Author: GoodFood World

Not Just a Label on a Package: Oregon Tilth is More Than an Organic Certifier

In its first incarnation, Oregon Tilth was the Willamette Valley Chapter of Regional Tilth, an organization made up of chapters in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and northern California. In 1982, one of the earliest sets of standards and procedures for organic certification came out of collaboration among the chapter members.

Today Oregon Tilth is not just a certifying body. The organization also teaches urban and rural farmers and home gardeners about sustainable agricultural systems, and processing handling and marketing of their production.

The Town That Food Saved by Ben Hewitt

A microscopic burg in northern Vermont may just be the epicenter of a new food movement, a scenario that alternately amuses, enthuses, and enrages its 3,200 residents. With a hardscrabble reputation left over from its heyday as a mining metropolis, Hardwick has had to rely on a can-do/can-do-without stoicism before, though the current economic downturn is certainly testing its mettle.

Even Unemployed Americans Won’t Take Work as Farmhands

All those Americans who are talking about farming – whether buying from farmers markets, becoming members of CSAs, or building urban farms – aren’t ready to actually work on a farm. Not at current farm wages. Not even if they don’t have a job.

Crop Biodiversity: Use It or Lose It

Millions of dollars a year are spent on projects to protect endangered plants – ranging from giant California redwoods to the tiny Marsh Sandwort – but less is spent to protect plants used for food. As a result we fail to consider the importance of wild and domesticated food plants. Consumers in the developed world eat from a smaller and smaller selection of carefully bred and often genetically modified food crops.

Are We Coming to the End of Cheap Food?

Consider the econo-caloric history of the United States, as it progressed from “Emerging Market” to Superpower. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the average American in 1919 had to work two hours and 38 minutes to buy a 3-pound chicken. Nowadays, it takes just 15 minutes. Is era of cheap food about to come to an end?

Cage-Free Eggs: Catching On

The Humane Society of the United States has a right to crow! They are gaining traction on their cage-free egg movement and the list is beginning to read like a “Who’s Who” of the food world.

Food/Beverage Industry Announces “Front-of-Pack” Labeling Initiative

America’s leading food and beverage manufacturers and retailers joined forces and announced their commitment to develop a new Front-of-Package (FOP) nutrition labeling system. The FDA wants to provide standardized, science-based criteria on which FOP nutrition labeling must be based. Where will the two meet?