·      9-year-old’s lunch blog gets banned by politicians, then unbanned by internet outrage http://goo.gl/Dq4q9

·      Greece’s ‘potato movement’ grows in power http://goo.gl/mLCRA

A growing group of grassroots activists are cutting out agricultural middlemen and connecting farmers and shoppers.

·      Food for All: How to Respond to Market Excesses http://goo.gl/jATM6

·      We Know More About Who Makes Our Bombs Than Who Feeds Our Kids http://goo.gl/FAJQK

o   Report: Food Stamps: Follow the Money http://goo.gl/X6Ylh

o   Report wants to know how much soda is bought with US food stamps http://reut.rs/Kk87Sc

o   How Much Do Corporations Benefit from Food Stamps? http://bit.ly/LGIw6v

·      Beyond Factory Farming: Creating An Appetite For Pastured Poultry http://goo.gl/X7H4A

·      Paraguay land eviction turns deadly in Cnindeyu http://goo.gl/Evx21

·      Small Scale Slaughterhouses Aim To Put The ‘Local’ Back In Local Meat http://goo.gl/8BPh5

·      The American Diet in One Chart http://bit.ly/K1sHly

·      Red Bluff (CA) Success Story: Fish friendly project on Sacramento River near completion http://goo.gl/6WAMv

·      Guardian UK Letters: Bigger is not better in farming http://bit.ly/MxjBgE

·      Philadelphia invests in fresh food to fight obesity – but will it work? http://goo.gl/uWVBV

·      Libya is overrun with locusts http://bit.ly/MojRTi

·      Peebottle Farms: Insta-heirloom http://goo.gl/7CgHa

·      Reo Shutters Monster Landfill Ahead of Rio+20 http://bit.ly/KnKwwx

·      Chefs with Issues: Buying food is a political act http://goo.gl/RExac

·      Book review: ‘Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man’ by Mark Kurlansky http://goo.gl/lnZmC

·      Real Food Right Now and How to Cook It: Lettuce http://goo.gl/EotY1

With a whole lot of information on heirloom varieties, nutrition and history…

·      China’s Wuhan city covered in mysterious haze http://goo.gl/2wlkc

Farmers blamed…

·      California’s Deadlocked Delta: Interactive Map http://goo.gl/Bv7Ar

·      Washington Cottage Food Law to go live June 24 http://bit.ly/L2QUMN

·      Tyson says stops buying wheat for feed due cost http://reut.rs/KijcmR

·      Americans Spending Less Money on Groceries, But Greater Share of It on Processed Food http://huff.to/NwpQqw

o   UK: Food Safety Paying the Price of Higher Grocery Prices? (UN Food Price Index) http://bit.ly/NfKwnQ

·      Bokashi, Japanese Composting Method, May Be New Food Waste Solution http://huff.to/M0TSz0

·      Food Waste Prevention Toolkit http://bit.ly/MEUU2C

·      UK Parliament: Environmental Audit Committee – Eleventh Report

Sustainable Food http://bit.ly/KtU5yR

·      WWF UK: Selling Sustainability? In Search of the Retail Business Case of Selling Sustainable Diets http://bit.ly/k54U8c

·      Climate change could cause ‘zombie weeds’ http://goo.gl/ls75V

Climate change may be wreaking havoc on ecosystems and food supplies around the world, but there are also some things it’s really great for – like weeds.

·      NYC’s Rooftop Farming Boom Continues With World’s Largest in The Bronx http://goo.gl/Z1hnT

NYC has released an RFP (http://goo.gl/W1cSr) for a 200,000 sq ft rooftop farm at Hunts Point Food Distribution Center…

·      Maryland Milk Spill: Tanker Spills 5,000 Gallons of Milk http://goo.gl/jMmxz

·      How the Green Economy Has Hijacked by the Greed Economy http://goo.gl/KJ5fe

The whole system is about cheating nature while making profit from it.

o   Not for Sale: Why We Can’t Save the Planet By Putting a Price on Nature http://goo.gl/gqhSk

·      Climate Change, Food Security and the G-20 http://goo.gl/J3874

·      The Story of the Millennium Seed Bank Project http://goo.gl/J91Lk

 

Labor

·      Wage Theft Epidemic: Bosses Pocket 15 Percent of Workers’ Pay http://bit.ly/LwN9jy

There has been a 400-percent increase in wage-and-hour violation claims over the last 11 years – and that just scratches the surface of unreported wage thefts.

