Food and Agriculture

NASA: Global Groundwater Crisis Threatens Food Supplies & Security

November 3, 2014 Joe Romm, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! California, Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Groundwater, Water

An alarming satellite-based analysis from NASA finds that the world is depleting groundwater — the water stored unground in soil and aquifers — at an unprecedented rate. A new Nature Climate Change piece, “The global groundwater crisis,” by James Famiglietti, a leading hydrologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, warns that “most of the major aquifers in the world’s arid and semi-arid zones, that is, in the dry parts of the world that rely most heavily on groundwater, are experiencing rapid rates of groundwater depletion.” The groundwater at some of the world’s largest aquifers — in the U.S. High Plains, California’s Central Valley, China, India, and elsewhere — is being pumped out “at far greater rates than it can be naturally replenished.” The most worrisome fact: “nearly all of these underlie the word’s great agricultural regions and are primarily responsible for their high productivity.”

New Documentary From Occupy The Farm

October 25, 2014 Staff, www.occupythefarm.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, Nonviolence

Independent filmmaker Todd Darling has created a stunning documentary about the Farm and the power of direct action. It has been picked up by the largest theater owner in the nation, Regal Cinemas, and opens November 7th, in Berkeley! It will play for two weeks here before heading to LA and NYC. The Gill Tract Community Farm is flourishing! A 1.5 acre UC/Community collaborative pilot project is flourishing and growing on the Gill Tract. A recent blitz of love and energy from the Permaculture Action Tour brought over 300 farmers to install a medicinal garden mandala and permaculture beds.Check out this blog for a peek into that day.

Coalition Sues EPA Over Herbicide Approval

October 25, 2014 Center For Food Safety, www.centerforfoodsafety.org Resist! Chemical Industry, EPA, Food and Agriculture, Pesticides

San Francisco, CA – A coalition of farmers and environmental groups filed a lawsuit to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today on behalf of six Midwest states where a toxic herbicide cocktail called Dow’s Enlist Duo, a blend of glyphosate and 2,4-D, was approved on October 15 for use on genetically engineered (GE) crops. Approved for use on GE corn and soybeans that were engineered to withstand repeated applications of the herbicide, the creation of 2,4-D-resistant crops and EPA’s approval of Enlist Duo is the result of an overuse of glyphosate, an ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. The misuse resulted in an infestation of glyphosate-resistant super weeds which can now be legally combatted with the more potent 2,4-D.

21 US Cities Restrict Sharing Food With Homeless People

October 23, 2014 Deepashri Varadharajan, www.america.aljazeera.com Educate! Food and Agriculture, Homeless, Law

In the United States, 21 cities have restricted sharing food with homeless people through legislation or community pressure since January 2013, and about 10 other cities are in the process of doing so, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) said in a report released Monday. “One of the most narrow-minded ideas when it comes to homelessness and food-sharing is that sharing food with people in need enables them to remain homeless,” the report said. The report was released a day before Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was set to vote “on the city’s third ordinance this year that will target the life-sustaining activities of people experiencing homelessness,” the NCH said in a news release.

California’s Plan For Unlimited Pesticide Spraying

October 22, 2014 Earth Justice, www.earthjustice.org Educate! California, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Law, Pesticides

SACRAMENTO — The California Department of Food and Agriculture has published a draft of an environmental plan giving the agency authority to spray toxic pesticides anywhere in California, at any time into the indefinite future. The blanket approval would allow no opportunity for affected communities to stop the spraying. According to the plan, the state’s agency would have the right to approve new pesticides and other expansions of the spray program with no public review, notice or analysis of the health and environmental impacts in specific locations to be sprayed. The plan, described in the Statewide Plant Pest Prevention and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Report, relies on a list of 79 pesticides and other chemicals, including substances linked to cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and reproductive system impacts.

