The crops that people like me think of as food (fruits and veggies) are not what the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are talking about when they note the dramatic decline in farm income, down 38% this year, according to the USDA as reported in Huffington Post.
The big drops in income are among dairy farmers, […]

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The contentious aftermath of the op/ed piece written by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey rejecting “Obamacare” shows no signs of abating. If you take a moment to read the piece, Mackey’s anti-government tone rings strong and clear. Sounding like a Tea Bagger, he wrote:
“A careful reading of both The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution […]

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The first challenge in preparing for a fall and winter harvest is to get your seeds to germinate if temperatures get too high. Johnny’s Selected Seeds has launched a newsletter that offers information on the germination temps required for a variety of different root crops and greens. For some crops, starting indoors is safest. Others […]

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The following abstract reports on the research findings entitled “Changes in transcript abundance relating to colony collapse disorder in honey bees (Apis mellifera)” by Reed M. Johnson, Jay D. Evans, Gene E. Robinson and May R. Berenbaum. (Copyright laws prevent from supplying the PDF of the full article.) The study explores the link between the […]

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In 2007, Wired magazine ran an article about how vertical farms could help feed an exploding world population. The article argues:
“[B]y 2050, Earth’s population will swell to 9 billion people. Feeding them — especially if they demand protein-rich Western diets — will require a doubling, even a tripling of global food supplies. But more than […]

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Our intrepid reporter Henry Brimmer interviewed MSU student Rachel Beyer at the Student Organic Farm about the late blight outbreak. Rachel expressed concerned that the farm could lose all of its 900 feet of tomato plants as the blight spreads.

bad news at the student organic farm II from Henry Brimmer on Vimeo.

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Perhaps no one appreciates local growers more than restaurateur Rick Bayless, owner of three Chicago Mexican restaurants, Topolobampo, Frontera Grill and Frontera Fresca. Not only does he maintain a rooftop garden to augment what he buys from local growers, but Bayless has literally put his money where his mouth is, by founding the Frontera Foundation […]

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Alternet offers an article by former Texas Ag Secretary Jim (Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times) Hightower that lambastes Bush appointee Barbara Robinson for failing to regulate organic food production during her reign as head of USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP). As Hightower notes, an exemption that allows up to 5% of the ingredients labeled organic to […]

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Today’s markets sell tiny baskets suited to serving our nuclear families

I visited the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market on Wednesday for a photo shoot. I also planned to pick up a bushel of pickling cucumbers, figuring I would make a slew of pint jars of Bread and Butter pickles to give to friends as Christmas gifts.
Didn’t […]

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