(LEISA Network photo.). “At the outset, then, its often best to ‘borrow’ land, to steward the land of some holiday home owners, to gently lease some pastures from an extensive land-owner, ‘beg borrow or steal’ if you have to, or do it as a sideline.” This is just one pearl of wisdom from the Greenhorns [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Farming’
Ken Meter – Part 2
Ken Meter discusses the dilemma of high land prices preventing new farnmers from entering the industry.
Farm Economics Statistics
According to one source, in 2003 Americans bought $450 billion in retail food. Of this, $40 billion (less than 9%) went to the farmers that grew the food. Compare that with the portion that Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club (the two largest food retailers) got: $80 billion. The average retail sales per retail employee was $127,000. [...]
Ken Meter on Building a Local Food Economy
“In my mind, what a food system ought to do and what a strong one would accomplish is to really give us very healthy food that we know the source of. And it should help us build wealth in our communities. It should also help us connect with each other, as people who learn what [...]
Time Gets Real
(Euclid Van der Kroew photo: Farm equipment burried by the dust bowl, c. 1935.) “Unless Americans radically rethink the way they grow and consume food, they face a future of eroded farmland, hollowed-out countryside, scarier germs, higher health costs — and bland taste. Sustainable food has an élitist reputation, but each of us depends on [...]
If You Eat Meat, Know Its Source
(Detail of a photo by VirtualErn.) The Reverent Eater reminds us that most store-bought (and restaurant) meat comes from CAFOs in which the animals are kept in appalling conditions— and fed food that they have no business eating. Cows are often fed corn (which they don’t digest well) and feather meal, the waste from chicken [...]
