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Upping the steaks: How grass-fed beef is reshaping ag and helping the planet is a great article on grass-fed beef and some of the hurdles that producers must address when managing pastures and the needs of our animals on pasture. Cost of the product is higher but so is the quality, However when proper soil, forage and animal management is practiced production and final product costs can be reduced. Production follows quality. Read more.

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Nearly 60,000 FFA members and teachers attended the convention from every state including Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. There were 380 exhibitors at this year’s convention ranging from all the land grant colleges, pharmaceutical companies, agribusiness and manufacturing representatives.

The Farm-to-Consumer Foundation was in the Teacher’s World section this year with the primary goal to help spread the word that there is another side of agriculture and to offer support to the teachers and educational programs for students as awareness and demand grows in local small scale agriculture and more producers enter the career of growing food for a local clientele.

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To read more, click here.

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Continued support from people like you has allowed the Foundation to create and continue to deliver critical educational programs that are vital to the sustainability of the local food movement, quality food production, protection of rights to purchase direct from the producer and recruitment efforts for new producers to meet the growing demand of quality locally produced food. One added benefit of the Foundation’s efforts recently brought to our attention is that quality local food is getting into the hands of more people across all socioeconomic levels. This is an exciting new aspect to our work, and we are exploring how to maximize potential with organizations that have begun to utilize opportunities created by the Foundation.

Here is a brief outline of our work for the first half of 2012:

• The Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of two new directors to the board: Joe Scrimger, a long-time Michigan Educator/Consultant of biological agriculture and Sarah Donovan, MBA/Biologist currently working in Washington DC. Please visit the Who We Are page for the complete bios and more information.
• At the biennial retreat, the Foundation created an Educational Committee and welcomed for the first time non-Board of Director Committee members to sit on a Foundation committee. Joining us are Rebecca Brown, who holds a degree in Environmental Studies and Natural Resource Management and has worked with several of the sustainable Ag leaders around the world and Sharon Wilson, a Raw Goat Dairy Farmer, Treasurer of the Raw Milk Association of Colorado and Instructor of the Foundation’s Goat Share University.
• The second phase of website expansion in fall 2012 will include Foundation financial transparency page, speaking and educational dates around the country and Foundation educational information access. The Young Farmer page is in the works for exposure of local ag to young and new producers..
• The Foundation Grant Committee finalized its Grant Program procedures in February and in the spring grant cycle distributed $27,500.00 to applicants involved in Public Interest Litigation.
• The Foundation has developed and will be presenting the Best Practices for the Production of Raw Milk Seminar at the NOFA Summer conference, NOFA-NH winter conference, three dates in September in Oregon and Washington State, and two dates in November in California. The Foundation is currently in conversation with all the major winter conferences, Rural Vermont, and the Maine sovereignty organizations to present the Best Practices Seminar in 2012 and early 2013 to begin long term educational partnerships.
• The Foundation is close to finishing the Raw Milk Dairy Farm Check List, a quick guide for consumers to evaluate raw dairy producers, and current dairy producers to gauge where their farm is at in relation to being able to deliver safe quality raw milk. This checklist will be available on our site in the very near future.
• The Foundation is currently in discussions with several private colleges with Sustainable Ag programs to develop a lecture series from professionals and leaders on the principles of Biological Agriculture, and integrate that knowledge into the curriculum so the students start their knowledge base with the principles of soil, forage, and animal biology to assure their farm’s success and eliminate the mindset that farming is a calling and one cannot make a living. These key principles have proven to increase raw milk safety and quality while increasing dairy animal productivity and longevity, and transfers to all food and forage production.
• The Foundation is in discussions with the organizers of the Slow Living Summit on what is needed to educate investors and major donors of Sustainable Ag ventures, local Ag production support industries and individuals and their farming practices. What constitutes a good foundation of economic growth based on biological principles applied to the soil.

If you have any questions about the programs and efforts of the Foundation or have any suggestions about issues or needs of the local sustainable food movement the Foundation should pursue, please feel free to contact me at president@f2cfnd.org.

Sincerely,

Tim Wightman

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Click here to read descriptions of the following workshops in the Nutrient Density Track.

