The California farming community is facing a demographic crisis. The average age of a California farmer is 58, and nearly 20 percent of them are 70 or older. As these farmers approach retirement, California needs to train new ones if we are to continue to feed our country and keep a healthy…
A tumbl.r for articles, links, sites, related to my work at Net Balance in the areas of food, fashion, forests, finance, the nfp revolution, supply chain, certification, labelling and more
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
V important questions and case study!
Urban Agriculture Part I: What Cuba Can Teach Us
“Everyday, in the city of London, 30 million meals are served. That’s millions of trucks arriving to millions of stores and restaurants in a complex, tightly scheduled orchestration of production, transportation, and distribution.
We take it for granted that this system will never fail. But what would happen if these trucks were stopped? As unrealistic as it sounds, it’s happened – and not so long ago.
In 1989, over 57% of Cuba’s caloric intake was imported from the Soviet Union. When it collapsed, Cuba became, virtually overnight, solely responsible for feeding its population – including the 2.2 million in the city of Havana. What happened next is an incredible story of resilience and innovation.”
via studio630
project powerdown: Growing a New Crop of Farmers
Would this work in Australia?
Australian vegetable farmers under the gun
This quote gets to the point:
“ONE in four Australian vegetable growers is facing financial ruin as they fight a losing battle against cheap processed imports, mounting labour costs and greater competition for our traditional export markets.”
Infographic on Australian food imports & exports over the last decade
As part of a Fairfax Press (Australia) focus on The Future of Food over this week, they’ve put together an infographic on the rising importation of processed foods to Australia.
There are some other great articles too, which I’ll share now.
Interesting developments in the sixth wave of innovation …
Nothing less than a “New Age” for a burgeoning sub-economy of reusable products and materials is being envisioned by the collaborative likes of the New York City Sanitation Department and the City College of New York’s Department of Civil Engineering. Collecting data which shows how much energy is saved, how many jobs can be created, how much better pricing systems can be, and how much solid waste can be prevented will elevate this subject and its social status within the “zero waste” movement. We should aspire to using resources, in the worlds of Paul Hawken, “10 to 100 times more productively.”
The vital importance of women in agriculture
This is an amazing infographic, full of goodness and stats, showing just how important women are to global agriculture.
How can you make international supply chains work better for smallholder farmers?
Very important question with some exciting answers!
By Aurelie Walker, Trade Policy Adviser, Fairtrade Foundation
Making international supply chains work better for smallholder farmers is a potential ‘win-win’ for thousands of farmers and businesses. A new report by the Fairtrade Foundation analyses six case studies from farmer groups producing tea, cocoa and nuts in Kenya, Cote D’Ivoire and Malawi asking them from their experience, what really makes trade fair?
@IIED talks food research
Polarisation helps no one: Building common ground for a new collaborative model of agricultural food research
USDA launches guide for local food systems
The United States Department of Agriculture has launched its Regional Food Hub Guide: An Innovative Tool for Growing Local Food Systems online.
The Guide is aimed at food producers, buyers, and customers to highlight the impact a regional food hub can have and provides information, resources and background on everything needed to develop or participate in a regional food hub.
Unique, exciting and launched today - the Fairtrade Access Fund
So very proud of what they are doing in the UK.
How amazing would it be to be able to have similar conversations and launch similar projects here in our region???
By Harriet Lamb, Executive Director, Fairtrade Foundation
A new scheme - The Fairtrade Access Fund - that will give loans and technical support to Fairtrade farmers is launched today. Harriet Lamb describes this unique scheme which is an exciting partnership between a social investment firm and two not-for-profit organisations.
