·      One More Benefit of Local Food http://bit.ly/MBfCoX

A farmer sings the praises of having non-farmers close at hand.

And from the other side of the coin: Take the romance out of farming and ditch locavorism http://bit.ly/RyjAOJ

·      The Best Little Chicken Sanctuary in Texas http://bit.ly/N97Mh4

·      It’s a Safe Health – Food Wonder, Agricultural Dream and Economic Jackpot: It’s Time to End our Government’s Insane Hemp Prohibition http://bit.ly/NmgMiK

·      Have sledgehammer, will farm http://bit.ly/LL7iyg

·      Woman Sues City of Tulsa for Cutting Down Her Edible Garden http://bit.ly/L3xHwn

·      In Maine, lobster that is cheaper than bologna http://on.msnbc.com/P0Y3k0

Lobstermen are getting $2.50 to $3.00 a pound for their catches, they can’t break even…

·      Iowa farm hosts farm tours for visitors (sponsored by Deere & Co., Pioneer, Jaycees, UI Extension, and Monsanto)

·      Blooming horrible http://econ.st/NW4lva

Nutrient pollution is a growing problem all along the Mississippi

·      As Long as the Rich Can Speculate on Food, the World’s Poor Go Hungry http://bit.ly/NiuMwb

When we think of overseas aid, we think of helping people who need it. The government says aid helps people overcome poverty. But does it?

This suggests some radical rethinking on our current system… that we do need.

·      EcoWatch: What Is Causing the Climate to Unravel? http://bit.ly/Npj2I9

40,000 heat records have already been broken this year across the US, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…

o   Crop Yield Shrinking Due to Climate Change http://bit.ly/LyNJKx

o   How Recor Heat and Drought Are Hiking World Food Prices http://bit.ly/OvvV6e

o   USDA ERS: Agricultural Adaptation to a Changing Climate: Economic and Environmental Implications Vary by Region http://1.usa.gov/M7uxYP

o   Climate Change: ‘This Is Just the Beginning’ http://bit.ly/P7MJl1

o   As Farmers Bite the Dust, “Megadrought” May Be the New Normal in the Southwest http://bit.ly/NmzDKy

o   Climate Change Belief Increased In US After Extreme Weather, NOAA Chief Says http://huff.to/N4B9Eg

·      The First Global Standards for Salmon Farming http://nyti.ms/NCTkOe and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council Standards: http://bit.ly/MBM236

·      New Dust Bowl? http://bit.ly/NDuoq6

Extreme heat, drought leave parched fields, desperate farmers in Midwest

·      Laws That Target Homeless Imperil Programs That Feed Them Outdoors http://goo.gl/Z9WNO

Labor

·      Wal-Mart: 50 Years of Gutting America’s Middle Class http://bit.ly/MOcg10

Walmart’s explosive growth has gutted two key pillars of the American middle class: small businesses and well-paid manufacturing jobs

·      US Agriculture Industry in Trouble as Workers Less Willing to Come to US http://bit.ly/LVXrLz

·      Worker Cooperative Startup Guides http://bit.ly/m2sHhz

·      How US Prison Labor Pads Corporate Profits at Taxpayers’ Expense http://bit.ly/PlBnKv

The worst abuses of the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PEI) occur in the agricultural sector…

Economics

·      Small Farmers Creating a New Business Model as Agriculture Goes Local http://nyti.ms/LK7uRT

·      This is Cornwall: Milk price (cuts) row sparks Olympics threat http://bit.ly/LERyxz

Major processors squeezing milk producers, purchasing milk for below production costs… Sound familiar?

·      6 Bogus Economic Arguments Used to Trash Local Food http://bit.ly/NHM2Zz

A critique of local food proves that the models used in neoliberal economics do not accurately apply to food and agriculture.

·      A New Era for Worker Ownership? http://bit.ly/OX7MXl

·      10 States Where Wages Are Falling http://huff.to/Ly3DEJ

·      The Rise of the New Economy Movement http://bit.ly/JJbDWw

·      To Profit or Not to Profit on the Food Movement? http://bit.ly/iKA3jI

Occupy, Anonymous & Protests

·      Occupy the Farm activists reoccupy UC Berkeley Farm plot in Albany (for harvest party) http://bit.ly/Ps9KPP

·      Occupy the Farm: Harvest Festival and Direct Action Work Party http://on.fb.me/L0EXIi

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

·      USDA: Top 10 Reasons to Shop at a Farmers Market http://1.usa.gov/M13TNt

·      It’s All About the Farm Bill

o   House Republicans Reject Food Stamp Compromise in Favor of Reform They Admit is ‘Out Of Date’ http://goo.gl/emJu7

“House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK), in an effort to push food stamp reform that would have a fighting chance in the Senate, made sizable changes to SNAP in the House version of the farm bill.”

o   GOP fights over major food stamp crackdown http://politi.co/N5LVqQ

·      NAFTA on Steroids (TPP): The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a Global Corporate Coup D’Etat http://bit.ly/MBcoPZ

Farmers from across Japan protest against Japan participating in rule-making negotiations for the US led Trans-Pacific Partnership… Closed door corporate America is implementing a stealth strategy to formalize its rule in a truly horrifying manner…

o   New World Order Blueprint Leaked (TPP) http://goo.gl/jQ9uu

·      Congress’ Big Gift to Monsanto http://bit.ly/QTC3Vv

·      Codex Adopts Ractopamine Limits for Beef and Pork http://bit.ly/Og3RAr

Contentious 69-67 vote on key trade issue pits US against China and the EU

GMOs/Cloning/Nanotechnology/Poisons

·      Farmers Continue to Fight Monsanto’s ‘Seed Police’ http://bit.ly/OdAXkr

·      New Harvest’s Jason Matheny Shares Perspectives on the Future of Meat Alternatives (in vetro) http://bit.ly/Nc7mtU

