May 13, 2016 | seedstock

Urban farms bring us together, but can they feed enough of us? [Civil Eats]

Excerpt: When fresh food sprouts on urban rooftops, floating barges, and in once-abandoned buildings and schoolyards, people take notice. “Spaces that have gardens have a different atmosphere than vacant lots,” notes Anne Palmer, program director for Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

This former fisherman is now farming the most sustainable food on earth—underwater [The Nation]

Excerpt: “For the first time in generations, we have an opportunity to grow food the right way, provide good middle-class jobs, restore ecosystems, and feed the planet.”

Urban farmer: Compost, it does an urban farm good [The Call]

Excerpt: Urban farming is a good way to care for the land, take part in the production of the food we eat, and match human ingenuity with nature’s accumulated wisdom in a system that benefits both parties.

Urban farming – New places to grow [Horticulture Weekly]

Excerpt: Several developments in recent months suggest that 2016 will be the year that urban growing completes the leap from laboratory-scale investigation to large-scale commercial production.

Northeast

Beyond chickens and bees: Urban farmers try goats [The Times] (Pennsylvania)

Excerpt: Snowflake the goat has cornered me, nuzzling my hand as she nibbles on my jacket’s zipper. “They’re very affectionate,” says urban goat pioneer Jennie Grant, who owns the 99-pound, white miniature LaMancha.

It’s a matter of taste: Defining local food is difficult [Eco RI] (Rhode Island)

Excerpt: Is local food about location or practices? After all, monoculture farms and factory farming are local to someone. A rural egg farmer may be operating less than a mile from your home, but the farm keeps its hens in battery cages.

Strengthening community food systems: An interview with Mandy Fischer [Food Tank] (Vermont)

Excerpt: Mandy Fischer is the Development Director at the Intervale Center in Burlington, Vermont, and has been with the organization since 2006.

Baldor’s Local Pledge helping to build a stronger food system [The Produce News] (New York)

Excerpt: TJ Murphy, owner and chief executive officer of Baldor Specialty Foods, headquartered in the Bronx, NY, knows that navigating the local season is a challenge and it requires extra work to transition purchasing habits. In response, he issued a pledge challenge on April 12.

South

Looking for an oasis in America’s food deserts [NC State News] (North Carolina)

Excerpt: Where does your food come from? For many in the United States, getting nutritious, fresh food is not as easy as making a quick trip to the supermarket.

How I foraged for kale at the Governor’s Mansion [My AJC] (Georgia)

Excerpt: As I drove up to the security checkpoint at the Governor’s Mansion in swanky Buckhead, I mentally prepared myself to be turned away. After all, I had a rather odd request: to pick some kale from the plants flanking Gov. Nathan Deal’s front gates.        

Fish in Galbraith aquaponics system feed crops [The Online Current] (Florida)

Excerpt: Among the various tanks and pipes under Galbraith Marine Science Laboratory sits a small garden of lettuce, tomato, cucumbers and beans grown in an aquaponics system.  

Making hydroponic vegetables work despite misconceptions [Southeast Farm Press] (Alabama)

Excerpt: Commercial hydroponic production is not as common as livestock or row crop production in Alabama, but hydroponically produced leafy greens and tomatoes are extremely popular in several Alabama restaurants and dining facilities.

Midwest

Project chronicles lives of ‘new farmers’ who do things the old way [The University of Kansas] (Kansas)

Excerpt: As historically one of the top 10 agricultural-producing states, Kansas and farming are often considered synonymous. Yet, most of that perception involves wide-open rural farming plots on several acres of flat land.   

Michigan State University joins global food security initiative [MSU Today] (Michigan)

Excerpt: MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon will help lead a national higher education initiative to prepare to feed a hungrier planet.

Gardening by book: Authors offer helpful tips [Toledo Blade] (Ohio) 

Excerpt: The National Gardening Association reports there are more than 67 million avid gardeners in the United States, the average being a female over the age of 45 with some college.

West

Could the future of urban agriculture be located inside a Vernon warehouse? [LA Weekly] (California)

Excerpt: In 2014, Local Roots CEO Eric Ellestad built a farm inside a repurposed, 40-foot-long shipping container in a parking lot in Hawthorne. As with many young startups, his company’s ambitions were grand: to solve the biggest challenges of modern agriculture.

Give back Tahoe: Tahoe Food Hub building sustainable foodshed [SierraSun.com] (Nevada)

Excerpt: We are Tahoe Food Hub. We are building a sustainable foodshed for North Lake Tahoe. A foodshed is like a watershed.  

Aquaponics: Fish, plants, sun and water come together for lush Chico-area garden [ChicoER] (California)

Excerpt: Just a short jaunt up the hill from the road at Richardson Springs Hotel, a distinct gurgling sound can be heard. It’s not a babbling brook, although there is a creek running nearby.