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News & Commentary

Regional Farm & Food Project April 2006 News

If you want to change the world, these news stories should interest you!

11 news stories...

  1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Students Present Lecture & Film on Food
  2. Earth Day Free Farm & Food Film Festival
  3. Getting Organized to Have Local Foods in Your School Next Fall
  4. Country Wisdom Sampler: Schoharie County Farm & Food Tour
  5. Healthy Farms + Healthy Animals = Healthy Food
  6. Genetic Pollution, It's What's for Dinner!
  7. NAIS vs. COOL: Why Agri-Biz Would Rather Label Cows Than Meat
  8. Is Climate Change Shifting Plant Hardiness Zones?
  9. New Study Confirms Ecological Virtues of Organic Farming
  10. Who Cares What You Think?
  11. New York State Food Policy Council Bill Introduced in NYS Assembly

+ MINI LISTINGS

1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Students Present Lecture & Film on Food
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Student Group Ecologic Presents Lecture on Changing the World by Changing What You Eat + the Film “Supersize Me” Wednesday, April 19, 4:00-6:00 PM, in Ricketts Room 203

CONTACT: Ella Braco, bracoe@rpi.edu, Ecologic, http://ecologic.union.rpi.edu/, Billie Best, Regional Farm & Food Project, billie@farmandfood.org

Billie Best, Executive Director of the Regional Farm & Food Project (www.farmandfood.org), will give a lecture presentation entitled "Return to Slavery: Will You Be Eating China's Dust for Breakfast?" followed by a showing of the film, Supersize Me, on April 19, 2006, 4:00-6:00 PM, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, hosted by Ecologic, a student group engaged in raising environmental awareness on campus.

Best’s lecture will connect the dots between what we eat every day and China’s race to raise its standard of living by imitating western culture and consumerism at a time when America’s oversized ecological footprint and stuff junkie culture is crushing the planet. Super Size Me is an award-winning film, directed and produced by Morgan Spurlock, which explores the health threats inherent in America’s fast food lifestyle.

Ecologic is committed to increasing environmental education and greening the RPI campus. They have created Greening of Rensselaer Initiatives (GRI), which has grown from the initial garden and greenhouse, environmental education center, and recycling program, to encompass other greening efforts including green purchasing, water conservation and extensive community outreach.

Ecologic students are organizing this event with the goal of raising awareness of the environmental and health issues created by the eating habits of college students. Additional events for Fall 2006 are in the planning stages, including a barbeque on campus with locally grown food. Students are also actively engaged in trying to learn more about how campus dinning services work, designing a more flexible meal plan, and collaborating with vendors who provide food services to the campus.

At the event on April 19th, Ecologic will have samples of the apples currently offered in RPI dinning halls, and locally grown apples available for a taste test.

2. Earth Day Free Farm & Food Film Festival
Saturday, April 22, celebrate Earth Day at Honest Weight Food Coop on Central Ave. in Albany where the Regional Farm & Food Project will present a free Farm & Food Film Festival in the Community Room from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Films to be shown:

  • The Real Dirt on Farmer John
  • The Future of Food
  • The Weeping Camel (excellent for kids)
  • The End of Suburbia
  • Life & Debt in Jamaica
  • The Meatrix - 1 & 2
  • The True Cost of Food

3. Getting Organized to Have Local Foods in Your School Next Fall
Saturday, May 20, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
At Bethlehem Town Hall (Albany metro area), the Regional Farm & Food Project, Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace and CoRE will co-sponsor a workshop to teach parents, students, faculty, staff, food service directors, farmers and food distributors how to increase the amount of local food served in our schools. The goal of this event is to build supply and demand for local foods in the schools by explaining how the school food system works and improving the collaboration between food service directors, food distributors and farmers. Our keynote speaker will present on "Food Service 101" followed by a panel of food service directors who will discuss their successes and challenges in serving local foods. Next a panel of food distributors will share their experience and challenges in sourcing, prepping and selling local foods into the school system. The final presentation will feature programs, resources and organizations that support the development of farm-to-school programs. This event is free and open to the public. Speakers will be announced next week. Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.

