March 25, 2016 | seedstock

1 An experiment in sustainable urban agriculture [Pacific Standard]

Excerpt: It’s a sunny day in February, and I’m standing at the entrance of an enormous brick building in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. This area on the city’s Southwest Side became infamous last century after Upton Sinclair described the appalling work conditions at its stockyards in The Jungle.              

2 Urban farming tips from expert Annie Novak [amNY]

Excerpt: If you’ve ever wanted to turn your barren backyard or empty rooftop into a green space for fresh veggies, herbs and flowers, Annie Novak has you covered.                  

3 Playing dirty: Pacers double-team urban farm [Indianapolis Monthly]

Excerpt: A couple of Pacers were feeling spring fever yesterday at the Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center in Indianapolis.

4 Grassroots efforts, urban farms find creative ways to feed communities [Trib Live]

Excerpt: Ali Berlow likes the simple approach to remaking America’s food system. Start in your community with small steps that can make a big difference toward bringing fresh, wholesome food to anyone, she writes in her new book, “The Food Activist Handbook” (Storey Publishing).                  

5 A local apple a day… benefits kids, farmers and the environment [Huffington Post]

Excerpt: These days many of us are looking to get more fresh, local, and sustainably grown food onto our plates. Now we have a chance to ensure that New York students have more access to local produce too.                  

6 Hanover, Virginia supervisors approve residential farming community [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

Excerpt: A highly discussed and anticipated residential farming community that developers say would leverage Hanover County’s natural landscape won approval from the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday night.              

7 This robot is a better gardener than you [Washington Post]

Excerpt: Drafting plants is hard work: It helps reduce stress on plants’ roots and create sturdier crops, but it can really stress out farmers. Humans have to struggle to cut plants just the right way and bind them together.                

8 Maine Senate rejects proposed ‘right to food’ constitutional amendment [The Portland Press Herald]

Excerpt: The Maine Senate voted Wednesday to kill a proposed constitutional amendment seeking a “right to food freedom and food self-sufficiency,” one day after House lawmakers supported sending the issue to voters.                

9 Millennials have the power to change our food system—Why aren’t we? [Greatist]

Excerpt: When was the last time that you found yourself chatting with your friends about a meal? Yesterday? 10 minutes ago? Now, when was the last time you had a conversation with a friend about farm subsidies or food deserts? Deserts. Not desserts. Less frequently, right? If ever?                 

10 Oregon kids’ community garden gets $3,500 ‘seed’ grant [Oregon Live]

Excerpt: Vegetables mean a lot more than just healthy eating to Stephanie Sayles, a fifth grade teacher at Joan Austin Elementary School in Newberg. Like many educators, she devotes classroom time to hands-in-the-soil gardening.

11 Tribal food sovereignty for the price of a pickup [New Food Economy]

Excerpt: Under the massive South Dakota sky the grassy plain goes on for miles. This harsh, majestic land is part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the country’s second largest.               

12 How one woman’s food redistribution app is feeding thousands [Shareable]

Excerpt: Komal Ahmad was a student at UC Berkeley when she experienced a life-changing moment. She had just returned from summer training for the U.S. Navy when she met a homeless veteran on the sidewalk. He hadn’t eaten in three days.            

13 Images that capture what urban hunger looks like today [City Lab]

Excerpt: On East 11th Street between Avenues B and C in New York City’s East Village, the line for the Father’s Heart food pantry wraps around the block. On cold winter days, people bundle up in puffer coats to hold their place; they might be outside, standing still, for as long as three hours.           

14 Neighborhood gardens encourage urban residents to reconnect with land [Albuquerque Journal]

Excerpt: Spring is the season of promise; the soil is warming, leaves and flowers are budding and months of growing time lie ahead. Albuquerque residents who lack yard space have an array of options to indulge the yearnings of their inner green thumb at one of the many community gardens dotted around the city.                  

15 Expand your urban homesteading [City Beat]

Excerpt: Urban veggie gardens have become the norm in Greater Cincinnati, and for those who want to expand their mini-farms and diets with livestock, you may want to consider adding chickens and bees.              

16 Healthy, affordable, accessible food goal of Lewiston-Auburn, Maine ‘food charter’ [Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal]

Excerpt: A local community group has created the state’s first “food charter,” outlining a vision and commitment to affordable food in the Twin Cities.  The Good Food Council of Lewiston-Auburn publicly released its one-page food charter Wednesday.              

17 At this supermarket, the produce section grows its own produce [Fast Co.Exist]

Excerpt: At the end of the produce aisle in the Metro supermarket in Berlin, an indoor farming company is testing the ultimate in local food: Greens and herbs are growing inside the store itself. The greens grow inside glowing modular boxes, in a design that the company behind the project, Infarm, says is so efficient that it can finally make vertical farming affordable on a micro scale.