Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/agriculture/page/12/)
Released on the heels of heavy rainfall across the state, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) released the findings of its study of nitrogen in surface waters today, right around the time that the Supreme Court released its landmark decision repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. Continue Reading
Friday, June 21, 2013
It’s 4:30 a.m. and I’m sitting up in bed, listening to the downpour and wondering what’ll mean for us. The approaching thunder woke me up an hour ago and I kept hoping that’s all we’d get – a light show. I tried to figure out if the rumbles were traveling west to east and staying south of us. No. The rain started coming down, hard, at about 4:00. Drat. Continue Reading
Take away USDA Rural Development dollars and you start taking away small town assets, such as nursing homes, hospital expansions, access to affordable housing, wastewater infrastructure, and business development. Minnesota 2020’s latest report, Blueprints for Rural Progress highlights the importance of these community development programs in sustaining a strong rural way of life.
As I dream of real summer weather, one of the things I look forward to most is picking strawberries with my little cousins at a pick-your-own farm near our family cabin up in Aitkin County. The first time we tried it, the kids were so excited we had to go back two times in one day and filled five ice cream gallon buckets with ruby red fruit, sweet and sun-warmed as we relished in harvesting that evening’s dessert. Continue Reading
When LaDonna Redmond couldn’t find an organic tomato within 10 minutes of her home in her Chicago neighborhood, she decided to become an urban farmer. Her urban garden led to a grass-roots movement of citywide-and then national-conversations about food justice. It is her quest to see that every citizen has a right to food. She now lives in Minneapolis and is the founder of a new organization (Campaign for Food Justice Now) to be a one-stop shop for individuals and organizations working on issues of food justice.
On Saturday, May 25, IATP participated in the March Against Monsanto (MAM) in St. Paul, Minnesota. The MAM took place in 436 cities in 52 countries, with an estimated two million participants. Monsanto was the focus not only because of the scale and reach of its products, but because of its undue influence on the global food system. A recent Food and Water Watch report, summarizing 936 Wikileaks documents, gives an idea of what the U.S. State Department has done to change laws and enable sales of Monsanto products around the world. Indeed, multiple U.S. federal agencies have advanced the company’s commercial interests, in the face of the rejection of Monsanto products by many farmers, consumers, academics and governments. Nevertheless, in the name of free trade and food security, the U.S. promotes GMOs to “feed the world.” Continue Reading
Erin Schneider’s enthusiasm for learning is active and contagious. In this Deep Roots Radiointerview (earlier this month), Erin talks about her visit with Senegalese women farmers – how she got there and what she learned. Continue Reading
Just two weeks ago, firefighters from four cities fought a 200-acre grass fire near Pennock, in west central Minnesota. By Memorial Day weekend, standing water in low spots had farmers from Willmar to Fergus Falls parking their tractors, waiting for fields to dry before finishing spring planting. Continue Reading
After a long, long winter, the sun was finally showing its face again when Erin Schneider and I chatted during this Deep Roots Radio interview. Her attitude – about farming, on-farm research, and learning from peers in Africa – was as welcoming as the warming weather. And maybe it’s that quality that draws visitors to the farm she’s building with her husband, Rob McClure in LaValle, Wisconsin. Continue Reading
