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Farmers helped build the country, and most of us depended on their products for the food we eat. Americans now eat fast food one to three times a week on average. Between 1998 and 2023, our reliance on imported food has tripled. Will familyfarms as we know and love them survive, and how do the ones that are thriving now do it?
But distinguishing between monopoly and monopsony is useful because food businesses can potentially exercise both at the same time. Their potential market power is ‘two-sided’, similar to online platforms for food delivery that could potentially become the only intermediary between restaurants and customers. In the U.S.
Strengthening local economic markets and smallholders access to them creates a mutually generative cycle of food and ecological resilienceessential to strong local incomes and livelihoods. Remember that familyfarms continue to feed 70 percent of the worlds population. Women farmers have the most to gain from local markets.
This designation helps sustain Native culture, reassure public health, and encourage state food sovereignty. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to embrace these benefits. The rise of plantation agriculture uprooted Native communities, replacing local food systems with sprawling sugarcane and pineapple fields.
Joshua Cave, Cave FamilyFarm in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina. Funds spent in regional food systems are considered multipliers , meaning that the value of each dollar spent in a regional food system is amplified beyond its initial value for community impacts. In 2022, 60,332 farms reported more than $14.2
Our food & farming reviews of 2025 are here what’s been cropping up this past year and worth watching? China, in particular, is concerned with the future of their food and water having lived through the Great Chinese Famine three devastating years between 1959 and 1961. Featured image courtesy of Rob Carmier.
Familyfarming is a vital part of agriculture, providing food security and sustaining rural communities. This guide will cover essential aspects of family farmi
A version of this piece was featured in Food Tanks newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. For decadescertainly for most of my careerdiscussions about food and agriculture systems have been pushed to the sidelines. Political leaders are recognizing that food is central to climate solutions. But thats changing now.
As a young boy, Dr. Charles Vincent loved heading to the familyfarm just outside of Montreal, Quebec. His fascination with farming led him to start a degree in agronomy, where he instead fell in love with the study of insects, eventually leading to a 40-year career studying agriculture pests for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
We are pleased to see that there are a number of state investments aimed at supporting underserved and small-scale farmers, and there are no proposed cuts to the California Underserved and Small Producer (CUSP) Program or Farm to Community Food Hub Program at CDFA. Including but not limited to: $18.8
Trisha says niche markets like this are critical to keeping small familyfarms like theirs alive. “If If we didn’t have Niman Ranch, we wouldn’t be raising pigs…we are a small farm and 225 pigs is just tiny on the scale of the large conventional operations. We don’t have to hire multiple people to run the farm.
Todd Banes and his son Trent farm together on Banes FamilyFarm in Tama County, Iowa. Trent dreams of farming without the need for an off-farm jobthe fourth generation in the family to farm that land. But Trent argues that his way of farming is better for the overall food system.
Ho`la Farms, a small nonprofit on Hawaii Island, aims to use agriculture to help veterans rebuild a sense of purpose in their lives. Agriculture is a powerful tool for personal healing and community building, the farms co-founder Emily Emmons tells Food Tank. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement?
Harvestly, a proud Farms Together partner, is bringing the freshest veggies straight to the SLO Food Bank to nourish the community. Over the past year, the California Association of Food Banks, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and Fresh Approach worked with over 500 farmers to supply food to over 50 food banks.
Every year, our community honors individuals, farms, and businesses who are making a positive difference in California. As a second-generation rancher, Rizpah honors her family’s agricultural traditions while confronting systemic barriers in a predominantly white, male-dominated field.
Earlier this year, CAFF kicked off a massive project in the San Joaquin Valley to help support familyfarms there and strengthen the local food economy, in partnership with UC Agriculture & Natural Resources (UC ANR) and the Central Valley Community Foundation (CVCF), among others. Why take on such a big project?
As a young boy, Dr. Charles Vincent loved heading to the familyfarm just outside of Montreal, Quebec. His fascination with farming led him to start a degree in agronomy, where he instead fell in love with the study of insects, eventually leading to a 40-year career studying agriculture pests for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada….
Local Foods Mohawk Valley (LFMV), located in Clinton, New York, wants to forge a future for online farmers’ markets in a post pandemic world. The organization is motivated to increase access to local food and during LFMV’s first year of operation has also boosted farmers’ lifestyles, community relations, and the local economy.
As the general manager of the nonprofit Northwest Connecticut Food Hub (NWC Food Hub) , Giroux spends a lot of time in that station wagon. Food hubs bridge the marketing, sales and distribution channels while taking out any middlemen.” Small, first-generation farms are often susceptible to common business start-up issues.
March started off as a rollercoaster ride when news broke that Farms Togetherour program delivering food sourced from local farmers to food insecure communities across Californiahad been paused indefinitely. Unfortunately, local food is often too expensive for the same community that grew it. the program was restored.
Patrick Holden discusses how the centralisation of the food system has given rise to an atmosphere of paranoia about bacteria, which, in turn, is placing a disproportionate regulatory burden upon small producers and processors. After all, if something went wrong, thousands or even millions of people could get sick.
At this moment, CAFF is working closely with partners across the country, with plans to meet this month with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) to advocate for the needs of familyfarms.