3 Arrested Protesting World Food Prize

October 18, 2014 Sharyn Jackson, www.desmoinesregister.com Resist! Food and Agriculture, Food Not Bombs, GMOs, Protest

Three activists protesting the World Food Prize were arrested Thursday night in front of the Iowa Capitol building, just as attendees to the 2014 Laureate Award Ceremony gathered inside. The three protesters, part of the Occupy World Food Prize movement, were arrested after a march up the Capitols' west steps, during which a crowd of about 40 people chanted "No, no, GMO." The arrest came after an hourlong rally with speakers from Iowa and around the country, who criticized the World Food Prize's recognition of genetically modified organisms as the solution to feed a growing world population. The prize, they say, honors corporate and large-scale industrial agriculture, rather than farmers who grow their own food. "Even though a lot of people in that building over there are very powerful and rich, we represent a lot of people who can't get here — the majority of the human race," said Frank Cordaro, founder of the Iowa Catholic Worker and one of the protesters who was arrested, in his opening remarks.

Fear And Fair Cannot Coexist…

October 16, 2014 Coalition of Immokalee Workers, www.ciw-online.org Organize! Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Food and Agriculture, Labor Rights, Mexico

For the sake of Mexico’s workers, one can only hope that last month’s massacre sparks a social movement equal to that of the Civil Rights movement in this country that can challenge the rule of corruption and end the senseless violence of the decade-old drug wars. But until then, Mexican farmworkers will remain powerless to address the abuse and exploitation they face in the fields, and Florida tomatoes will be the only truly fair product on the market. Ultimately, it was the economic power of tourism that dragged Florida into the 20th century. The competition for the country’s growing tourist dollars in the 1960s was enough that Florida could no longer abide the shame of “Florida Terror” headlines in northern papers. Let’s hope that competition from the Fair Food Program likewise helps prod Mexico’s tomato industry to realize that the country’s violence and corruption is holding it back, and that real, sustainable economic growth can only come with peace, transparency, and lasting social justice.

The Other Spotlights On Fighting Hunger

October 15, 2014 Rekha Basu, www.desmoinesregister.com Create! Food and Agriculture, Hunger, Poverty, Sovereignty

The World Food Prize is being awarded this week at a glitzy event that draws international dignitaries to Iowa and showcases Norman Borlaug, the Iowa native who founded the Green Revolution. Also being awarded are the Food Sovereignty Prize and Strong Feisty Woman Award, which honor grassroots efforts to fight hunger. These other awards also challenge the premise of the World Food Prize, with its reliance on high-yield, genetically modified seeds. These groups, which include Occupy the World Food Prize, say the GMO model can actually increase hunger, and the goal should be to make it easier for people to produce food. The difference in approaches is well illustrated by the people being honored.

Cowspiracy Exposes The Truth About Animal Agriculture

October 14, 2014 Ward Pallotta, www.ecowatch.com Educate! Animals, Energy, Food and Agriculture

In 90 minutes, co-producers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn argue that our institutional and individual attention to selected environmental issues will not make a collective difference unless we also confront the realities of animal agriculture. Animal agriculture’s environmental effects are so pervasive that apparent progress elsewhere cannot counter its destructive and growing impact. The film suggests why protection for expanded areas of the ocean will not protect oceans or ocean animals. Growing food organically, even on a commercial scale, will not protect the land. Keeping lumber operations out of the Amazon will not save the rainforest.

On Columbus Day, Native Peoples Condemn GE Trees

October 13, 2014 Jay Burney and BJ McManama, www.stogetrees.org Organize! Biodiversity, Food and Agriculture, GE Trees

(Qualla Boundary, North Carolina)--In the shadow of Columbus Day and the legacy of colonization in the Americas, the Indigenous Environmental Network [1] and Eastern Band of Cherokee community members organized a gathering of Indigenous Peoples from across the Southeastern US for an historic Indigenous Peoples' action camp against genetically engineered trees (GE trees). Participants condemned GE trees as a form of colonization of the forest. The Indigenous Environmental Network Campaign to STOP GE Trees Action Camp focused on building an information-sharing and mobilization network of tribal representatives and community members to address the unique threats posed by GE trees to Indigenous Peoples, their culture, traditions and lifeways.