• Introduction to Soil Fertility – David Forster, Forster Soil Management, Newington, CT
• No Grain Dairy, Beef, Sheep and Goat Nutrition – Rebecca Brown, Chilmark, MA
• Silicon Soil Fertility and Nutrition – Joseph Heckman, Cook College, Rutgers University, Department of Plant Biology & Pathology, New Brunswick, NJ
• Growing Quality Food Biodynamically – Mac Mead, Pfeiffer Center for Biodynamics, Chestnut Ridge, NY
• Mitigating Radioactive Toxicity in Agricultural Produce – Tom Vanacore, Bridport, VT
• Biological Farm Management – Dave Llewellyn, Glynwood, Cold Spring, NY
• Bacterial & Fungal Species in Mineral Availability & Transmutation – Dan Kittredge, Real Food Campaign, North Brookfield, MA
• Steiner, Albrecht & others: Conflict & Commonality – Klaas Martens, Lakeview Organic Grain, Penn Yan, NY
• Minerals, Trace Elements, Enzymes and Enzyme Pathways – Dan Kittredge, Real Food Campaign, North Brookfield, MA
• Some Livestock Best Feeding Practices – Julie Rawson, Many Hands Organic Farm, Barre, MA
• Best Practices in the Production of Raw Milk – Tim Wightman, Farm-to-Consumer Foundation, Alstead, NH
• Soil: The Super Ecosystem of Ecosystems – Jerry Brunetti, Martins Creek, PA
• Managing Air and Water in Soil – Bryan O’Hara, Tobacco Road Farm, Lebannon, CT

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The massive food directive known as the Farm Bill is getting some very needed attention from those who actually know where their food comes from.

Direct welfare like payments to farmers for commodity crop production (corn, soy, cotton and wheat) might get cut, but the money will be paid to farmers in an expanded crop insurance plan. Little focus or money is geared towards small producers feeding more and more people every year.

More here :http://grist.org/farm-bill/pushing-for-local-food-in-the-farm-bill-an-interview-with-chellie-pingree/

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Anyone who visits this site is probably aware of outbreaks of illness due to raw milk. We thought we would share the other multiple outbreaks you probably have not heard of. Where does your food come from?

Outbreak News

• 05/03 – A Nasty Smorgasbord – E. coli Raw Milk, Salmonella Tuna Scrape and Salmonella Tempeh

• 05/03 – 258 sushi eaters now sick with Salmonella

• 05/03 – NC salmonella outbreak traced to bad tempeh batch

• 05/03 – FSA issues cheese contamination alert

• 05/02 – 37 cases of Salmonella Paratyhpi B Linked to Smiling Hara Tempeh

• 05/02 – 21 sick from raw milk in Oregon; again ‘people missed the boat on one of the great advances in public health – pasteurization’

• 05/02 – Source of Outbreak In Pueblo, Colo. Is Foodborne, Caterer Is Closed

• 05/01 – Salmonella Outbreak Widens, 200 Sickened in 21 States

• 05/01- Cantaloupe Deaths Spotlight Food Safety Fears

• 04/30 – Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium AND E. coli O157:H7 Linked to Oregon Raw Milk Farm

• 04/30 – Kentucky and Tennessee E. coli Outbreaks – Is there a link?

• 04/30 – Salmonella paratyphi B: North Carolina Link to Tennessee, New York and South Carolina

Recall News

• 05/03 – Henry’s Farm Inc. Expands Recall Of Soybean Sprouts Due To Possible Health Risk

• 05/02 – Asheville Company Recalls Tempeh After Tests Detect Presence Of Salmonella

• 05/02 – Smiling Hara Recalls Tempeh because of Possible Health Risk

• 05/02 – Kaytee Recalls Forti-Diet Pro Health Mouse, Rat and Hamster Because of Possible Salmonella Health Risk

• 05/02 – Diamond Pet Foods Expands Voluntary Recall to Include Diamond Puppy Formula due to Possible Salmonella Contamination

• 04/30 – Diamond Pet Foods Expands Voluntary Recall of One Production Run of Dry Dog Food Due to a Potential Health Risk Recall is limited to one formula of Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul distributed to 10 states

• 04/30 – Limited Recall Of DuMOR Poultry Grower/Finisher Bags Containing DuMOR Poultry Layer 16% Crumbles Because of Possible Animal Health Risk

USDA/FDA News

• USDA: Offspring of mad cow did not have disease
• USDA Announces New Safeguards to Protect Consumers from Foodborne Illness
• OIG: FSIS Appropriately Addresses Industry Appeals of Humane Handling Enforcement Actions
• Update from USDA Regarding a Detection of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States
• FDA Statement on USDA Announcement of Positive BSE Test Result
• Statement by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Regarding a Detection of Bovine

More here..

http://www.foodhaccp.com/memberonly/newsletter493.html

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http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/wendell-berry-american-hero/

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