Local & Sustainable
animalvegetablemiracle.com
With food prices rising, seed sales rise too. Successful seed starting requires only a strong - and adjustable - light source and a table for holding trays in a warm spot. A cold frame - easily made with bricks and an old window protects new seedlings before transplanting time. And: Plans for making cold frames, hotbeds (click 'See also').
By Adrian Higgins
The Washington Post 2009-01-01 (entry)
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Panettone is a traditional Italian holiday bread.
Italy's agriculture minister asks Italians to choose among the 4,500 foods of Italian origin - sausage-like zampone, cotechino or panettone, oranges, apples, kiwi - this holiday and to skip the items that travel 2,500 kilometers to market. Coffee, he says, is exception. And: panettone recipe (click 'See also').
By Colleen Barry
The Associated Press; International Herald Tribune 2008-12-18 (entry)
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Practical, personal food reforms begin with understanding that food is central to economy, society, and our lives, says Eric Schlosser, co-producer of documentary, 'Food, Inc.' 'Changing the food system can be a real pleasure....Eating well is a joy. So is working with others, and restoring a sense of community.' Other tips: Shop locally, seasonally. Don't invest in companies that harm animals, workers, or land.
By Karla Cook
Princeton Alumni Weekly 2008-11-19 (entry)
The mackerel population is abundant, though a mercury advisory has been issued for King and Spanish varieties.
Now that we have caught large portion of all the fish in the sea and we're feeding fish to animals, not people, we have two choices. Either allow overfished species to return to sustainable levels while we broaden our appetites to include mackerel, sardines, anchovies and herring (click 'See also'), or face future of industrially farmed, flavor-deficient fish and accompanying environmental degradation.
By Mark Bittman
The New York Times 2008-11-16 (entry)
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Citing urgent need to retain viable fishing industry, European Commission proposes drastic cuts in fishing limits and ban on several others to let populations recover from overfishing. But EU governments regularly ignore pleas from EU and scientists to limit fishing. And: Anchovy populations now unstable, UK group says (click 'See also').
By Jessica Aldred (and agencies)
The Guardian (UK) 2008-11-10 (entry)
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By feeding small fish to farmed fish, pigs and poultry, humans are out-eating the aquatic species that depend on those forage fish for existence - and threatening foundation of oceanic life. We must encourage less meat-based eating habits as true sign of affluence, and support sustainable agriculture in developing world. And: These small, tasty fish could feed people, says researcher (click 'See also').
The editors
The New York Times 2008-11-10 (entry)
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Sweden town's power production from restaurant waste, slaughterhouse waste and sewage inspires town in Rust Belt to try similar plan for bus fuel. Michigan's governor, whose grandfather was Swedish, learned about alternative fuel technology from diplomat who grew up in Flint.
By Kari Lydersen
The Washington Post 2008-11-02 (entry)
Umbrian vineyard, olive community reduces carbon footprint with cars, golf carts, bikes using batteries powered by center that stores solar-sourced electricity for up to three days. Farm owners also have invested in fleet of mini-tractors that use non-food biofuels and planted 10,000 trees as carbon sink.
By Duncan Kennedy
BBC News 2008-10-18 (entry)
New UK food ethics report calls for radical reform of supermarket industry and backs UN plea to reduce meat consumption in favor of produce. It also encourages urban food production, local processing and use of public money to encourage more sustainable food and production.
By Juliette Jowit
The Guardian (UK) 2008-10-08 (entry)
Growing Slow Food means expanding notion of pleasure to include good work of those who could shift reliance on industrial, mass-market food system to sustainable, ecological one, proponents say. Pushing global outlook and advocacy for exploited agricultural workers should be next, says activist. Movement's progress shown with organic produce now at Wal-Mart, and buy-local requirement at Chipotle Mexican Grills.
By Bobby White
The Wall Street Journal. (may require subscription) 2008-09-02 (entry)
Keeping kosher or halal can reduce or increase carbon footprint, depending on replacements for pork (mid-range emissions) and shrimp (energy-intensive, environmentally damaging). Good substitutes: produce, chicken, herring, wild salmon. And: Poultry industries have worked since 2005 to persuade EPA to ease reporting requirements of ammonia emissions from their vast manure lagoons (click 'See also').