4. Country Wisdom Sampler: Schoharie County Farm & Food Tour
The Regional Farm & Food Project & the School of Country Wisdom Present
Country Wisdom Sampler: Schoharie County Farm & Food Tour
Sunday, May 21, 2006, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

$60 per person - $50 RFFP members - $100 per couple - $90 RFFP member couple. Includes transportation, boxed lunch and tea tasting. Advance payment must be made by May 14 at www.schoolofcountrywisdom.com or call 800-418-4748. Bus tour limited to 44 people.

  • 10:00 AM Park & Ride
    Meet at Park & Ride, I-88 Exit 23 (Schoharie/Rt. 30, Rt. 30A).
  • 10:30 AM Sweet Tree Farm
    Sweet Tree Farm is a 200-acre pastured livestock farm owned by Judy Pangman and Frank Johnson. Cows, pigs and chickens are rotated through paddocks of fresh green grass to produce meat and eggs with superior flavor and more nutrients. Frank and Judy cut their own meat on a mobile processing unit, and sell it at their farm store as well as the Troy Farmers Market. The farm tour will be followed by a boxed lunch from A Taste of Europe catering using Sweet Tree Farm products including pork sirloin roast and beef top round roast wrap sandwiches with garden salad, dessert and beverage.
  • 12:00 noon Depart for McGillycuddy's Natural Soap
  • 12:15 PM McGillycuddy's Natural Soap
    We will visit this wonderful soap shop filled with fine handcrafted natural soaps and bath products in an array of scents, colors, shapes and sizes. Featuring moisturizing cow and goat milk soap and olive oil based bar soaps, all created with pure natural ingredients including essential oils, dried flowers and herbs to sooth and pamper all skin types. And we’ll see their horse farm, too!
  • 1:30 PM Thyme for Tea Tasting
    Your taste buds will take over during this leisurely lesson in exploring the five main types of tea, while homemade scones cleanse your palate between samples. Like perfume, you'll find a tea that suits you. Sip and relax. With over 15 years experience in the natural food industry, Christine Rhicter opened Thyme for Tea in the heart of Lawyersville. Her shop is in a stately home built in 1810 for Thomas Lawyer, Schoharie County's first Congressman. Christine is an avid gardener, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, and currently teaches baking and pastry making as an adjunct instructor at SUNY Cobleskill.
  • 3:30 PM Depart for home from Park & Ride

5. Healthy Farms + Healthy Animals = Healthy Food
"Greener Pastures: How Grass-fed Beef and Milk Contribute to Healthy Eating" is a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists and the first comprehensive study that confirms that beef and milk from animals raised entirely on pasture have higher levels than conventionally raised beef and dairy cattle of beneficial fats that may prevent heart disease and strengthen the immune system. The study also shows that grass-fed meat is often leaner than most supermarket beef, and raising cattle on grass can reduce water pollution and the risk of antibiotic-resistant diseases. "When you eat grass-fed meat, you're getting beef with benefits," said report author Dr. Kate Clancy, a nutritionist and senior scientist in the Food and Environment Program at UCS. "There are no losers in producing cattle entirely on pasture. Farmers win, consumers win, the environment wins, and even the cattle win." UCS suggests consumers ask their supermarket managers to carry these products. Increasing demand can encourage greater adoption of grass-fed production methods and keep more small farmers and ranchers on the land. "Buying grass-fed meat and milk is like driving a hybrid car," said Dr. Margaret Mellon, director of UCS's Food and Environment Program. "Not only is it good for you, it's better for your neighbors and better for the country. We encourage families to seek out pasture-raised meat and milk."  

www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/Grass-fed-Beef-and-Dairy-Study.html

6. Genetic Pollution, It's What's for Dinner!
FIRST REPORT ON GE CONTAMINATION WORLDWIDE: Greenpeace and Genewatch in the UK have released a report that contains a wealth of evidence on the contamination, illegal planting and negative agricultural side effects of GMOs. This report is the first from the online GM Contamination Register (www.gmcontaminationregister.org) and reviews cases reported in the public and scientific literature of contamination, illegal plantings and releases of GM organisms, and negative agricultural side-effects since GM crops were first grown commercially on a large scale in 1996. The organization has published an overview of national legislation on imports and labelling of GE organisms worldwide including a map of potential GE dumping grounds as well as import and export figures. These are available online at www.greenpeace.org/bsp2006

The full report is available at: www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/gm-contamination-report#

