The Wrong Research

At this point it’s widely acknowledged that biofuels made with corn and soybeans are not the solution to our addiction to oil.  Farmers clear huge tracts of land to grow monocrops destined for biofuel production where once natural ecosystems thrived, or where they had grown food for their families.  Multinational biotech corporations like Monsanto and [...]

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New Yorkana

It took a crisis in Cuba for urban agriculture to take over.  The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 cut off nearly all agricultural imports to Cuba, including pesticides, fertilizers, farming equipment, and food.  Not only did organic farming increase, by necessity, but Cubans began cultivating a significant percentage of their food in urban [...]

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Egological: Balancing Dependence

A month ago, I wrote an essay entitled Recognizing Accents. I wrote on the importance of knowing and acknowledging all the different voices that contribute to the movement for nutritious food, land stewardship, and local community.I have had to acknowledge recently, while I listen to these voices, that I tend to work hardest on [...]

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SEEDS: Issues of Source and Selection.

Biblical parables have their mustards, Johnny Appleseed spread his trail over the country, and Jack planted magical ones to find a beanstalk the next morning. New organizations are always planting the “seeds” of change, assuming they can raise the “seed” money to do so. And at every turn I see a new product [...]

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