PLANET'S POPULATION IS NOW MORE URBAN THEN RURAL

"So far, cities are getting whatever resource needs that can be had from rural areas. But given global rural impoverishment, the rural-urban question for the future is not just what rural people and places can do for the world's new urban majority. Rather, what can the urban majority do for poor rural people and the resources upon which cities depend for existence? The sustainable future of the new urban world may well depend upon the answer."
Dr. Ron Wimberley, Professor of Sociology at NC, addressing the fact that as of May 23, 2007, the world's population for the first time is primarily urban.

VENEZUELA MOVES TO BAN FRANKENCROPS

Monsanto's plans to grow 500,000 acres of genetically engineered crops in Venezuela have been thwarted by the nation's popular President, Hugo Chavez. According to Chavez, when he learned about Monsanto's Plans, "I ordered an end to the project. This project is terminated." Chavez is now encouraging Venezuela's national legislature to pass some of the most sweeping restrictions on genetically modified organisms in the entire Western Hemisphere.

MONSANTO & BIG FOOD ATTACK LOCAL RIGHTS TO REGULATE FOOD AND CROPS

Since 1998, the biotech industry and industrial food corporations have unsuccessfully tried to take away local and states' rights to ban or regulate genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and other controversial foods and crops. For example, OCA and other public interest groups successfully generated a mass outcry in 2006 that blocked the passage of the National Uniformity for Food Act. This highly unpopular bill would have nullified 200 food safety and food labeling laws across the U.S. Failing to suppress grassroots control over food safety laws and labels in the last session of Congress, industry has now called on their friends in the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry to slip a similar poison pill into an obscure section of the voluminous 2007-2012 Farm Bill. The provision would give the White House appointed Secretary of Agriculture the power to eliminate local or state food and farming laws, such as those in four California counties banning genetically engineered crops, and set an an ominous precedent undermining states' rights.

Back 40 is coming!!!!

The registration brochure for the Back 40 Farm & Garden anniversary
event will be arriving in your mailbox in the next couple of weeks.
But if you don't want to wait, go to http://casfs.ucsc.edu/back40/index.html and download the pdf version to use for registration.

Job Opening at CASFS

Job available: Field Production Manager for UCSC Farm

The Field Production Manager provides agricultural and marketing instruction and direction for trainees in the six-month UCSC CASFS Apprenticeship Program. This position plans and manages the organic field, orchards, and CSA garden sites for production, instruction, and demonstration. Also oversees the production for all the various markets and all related instruction and supervision.

Minimum Starting Salary: $32,076. Job description and on-line application:

https://jobs.ucsc.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=62625

More Bad News for Citrus

This time in Florida. Drought sweeping the state is hitting their nursery business hard too. More here.

Issues with plant-derived fuel!!

Valentin Humer, president and CEO of Food & Vine, pumps recycled grapeseed oil into his Mercedes diesel in Napa, California. The global rush to switch from oil to plant-derived fuels will drive deforestation, push small farmers off their land, and lead to serious food shortages and increased poverty unless it is carefully managed, says the most comprehensive survey yet completed on energy crops.

CATASTROPHIC BEE COLONY COLLAPSE IS NOT AFFECTING ORGANIC HIVES

As previously reported, beekeepers in 24 states are experiencing record losses of honeybees. Some states have reported up to 70% disappearances of commercial bee populations. Researchers are struggling to find the causes of this mysterious collapse. A crucial element of this story, missing from reports in the mainstream media, is the fact that organic beekeepers across North America are not experiencing colony collapses. The millions of dying bees are hyper-bred varieties whose hives are regularly fumigated with toxic pesticides by conventional beekeepers attempting to ward off mites. In contrast, organic beekeepers avoid pesticides and toxic chemicals and strive to use techniques that closely emulate the ecology of bees in the wild. Researchers are beginning to link the mass deaths of non-organic bees to pesticide exposure, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and the common practice of moving conventional bee hives over long distances.

FARM BILL

STOP CONGRESS FROM CUTTING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PROGRAMS
Congress is currently putting together the 2007-2012 Farm Bill, a massive bill of taxpayer subsidies and incentives that will have a major impact on food and farming in the U.S. over the next five years. Next week (May 21), the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation will decide whether to make cuts in the Conservation Security Program, an innovative program that helps sustainable and organic farmers protect the environment and preserve wetlands. Congress has already cut this program by $4.3 billion and is considering making further cuts. We need to send a strong message to Washington that it's time to move our food and farming system away from chemical and energy-intensive industrial agriculture towards conservation, organic practices, and less dependence on petroleum-based inputs. Contact your Congressional Representative now and tell them to please use taxpayers' money wisely by restoring full funding to the Conservation Security Program.

ANOTHER SNEAK ATTACK ON ORGANIC STANDARDS

USDA & INDUSTRY TRY TO SNEAK BANNED CONVENTIONAL INGREDIENTS INTO ORGANIC BEER, SAUSAGE, & PROCESSED FOODS
The USDA has announced a controversial proposal, with absolutely no input from consumers, to allow 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the "USDA Organic" seal. Most of the ingredients are food colorings derived from plants that are supposedly not "commercially available" in organic form. But at least three of the proposed ingredients, backed by beer giant Anheuser-Busch and pork and food processors, represent a serious threat to organic standards, and have raised the concerns of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), as well as a number of smaller organic companies and organic certifiers. Specifically, the OCA disagrees with the "Budweiser exemption," allowing conventionally grown hops, produced with pesticides and chemical fertilizers, to be used in beers labeled as "USDA Organic". Also, OCA strenuously objects to the USDA's proposal to allow the use of conventionally raised factory-farmed animals' intestines (we'll spare you the gory details of what thes animals have been fed) as casing for sausages labeled as "organic." Adding salt to the wound, the USDA has indicated the public comment period will not be the standard 30-60 days. Although the USDA has been working closely with industry on these proposed changes as far back as 2002, the agency will only be accepting public comments for seven days. Take action now and forward this alert to interested friends and colleagues.

Land Wars in Venezuela

Intense video here and article here. Armed gangs are seizing private lands for the good of the "socialist fatherland." Ironically, as they destroy sugarcane plantations to plant lettuce and tomatoes, they are running out of sugar...

not too important but...

I just signed into Flickr and read: Your Flickr PRO account will expire on Apr 29
It seems like we can keep a free account, with a limit on how much is uploaded per month.
Not a lot of activity recently, but maybe the new apprentice folks would want to make sure this was available?
just to let y'all know...

From Concentrate

How food processing got into the hands of a few giant companies. A nice summation from Grist can be found here, which links to this study for a concentrated view of what we're talking about.