Posts By: Andrew Kang Bartlett

USDA Secretary of Agriculture “preaches” on the loaves and fish

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack’s addreses 600 folk gathered here at the Community Food Security Coalition Conference in Des Moines. He uses the story of the feeding of the 5000 to make his point about the culture of sharing that needs to be cultivated in this country. Some were against his appointment but the efforts they are making to support community food programs and better nutrition for kids are impressive. Jill Richardson, on the La Vida Locavore, reports how he avoided answering questions about the paradox of supporting community food programs and large-scale, mechanized agriculture by going on and on about Afghanistan – “Vilsack filibusters – then gets booed and hissed”

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Farmers tell it like it is

When you visit Iowa, you’re nearly guaranteed to see three things: corn, soy beans, and hog confinements. Those were the focus of the field trip I attended yesterday at the Community Food Security Coalition Conference To be totally blunt about it, maybe you’ve wondered: why are farmers so stupid that they keep growing corn and soybeans year after year?

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A hymn for walkers!

This is a hymn dedicated to those participating in CROP walks and those doing other work to end hunger! O God, You Send Us Out to Walk TALLIS’ CANON LM (“All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night”) O God, you send us out to walk, For faith is more than idle talk; It’s more than saying, “Be well fed!” When others don’t have daily bread.

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Green Revolution leads to famine?

Will the new Green Revolution be a blessing, or end in disaster for Africa? The Gates Foundation is the driving force behind AGRA – the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa – and the under-funded agricultural sector is Africa will get substantial new funds. But the dangers of pushing on Africa hybrid and genetically-modified seeds requiring irrigation and optimal conditions for high productivity may be a recipe for disaster. Dr. Johnson Nkuuye, with the UNDP and Millennium Development Goals and Village Program explains the danger of dependency on such modern farming technologies and on saviors from the outside.

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undefensible blogs

I can make no claims for these blogs, but thought it was a fabulous list you may wish to dabble in. Enjoy! Blogs Alemany Farm Almond Bean Atrazine Lovers Basia Winograd Beginning Farmer & Rancher blog Beginning Farmers Bike2Barn Bird…

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you couldn’t make this stuff up!

Multinational food and agritech giants are banding together in a bid to throw light on areas of climate change legislation they warn could severely hike food prices. The consortium that includes Cargill, General Mills, Tyson Foods and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, is preparing to release studies it says will demonstrate the potentially drastic effect global warming could have on the cost of food items.

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what is consuming me?

In Matthew 6:16 it says “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.” Jane Larsen-Wigger, preached on this last week noting: I don’t know if you caught it or not, but in these words of Jesus that we just heard, the one little word that catches me up is his use of the word ‘when.’ Jesus says “WHEN you fast . . .” Not “IF you fast . . .” but WHEN.

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from food crisis to food justice!

Agribusiness and modern, industrial farming is destroying the ecological integrity of this beautiful planet, and so many people are being exploited along the food supply chain! God’s Creation is groaning under the strain of fossil fueled agriculture with its pesticide poisoning, chemical fertilizers, unjust labor practices, and the carbon and methane pollution heating the atmosphere. FROM FOOD CRISIS TO FOOD JUSTICE!

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the corporate co-opt of local

Sure, buying local is getting big, but even I didn’t think corporations would begin attempts to profit off it so soon. Call me naive. Here is a section from an excellent article about the co-optation of local. Even Wal-Mart is getting in on the act, hanging bright green banners over its produce aisles that simply say, “Local.”

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