7. NAIS vs. COOL: Why Agri-Biz Would Rather Label Cows Than Meat
The same big agri-businesses that don't want to put Country of Origin Labels (COOL) on your food want every farm animal to wear a radio-frequency ID tag -- it's called the National Animal Identification System - so all farm animal movement can be tracked. The big food system players don't want COOL because it increases the risk that you would not buy their products if you knew where they came from and the conditions under which they were produced. COOL is not law because it would likely shift consumer buying from global to local products. On the other hand, if every farm has an ID number, and every farm animal has an ID tag, it will be easier to track the source of animal disease or food contamination, which for big agri-business reduces risk of having no one to blame but themselves.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has announced the release of an implementation plan that outlines timelines and benchmarks for the establishment of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), along with a plan for the initial integration of private and state animal tracking databases with NAIS. The implementation plan adheres to an aggressive timeline for ensuring full implementation of the NAIS by 2009. The plan is not without detractors, according to a Dow Jones Newswires story posted on the Cattle Network www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=28250). Opponents claim the plan would be unnecessarily costly and represents an invasion of privacy for producers. Related coverage in the Everett, Washington Daily Herald www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/04/09/100loc_a1farmers001.cfm) reported on some local producers' responses to the animal identification system plan.

Thursday, April 27, 8:00-9:00 AM (ET), listen to the Farm & Food Show on WRPI-Troy 91.5fm (wrpi.org) and hear Billie Best interview Mary Zanoni, Ph.D. (Cornell), J.D. (Yale), one of the leading experts on NAIS.

For more information:

8. Is Climate Change Shifting Plant Hardiness Zones?
You may have noticed from using plant hardiness zone maps that the USDA has been quietly moving the lines on the maps, perhaps because of the evidence of global warming. Now the National Arbor Day foundation has released their own version of plant hardiness zone maps. They show dramatic northward movement of the hardiness zones, and the website even allows you to make the comparison between the two, and to download a document so you can print out your own version.

Check it out at www.arborday.org/media/zones.cfm.

9. New Study Confirms the Ecological Virtues of Organic Farming
Excerpted from a piece by Mark Shwartz
Organic farming has long been touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional agriculture. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides strong evidence to support that claim.

Writing in the March 6 online edition of PNAS, Stanford University graduate student Sasha B. Kramer and her colleagues found that fertilizing apple trees with synthetic chemicals produced more adverse environmental effects than feeding them with organic manure or alfalfa.

"The intensification of agricultural production over the past 60 years and the subsequent increase in global nitrogen inputs have resulted in substantial nitrogen pollution and ecological damage," Kramer and her colleagues write. "The primary source of nitrogen pollution comes from nitrogen-based agricultural fertilizers, whose use is forecasted to double or almost triple by 2050."

Nitrogen compounds from fertilizer can enter the atmosphere and contribute to global warming, adds Harold A. Mooney, the Paul S. Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology at Stanford and co-author of the study.

"Nitrogen compounds also enter our watersheds and have effects quite distant from the fields in which they are applied, as for example in contaminating water tables and causing biological dead zones at the mouths of major rivers," he says. "This study shows that the use of organic versus chemical fertilizers can play a role in reducing these adverse effects."

Besides having detrimental impacts on aquatic life, high nitrate levels in drinking water can cause serious illness in humans, particularly small children. According to the PNAS study, nearly one of 10 domestic wells in the United States sampled between 1993 and 2000 had nitrate concentrations that exceeded the EPA's drinking water standards.

The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, The Land Institute and the Teresa Heinz Environmental Science and Policy Fellowship Program.

Learn more about it at:

10. Who Cares What You Think?
I do. Please visit the Farm & Food Blog (http://blog.farmandfood.org/) and add your comments to the postings there. Farmers, foodies and activists need to be heard, especially at a time when so many new regulations are being considered by state and federal government. It would be helpful to our cause to be able to point to the Farm & Food Blog as an opinion forum, a place where individuals can contribute the collective thinking.

11. New York State Food Policy Council Bill Introduced in NYS Assembly
The New York State Food Policy Council bill has been introduced in the NYS Assembly. It is bill number is A10461. You can read the bill at www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A10461&sh=t

The purpose of the bill is to establish a state food policy council to develop comprehensive, coordinated state food policies with the goal of providing a plentiful, accessible, affordable, safe and nutritious food supply, comprised of locally produced foods as much as possible, so that all citizens of the state are able to eat a healthy diet and avoid hunger and have the opportunity to support a vibrant local farm and food economy.

