Boulder County

Laid-Off Man Finds Economic Success With Waste

Ana Cabrera (TheDenverChannel.Com — Feb 20, 2012)

“Losing my job at that point was a blessing in a lot of ways because it gave me the freedom to do what came naturally,” John-Paul Maxfield said. Instead of seeing obstacles, Maxfield saw an opportunity to pursue his passion: a love of nature

Searching For A CSA

Blair Madole (Boulder Weekly — Feb 2, 2012)

If you are trying to avoid GMOs and the potential for strange growths or zombie-like qualities this summer, participating in a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, may be a good choice.

Boulder Carving ‘Natural Beef’ Brand Of Its Own

(Denver Post — Jan 28, 2012)

If beef is what’s for dinner, officials in Boulder think it should carry the city’s name. Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department is developing a “Boulder brand for natural beef,” according to city documents. And at the same time, the department is looking at partnering with a mystery company to convert about 200 acres of open space grazing land into a large “farm-to-table” facility as part of the city’s push for more local food production.

12 Year-Old Farmer Is An Inspiration To Us All

Andrew Gunther (Huffington Post — Jan 25, 2012)

Ask any farmer to list his or her major challenges and the issue of who will take over the farm when it’s time to retire will no doubt feature in the top 10. According to government statistics about 40% of U.S. farmers are 55 years old and up, raising real concerns about exactly who is going to fill their shoes. The sad fact is that there are fewer young people getting involved in farming than ever, and many young people see no future in the family farm. As a result, countless family farms are being bought up and absorbed by larger industrial operations. In my opinion this is one of the greatest tragedies of our generation.

School Districts Restore Fresh Cooking To The Cafeteria

Kirk Johnson (NY Times — Aug 16, 2011)

The idea of making school lunches better and healthier has gathered steam in many parts of the nation in recent years, but not equally for every child. Schools with money and involved parents concerned about obesity and nutrition charged ahead, while poor and struggling districts, overwhelmed by hard times, mostly did not.

Hazon, A Local Jewish Group, Runs Farm, Sustainability Programs

Mark Collins (Boulder Daily Camera — Jan 23, 2012)

The Jewish holy book the Torah was written many centuries ago, long before a person’s carbon footprint became a topic of discussion.

“We’re looking at GMOs, we’re looking at pesticides, we’re looking at an era where you can eat anything you want in any season because it’s coming from 5,000 miles away,” said Becky O’Brien, director of community engagement for the local chapter of Hazon. “None of that existed when teachings that we’re using now to make decisions around that stuff were written.”

Boulder County Agrees To Allow Some GMOs On Public Land

Laura Snider (Boulder Daily Camera — Dec 20, 2011)

The three Boulder County commissioners voted unanimously this afternoon to allow genetically modified organisms to be planted on county-owned open space land with restrictions. The commissioners supported the continued planting of corn that has been genetically engineered to resist the herbicide glyphosate or to resist insects. Planting GMO corn was first approved in Boulder County in 2003.

Farmers Organize At Eleventh Hour To Fight GMO Ban

Laura Snider (Boulder Daily Camera — Dec 17, 2011)

In the last several months — as three different advisory groups have weighed in on how Boulder County should manage its croplands — swarms of local activists, who believe genetically modified organisms should be banned on open space, have stolen the show.

Lawmakers Tweet: County Funds Threatened If GMOs Banned

Jefferson Dodge (Boulder Weekly — Dec 15, 2011)

This is a tweet sent by Colorado state Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg on Nov. 19 at the annual convention of the Colorado Farm Bureau, one of the agricultural powerhouses involved in generating the huge farmer turnout at the Dec. 8 cropland policy hearing. It is an apparent threat to state funding for Boulder County, should the commissioners decide to ban or phase out the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on open space land.

Food: The Most Universal Symbol Of America’s Age Of Excess

David Wann (Alliance For Sustainable Colorado — Dec 12, 2011)

Many are living in a candy shop psychosis in which we consider it a sensible trade to let the ice caps melt and the tumors take root if the Whoppers and PopTarts just keep coming. That illusion, however, is fading in a society that is beginning to see diet as a moral decision, related to essential human needs like vitality, social connections, fairness, security, kindness, and even sanity. In a world of changing values, near-future peers may not respect us if we are mindless, self-centered eaters.

