Posts Categorized: Agriculture

Hunger in the U.S. & a Farm Bill Update

girl with hungry sign Thanks to our partner, the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, for this week’s updates! USDA Releases Report on Household Food Security in the United States in 2022 This report examines American households’ ability to access sufficient food last year. The report shows 17 million households were food insecure at some point during the year, including… Read more »

PRESS RELEASE: On Debt Payments to Farmers and Ranchers

bee on flower Rural Coalition Statement on USDA Implementation of Debt Payments for Underserved Farmers and Ranchers OCT 18, 2022 The United States Department of Agriculture today announced the phased implementation of the $3.1 billion in critical debt relief for distressed borrowers of direct or guaranteed loans whose agricultural operations are at financial risk enacted in August in… Read more »

The FaithLands Toolkit is Here!

Land is the source of life Anyone who eats, anyone who prays, anyone who lives from the earth should be thinking about land. Land has a history For every tale of settlement, there is a tale of dispossession; for every tale of wealth, there is a tale of labor. The land carries these stories. Land… Read more »

Rural Revitalization Revelation!

Iowa celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a unique speech by Senator Bernie Sanders and Iowan farmers who called for an agricultural and rural transformation. “This is a game changer, a key paradigm change for the Farm and Food Movement and beyond,” said Presbyterian Iowa farmer, Brad Wilson. The Des Moines Register article led with: U.S…. Read more »

What Happened to the Farm Bill?

Where are things at? The Farm Bill expires at the end of this month. Yes. September 30. The House passed their version with deep and damaging cuts proposed to hunger, health, and conservation-related policies within this vast set of policies known as the Farm Bill. The Senate passed a version that was better on many… Read more »

Corporate Ag Says They Will Feed the World. Really?

Since agriculture emerged 10,000 years ago, it has been smaller-scale producers who have fed the world. Industrial, high-tech and chemical-intensive farming has only been around for about 80 years, and still today it is small-scale farmers, ranchers, pastoralists and fishers who provide approximately 70% of all the food eaten on Earth[1].

Marketing professionals and lobbyists from Monsanto, ADM and companies promoting industrial agriculture and GMOs [we’ll call that Big Ag for shorthand] have spread a myth, which people of all stripes have swallowed. This myth claims that only large-scale industrial agriculture can feed a hungry world. The myth consists of two parts: (1) More food is the answer to feeding people; (2) Corporate, industrial agriculture is the approach that can fill this need.

First, the myth that more food will feed a hungry world.

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Corporate Ag Says They Will Feed the World. Really?

Since agriculture emerged 10,000 years ago, it has been Asian farmer carrying ricesmaller-scale producers who have fed the world. Industrial, high-tech and chemical-intensive farming has only been around for about 80 years, and still today it is small-scale farmers, ranchers, pastoralists and fishers who provide approximately 70% of all the food eaten on Earth[1].

Marketing professionals and lobbyists from Monsanto, ADM and companies promoting industrial agriculture and GMOs [we’ll call that Big Ag for shorthand] have spread a myth, which people of all stripes have swallowed. This myth claims that only large-scale industrial agriculture can feed a hungry world. The myth consists of two parts: (1) More food is the answer to feeding people; (2) Corporate, industrial agriculture is the approach that can fill this need.

First, the myth that more food will feed a hungry world.

Read more…

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Training a new generation of farmers

The ripple effect of contributions to the Hunger Program, mostly through One Great Hour of Sharing, creates waves of support for organizations like World Hunger Relief, which trains young people like Kaley and Ester, and many more. World Hunger Relief, based on their farm in Waco, Texas, also achieves the difficult task of making connections between local hunger and global hunger. Here are the profiles of two of their interns from their website. We are proud to be a partner!

 

photo of kaley and goatIntern Profile | Kaley Necessary

Food Systems Intern & Garden Club Coordinator

Kaley comes to us from Indiana Wesleyan University, where she graduated in the spring of 2014 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Pre-Medicine. She also received a minor in International Community Development. Passionate about public health, Kaley became an intern with the Uganda Village Project. She was in Iganga, Uganda for 3 months where she worked as a public health educator conducting weekly education sessions on malaria, sexually transmitted infections, intestinal parasite prevention, family planning methods, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and safe water. Her “desire to see people take ownership of their health and well being” grew stronger while in Uganda.

Kaley has strong passions for development and agriculture. In Uganda, she realized her desire to address public health issues through the gateway of agriculture. After her time at World Hunger Relief, Kaley will continue to pursue knowledge of development and agriculture to prepare herself to serve in a developing country. She also hopes to apply her training in a community somewhere in the United States to help develop local food systems.

 

esther w goatIntern Profile | Esther Honegger

Livestock Intern

Coming from Lake Zurich, IL, Esther graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2013. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science with a minor in Chemistry. Throughout college, Esther was involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Pre-Veterinary Club at her school. She was also able to intern at the Champaign County Humane Society, where she monitored the medical and behavioral statuses of the resident animals.

During her participation in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Esther had the privilege to attend a 3-week mission trip to Malawi, Africa, where she served at an orphanage. She was able to teach the children about basic animal biology and directed her teammates in helping her with daily activities.

Esther is using her time at WHRI to learn practical skills in animal agriculture so that she can serve people in a more comprehensive way. She plans to use this knowledge and the knowledge from her studies “to benefit the people of developing nations who don’t have the opportunities to learn about animal biology and health in the depth that I have.”

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Farmed and Dangerous

When I got home from work the other day one of my roommates greeted me with a big smile and a very enthusiastic “You have to watch this!” I obliged and was not prepared for what I was about to see, in a good way. Chipotle has created a video series called “Farmed and Dangerous”… Read more »

We are Fossil Fuels

“From dust you were made, and to dust you will return.”

Our bodies were created of earth; they are sustained by what we intake, which is grown by, or feeds off the earth; and ultimately we will return to the earth.

I wonder however, if the modern world version of the phrase should be, “From fossil fuels you are made, to them you cannot return”

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