

Not sure if your senator or representative serves on an ag committee? Here's the list for the Midwest region:
SENATE
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Kent Conrad (R-ND)
Charles Grassley (R-IA)

HOUSE
Collin Peterson (MN-7th)
Leonard Boswell (IA-3rd)
Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (SD)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)

CALL TODAY: Capitol Switchboard 202.224.3121
Ask for your senator or representative.

Local Food Hero Radio Show: Saturdays 1-2pm (Central)

Minnesota-based non-profit Renewing the Countryside is now hosting their own radio show on Air America Minnesota AM 950. The show is called "Local Food Hero" and airs from 1-2pm every Saturday afternoon. For those out of radio broadcast range you can listen online by going to www.airamericaminnesota.com. I haven't listened yet, so I can't vouch for the quality, but the folks at Renewing the Countryside are top notch!