By Emily Gertz
Scientific American 2008-09-25 (entry)
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Media's embrace of 1,500 - a not-quite-right number of food miles from farm to plate - is quick way to explain complex subject, but shows that oversimplifying has its pitfalls. New Zealand lamb may be better than grain-fed local, but to combat global warming, best solution is to eat less meat. Bottom line: It matters what you buy and where you buy it.
By Jane Black
Slate 2008-09-17 (entry)
Cost, quality and healthiness trump sustainability for all but 10 percent in UK survey. Additionally, large number of respondents preferred choice of fruit/vegetables year 'round despite extra food miles, as well as a wide variety of fish regardless of stock levels. Two-fifths surveyed were unable to define sustainability.
By Jane Byrne
nutraingredients.com 2008-09-15 (entry)
From high-tech, expensive Italian efforts to digging a hole and filling it with manure, efforts to restore soil are widespread - and working. Payoff fights hunger, attacks water scarcity and could reduce global warming (click 'See also'). Restoring soil is solution to political stability, environmental quality. Political, economic institutions treat soil like dirt.
By Charles C. Mann
National Geographic Magazine 2008-09-01 (entry)
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Perceived health benefits, ambience and food safety concerns turn shoppers from supermarkets to farmers' markets. 'Salmonella scares are good for business,' says Massachusetts vegetable farmer. Governor lauds markets for raising awareness of both agricultural diversity and need to preserve open space.
By Robert Knox
The Boston Globe 2008-08-28 (entry)
Environmental impact of growing foods far from where they're sold can be low enough to outweigh negative impact of transporting foods long distance, depending on farming practice efficiency, local conditions. With a potato, 45 percent of its energy demand until it's eaten, comes from transportation, and then, how it's cooked.
By Natasha Loder
Conservation Magazine 2008-07-01 (entry)
Garden-to-Kitchen program teaches elementary schoolchildren - and adults - to plant and harvest vegetables, but it's also helping needy Oregon families save money on their grocery bills. Success may help program expand to more schools and communities, says founder.
By Jillian Daley
Statesman Journal (OR) (may require purchase) 2008-07-31 (entry)
The Kingsbury Farm runs along Route 100 and has Mad River frontage.
After nine-month rollercoaster ride and high community interest, Vermont Foodbank gets into the farming business with planned purchase of scenic 20-acre farm. Property will teach links between agriculture, food systems and hunger - and will allow group to stock state's pantries with fresh produce. And: In Virginia, volunteers grow produce, then donate it. (click 'See also').
By Mel Huff
Times Argus (VT) 2008-07-30 (entry)
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Cool hobby of gardening teaches children skills that help them succeed.
Vegetable gardening has become wild and dangerous, a radical way to rebel against authority and subvert the dominant industrial-food paradigm, says longtime gardener, once the dweebiest of dorks who grew tomatoes outside his dorm room. Young people are flocking to the garden. We'll tend our veggies while we wait to see if our hobby is passing fad or lasting effort to diversify our food system. Click 'See also' for more columns.
By John Hershey
San Francisco Chronicle 2008-07-26 (entry)
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Chicago Transit considers adding L stops in or near grocery stores, or even restaurants, to tap into commuters' need for dinner ingredients. Adding such commercial development could reap an extra $100 million over the next five years.
By Robert Manor
Chicago Tribune 2008-07-17 (entry)
As customers demand environmentally friendly foods, grocers respond. Most comprehensive guidelines are at Whole Foods. They include prohibitions on preservatives, antibiotics, hormones and other chemicals, as well as farming in wetlands and mangroves. They limit amount of wild fish in farmed fish food.
By Ylan Q. Mui
The Washington Post 2008-07-16 (entry)
Illinois task force works toward eat-local policy, but biggest obstacle may be farmers who mostly grow corn, soybeans. State imports more than 90 percent of its food. One Iowa county mandated in 2006 that county-run departments buy only food grown and processed within 100 miles.
