It took tens of thousands of people, dollars and hours to fight back the ambitions of a few agricultural capitalists, but good sense has at least temporarily prevailed here in California. After making their water-tight case for spraying most of Northern California with an untested pesticide to kill a harmless moth, the state government has backed down.

One of the arguments that the spray was safe was that the active ingredient wasn't a straightforward toxin. It was a pheromone, which was meant to pose less of a threat, and able to degrade quickly. The claims of the chemical companies hasn't quite matched the reality, though. ... read more »

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Posted on 30 June, 2008 - 15:28

The Financial Times is doing what it usually does - providing concise and honest insight into how the elite bosses think, this time around genetically modified crops. The recent op-ed by John Gapper follows a logic that I've been bumping into increasingly.

1. We need to increase food production to feed the world.
2. Yield-increasing science has worked before.
3. The nay-sayers want to reduce output through organic agriculture.
4. Monsanto, on the other hand, is investing in science.
5. Therefore we ought to embrace GM technology to fight the food crisis.

Almost everything about this argument is wrong. ... read more »

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Posted on 13 June, 2008 - 17:36

My friend Patrick Wilkinson has put together a fine video about the upcoming spraying of large parts of California in the ongoing war on the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM, pronounced el-bam).

As Patrick's film suggests, there'd better be something mighty scary about this moth to warrant monthly aerial spraying over most of Northern California over the next five years.

So what's the danger? Will the moth summon forth the apocalypse? No. Is it the harbinger of some strange Africanized disease? Not even. Will it ravage California's agriculture? Kinda. But not actually by eating anything or laying anything or causing anything to be damaged.

The reason LBAM is a menace is, er, NAFTA. ... read more »

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Posted on 31 May, 2008 - 04:03

In their own words, the Community Food Security Coalition is

The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) is a North American organization of social and economic justice, environmental, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, community development, labor, anti-poverty, anti-hunger, and other groups. The Coalition has 325 organizational members in 41 states, 4 Canadian provinces and the District of Columbia. We are dedicated to building strong, sustainable, local and regional food systems that ensure access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food to all people at all times. We seek to develop self-reliance among all communities in obtaining their food and to create a system of growing, manufacturing, processing, making available, and selling food that is regionally based and grounded in the principles of justice, democracy, and sustainability. ... read more »

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Posted on 13 July, 2007 - 22:09

Photo Credit : Joann Cornejo

Today is Cesar Chavez Day. It's a good day to remember that the poorest and most exploited people in farming aren't farmers - they are the farm workers.

I've excerpted the most powerful parts of a much longer speech that Chavez gave on November 9, 1984. Well worth a read today, of all days. ... read more »

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Posted on 31 March, 2007 - 06:00

>
In the middle of South Central, Los Angeles, once was a beautiful farm, home to the South Central Farmers. Visit their website to find out how their struggle for urban farmland is progressing, and then check out a series of surprisingly good vlog entries on Daryl Hannah (yes, the Daryl Hannah)'s website, here, here, here, and here.

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Posted on 18 January, 2007 - 06:12

Named after the founder of the Mondragón cooperative movement, José María Arizmendiarrieta, the Arizmendi Bakery Cooperative has the best damn bread, and most comradely workforce, in the East Bay.

Visit if you can. Details at http://www.arizmendibakery.org

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Posted on 9 December, 2006 - 20:44

The UFW has, since 1962, been fighting for farmworkers in California and beyond. Their website is well organised, and has links to their ongoing campaigns. More at
http://www.ufw.org

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Posted on 29 November, 2006 - 01:46

The People's Grocery is one of the most exciting initiatives in the Bay area. It's mission is

mission is to develop a self-reliant, socially just and sustainable food system in West Oakland through community-based, youth-focused and innovative social enterprises, urban agricultural projects, educational programs and public policy initiatives that foster healthy, equitable and ecological community development.

Find out more, read blogs, listen to podcasts and get hands dirty at http://peoplesgrocery.org.

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Posted on 28 November, 2006 - 23:01

The Edible Schoolyard is a non-profit program located on the campus of Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley, California. The cooking and gardening program grew out of a conversation between chef and author Alice Waters, and former King Middle School Principal Neil Smith. Planning commenced in 1995 and two years later, more than an acre of asphalt parking lot had been cleared. A cover crop was planted to enrich the soil, and in 1997, the school’s unused 1930s cafeteria kitchen was refurbished to house the kitchen classroom.

Visit them at ... read more »

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Posted on 28 November, 2006 - 22:56