Background After months of advocacy, the State Legislature proposed a joint budget agreement that would prevent critical investments in food hubs and small farm emergency relief from getting cut! to CDFA’s Farm to Community Food Hub: Created by former Asm Bloom, this program would create NEW food hubs across California.
When Maximina Hernández Reyes emigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Oregon in 2001, she was still learning English, had no idea where the food pantries were, and knew very few people. Hernández Reyes was able to secure a small plot in the community garden and started growing food for her family. This was just the beginning.
Hutton hopes that companies like Niman Ranch with a stronger connection to consumers will help to get more people interested in where their food comes from. Maybe it reverses that trend, where people start realizing a little bit more that food doesn’t just come from the grocery store, says Hutton.
CAFFs mission is to build sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient familyfarms, communities and ecosystems. As a farmer-serving organization, we recognize the historic and lasting inequities in the California food and farming system.
Some of the terms used on food labels are official certifications, enforced by the USDA or a nonprofit entity, and the presence of the certification means that the farming operation has been verified in some way for compliance. Below is a list of definitions for common phrases on food labels. Do you know what “cage-free” means?
Across the city of Atlanta, Georgia, many organizations are working to build a food system that centers community wellbeing with the health of the planet. On April 14, Food Tank is heading to Atlanta to partner with Spelman College and Emory University for the Summit “ Empowering Eaters: Access, Affordability, and Healthy Choices.”
Farmers are in the business to make food not waste, but even so, an inevitable 88.7 million tons of food went unsold or uneaten in the United States in 2022 , roughly 38 percent of our nation’s total food supply. The majority of food waste occurs on a consumer level—in homes, restaurants, and grocery stores.
Bioengineering is one of the modern eras most powerful tools to address food insecurity, climate change, and other sustainability issues. But our ability to bring these transformative crops to market was just dealt a major blow. Early in December, the Northern California District Court vacated rules adopted in 2020 by the U.S.
Food Security and Farm Protection Act , introduced by Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) : A revision of the EATS Act that would overturn Californias Proposition 12, which banned selling pork from pigs raised in tight confinement. Its a priority of the National FamilyFarm Coalition.
But just around the corner from NASDA, Kaitlyn Kimball was one of a group of farmers who traveled to Capitol Hill with the National FamilyFarm Coalition who said she cant access $30,000 in funding she already signed a contract for, to implement conservation practices that will make her Connecticut fruit and vegetable farm more self-sufficient.
“Funding for food banks to buy local?” As 2022 unfolded, 82 states, territories, and tribes signed on, ultimately receiving millions in LFPA funding to strengthen farm-to-family programs in their communities. million in LFPA Plus funding to continue the farm-to-food-bank-to-families program.
Two organizations want to put an end to the wild west of claims and prove, through certification, that food labeled regenerative is genuinely the gold standard of sustainability and not just another marketing buzzword. Her familyfarm has been organic certified since 2006, but it only adopted the ROC standards in June 2022.
There are some 90 million dogs in the US alone, and their protein needs are rattling the human food chain. Humans are worried about what’s in dog food, not to mention what dog food is in––way too much non-recyclable packaging. Is there a way to make healthier dog food that won’t burden the planet so much?
On June 29th, Lopes FamilyFarms hosted a field day with Community Alliance with FamilyFarms (CAFF) in Princeton, CA focused on rice and duck farming, a Biologically Integrated Farming System (BIFS). For more information on Lopes FamilyFarm follow them at Lopes FamilyFarms. *All
But what does this mean for food and farming? Despite calls to the contrary, the agriculture budget has not increased and other changes have left many familyfarms uncertain about the future. There are two main reasons why agriculture and food do not feature prominently in the budget.
Small farms that made all their household income from the farm struggled the most, despite selling something we all need—food. Nevertheless, these farms were honorably scraped together from nothing, their growers much like passionate artists in the field; their art: beautiful, healthy local food.
Iowa is the number-one pork producer in the United States, but it has relatively few hog farms. Large factory farm facilities have replaced smaller familyfarms. The state lost nearly 90 percent of its hog farms from 1982 to 2017, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census data.
Walla Walla’s hands-on coursework is bringing together agriculture and culinary students as part of a nascent movement among community colleges that are increasingly bringing food production into curricula in new and innovative ways. million grant for its soon-to-come vertical farming, hydroponics and plant-based culinary arts programs.
These cuts will have a huge impact on the future of family farmers and local food. million in cuts to the sustainable agriculture programs such as the Healthy Soils Pogram and the Pollinator Habitat Program The post FamilyFarms React to Governor’s Proposed Budget, Major Cuts appeared first on Community Alliance with Family Farmers.
Or being able to go visit family or be there for every basketball game or holiday or wedding…there are a lot of sacrifices that must be taken to get food on everybody’s plate.” With fewer from the next generation taking over familyfarms, they are often bought by large-scale farmers and consolidated.
If you’re like most Americans, you probably don’t give too much thought to where your food comes from. But recent research from the University of Georgia suggests the unique stresses from farm life may be taking a toll on one of the pillars of the families that make your dinners possible: the women who keep farmingfamilies running.
The post One & a half million dollars for familyfarms in need appeared first on Community Alliance with Family Farmers. DONATE TODAY “COVID has made worse of the inequities that already existed in our community but it has also shown some of our best qualities to come together and support each other.
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