By Gerry Smith
Chicago Tribune 2008-07-06 (entry)
Growing number of shoppers hire personal farmers - in reverse kind of sharecropping. Some weed, harvest and water; most see investment as either bargain or green sense. States with most Community Supported Agriculture efforts include New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California.
By Susan Saulny
The New York Times 2008-07-10 (entry)
Rome Sustainable Food Project at American Academy creates enthusiasm for delicious, natural, responsibly grown menu that elevates food to the level of art, architecture, history, and literature. Formal gardens now host patches of herbs, lettuces, and vegetables. Next year: An outdoor eating area, with working kitchen, pizza oven, and dining tables under the trees.
By Sharri Whiting De Masi
Food Arts 2007-10-01 (entry)
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American tastes shift to fresh, vine-ripened foods grown nearby, reshaping the business of growing and supplying food, with even big retailers devoting shelf space to local produce. The movement has already revived small farms. And: Farmers find their niche (click 'See also').
By Pallavi Gogoi
Business Week 2008-05-20 (entry)
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Several China-grown produce items are marketed as organic and USDA-approved at Whole Foods Market, but inspection and quality control in China - and at the border - don't match U.S. organic-certified standards. Environmental scientist says shoppers should ask how grocer can be sure that standards are met; Whole Foods says shoppers can choose domestic alternatives. For internal document obtained by WJLA that lists country of origin of many items, click 'See also.'
By Roberta Baskin
WJLA 2008-05-21 (entry)
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Culinary training school and soup kitchen in DC buys produce seconds from regional farmers for 50 percent to 70 percent less than those of wholesalers. Added benefit is building community - and a shepherd's pie with real mashed potatoes. The program, a pilot, is under way at a dozen college campuses.
By Jane Black
The Washington Post 2008-05-24 (entry)
Food again is vital to our national security. We don't want a repeat of food riots that occurred during the Civil War, the Panic of 1893, and the Great Depression. As it did in World War I, government should allocate funds to promote national school, home and community gardening. Back then, Uncle Sam said, "Garden!" and millions of Americans picked up their hoes.
By Daniel J. Desmond and Rose Hayden-Smith
Ventura County Star 2008-05-04 (entry)
Skyrocketing food, fuel prices push make local foods more competitive with agribusiness prices, pushing demand ahead of supply. Connecticut struggles to match willing farmers to vacant land. Locavores cite superior taste, fewer miles to market, a knowledge of the farmer and his practices, and the sense of community that buying local creates.
By Mark Peters
The Hartford Courant 2008-05-04 (entry)
4,000 acres of wetlands filter water for Clayton County, Ga.
As drought worsens in Georgia, one town is awash in drinking water after creating a Mother Nature-aided system of ponds and wetlands that filter wastewater and return it to reservoirs. A benefit: A nature preserve and the (very) loud singing of frogs on sultry nights. For tips on creating a lush landscape with harvested rainwater at home, click 'See also.'
By Kathy Lohr
National Public Radio 2008-05-01 (entry)
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Growing mint in a backyard garden means one less purchase at the supermarket.
The climate-change crisis, caused by our everyday choices, is upon us. We can tell ourselves stories to justify doing nothing; waiting for politicians or technology to solve the problem suggests we're not serious. But planting a garden reduces our sense of dependence. It's solar technology, it's nutritious, it's delicious, it's practically carbon-free, it reduces trash, it burns calories, it builds community and it sets a standard.
By Michael Pollan
The New York Times 2008-04-20 (entry)
High-end kitchen recycler persuades renovating homeowners to donate their high-end, barely used kitchens by talking up environmental benefits of recycling, making the process simple and fast, and making it a tax write-off. He sells the kitchens at a fraction of their original cost, but buyers learn they need a patient contractor for retrofitting.
By Christine Haughney
The New York Times 2008-04-10 (entry)
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Green fast-food chains offer convenience, but many are models for food quality, employee goodwill and environmental sensitivity. 'There's no point in creating a profitable business if it contributes to climate change,' says London restaurateur. In U.S., restaurant industry is biggest employer after government and largest retail consumer of electricity; 20 percent of litter is fast-food packaging.
