Good Food is Everybody's Business
Washington apple growers are in trouble! It was a late spring, a cool summer, a long damp fall, and the apple trees are covered with ripe fruit. Unfortunately, it’s late October and cold, wet weather is just around the corner. If those apples don’t get picked soon they’ll rot on the tree.
We offer the following interview with Devon Peña to highlight issues that are facing farmers across the US as well as around the world. Challenges like farm worker shortages – is it an immigration issue or worker welfare issue? Or corporate control by Big Ag, Big Food, and Big Org (as in organics)? Or commodity speculation by the world’s stock markets which is driving the cost of basic food stuffs beyond the reach of millions? Or factory farming that have mastered the “art” of growing and killing animals faster and on a larger scale than ever before? We’ll bring you information on all those issues this week, and we start with a “food commons.”
Mel and Sue Brown, Amaltheia Organic Dairy, milk more than 200 goats and, in their small cheese plant, they turn out chevre, whole milk ricotta, and feta cheese. The original three flavors of Amaltheia’s chevre won American Cheese Society awards in 2004 and the whole milk ricotta was called “perfect” by the Society judges.
October is National Non-GMO Month, so it’s a good time to ask yourself how much you really know about what exactly GMOs are, why they’re produced, and how prevalent they are?
Cereal Crimes, a report by Cornucopia Institute, explores the vast differences between organic cereal and granola products and so-called natural products, which contain ingredients grown on conventional farms where the use of toxic pesticides and genetically engineered organisms is widespread. Analysis reveals that “natural” products—using conventional ingredients—often are priced higher than equivalent organic products. This suggests that some companies are taking advantage of consumer confusion.
Running a farm and raising fifty or more sheep, a handful of beef cattle, and two horses is not a job for the faint of heart. And Melissa Lines is NOT Little Bo Peep. It was a farm visit when she was 4 years old that convinced Melissa that she wanted to work with animals, but it took decades – and a corporate career – to bring her to the point where she could actually make it happen.
What is our answer to the challenge? If we are not to “give-in” what is the alternative that provides real change? Changes not limited to short impact volunteerism, give-aways that often create more problems, photo ops and marginal deliverables, but what about real game changing, economy building, capacity improving, meaningfully sustainable, significantly equitable deliveries? That is a real question. Answer it with your next action.
Imagine a big room full of tables, each covered with samples of apples, pears, and grapes ready for you to taste. Best to bring a note pad and paper if you want to remember the ones you REALLY liked, because after tasting dozens of delicious fruit it will be hard to recollect which was which.
