Local food sales likely to reach $7 billion this year
TreeHugger - 11/15/2011. By Rachel Cernansky – Good news for small farmers and local foodies: The buy-local movement is no longer a niche market for just a few interested customers. American farmers said they were selling $4.8 billion worth of produce a year at local markets in 2008, according to a new analysis by the USDA – which predicts this year's sales could reach $7 billion. |
|
How to feed the world: start small
Breakthroughs Magazine - 11/13/2011. By Eileen Ecklund – Claire Kremen believes that understanding what is good for bees is a first step toward shaping agricultural ecosystems, or "agroecosystems," that can sustain both humans and natural biodiversity, without the need for the huge inputs of chemicals and energy that have made industrial farming practices so damaging. |
|
Growing your way out
Kennebec Journal - 11/13/2011.By Craig Crosby – In their quest to reduce their food bills, many Mainers look no farther than their own backyards. With a little sweat equity, planting a vegetable garden can provide a healthful alternative to purchasing food at the grocery store. |
|
Grocers, food banks struggling to help feed hungry families
Kennebec Journal - 11/12/2011. By Craig Crosby – South China: Pete Haskell sits behind his desk in his dimly lit office in the basement of his grocery store. Upstairs, shoppers load their baskets with cans and boxes, many marked with a blaze orange sticker announcing DISCOUNT. Haskell, a multi-generational farmer who also owns a trucking and fuel company, has watched the nation's economic woes from different angles, and seen the fear up close on the faces of his customers. |
|