By Mary Desmond Pinkowish
Ode 2008-04-01 (entry)
UN group calls for revolution in world agriculture, a return to ecologically sensitive farming techniques, and a reduction in distance between farm and fork. Current production has created unequal benefits and at high social and environmental cost; farming is responsible for more than one-third of world's most degraded land, study by 400 experts shows.
By Nick Miles
BBC News 2008-04-15 (entry)
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Restaurateur, grocery owner square off over plans to add farmers' market to restaurant parking lot in New Jersey shore town. At stake: tomatoes, peaches, corn, community involvement, free trade, convenience and environmentally friendly health, as well as a food purveyor that is the hub of summer food shopping and features a renovated deli case.
By Amy S. Rosenberg
The Inquirer (PA) 2008-04-06 (entry)
Feed corn, a federally subsidized crop, powers the nation's industrial food system.
As prices for fossil-fueled, federally-subsidized grain-driven grocery items and their packaging and transportation go up, there are relative bargains in the produce aisle. Michael Pollan and other food thinkers happily contemplate quality over quantity, imagining tiny, expensive Cokes, and a mass return to local fruits and vegetables, and to milk and meat from animals that are pasture-raised.
By Kim Severson
The New York Times 2008-04-02 (entry)
Stephanie Gross/The Washington Post
Joel Salatin, left, of Polyface Farms, and Phil Petrilli, of Chipotle.
Driven by concerns for food safety and fuel costs, as well as consumer demand for fresh, local food, Chipotle, other chains and food service providers launch buy-local experiments.The programs spur overhaul of operations and philosophy and foster new partnerships and cost-sharing with farmers.
By Jane Black
The Washington Post 2008-03-25 (entry)
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USDA seeks information on successes in farm-to-school initiatives, as well as barriers or difficulties to such programs for report it owes Congress. Director cites cooperative purchasing, local foods advocates and nutrition education as components of success; distribution and transportation as inhibitors.
By Cynthia A. Long
USDA Food and Nutrition Service 2008-03-07 (entry)
The Fruit Guys workers deliver mostly local fruit to corporate and institutional clients in San Francisco, Arizona and Nevada. Philadelphia is next.
In Silicon Valley, the same high-tech economy that expelled farmers and fruit tree orchards and verdant farms in favor of housing developments, shopping malls and office parks is throwing remaining growers a lifeline. Companies are demanding local, seasonal food to serve in their corporate cafeterias, and that is restoring agriculture to the valley and giving farmers a lucrative market they never had.
By Stett Holbrook
Metro Silicon Valley/Metroactive 2007-10-24 (entry)
Despite demand for local foods, government punishes farmers who usually grow subsidized corn, soybeans, rice, wheat and cotton if they plant fruits and vegetables instead. Those farmers must forfeit their subsidy, are fined the market value of the illicit crop and run the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for subsidies. Local and regional fruit and vegetable production will languish anywhere this program has influence.
By Jack Hedin
The New York Times 2008-03-01 (entry)
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Parmesan comes only from Italy's Parma, EU court rules, and Germany is left holding its own nameless version of the dry, crumbly cheese. But it's Italy's job to report to German authorities any violations, court says. Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano are the two most imitated Italian products in the world. Decision followed similar ruling on feta cheese: It's Greek, not Danish.
By Mark Tran and news services
The Guardian (UK) 2008-02-26 (entry)
Small grocers see opportunity after learning that 12 Chicago neighborhoods lose about $250 million in local sales because there are no nearby grocery stores. One couple, after beginning six-month 'nextOne' coaching program from the Chicago Urban League, has hired a manager and plans to open a second inner-city store.
By Francine Knowles
Chicago Sun-Times 2008-02-24 (entry)
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Plastic Bags, 2007. Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the U.S. every five seconds. (Partial zoom.)
Giving up bottled water was easy - a chance to cloak cheapness in environmental virtue. Abandoning plastic bags is an inconvenience that means changing the hearts and minds of others. First, we must remember to bring our own bags, then there's the disbelief and disgust of cashiers as the lines lengthen behind us at the supermarket.