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The Local Food Shift Meets Occupy Boulder

…The Transition movement is actually just a part of something much larger, a deep and rapidly moving cultural shift in our society which, in Paul Hawken’s words, represents the planet’s immune system kicking in, a powerful and even revolutionary grassroots-to-grasstops community response to the whole broad range of converging global crises. Underneath all these various movements and organizations—and what we make explicit in the Transition movement—is the impulse for community healing and regeneration. There are two areas where we see many of these movements beginning to converge and overlap. The first has to do with food, local food. This is the local food movement, or the local food revolution—or what we call it, the local food shift. The second has to do with shifting local capital to invest in the well-being of our communities…

Global

GM Crops: Follow The Money

(Eur Activ — Feb 10, 2012)

The only way the GM industry and their supporters can make GM look good is if they cook the books. The only way they can sell their product is in unlabelled packages in the US and elsewhere so consumers don’t now where it is. This smacks of desperation, not success.”

Lenders Learn How To Bank On Small Farms, Local Food

Patty Cantrell (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition — Feb 2, 2012)

Nic Welty employs himself full time year-round raising lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens in three low-cost passive solar greenhouses, which together cover less than one acre of land. His Nine Bean Rows farm near Traverse City, MI, is one of many smaller, diversified, often first-generation farms in the country that defy expectations, particularly among bankers and others with money needed to finance the new food enterprises.

300,000 Organic Farmers Sue Monsanto In Federal Court: Decision On March 31 To Go To Trial

Jane Ayers (Nation Of Change — Feb 12, 2012)

Little did Willie Nelson know when he recorded “Crazy” years ago just how crazy it would become for our cherished family farmers in America. Nelson, President of Farm Aid, has recently called for the national Occupy movement to declare an “Occupy the Food System” action.

Five Sustainably-Sourced Restaurants In The U.S.

Stephanie Bugliione (Nourishing Planet — Feb 14, 2012)

When most consumers think about making better food choices, they often reserve those changes for the home: smart choices at the grocery store, an occasional trip to the local farmers’ market, cutting back on meat, and substituting applesauce for butter in homemade recipes. But when diners walk through the doors of their favorite restaurants, these smart-eating policies tend to melt away into the indulgent abyss.

Never Mind The Meat–Worry About Eating Enough Plants

Andy Bellatti (Grist — Feb 13, 2012)

By and large, the most environmentally friendly dietary decision one can make is to eat less animal protein (see deforestation, water pollution, and greenhouse-gas emissions, etc). But for many, the notion of eschewing — or significantly cutting back on — meat, eggs, and dairy brings up nutritional concerns. As I see it, not only are those concerns usually unfounded, they should pale in comparison to the question of getting enough plant-based foods.

Occupy Vs. Monsanto: Activists, Farmers Fight The Corporation They Fear Will Take Over All Of America’s Crops

Anna Lekas Miller (Alternet — Feb 6, 2012)

Monsanto, if you will, is the 1 percent of Big Agriculture–the scourge of small farmers everywhere. But now those farmers are fighting back, backed by activists from Occupy Wall Street. First, some history. In 1982, Monsanto scientists were the first to genetically modify a plant cell. Three years later, the US Patent Office ruled that

In Organic We Trust

Kip Pastor (Huffington Post — Feb 9. 2012)

An observant cynic once wrote, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” The organic food movement is certainly a great cause and it has definitely become big business. Now the only question is whether we will allow this well-intentioned movement, started by farmers who strived to be stewards of the land, to completely degenerate into a meaningless food trend.

Community Supported Agriculture

(Fleeing Vesuvius — Feb 4, 2012)

Community supported agriculture is a community-led initiative connecting organic growers with local consumers, each group of consumers supporting a farm by purchasing directly from the grower, in order that the grower may have an assured market for the produce and the consumers know exactly where and under what conditions their food is grown. Each such initiative is known as a CSA.

The Seed Emergency

Vandana Shiva (Al Jazeera — Feb 6, 2012)

Patenting seeds has led to a farming and food crisis – and huge profits for US biotechnology corporations.

Maine Voices: It’s Time To Rebuild A System That Supports Local Food And Farms

Chellie Pingree (Maine Sunday Telegram — Feb 5, 2012)

It’s only a matter of time before there is another case of contaminated food that leads to more drug-resistant infections. And while regulators should move more quickly to clamp down on the use of antibiotics in animal feed, these outbreaks are symptoms of a much bigger problem that can only be solved by rebuilding a food system that supports local food and farms.