January 15, 2016 | seedstock

 

1 A start-up that aims to bring back the farm-to-vase bouquet [New York Times]

Excerpt: The locavore movement urges buying food produced in one’s immediate region. Farmgirl Flowers is trying to do the same for flowers.                

2 More Alaska food production helps economy, promotes food security [News Miner]

Excerpt: Eating local has always been a goal more aspirational than practical for Alaskans. While the midnight sun in summers leads to bumper crops of many vegetables, a relatively short growing season followed by a long winter makes it nigh impossible for stores to offer local produce year round, aside from root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and onions that have long storage lives.

3 Farm in a box: Shipping containers reused for fresh produce [Seattle Times]

Excerpt: Shipping containers have been turned into housing, art, even playgrounds. Now, a Boston company is recycling them into high-tech mobile farms as part of a new wave of companies hoping to bring more innovation to agriculture.                 

4 Organic, local, sustainable. But can startups make sure food is safe? [Chicago Tribune]

Excerpt: Americans want to know more about what they’re eating: Where does this food come from? Was it grown in an organic, sustainable way that I can feel good about? And was it handled safely before it reached my plate?

5 Urban agriculture? Only 1 percent of Seattle residents could eat locally even with all viable space in use [Science 2.0]

Excerpt: Farm to fork, locally grown and all of the other progressive terms for agriculture self-identification leave out one important fact: People would starve.              

6 Florida locals embrace urban farming [Chipley Paper]

Excerpt: An unusual gift led one Bonifay resident to the hobby of raising a typical barnyard animal right in her back yard in the middle of town.             

7 Iowa residents see growth potential for local foods [Telegraph Herald]

Excerpt: Farmer Kristi Bellmann has sold her products at Dubuque Farmers Market for the past 10 years, an experience that increased her interest in local food systems.            

8 New central kitchen will serve Bethel, Washington schools [The News Tribune]

Excerpt: The lunch ladies are going high-tech in the Bethel School District. With the opening of a 23,000-square-foot central kitchen building, the Spanaway-based school district is changing the way it delivers 14,000 meals a day to kids.            

9 How a Michigan farm extends growing season to offer year-round vegetables [MLive]

Excerpt: As a freezing wind blew across the field at Green Wagon Farm, Heather Anderson brushed away the frozen dirt and lifted the thick plastic over a tunneled garden cover last week to reveal a healthy green crop of kale.         

10 Going with the flow, Utahns building farms of the future using aquaponics [The Salt Lake Tribune]

Excerpt: The temperature outside says it is winter, but inside the Stapley greenhouse in Tooele County, it feels — and looks — like spring. Bursting from the floating garden beds are three varieties of kale, as well as bok choy, mustard greens, lettuces and cilantro.

11 Vista, California aquaponics farm is a growing success [CBS 8]

Excerpt: One of the largest aquaponic farms on the West Coast is about to get even bigger.          

12 Aquaponics at heart of ‘Blue Revolution’ [Agri-View]

Excerpt: No cows, no cropland, but there’s plenty of protein and nutritious leafy greens. That’s what aquaponics offers. A cutting-edge hybridization of aquaculture and hydroponics, aquaponics combines indoor rearing of fish with soil-less plant production.             

13 Massive aquaponics farm coming to Newark, Ohio Greenhouse [Brighton-Pittsford Post]

Excerpt: An Ohio entrepreneur whose sights are set on an existing 340,000-square-foot greenhouse complex in Wayne County says he could be growing and selling high-quality organic produce by the start of next year.               

14 Middle schoolers grow fresh produce to feed the community [DNAinfo]

Excerpt: Neighborhood middle schoolers are planting the seeds for healthy eating in their community. A group of 15 student volunteers at Urban Assembly Unison School has converted a third-floor science lab into a hydroponic classroom garden where they’ll grow hundreds of leafy greens, fruits and vegetables.

15 Food bank may harvest benefits from Purdue students’ project [Washington Times]

Excerpt: Second Harvest Food Bank has a constant need for fresh vegetables, and students at Purdue Polytechnic are working on a plan to help produce more of it locally year round.

16 The western view: indoor vertical farming [AgNet West]

Excerpt: Indoor vertical farming: The ultimate factory farm. In New Jersey a company is creating a new kind of factory farm to compete with California produce growers.

17 Defending the land: young veterans take up sustainable farming [Huffington Post]

Excerpt: Michael wanted to make a plan, wanted to know what he’d be doing for the winter. He started thinking about those farmer-training programs he’d read about, and decided to apply.              

18 Small bites: ASAP goes on the air [Mountain Xpress]

Excerpt: WNCW and Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project have teamed up to launch a new radio series called Growing Local.