February, 2023

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The Transition to Cage-Free Eggs

Jayson Lusk

That’s the title of a new research report I co-authored with Vincenzina Caputo and Aaron Staples at Michigan State University and Glynn Tonsor at Kansas State University. The research was funded both by egg producers, represented by the United Egg Producers (EUP) and the United Egg Association, and by food retailers, represented by the Food Industry Association Foundation (FMI Foundation).

Food 130
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Series A boost for Australia’s SwarmFarm Robotics and its Integrated Autonomy solutions

Food and Farming Technology

Queensland, Australia is home to SwarmFarm Robotics, an agritech firm which this week announced it has raised US$8.

Farming 130
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John Hardin High School FFA is Building Community with Hydroponics

Fork Farms

Did you know that there are over 735,000 students in more than 8,800 local FFA Chapters in the United States? FFA is a youth organization that prepares members for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. These students will grow to work in food production, education, biology, chemistry, politics, veterinary science, engineering, entrepreneurship, and beyond!

Food 52
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Microgreens 101

Farmbrite

Getting Started With Microgreens on Your Farm Microgreens are popular in home gardening, farming, and for chefs worldwide. People have been drawn to them for beauty, flavor, health benefits, and commercial purposes. Also, they are quick food crops and ideal if you have limited space. With so many advantages they are definitely a crop to take a look second look at for your farm.

Seeding 52
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AmplifiedAg Leaves Their Mark on the Sector: Scaling Container Farms with SaaS

Agritecture Blog

Editor’s Note: Agritecture’s Founder and CEO, Henry Gordon-Smith , (HGS), spoke with Don Taylor, (DT), CEO of AmplifiedAg , about his experience in the CEA sector. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Transcribed and edited by: Sarah Jordan February 28, 2023 HGS: Can you tell us about the founding story of AmplifiedAg? Specifically, how did you come up with the idea to begin the company?

Farming 52
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LEGO Responds to My Inquiry…Again

The Farmers Daughter USA

Earlier this year I shared my exchange with LEGO company about an organic garden set it will debut this spring. (You can read the details here.) I originally sent a nice email explaining to the company why I was disappointed with the way they named the new set, while affirming that it’s important for children to learn where their food comes from.

Food 52
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Consumer Food Insights - January 2023

Jayson Lusk

The January 2023 edition of our Consumer Food Insights (CFI) survey is now out. This marks the 1 year anniversary of the inaugural edition of CFI, such that we can calculate year-over-year changes and now compare current estimates to the 2022 benchmark. Thanks to the members of the Center for Food Demand Analysis (CFDAS), particularly Sam Polzin, who have done a masterful job getting the survey out the door every month and expertly analyzing and reporting the results.

Food 130

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Marin County farmers market leader honored by family-farming group

Caff

Naja-Riese, executive director of the Agricultural Institute of Marin (AIM) , has been named the 2023 Farmers Market Champion of the Year, an annual recognition awarded by Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF). The post Marin County farmers market leader honored by family-farming group appeared first on Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

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A chilling effect: How farms can help pollinators survive the stress of climate change

Food Environment and Reporting Network

Share Tweet This Story’s Impact 170 MILLION MONTHLY UNIQUE VIEWERS GLOBALLY This article is part of FERN’s series The Biodiversity Crisis /.slide-intro --> A remote Alaska village depended on the snow crab harvest for survival. Then billions of crabs died. By Julia O'Malley , July 5, 2023 A chilling effect: How farms can help pollinators survive the stress of climate change By Lela Nargi , February 23, 2023 The future of wild rice may depend on an unlikely alliance By Nancy Aver

Farming 52
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Why Engineering Determines the Success of an Indoor Farming Installation

Agritecture Blog

Edited by: Sarah Jordan February 24, 2023 The global indoor farming market has experienced tremendous growth in the past decade. Today, many CEA facilities operate successfully around the globe. However, a portion of the operating indoor farming installations worldwide are not as efficient as they could be. How can a farmer or investor know when a facility is operating at its full potential?

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Key Metrics Every Cattle Rancher Should Know

Farmbrite

Introduction to Key Metrics When you’re managing a ranch, it's important to track key metrics that tell the story of your herd. These metrics can differ depending on the size and type of your operation, but here are some key metrics every rancher should know: Cattle Gains Cattle gains is a measurement of the amount of weight gain (or loss) in cattle over time.

Cattle 52
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Obesity since the 1980s

Jayson Lusk

In a recent article , Matthew Yglesias takes issue “that conventional wisdom seems to have settled on the idea that there was a sharp uptick in obesity starting around 1980.” He argues instead that body weights have been increasing for a long time, and that if we are looking for causes of weight gain and obesity, we need to take a longer view than simply asking “what changed” in 1980, which seems fashionable today in the Twittersphere.

Food 130
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Advanced Path Planning Technology announced by Trimble Autonomy

Food and Farming Technology

US industrial technology firm Trimble will be 45 years old in November.

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Digital Marketing & CSA Customer Retention – Shared Legacy Farm shares their success!