New Report Dismantles World Bank’s Myths On Agriculture

October 11, 2014 Anuradha Mittal, www.oaklandinstitute.org Educate! Corporatism, Food and Agriculture, Neoliberalism, World Bank

In the agricultural domain for instance, the Bank claims to work to secure farmers’ access to land; however its direct financing to firms practicing large-scale and export-oriented agriculture is increasing pressure on land, water, and forests. In several countries, including Honduras and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), the Bank has directly supported investors that are grabbing land from local populations and that involve significant human rights violations.5 Recently, the Bank’s proposal to revise its environmental and social safeguard policies triggered concern that the institution will increase financing of projects that are damaging for the environment and local communities.6 The World Bank’s agriculture-related projects, which it claims aim to defend the interests of smallholders, in fact negate the potential of small-scale agriculture and agroecological practices to bring sustainable and inclusive development to countries.

How To Make Vertical Raised Beds For Urban Green Spaces

October 5, 2014 Emily Ingham, www.permaculture.co.uk Create! Food and Agriculture, Urban Agriculture

Living in cities offers great opportunities for us to reduce our footprints. This may seem like a misnomer but think about mass transit; high density living; the potential for sharing tools, equipment and facilities; and a wealth of community and entertainment options available on your doorstep. The perception that cities are a carbon hungry way of life lays largely in the footprint associated with transporting food and other provisions to geographical areas which do not provide for their own subsistence needs. But this isn’t a reason to give up the joys of city life just yet. In this reader solution we look at more ways to encourage food security in urban areas. Why choose raised beds in an urban setting?

‘Unreasonable’ Women For The Planet, Peace, And Justice

October 1, 2014 Dennis Trainor Jr, www.PopularResistance.org Resistance Report Climate Change, Corporatism, Democracy, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Food and Agriculture, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Wars and Militarism

Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, sits down with Dennis Trainor, Jr. of Acronym TV on the eve of the largest Climate march in history to discuss the climate justice. “”If you care about the planet, you care about people, workers, immigrants, and you care about whether we are destroying the planet whether by polluting or by polluting through war, says Benjamin, who went on to describe the founding of Code Pink as a climate Justice group. “We started as a group of women who came together around the environment. We were called Unreasonable Women for the planet.” Benjamin and Code Pink have regularly disrupted Senate hearings on ISIS/ ISIL of late, but being part of the People’s Climate March is not something she would miss: “It is all interconnected,” she told me “and I don’t think we have the ability anymore to divide ourselves into these (separate) silos.”

Corporations Causing Climate Change Should Be Taken Over

September 30, 2014 Dennis Trainor Jr, www.PopularResistance.org Resistance Report Climate Change, Democracy, Energy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Food and Agriculture, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, Green party

The richest 1% own the two major parties. It's time working people had one of our own. That's why I'm running for Governor. My name is Howie Hawkins. I'm a working Teamster and my running mate, Brian Jones, is a teacher and union member. New York has the greatest income inequality in the country -- and it has gotten worse under Governor Cuomo's tax breaks for the rich and spending cuts for the rest of us. Our schools are the most segregated in the nation. Poverty is on the rise in cities across the state. It doesn't have to be this way. We can create an economy that meets human needs and protects our planet. (read more: http://www.howiehawkins.org/)

California Harvest Much Smaller Than Normal

September 30, 2014 Dale Kasler, www.sacbee.com Educate! California, Climate Change, Drought, Food and Agriculture

It’s harvest time in much of California, and the signs of drought are almost as abundant as the fruits and nuts and vegetables. One commodity after another is feeling the impact of the state’s epic water shortage. The great Sacramento Valley rice crop, served in sushi restaurants nationwide and exported to Asia, will be smaller than usual. Fewer grapes will be available to produce California’s world-class wines, and the citrus groves of the San Joaquin Valley are producing fewer oranges. There is less hay and corn for the state’s dairy cows, and the pistachio harvest is expected to shrink.

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