·      Working At The Bottom Of The Food Chain http://goo.gl/8aqro

A new report from the Food Chain Workers Alliance found that only 13.5% of food workers make a livable wage http://goo.gl/Itqfv

·      School Cafeteria Workers In Western Pennsylvania Win Right To Eat Expired Food For Free http://goo.gl/xdqK6

·      Guest Workers Claim Abusive Conditions In Louisiana Seafood Facility http://huff.to/LkTOZL

·      Plantations, Prisons and Profits http://nyti.ms/LlPV6X

·      Only 13.5 Percent of Food Workers Earn a Living Wage http://bit.ly/KvUalj

In 2011, the lowest paying jobs nationwide, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics…

·      Chicago Workers’ Economic Plan: Go Co-Operative! http://goo.gl/EjykB

·      Wal-mart PR Officers Poses as Journalist to Spy on Union Workers http://goo.gl/BbTgX

·      A Guide to America’s Worst Restaurants for Workers http://goo.gl/OEBPw

·      Will Fast Food Ever Be Unionized? http://goo.gl/FlHrp

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

·      FDA Moves (slowly) Towards BPA Ban for Infant Formula Packaging http://goo.gl/dVPyh

·      Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and Deputy Mayor Gibbs Announce Local Food Procurement Guidelines http://bit.ly/LAMRao

·      It’s All About the Farm Bill

o   Sanders Calls For GMO Labeling Amendment To Farm Bill http://goo.gl/BBb64

“Amendment number 2310 is about allowing states to honor the wishes of their residents and allowing consumers to know what they are eating,” said Sander. “If this is not a conservative amendment I don’t know what is. Americans deserve the right to know what they and their children are eating and that is what this amendment is all about.
 

o   To Truly Fix Food System, the Farm Bill Should Restore Fair Markets http://bit.ly/OAWEgn

o   Food Leaders: The Farm Bill Props Up The Wrong People http://bit.ly/LjObcU

o   Food Safety Penalties, Raw Milk Among Senate Farm Bill Amendments http://goo.gl/sSXwn

o   Pauls (R-TX) Want Raw Milk Access in Farm Bill & GOP Platform http://goo.gl/nt5g7

o   Soda and Obesity: Lautenberg Introduces Farm Bill Amendment Requiring Feds to Study Link http://goo.gl/5epEK

o   Can California stomach the Farm Bill? http://bit.ly/LQZUBY

o   Senators Aim to Add National Egg Standards to Farm Bill http://bit.ly/LkENZw

… phase out of battery cages, over 18 years, and double the space for each of the nations more than 250 million egg-laying hens…

o   Wyden Amendment: Interview: David Bronner and the White House Hemp Civil Disobedience http://bit.ly/Kw4qFL

o   Halt Farm Bill Attacks on the Clean Water Act http://bit.ly/LKFKgq

o   Inforgraphic: The Hidden Costs of the Farm Bill http://goo.gl/A8qiQ

·      The President’s Rural Term Paper http://bit.ly/Mzn0ML

The Obama administration released a report Monday on its policies and accomplishments in rural America during the President’s first term in office. Rural equals agriculture in this report – and that leaves out the environment, worker safety, education and the hearings the administration held across the country on the lack of competition in the ag business.

·      Investing in Rural Kansas’ Future http://goo.gl/Xes26

·      ‘Cranberry Caucus’ Wants Regulators to Go Easy On Cranberry Juice http://goo.gl/Pz2UU

It’s all about added sweeteners…

·      Judge Rules Restaurant Law Stifles Ohio Cities (trans fats) http://nyti.ms/L5qpaM

·      FDA: South Korea Shellfish Should Be Pulled From Markets http://goo.gl/YF9vh

… because of possible contamination with human waste and norovirus. Oh Yum!

·      Fracking and the Food System http://goo.gl/GCXu3

·      Amazonian Communities Occupy the Belo Monte Dam Site (freeing the Xingu River) http://goo.gl/kST3r

 

GMOs/Cloning/Nanotechnology/Poisons

·      Monsanto’s Genetically-Modified “DroughGard” Corn Barely a Drop in the Bucket: Report Finds Limited Prospects for GE Crop to Combat Drought and Conserve Water http://bit.ly/NqV6qU

·      90 Percent of People Want Labeling on Engineered Food, But We Still Don’t Have it: Why Is That? http://bit.ly/JV12Tw

More than a million people have asked the FDA for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food, yet we still don’t have it. Why? Here’s a little history lesson

·      Fake blood oranges http://goo.gl/UjPB8

The latest GM baby to emerge from UK labs has provided a wonderful PR opportunity: it is an orange which is nutritionally-improved to cure obesity no matter how much junk food you eat…

Will we never learn???