Caff

Learn more about Shared Legacy Farm’s successful use of social media and email marketing to retain a large percentage of their CSA members, to the point of having a waitlist! Corinna provides her top six tips and tricks for successfully marketing their CSA program. This resource is part of a three part webinar series on value-added products and success stories of small producers using Ecommerce.

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Part 2. Black People Building Food Sovereignty in Philly and Beyond

Share Food Program

For this year’s Black History Month, we’re highlighting organizations led by Black people that are doing transformative food justice and food sovereignty work in Philly and nationally. Sankofa Community Farm Sankofa Community Farm is a spiritually-rooted, intergenerational farm uplifting people and cultures of the African diaspora. Sankofa spans 3.5 acres in Southwest Philadelphia, produces over 15,000 pounds of food per year using natural agricultural practices, and is powered by paid hig

Food 52
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Welcome SILT’s New Executive Director

SILT

Iowa’s only land trust dedicated to preserving land to grow table food announced today its transition from founder to first professional executive director, a complicated but promising transition for a young nonprofit. The Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT) has hired Breanna Horsey of Storm Lake as its next leader upon the announcement of Executive Director Suzan Erem’s retirement after nearly a decade launching the statewide organization.

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BARN SHEEP

The Lunatic Farmer

Saturday night I did my last of three 3-hour workshops, just outside of Hebron, and am now heading back home. I should be home Monday afternoon. I’ve visited 10 farms, most of them several hundred sheep on more than 1,000 acres. One was beef cattle on about 4,000 acres. I’ve traveled to more than 20 countries in the world, but I’ve never seen anyone produce sheep like I’ve seen here in Israel in Judea and Samaria.

Grain 52
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Is Your State Tax Rebate Taxable?

Agribusiness Blog

Many states, 21 in fact, issued taxpayers special refunds or rebates under the umbrella of inflation assistance during 2022. Normally, the receipt of a state tax refund is considered taxable income if the taxpayer itemized in the previous year. While it is getting harder to itemize due to the increased standard deduction and the state and local tax cap, these payments have led many to wonder if they are taxable.

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Advanced Path Planning Technology announced by Trimble Autonomy

Food and Farming Technology

US industrial technology firm Trimble will be 45 years old in November.

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Social Media Best Practices – 5 Marys Farm shares her success!

Caff

Learn more about Five Marys Farm successful use of social media and how she sells 100% of their products to 30K customers using direct-to-consumer marketing strategies. Mary provides information on her most used marketing tools which include Instagram and FloDesk for email marketing. Her presentation is inspiring and helpful, encouraging small farms that everyone has a story to share!

Farming 52
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What the Food Donation Improvement Act Means for Food Recovery

Share Food Program

The Food Donation Improvement Act (FDIA) passed in Congress on December 21, 2022. By expanding existing food donation policy, the FDIA strengthens growing efforts to mitigate food waste and redirect surplus food to the millions of people currently experiencing food insecurity in the U.S. Food Rescue Hero—the technology platform behind Share Food Program’s Philly Food Rescue initiative— hosted a webinar last week about what the FDIA will mean for food recovery efforts across the country.

Food 52
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[WEBINAR] Numbers to Narratives: Using Your IC Data to Make a Business Case

Thought Farmer

You have a big ask to make. Or perhaps you need to get stakeholders on board with your plan. Or maybe you did some cool stuff and want to show off your impact. Whether it’s one or all of the above, you know data is going to help bring your story to life. But now you have to sift through spreadsheets and look for ways to turn that data into a compelling business case.

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ROGUE FOOD CONFERENCE

The Lunatic Farmer

I’m thrilled to announced that the Rogue Food Conference is coming back to Polyface this spring May 13. I try to keep promotions on this blog to a miniumum, but sometimes it’s really appropriate to bring you up to speed on something. We’re bringing famous harassed farmer Amos Miller and the legal aide handling his case to this gathering, plus maverick Congressman Thomas Massie will be here, as well as other leaders in the rogue food movement.

Food 52
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ADVOCACY & POLICY UPDATES

Coalition Against Hunger

Emergency Allotments Ending We’ve been reporting now for several weeks about the upcoming end of Emergency Allotments (EAs), the extra SNAP payments that people get in the second half of the month to help with food costs. As a reminder, this month will be the final month in which EAs are distributed. Starting in March, SNAP participants will get their regular SNAP payment in the first half of the month, there will be no payment in the second half of the month.

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Project Manager

RR2CS

Oki! Rural Routes to Climate Solutions (RR2CS) shines a spotlight on the climate solutions that Alberta’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities can benefit from. RR2CS is happy to announce that we are seeking a Project Manager to lead one of our most unique initiatives yet– Siksikaitsitapi Agriculture Project (SAP)– and join our great team of community organizers, facilitators and communications specialists.

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Member Spotlight: Shepherdess Land & Livestock Co

Caff

New year new member spotlights! In 2023 we hope to bring you all a wide range of members from all walks who are excited to share what being a member means to them. This month we had the amazing opportunity to learn more about Sherperdess Land & Livestock Co. We hope you enjoy this spotlight and stay tuned for the ones we have in store for you in 2023!

