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Black Earth: A Family’s Journey from Enslavement to Reclamation

Civil Eats

In the months before Patrick Brown was born in November 1982, his father, Arthur, lay down on a road near the familys farm to prevent a caravan of yellow dump trucks from depositing toxic soil in his community. Patrick currently operates Brown Family Farms on the land that Byron worked as a sharecropper once he was freed.

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‘An Insane Amount of Water’: What Climate Change Means For California’s Biggest Dairy District

Modern Farmer

Although California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) aims to recharge them by regulating draws, the dried-up lake bed has long been collapsing under the massive weight of industrialized agriculture—to the tune of a couple of inches per month.

Farming 87
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An Iowa Fertilizer Plant Purchase Spurs Antitrust Concerns

Civil Eats

When farmer Joshua Manske heard about the acquisition of an Iowa fertilizer plant by Koch Industries in December, he saw it as a “microcosm of what’s going on nationally.” Because corn requires nitrogen fertilizer to grow, Manske is concerned that further consolidation of the fertilizer industry will drive his input prices up more.

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Book Review – Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry

Daily Yonder

Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry by Austin Frerick Island Press (March 26, 2024) Few books about America’s industrial agriculture system and food industry uncover the billionaires behind its biggest corporations. And it is no accident.

Food 132
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Our 2024 Food and Farming Holiday Book Gift Guide

Civil Eats

Through captivating case studies, Thurow’s hopeful book showcases farmers who have boldly gone against the grain of modern agriculture orthodoxy and are instead embracing regenerative practices—like agroecology and permaculture—that restore soil health, enhance biodiversity, and promote resilience against climate change.

Food 137
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Q&A: Should Crop Insurance Be Subsidized?

Daily Yonder

First, agriculture certainly matters very much to anyone who buys food, however we live in an increasingly urbanized world where the population is geographically and culturally distanced from rural food production sites. Second, as I mentioned earlier, my work is very much rooted in my own personal experiences.

Crop 79
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Our Summer 2024 Food and Farming Book Guide

Civil Eats

Brazil’s national requirement that 30 percent of school food ingredients be sourced from local and regional family farms helps empower and fund women agroecological producers. Guilbeault ventured to Silicon Valley to examine veganism’s transformation from a social movement to a market-based model, and inside the U.S.

Food 145