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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Rodale Institute web update newsletter
  • Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:34:39 -0600

Restless ag innovators forging new paths

Welcome to the Rodale Institute web update newsletter.
Having trouble viewing this message? Go to
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/Newsletter for our latest edition.

Hello Paul: The natives—and immigrants—of many locales seem to be getting
restless about the farming and food that’s being presented to us by Big
Farming and Big Food. Late-summer and early-fall travels of Rodale Institute
staff have brought us in contact with an uplifting range of people, places
and groups who are declaring their independence from farming and food as we
have known it. They are celebrating, demanding and creating farming as it
needs to be to produce food as fresh, as healthy, as local and as life-giving
as it should be for a sustainable world.
The conventional food system—for all the economic benefits it has provided to
non-farmers—is failing under the weight of the chemicals, fossil fuel,
subsidies and propaganda needed to prop it up. Farmers who have started
farming with more natural systems—from certified organic crops to grass-based
livestock to heirloom fruits and vegetables—and eaters who have formed
relationships with them and the food from their farms are forging powerful
new alliances. Whatever economic disasters await us, you can be sure that the
New Agriculture uprising is part of a lower-risk and higher social-benefit
future.
If you’re dubious, you owe it to yourself to explore…

MOFGA attendees

Farm Aid crowd

Energy barn at Teal Farm

Russell Libby’s reflections on the growth of the Common Ground Fair,
sponsored annually in Unity, Maine, by the Maine Organic Farmers and
Gardeners Association (MOFGA), as a harvest celebration all things
self-sufficient in Maine for everyone who comes. Read more>>
The Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture, a consensus call from a
wide array of farm and food leaders that “a healthy food system is necessary
to meet the urgent challenges of our time.” Learn how folks working with
Roots of Change are gathering more input and building up support for a
full-scale launch in 2009 on their way to gathering 1 million supporters for
framing a new food and agriculture policy. Read more>>
How four popular musicians (and their farmer-support focused organization)
pulled off another sold-out Farm Aid concert, serving up heaps of
local/organic/family farmed food and a great day of rock, roll, roots and
country music. The day featured the launch of the group’s Farm Resource
Network, a free information service for farmers and their supporters. Read
more>>
On-farm renewable energy generation already in place at Teal Farm in northern
Vermont, a 1,300-area property being designed to model perennial crops,
ecological biodiversity and carbon-friendly farming. Read more>>
How a collaborative spirit among small farmers, small business owners and
local nonprofits in Hardwick, Vermont, has created new support networks and
capital flow for new ventures that might otherwise struggle. Read more>>
There is no smooth road ahead, so we’re glad to report these resilient and
energetic examples that are shaping what comes next.
You can join these entrepreneurs and food innovators by sponsoring and
attending Ripe for Revolution: The Organic Solution, a celebration of organic
food, information and inspiration set for November 11 at the Chelsea Art
Museum in New York City. The event will jointly benefit the Rodale Institute
and The Organic Center.
Reaching out to cultivate the next generation of regenerative farmers, the
Institute announced its first-ever FFA Essay contest this week at the
National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, where more than 50,000 FFA
high-school students are attending.
Finally, we’re delighted to note that Anthony Rodale, chairman emeritus of
the Rodale Institute, has received a 2008 Spirit of Organic Award from New
Hope Natural Media.
Read, take heart and make a difference wherever you can.
Greg Bowman and the
Rodale Institute editorial team






  • [Livingontheland] Rodale Institute web update newsletter, Tradingpost, 10/23/2008

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