Dozens of programs, located in numerous agencies at the federal, State and local level, attempt to reduce hunger, strengthen local agriculture, and reduce nutrition and health problems. Sometimes these programs are guided by comprehensive food policy planning but more often they are not. For example, nutrition programs and policies are not usually designed in conjunction with agricultural policies which can result in government nutrition programs not taking into consideration the use of locally produced foods. Even programs that target the same problem, hunger and food insecurity, are developed independently, with different rules and eligibility requirements and little communication between them.

Although existing food policies and programs are well-intentioned, many long-term problems such as hunger, poor nutrition, and loss of farms and food processors continue to plague New York State. Experts in nutrition, food security, agriculture, food-based economic development and other similar areas believe that there is a need for a more comprehensive, less disjointed approach to responding to these problems. Unfortunately, the tendency of government is to narrowly focus activities within agencies. One response is to establish a broad-based Food Policy Council at the state or local level to bring together the various agencies, service providers, businesses, advocates, and experts.

The Council created by this proposal would include the state agencies that develop or implement food policies and administer food programs. The Advisory Board would consist of representatives from the key sectors affected by food policy. The Council and Board would be able to address issues that cross over from one program to another, one agency to another, and one issue area to another. Food assistance programs could be better coordinated and operated more effectively to end hunger. Programs and policies could be developed to mutually benefit New York agriculture as well as nutrition, the environment, and the state and local economy. School meal programs alone bring over $700 million federal dollars into New York each year but not enough is spent on locally produced foods. The state could also help improve security, save energy, increase food safety, and lower costs by reducing dependence on imported food.

CONTACT: Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition Policy 518-455-5203