·      Factory-Fed Fish: Monsanto and Cargill’s Plan for the Ocean http://bit.ly/M0F7eM

Industrial food model and soy-based aquaculture a disaster for fish, environment

o   Monsanto and Cargill Aggressively Pursue GE Soy Feed for Factory Fish-Farming Industry http://bit.ly/LxMBXs

“Soy is being promoted as a better alternative to feed made from wild fish, but this model will not help the environment, and it will transfer massive industrial farming models into our oceans and further exacerbate the havoc wreaked by the soy industry on land-including massive amounts of dangerous herbicide use and massive deforestation.”

o   Factory-Fed Fish: How the Soy Industry Is Expanding Into the Sea http://bit.ly/OjjG9o

·      Star Tribune, 6/28/12: Two articles from the same paper on the same day…

o   GMO food labels are costly and unnecessary http://bit.ly/OWddHl

Requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods, on the other hand, is a solution in search of a problem. Take a look at who wrote this and where she works…

o   Why we need GMO food labeling http://bit.ly/LFbbnB

·      Trader Joe’s Customer Updates: Trader Joe’s Products are Sourced from Non-GMO Ingredients http://bit.ly/Ie8pco

·      GMO ban (France): Risks for science-based assessments http://bit.ly/PfgtOd

French President Francois Hollande will face judicial problems over the ban on the cultivation of genetically modified plants, and this has widespread implications for science-based risk assessment in the EU…

·      Nature May Soon Overcome Monsanto http://bit.ly/LXTAK7

·      New Report on the Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods http://bit.ly/NCxElA

More on ‘GMO Myths and Truths’

·      Monsanto’s Cloned Growth Hormone rBST Still Contaminates US Milk http://bit.ly/LLnkqU

Companies like Monsanto, the original producer of Posilac (rBST) product had a reluctantly put safety warnings on the sides of their packages – admitting that it has about 20 “toxic effects” on the cows.

I have been wondering for months when we were going to see something on rBST/rBGH, at long last here is something… approximately 20% of US dairy cattle receive rBST/rBGH

·      The ‘Monsanto Rider’: Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity from Federal Law? http://goo.gl/bgy6C

The Secretary of Agriculture would be required to grant a permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, regardless of environmental impact.

Healthy/Humane/Safe Food & Water?

·      North Carolina Fracking: Governor Beverly Perdue Vetoes Bill http://huff.to/NdSxFA

…the governor has put the brakes on Republican efforts to push fracking and shale gas exploration in North Carolina, where it is currently not permitted.

o   Fracking in Ireland and Being Dependent on Halliburton’s Mud http://bit.ly/R6Fx7n

o   Gasland Director Josh Fox on His New Film, Gas Industry Lies and Government Collusion http://bit.ly/M3XFfG New Film Hammers Democrat Andrew Cuomo’s Plan to Frack New York http://bit.ly/NpHKIq

o   Injection Wells: The Poison Beneath US http://bit.ly/MmyoQM

·      14 Pathogens cost us (US) $4B to $33B Yearly http://bit.ly/QL1UPv

·      USDA to Ramp Up Drug Residue Testing for Meat and Poultry http://bit.ly/M3QKTS

·      Food’s Class Warfare http://slate.me/MwMeOl

Do poor people eat badly because of limited options or personal preference?

·      Foie Gras Companies Sue State of California Over Ban http://huff.to/RkKV6R

·      Shocking Health Effects of Commonly Used Pesticide: Brain Problems, Sexual Deformities and Paralysis http://bit.ly/N2hun9

Dow’s pesticide Dursban was banned for home use, but continues to be sprayed on our food despite horrific health threats.

·      Obesity in Asia: American Fast Food is Fare for the Rich http://bit.ly/NF2ERV

Unlike the US, where fast food is often seen as the preferred meal of the working poor, in Asia places like Burger King are the fare of choice for those with dispensable incomes.

·      It’s No Longer Enough to Regulate Corporate Greed: The Global Water Crisis Demands a Paradigm Shift http://goo.gl/xGRzV

When it comes to water, the corporate green economy is about using the environmental crisis to further entrench corporate rights and access to scarce water resources.

·      Health Group Proposes Tax on Junk Food (Navajo Nation) http://bit.ly/MJy6nh

“People are eating a lot of unhealthy food, a lot of empty calories,” said Fran Lester, one of 60 community advocates working to educate people in the chapters on how to improve the quality of their life by simply changing their diet.

·      The Deadly Addiction to Cheap Meat http://bit.ly/MWMk2w

·      Got Milk? You Don’t Need It http://nyti.ms/Md5Ean

Remember, humans are the only mammals that consume dairy products after we are weaned… Additionally, the USDA sets the recommendations for milk consumption (and dietary recommendations) they are the marketing arm of the US Government for ag products. Conflict of interest?

Events

·      Stop the development of the Gill Tract at Albany City Council: Occupy the Farm: Monday July 9, 2012, Albany City Hall at San Pablo Ave. and Marin, Albany, CA http://on.fb.me/M6mdDh

·      Iowa agronomist to lecture at University of Maine Presque Isle, on dangers of Roundup Herbicide: Friday July 13, 2012, 5:30pm – 8:00pm, Contact Jim Gerritsen 207-429-9765 Wood Prairie Farm, press@woodpraisriefarm.com  http://bit.ly/LEG0ud

·      Human Agenda Farmworker Reality Tour, Sunday July 22, 2012: 3pm – 9pm; meet in San Jose and carpool to Watsonville http://bit.ly/k54U8c