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Forging Alliances for a Biodiverse Belize

Sustainable Harvest International

Sugarcane fields in northern Belize In July 2022, Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) Belize launched Scaling Positive Agriculture (SPA) , a new project that forges cross-sector alliances to promote biodiverse agroforestry systems in the northern districts of Belize, with funding from a generous SHI donor. The expansion of chemical-dependent sugarcane in Belize is accelerating alarming rates of deforestation and exacerbating the effects of climate change on rural communities.

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Can AI help with internal communication?

Thought Farmer

It's hard to go anywhere these days without hearing about AI tools like ChatGPT. To be honest, I had been hiding my head in the sand, and was extremely reluctant to take a peek at any AI tools. After all, I am a content writer, and I didn't want a robot replacing me. But, I also knew I couldn’t avoid this topic forever, and if I wanted to keep up with the cool kids, I needed to figure this out.

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AVRI RON

The Lunatic Farmer

Yesterday I had the special privilege of spending a couple of hours with the man known as the agrarian patriarch of Israel, Avri Ron. He’s also the largest organic certified farmer in Israel and perhaps the Middle East. I felt like I was talking with Abraham; he’s in his 60s with a deep base voice, flowing beard, and lifetime on the cutting edge re-establishment of Israel in its homeland.

Grain 52
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The WIC Food Package Proposal: A Deep Dive

Coalition Against Hunger

In November 2022, USDA announced a proposed update to the WIC Food Package. ​WIC Food Packages allow participants to purchase specific foods that are intended to supplement their existing diets and support healthy growth and development. WIC Food Packages vary depending on life stage, breastfeeding status, and dietary needs of participants. This proposal is a positive step for WIC that would: Align the WIC Food Packages with updated nutrition advice Expand access to healthy eating Increase parti

Food 52
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Kroger expanding Gotham Greens to more than 1,000 stores

Agritecture Blog

Credit: The Produce News Editor’s Note: In light of multiple CEA closures and bankruptcy filings, this is a huge indication of future potential for the industry! This article offers a great read of Kroger, which may influence other retailers to follow or be left behind. CONTENT SOURCED FROM THE PRODUCE NEWS February 9, 2023 The Kroger Co. and Gotham Greens are bringing greenhouse-grown produce and fresh, plant-based foods to more customers across the country.

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Agritech News: Racing into 2023

Agritech NZ

Kia Ora, With January already behind us it’s hard to remember the holiday period. Our thoughts are with all those impacted by the floods across Tairāwhiti Gisborne, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and other areas. We know events like this result in a range of emotions, practical needs, financial consequences, ongoing challenges and we wish you well in your recovery.

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Netled’s Vera vertical farm begins commercial-scale herb production in Finland

Netled

Netled’s client, Tuoretarha Ltd., begins commercial-scale herb production using Netled’s proprietary Vera vertical farming technology in Pirkkala, Finland. The farm produces high-quality herbs sold under a new Finnish consumer brand “Vyrtti”. The herbs will be available for consumers in March 2023.

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Western Farm Show is Feb. 24-26

Todays Farmer Magazine

The 61st Western Farm Show is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, Feb. 24-26, at the American Royal in Kansas City. MFA will once again be a primary sponsor of the popular show, which features the latest agricultural equipment and many other attractions for farmers, ranchers and their families. Produced by the Western Equipment Dealers Association, the show is one of the largest farm events in the Midwest with hundreds of exhibits, acres of things to see and do, the latest in agricultural techn

Farming 52
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BULLDOZED VINEYARD

The Lunatic Farmer

Yesterday the Israeli government sent in bulldozers to destroy a 20-acre vineyard near where I’m staying in Israel. You might wonder why. Fair question. Despite the Holocaust and years of wandering without a homeland, Israelis still bear the brunt of a world fundamentally anti-Israel. The government here walks a tightrope every day between trying to survive as a country, protect the Jews who live here, and placate the world.

Food 52
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2023 Small Farm Innovation Challenge Winners

Caff

Proving that innovation thrives on a small-scale, the winners of the 3rd annual Small Farm Innovation Challenge bring appropriate tech solutions to local agriculture. This competi tion, hosted each year by the nonprofit Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), invites anyone, anywhere to submit their innovations, from hardware to software to do-it-yourself (DIY), with a goal of helping small farmers become more viable and sustainable in a quickly evolving AgTech-centric world that often le

Farming 52
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Agritecture's Partner Network Expands to 20 Members; Seeks to Set a New Standard for Data Transparency

Agritecture Blog

Credit: ZipGrow. Written by: Isabelle Dom January 17, 2023 For those of you who are actively planning a new farm, there are many hurdles you may be facing or will face soon. The two that we hear most often are: (1) Deciding on the right equipment suppliers from so many options; and (2) Accessing relevant financing options. We established the Agritecture Partner Network (APN) to solve these challenges while accelerating the timeline to launch and providing those of you who sign up for an Agritect