+ MINI LISTINGS

  • April 12-30 Yale University photo exhibit features farms and farmers from our region.
    For over six years independent documentary photographer Jason Houston has been photographing the local and sustainable agriculture in western New England and Eastern New York state. FARMER, a series of images celebrating the work of farmers from these small farms, will be traveling throughout 2006, including exhibitions at Yale University in New Haven, CT (April 12-30) and at Spike Gallery in New York City (June 14-July 29). Houston's farming images have appeared in publications and on websites around the world including The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Orion, Time Magazine, New York Magazine, Berkshire Living, NewFarm.org, Small Farm Quarterly, Plenty, Organic Gardener, Waterkeeper, Cooperative Grocer, and many others. His work has also been used to help the work of farms, farmers' markets, and various organizations including NOFA, Farm Aid, Berkshire Grown, SustainableTable.org, Farm to Chef, RFFP, and others. For more information on this project or these and other exhibitions, visit www.jasonhouston.com/berkshirefarms, email jason@jasonhouston.com, or call 413-429-6486.
  • Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market Opens
    Saturday, May 6 at 10:00 am the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market (www.troymarket.org) opens at its outdoor location with a variety of local musicians, raffles of market produce and other giveaways. The city of Troy and the Market were recently featured in the NY Times travel section: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/travel/escapes/07trip.html
  • Breese Hollow Dairy Sells Raw Milk
    Breese Hollow Dairy is a licensed raw milk dairy, featuring health-giving cream on top milk from grassfed Jersey cows. Breese Hollow Dairy is located in Hoosick, NY, and is currently servicing customers from the Albany, Scotia, Williamstown, Cambridge, and Greenwich areas. We are interested in facilitating milk buying groups where people would take turns sharing the drive to the farm to get the milk. For more information, please call Chuck or Diane Phippen at 518-686-4044 or email at dcphippen@juno.com. For more information about raw milk, go to www.rawmilk.org, www.realmilk.com, www.price-pottenger.org, or read "Milk Diet As a Remedy for Chronic Disease" by Dr. Charles Sanford Porter, updated ed. 2005.
  • April 29th Building the Green Windmill for Home and Farm Power
    Cimmarron Farm, Swanton, VT
    The Green Windmill is a vertical axis, fabric-sail based wind turbine invented by Robert Green of Laguna Woods, California. This one-day workshop will cover the design basics of the Green Windmill. Together, we will build a working windmill in our farm shop. Participants will take home paper and computer disc versions of blueprints (a value of $32.50) please see www.greenwindmill.com for more information. Cost: $50, please bring a potluck dish to share.
  • Headwaters Farmers' Market Call for Vendors
    The Headwaters Farmers' Market has been serving the greater Stamford, NY community of over 1200 village residents and many more residents and second home-owners in the surrounding area for 4 years. This is a call for vendors of locally grown, locally made, and locally raised products for another successful season of serving Stamford's residents and visitors! The market is located in the heart of Stamford, on Main Street, and runs each Saturday from July 1 through September 2, from 10am-3pm. Booth space, including a table and canopy, are available for free again this year. Contact Diane Frances at 607-652-4772 or David Stevenson at 607-652-3166 with any questions.
  • A Panel Discussion on Avian Influenza
    April 18 from 10 am to 3 pm
    TYhe Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA), the Pennsylvania Women’s Ag Network (PA WAgN), Penn State Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and USDA- Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will present the most current information, and  a panel discussion on Avian Influenza in the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.   Those interested in attending the event should register in advance with PASA at 814-349-9856 ext. 2.
  • Workshop on Strategies in Managing and Marketing Pasture-raised Livestock
    Friday, April 21,10 am to 2:00 pm
    Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie County will be providing a workshop to educate agricultural producers on different strategies in managing and marketing pasture-raised livestock. Keynote speaker Peter McDonald, a successful pasture based farmer and marketer, will discuss his experience with a family operated, pasture based farming enterprise that is healthy, financially viable, ecologically sound, social, and generational.  McDonald Farm serves as an evolving model of research, innovation and experience, all focused on the benefits of pasture based, multi-species table meat and egg production. In addition, this workshop will feature a session on marketing farm products to restaurants, presented by Paula Schafer, Agriculture Economic Development Resource Educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga and Washington Counties. Paula will also give an overview of the Farm to Chef Express, which is an agriculture marketing initiative she helped create, that connects NYC restaurants with farmers from Saratoga, Rensselaer, and Washington counties. The workshop will take place at the Extension Center on 173 South Grand Street in Cobleskill, NY. There is no cost for the workshop thanks to support from the NRCS Grazing Land Conservation Initiative and the Hudson Mohawk RC&D, and lunch will be included. Any one interested must pre-register for lunch no later than Wednesday, April 19, 2006. For more information or to register please call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie County at 518-234-4303 or 518-296-8310.
  • Organic Beekeeping Workshop
    Friday June 2, 2006 3 PM to 9 PM and Saturday June 3, 2006 9 AM to 6 PM
    A workshop for active beekeepers as well as for beginners including a hands-on session. In this workshop we will look at the bee colony as an organism and what it needs in order to further its health and vitality. Lots of practical advice and demonstrations will give novices enough information to get started with their own hive, and encourage experienced beekeepers to adopt organic procedures. Optional Beginner Session at 2:00 pm. This will provide a very basic introduction to the hive and the honeybee, and is recommended for those with little practical experience in beekeeping. $25 extra fee. Tuition: $165 Organic Beekeeping Workshop Limited participants. Tuition: $190 Beginner Session and Workshop. Presenter: Gunther Hauk is Co-founder and director of the Pfeiffer Center and has been a beekeeper for over 25 years. The author of “Toward Saving the Honeybee”, Gunther gives lectures and workshops throughout North America. For detailed workshop schedule and topics covered call 845.352.5020, ext 20; email: info@pfeiffercenter.org; or visit: www.pfeiffercenter.org.
  • New Children's Book Sends Farmers' Market Message Home
    “A Visit to the Farmers’ Market” is now available from Brain Child Books. This easy-to-read, 22-page full-color picture book for children provides nutrition education while promoting the benefits of shopping at local Farmers’ Markets. Beautifully designed and economically priced, “A Visit to the Farmers’ Market” is perfect for distribution to Pre-K-1 classrooms, WIC programs, health fairs, clinics, community events, Farmers' Markets, and anywhere you want to reach children and families with messages about healthy eating. Visit our website at www.brainchildbooks.homestead.com.
  • Roxbury Farm Apprentice Training Manuals
    After many requests we have put the Roxbury Farm Apprentice Training Manuals online at our website at www.roxburyfarm.com. Use them anyway you want if they are useful to you. All information is based on the particular conditions of Roxbury Farm, Columbia County, NY.