By Jane Black
The Washington Post 2008-02-06 (entry)
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Planning group, citing food/agriculture sector's $1 trillion contribution to national economy and employment of 17 percent of labor force, strengthens links of traditional planning with community/regional food planning. New guide supports residents' health, local and regional economy, the environment, equitable and just food system, and sustenance of diverse traditional food cultures.
American Planning Association 2007-05-11 (entry)
After raising grass-fed cattle, Georgia farmer finds obstacles to slaughter and processing. So he is completing the link by building a Temple Grandin-designed slaughterhouse on lands his family has farmed for four generations. He hopes to entice his three daughters to stick with the land.
By Elizabeth Lee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2008-01-21 (entry)
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Gates Foundation awards $306 million to agricultural projects in Africa and developing world, nearly doubling its investment. Money will aid coffee, rice, irrigation work and soil health, mostly on small-scale farms run by women; coordinator pledges continued focus on soil and people.
By Robert A. Guth
The Wall Street Journal 2008-01-25 (entry)
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Bart Nagel/Edible San Francisco
The Texas Longhorn in terrazzo at Avedano’s meat market.
As trio of women finds niche at butcher shop that was once a neighborhood institution, they learn nuances of a vanishing skill from previous proprietor. Parade of eager customers finds labels - grass fed, organic, free-range - reflecting the new old-fashioned way.
By Bonnie Azab Powell
Edible San Francisco 2007-12-27 (entry)
Though farm-to-school programs exist in 10,800 schools in 34 states, it's still difficult to get local food onto children's plates. Five-part series examines challenges and successes of nutritious-delicious effort in Washington state, from difficulties of adding organics to school lunches, to hospitals that offer staff and patients locally grown produce.
By Jennifer Langston
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) 2007-10-15 (entry)
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Michael Pollan's seeming simple advice on how to eat leads others to minimalist poetry. Here's one from an editor: "Twelve-course tasting menu. Ego on a plate. The Michelin man." And this, from a chef: "Offal meats. Taste great. Eat more. Less waste."
By Bruce Cole
Edible San Francisco 2007-12-14 (entry)
When shopping for prawns, labels aren't provided. Customers are left to determine whether they're northern coldwater prawns from sustainable sources, or those caught by trawling, with other fish - sometimes up to 10 percent - caught, then discarded, in passing.
By Sheila Keating
The Times (UK) 2008-01-05 (entry)
Michigan entrepreneur, linking need of farmers to desire of chefs and other eaters, bets on enduring demand for locally available food. His new business, Cherry Capital Food, delivers produce from 60 farmers to schools, resorts, restaurants and grocery stores within a 100-mile radius.
By Peter Payette
Interlochen Public Radio/NPR 2008-01-04 (entry)
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Maryland prison adds beehives to its property in effort to better pollinate crops on its 18-acre inmate-worked farm, and last year's watermelons, cantaloupes, and squash benefited, officials believe. Future benefit will be honey, which would be served to inmates and sold.
By James Diehl
The Daily Times (MD) 2008-01-02 (entry)
Literature of localism omits hunters, the original locavores, who manage and harvest a sustainable, healthful food supply from the lands we love. Maintaining the ability to cull semi-rural and suburban deer herds, which annually injure 29,000 people in deer-vehicle collisions, and infect 13,000 Americans with Lyme disease, is just one of our challenges.
By Steven Rinella
The New York Times 2007-12-14 (entry)
Cooperative fishing, modeled on New Zealand and Australia, plus that for Pacific halibut, Alaskan crab, and East Coast clams in U.S., would yield more and leave more fish in the sea, study says. In the scenario, each fisherman would own a share of the harvest. But international waters fishing is compared to Wild West, where law isn't necessarily followed.
By Jeff Barnard
The Associated Press; The Washington Post 2007-12-07 (entry)
Calculating the benefits of organic versus local is nuanced, but researchers say that when we drive to the store and then toss leftovers in the garbage, it's the worst of all, and the pairing contributes up to a quarter of greenhouse gases associated with food. The answer? Walk. Compost.
By Andrew Martin
The New York Times 2007-12-09 (entry)
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Serving a side of environmental education alongside the sustainable main course, chef at Washington, D.C. restaurant is one of growing breed of restaurateurs who consider future bounty, and not only what's best at the market today.