·      Guardian UK: How California’s GM food referendum may change what America eats http://bit.ly/MDZvSP

The vast majority of Americans want genetically modified food labeled. If California passes November’s ballot, they could get it

·      Monsanto Corn Injured by Early Rootworm Feeding in Illinois http://goo.gl/ganUx

o   More Acreage Needed to Slow Pest Resistance to Biotech Corn http://goo.gl/XrCmX

Plant non GM corn around the field of GM corn to protect the GM corn, that is the answer they have to the problem?

·      Monsanto may lose GM soya royalties throughout Brazil http://goo.gl/cg5DY

This is amazing…

o   Five Million Brazilian Farmers Sue Monsanto http://bit.ly/LgAzVo (from last weeks posting)

 

Healthy/Humane/Safe Food & Water?

·      Former Coke executive slams ‘share of stomach’ soda advertising http://bit.ly/MhlAsQ

o   Soda Tax Goes Federal http://bit.ly/Lgnier

·      The gloves can come off, as far as I’m concerned http://wapo.st/LR1m7b

·      Organic Meats May Have Higher Risk of Parasites (Toxoplasma godii, toxoplasmosis) http://huff.to/L4SUnc

·      A Spy in the Slaughterhouse http://goo.gl/9oAlr

Wanting to see how meat is killed and process on the industrial scale, Timothy Pachirat posed as a plant worker. Here’s what he saw.

·      New Dutch research supports the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics http://bit.ly/NxTYBW

·      Kroger Calls on Its Pork Suppliers to Accelerate Elimination of Gestation Crates http://goo.gl/LJy8O

Nation’s largest grocery chain becomes the latest food company to address this critical animal welfare issue.

·      Court to FDA: Follow the Law on Curbing overuse of Antibiotics in Livestock http://goo.gl/yrykS

·      Is USDA Playing Chicken with Chickens? http://goo.gl/VCpjT

·      What Hass Massive Breasts, a Weak Heart, and a Lifespan of 42 Days? http://bit.ly/MEt61H

·      What Pesticides Are on Your Food? http://goo.gl/zmGEh

Online resources and apps can raise your agricultural awareness

·      Fire Retardant in Food http://goo.gl/JlrWt

·      The Clean Water Act at 40: There’s Still Much Left to Do http://goo.gl/4RwZv

The Clean Water Act of 1972, one of the boldest environmental laws ever enacted, turn 40 this year, with an impressive record of cleaning up America’s waterways. But from New York Harbor to Alaska’s Bristol Bay, key challenges remain.

o   New York likely to limit fracking – to some of the state’s poorest counties http://bit.ly/L54oHE

o   New York Fracking Ban: Cuomo’s Energy Proposal Polarizes Supporters and Opponents http://huff.to/LA1z1q

o   Fracking Los Angeles: What Life Is Like on the Country’s Biggest Urban Oilfield http://bit.ly/L3ejPh

Unregulated fracking is happening in Los Angeles communities and residents are taking action and raising their voices in protest.

o   Water Too Dangerous to Drink: What Life’s Like in Calfiornia’s Farming Communities http://bit.ly/LjT2Op

State officials know the primary source of contamination, just how extensive it is and who’s shouldering the burden. But will anything be done?

o   Mark Ruffalo vs. Ohio Frackers http://bit.ly/MvjHb6

o   Ohio and Alabama Stand Up Against Fracking http://goo.gl/u7dYN

o   Police Raid Anti-Fracking Encampment in Pennsylvania http://goo.gl/ddsO4

·      The Surprising Effect of Agriculture on Rising Sea Levels http://goo.gl/pdHzB

·      McDonald’s Chef: ‘I Don’t See Anything On The Menu That’s Unhealthy’ http://goo.gl/G9aAV

·      FDA Improves Adulterated Foods Tracking System http://bit.ly/MNbi4w

·      Better Than Sugar? The Truth About 6 Alternative Natural Sweeteners http://bit.ly/Kle6AW

The global market for non-sugar sweeteners is expected to reach nearly $10 billion by 2016. But what’s in this stuff, and is it worth the switch?

 

Education

·      Center for Ecoliteracy: USDE Green Ribbon Schools http://bit.ly/LhcjCo

US Department of Education Announces Plans for Green Ribbon Schools Award: http://1.usa.gov/plEwYt

 

Events

·      NOFA – NY Upcoming On-Farm Field Days http://bit.ly/ghVjkr

o   June 20, 2012: Alternative Meat Markets, Chenango Co., Norwich, NY

o   June 22, 2012: Certified Hay and Grain Rotations for a Successful Organic Farm Plan, Steuben Co., Avoca, NY

o   June 24, 2012: Traditional Cooking Classes, Callicoon, NY

And more…

·      Farmworker Reality Tour, San Jose, CA, Sunday July 22, 2012 http://bit.ly/LGMmMU