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Breeding for Taste with Lane Selman Nov 22, 2016

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One of the major programs which Lane is working on is the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC). NOVIC is a collaborative effort among researchers and educators from top universities who work together to grow all of the material and breeding lines for various vegetables to see how they perform in different environments. The breeders are looking for traits which specifically organic farmers need, since seeds bred for conventional farmers don't always hold up under organic conditions.

The Perfect French Fry Nov 15, 2016

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The cost of living in an area which grows potatoes in vast quantities isn't just about money. Amy says that the people who live in the area of the RDO fields are being sprayed with pesticides by helicopter every week. Some people in the area are getting ill, the water is being contaminated throughout the United States, livestock is being affected and other crops (including organic crops) are also being hit with at least 35 different pesticides which are found on potatoes. Additionally, the growing of these potatoes requires over 13 billion gallons of water per year.

Cooperation Equals Happiness Nov 08, 2016

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Most recently, Frances participated in Democracy Spring, a movement committed to taking money out of politics and putting more people in politics, enforcing voter rights, and the Supreme Court understanding that the right to speak must be driven by a meaningful right to be heard. "Hunger," she says, "is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy." No one is hungry by choice, "hunger is the symptom of powerlessness," and powerlessness is the opposite of democracy.

A Little Non-Profit with a Big Reach Nov 01, 2016

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Community GroundWorks aims to build the farm business in such a way that actually could end up being a somewhat of a social enterprise mostly through urban farming. They have over 300 community gardens and a five-acre organic farm in the Madison, Wisconsin, area and throughout Dane County. Ellen, through urban farming, is proving everyone can farm organically and sustain their own food needs on a small scale. In addition to teaching urban farming, Ellen teaches at risk youths how to garden and farm at the Goodman Youth Farm. She says by "teaching children how to eat and grow real food" she hopes they will go home to their parents and tell them that this is what they want.

The Science of Grass Oct 25, 2016

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Kevin likes to think of his cows as athletes. And this means feeding them like athletes too. He says that "the better the diet they have, the more diverse their feed intake. It [a grass-based diet] gets a lot of the proper minerals from the soil into the cow and then into the milk." So not only does grazing translate to a herd of strapping, healthy cows, it also means delicious and nutritious milk. Kevin shares that scientists studying the effects of managed grass-based agriculture identify a distribution of fat on grazing cows that is visible in the hair patterns on their coats. And the name for this pattern? Happy lines.

Permaculture & Activism with Author Starhawk Oct 18, 2016

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Permaculture, Starhawk explains, is "a whole system of ecological design that says if we work the way nature works, if we really observe and understand how nature is doing things, we can meet our human needs while actually regenerating the environment around us." This "art of designing beneficial relationships," as permaculture has been called, opens up the conversation to include the idea of social permaculture as well as its ecological counterpart.

Storytelling to Change the World Oct 11, 2016

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Fred describes Haberman as playing the role of the "modern storyteller" because "a great story can truly change the world." And this world-changing philosophy applies especially to the stories of brands in the good food movement. More recently, Fred developed a hydroponic facility called Urban Organics in the old Hamm's brewery in Minneapolis. Urban Organics raises tilapia alongside chard, kale, basil, cilantro and parsley. In their closed-loop system, fish provide nutrients for the plants to grow while the roots of the plants provide clean water for the fish. This model of agriculture uses less than 2% of the water used by traditional farms.

An "Incredibly Good-Tasting Pork Chop" Oct 04, 2016

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Barry says that his two books "Pig Tales" and "Tomatoland" are "rooted in this notion of commodity agriculture." And that, although our current agriculture industry leaves much to be desired, "there is something we can all do. And we can start doing it the next time we go to the supermarket." Barry's solution? Vote with your dollars. Choose the pasture-raised pork and the organic tomatoes. Be the change.

The Love, and Business, of Agriculture Sep 27, 2016

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Hal Hamilton has a long list of accomplishments and advocacy that brings us to today, where his focus is on the Sustainable Food Lab. The organization's core purpose, he explains, is to "accelerate progress with sustainability in the mainstream." This critical and laudable goal stems from the recognition that "the production of food is an avocation and a love, but it's also a business" and the Sustainable Food Lab takes the business into account every bit as much as the passion, in order to maximize its positive impact.

The Path to Activism and Good Food Sep 20, 2016

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Katherine's impressive experience in the organic sector stems from what she describes as a "compulsive need to work in nonprofits." She has been involved not only in the food movement, but in issues of peace, social justice, and alternative energy too. Today, she describes the Sustainable Food Trade Association as "a learning community of businesses who are sharing their best practices, their challenges, their initiatives and innovations to help each other really become sustainable business models." In this, they are doing crucial and amazing work.

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