By Marc Gunther
Fortune magazine 2007-12-03 (entry)
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Small group of women farmers in Guyana pledge to adopt organic methods for their crops of cassava, eddoes (a variety of taro), peanuts, ginger, plantains and coconut, saying they will leave behind synthetic fertilizers and old "slash-and-burn" methods.
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News (Guyana) 2007-11-26 (entry)
Excepting the occasional craving (Froot Loops as a midnight snack), the elegance and sustainability of keeping a neighbor farmer in business and him helping to feed us makes more sense than gambling on faceless producers who stamp organic on a package thousands of miles from our homes.
By John Cloud
Time magazine 2007-03-02 (entry)
Small farm adds moisture, turning and time to tons of Massachusetts' food and yard waste, creating tons of black gold in form of rich, organic and local topsoil, compost and fertilizer - exactly what landscapers, gardeners and farmers need.
By David Brown
TheBostonChannel.com 2007-11-27 (entry)
Longtime farmer couple in Tennessee go organic, raise chickens, sell eggs, raise llamas, sell honey, garden year 'round, and now have started cooking classes to encourage converts to the Slow Food movement. They enlisted the help of local chefs, two of whom credit their grandmothers for igniting their passion for food.
By Melanie Tucker
The Daily Tiimes (TN) 2007-11-28 (entry)
As farmers increasingly specialize in one or two crops, aging European gardeners become accidental guardians of biodiversity and flavor. Preservation is crucial because old seeds can be bred into mainstream food crops as climate changes and population grows, but new generation is eschewing agrarian lifestyle, and seeds are being lost.
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
The New York Times 2007-11-27 (entry)
Pot-in-pot innovation, which uses wet sand and evaporation as a cooling system, has become widely used in Africa, where refrigerators and electricity are costly and scarce. Its creator, a Nigerian teacher, has been honored by Rolex for improving human knowledge and well-being.
By Jill Moss
Voice of America 2007-11-25 (entry)
With rich timing, seventh-generation distiller, just the first to do it legally, finds a market for locally made vodka using cast-off parts from an old food processing factory and a coil for bottling that once was part of a cow-milking apparatus. There are about 100 such micro-distilleries across the country.
By Susan Saulny
The New York Times 2007-11-25 (entry)
Eating local makes sense when the farmers' market is joyously abundant, but subsisting on root vegetables all winter is best as a well-told story. The best way to cut fossil fuel use is not to skip the Chilean grapes, but to avoid accidents and congestion by walking to the market.
By Tim Harford
Forbes.com 2007-11-15 (entry)
Linking her "delicious revolution" to connecting with family and friends, nurturing health and the land, and teaching children how to choose, chef and author Alice Waters speaks on nutrition, physical activity and obesity at Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
By Elizabeth Lee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2007-11-13 (entry)
As large farms and companies acquire organic label, small farmers believe they must choose between the principles of healthy eating and environmental stewardship or federally sanctioned organic certification. One farmer, faced with choice, changed "organic" to "ornery."
By Matt King
Times Herald-Record (NY) 2007-11-11 (entry)
Vermont, long a proponent of growing your own and eating it too, contemplates prison-yard gardens and supplying Statehouse cafeteria as ways to boost the state's use of locally available food.
By Nancy Remsen
Burlington Free Press (VT) 2007-11-08 (entry)
Upper crust's eternal quest for distinction, expressed through edibles that others can't afford (sugar and tea in the Middle Ages) has moved from flavor-enhanced "superfoods" to "organic" but, with Wal-Mart now selling organics, "local" is both political and consumer movement. Which will prevail?
By John Feffer
Alphabet City Food Anthology; Foreign Policy in Focus 2007-10-16 (entry)
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As colleges evolve into new view of students as customers, cafeterias begin buying locally, thinking sustainably and replacing mystery meat with offerings like pesto-crusted pork loin and oven-roasted beef with black-pepper demiglace; at Bowdoin, if the food tastes like Mom makes, that's because it's Mom's recipe.
By Bonny Wolf
National Public Radio 2007-10-01 (entry)
