Alfalfa fund to aid local farmer
Kennebec Journal - 7/17/2009. By Craig Crosby – Leo Murphy decided something had to be done even before Duke Dulac asked for his help while sliding a straight-edged razor over his neck. And by the time Dulac was through shaving his friend's neck, Leo and Duke's Alfalfa Fund had been born. The white, decorated piggy bank that rests on a table inside Duke's Rotary Barber & Beauty Shop on State Street already holds a few hundred dollars to help cover losses caused when a group of partygoers flattened acres of alfalfa at Two Loons Farm in China. |
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Sen. Bernie Sanders cries “monopoly” in a collapsing milk market
Grist - 7/17/2009.By Tom Laskawy – Earlier this year, the Obama administration’s top antitrust enforcer, Christine Varney, announced a new effort to crack down on monopolist practices in industry. Some of us were particularly interested to observe that Varney’s first speech specifically mentioned agribusiness as a top target. This is understandable since, from fertilizer to meatpacking to seeds, four companies or fewer control up to 80% of each of these markets. |
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Farmers critical of food safety bill
Los Angeles Times - 7/17/2009.Reporting from Washington -- Farming and ranching representatives appeared before a congressional panel Thursday to express concern that a major bill pending in the House could unnecessarily complicate the marketplace without improving food safety.
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With a gust of wind, an Iowa crop duster can squash an organic farm
Grist - 7/16/2009.By Kurt Michael Friese – Grinnell Heritage Farm is 152 years old. Andrew Dunham is the fifth generation of his family to work this land about 50 miles east of Des Moines. He is a direct descendant of Josiah Grinnell, founder of the town and the man Horace Greeley once famously quoted as having said, “Go west, young man, go west.” Andrew and his wife Melissa are a few months shy of receiving their formal certification as an organic farm. |
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