Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/agriculture/page/26/)
Skeptics claim the world would starve if farmers were to depend on organic practices. Not so says a new report from Rodale Institute, a name and force in organic agriculture and gardening for over 60 years. You may be familiar with a couple of its publications, Organic Gardening and Prevention Magazine.
The Minneapolis City Council will be voting on the complete Urban Ag Text Amendments on March 1 during the Zoning and Planning Committee meeting. As we’ve reported here before, these text amendments are an important step toward making urban farming a key part of the city’s fabric. Continue Reading
My little herd now numbers an even dozen: four mature cows, three first-time heifers (expecting their first calves), a steer that’ll be ready to harvest in July or August, and four 10-month old calves (one heifer and three steers).
If all goes as planned (yes, I’m grinning), we should greet seven new calves in late-March-late April.
Some think the answer is “not a heck of a whole lot,” but others are pushing for the connections.
.jpg)
Somewhere in Brazil there is a piglet who has been squealing for her Minnesota swill.This little piggy is caught up in international export red tape because the federal Food and Drug Administration has temporarily stopped issuing Good Manufacturing Practices certificates for commercial feed operations. Brazil and the Dominican Republic require the certificates from U.S. feed manufacturers before they’ll accept commercial feed exports. Other countries may soon follow suit.Frustrated Minnesota suppliers with feed export deals are crying “wee, wee, wee” at home.“We had the country of Brazil back in 2010 put in place barriers for us to be able to import our products, and one of those was getting a certificate of Good Manufacturing Practices from a state or federal agency,” said Matt Frederking, director of regulatory affairs and operations for Ralco Nutrition in Marshall.“A lot of the products we move into the global marketplace are non-medicated feed additives, and so at the federal level prior to 2011, they would issue these documents.”But with passage of the federal Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, the issuance of GMP certifications stopped until new stricter rules can be adopted. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has never had to inspect and issue a GMP certificate for non-medicated feed before, so there are no rules at the local level either.As the FDA goes through the process of writing the new federal rules, manufacturers of non-medicated feed are losing patience and money.Some states are scurrying to pass their own rules to authorize the issuance of state GMP certificates. Kansas is the only state that has started issuing GMP certificates.Doug Lueders, MDA supervisor for the commercial feed regulatory program, estimates conducting the necessary inspections could take between 20 and 40 hours per facility, depending upon the compliance level of each feed facility. Continue Reading
Proposed amendments to the City of Minneapolis’ zoning code would allow community members to turn a profit off of their market gardens and urban farms.The changes to the code, authored by Ward 2 Councilman Cam Gordon with help from community members, will make it so individuals can sell their own produce, which was not allowed under the old code. Gordon’s proposal passed the City Planning Commission on Jan. 23.Russ Henry supports the proposed changes. His landscaping business, Giving Tree Gardens, specializes in organic garden installation and maintenance.“This is about a lot more than community gardening,” Henry said. “This is about opening the door for selling food in Minneapolis that was grown in Minneapolis, and that has never been allowable under city code.”Henry said he considers Minneapolis to be progressive, but that other cities are way ahead.“In this arena of urban farming, we are lagging behind other communities who have a similar demographic representation,” he said.The push for looser zoning codes is closely tied to the urban agricultural plan created in April 2011 by Homegrown Minneapolis and overseen by Mayor R.T. Rybak as an initiative to increase local food production.The newly classified market gardens allow produce to be sold and includes rooftops or inside gardens. Continue Reading
The seed catalogs are gathering, the sun is shining and the moist soil beckons every green thumber to start digging in.
Twin Cities and Northfield area food cooperatives and their farmer-suppliers are featured in a series of videos that are premiering on the National Cooperative Business Association website as part of the United Nations’ International Yea Continue Reading
Do you want to grow your own fresh produce?
If anyone doubts that homegrown food or urban agriculture is gaining popularity, just ask the 98 people citywide who applied to serve on the new City-Community Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council.