Michigan Represents Young Farmers at the Young Farmer Conference

By Alexis Bogdanova-Hanna, Michigan Young Farmer Coalition

This past August it had become clear to me: there were far too many young, trained farmers in Michigan without work.  And those of us with work, for the most part, found ourselves making well below a living wage.  We had responded to the resounding call for new farmers by putting ourselves through university training programs, formal apprenticeships, and rigorous WWOOFing circuits.  We emerged from our training skilled, strong, and calloused and called back, “Here we are, ready to raise beautiful food for our communities, so let’s go!”  Silence.

Well, there were some whispers.  Here and there some of us found work.  Some were lucky enough to become part of established community and urban farming organizations.  Others ventured out of state.  But most of us intrepid young bloods were left to navigate the complex of barriers that typically confront beginning farmers: lack of capital, limited or no access to land, a skeletal post-training support structure, student debt, a handful of assets, and only a few seasons of experience.  Compound this with the very real insolvency of the state of Michigan, and you begin to get a sense of what we young farmers of the Mitten are up against.

It was August when a few of us realized that something needed to be done in order for us to actualize an abundant future for ourselves, our communities, and our state through the revitalization of agriculture led by a plucky lot of twenty-somethings.  That was the birth of the Michigan Young Farmer Coalition (MYFC).

By October, we were communicating through a Google Group and gearing up for our first ever working retreat in December.  It was at Bioneers Detroit that month when Megan Kohn, a fellow ’08 alum of Michigan State’s Organic Farming Certificate Program and young Michigan farmer, told me about the national Young Farmer Conference at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.  Within in weeks Michigan Food and Farming Alliance (MOFFA) had given Megan and I scholarships for our registrations and Mike Hamm, the CS Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at MSU, had pledged to fund our travel.  Tickets in hand, we were ready to bring the stories of young Michigan farmers to New England’s table and return with new contacts and tools to manage the MYFC … maybe even start a national coalition. Read more »

New rules being brought to the world food supply, December 30th. Codex Alimentarius- an extremely important issue in agricultural politics and policy! Watch the Videos!

Save the Date: March 20, 2010!

Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) Annual Conference

Co-hosted by Pesticide Watch Education Fund

“Healthy Harvest: From Field to Table”

Bringing together farm workers, food lovers, pesticide experts, and community activists from across the state to learn, share, and break bread together.

Sacramento City College

Saturday, March 20^th, with events on March 19^th

Register Early! $20 Registration Cost (lunch included and scholarships available)

To register, go to www.PesticideWatch.org/conference or www.PesticideReform.org

For scholarship information call 1-800-277-4880.

This is a fully bilingual (English/Spanish) conference.

Conference Partners: Hmong Women’s Heritage Foundation, Soil Born Farms, Slow Food Sacramento, Asian Resources and CPR’s Steering Committee.

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¡Anote la fecha en su calendario! 20 de marzo, 2010

La Conferencia Anual de California por una Reforma de las Políticas sobre Pesticidas (CPR)

Coauspiciada por Pesticide Watch Education Fund

“Una cosecha saludable: Del campo a la mesa”

Reúne a trabajadores agrícolas, a amates del buen comer, a expertos en pesticidas y a activistas comunitarios provenientes de todo el estado para que aprendan, departan y compartan el pan en compañía.

Sacramento City College

Sábado 20 de marzo y eventos el 19 de marzo

¡Inscríbase ya! El costo de inscripción es de $20 (incluye el almuerzo y hay becas disponibles)

Inscríbase en el sitio web www.PesticideWatch.org/conference o www.PesticideReform.org

Para obtener información sobre las becas, llame al teléfono 1-800-277-4880

Esta conferencia será totalmente bilingüe (Inglés-Español)

Copatrocinadores de la conferencia: Hmong Women’s Heritage Foundation, Soil Born Farms, Slow Food Sacramento, Asian Resources y CPR’s Steering Committee.

Read about the campaign to legalize beekeeping in New York City, and consider signing the petition!

The Regional Food and Farm Project (RFFP) is extremely excited to be partnering with Dan Kittredge in order to
bring this year long Nutrient Dense Farming & Gardening course to our area.

More detailed information below. If you are interested in taking this
course, please register right away -attendance will be limited to 30 people.
RFFP website: www.farmandfood.org, Eventbrite registration:
http://regionalfarmandfoodremineralization.eventbrite.com/.

We have bare-bones priced this course so that it is affordable for anyone who will benefit. We hope you can participate, our goal is to get enoughgrowers using this system to lead to a Nutrient Dense Certification program, increasing productivity and profits and further distinguishingconscientious, small growers from industrially produced food. It’s the next major piece of the puzzle for producing safe, vibrant and life sustaining food. Read more »

A week or so ago we posted an AP article criticizing agricultural giant Monsanto, and exposing the unfair business practices they used to gain market share as part of our series on antitrust investigations into the practices of Monsanto and other seed giants. In the interest of, well, openness, we present the following post – Monsanto’s response to the AP article from their WEBSITE

A recent Associated Press article on Monsanto’s licensing agreements with companies missed the mark on the real facts behind our business and our licensing approach, including:

• Our business has grown tremendously over the years thanks to an early investment in biotechnology, adding new approaches to historic breeding, and a decision to broadly license the results of those investments to anyone who wanted them, including our biggest direct competitors. We understand this scale of success brings scrutiny.
• The growth of our business cannot be attributed to any forced use by customers or to blocking any competitors.  Our licenses enable the use of our traits; they do not require the use of our traits.  Seed companies and farmers are free to move completely away from Monsanto traits at any time. It’s a choice they make every single season. If competitors invented a more attractive option, the industry could move to it immediately.  Monsanto works hard to offer better and more valuable products because that is the only way we keep anyone’s business.
• A depiction that somehow our actions are hurting small companies is just plain wrong. The facts are no seed company has invested more in the last ten years to bring new seed products to farmers than Monsanto, and no company has done more to broadly license those inventions than Monsanto. This includes licensing both seed genetics and trait technologies. Monsanto led the way in making its inventions broadly available to other seed companies, while DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred seed company historically followed a path of keeping all of their inventions to themselves and distributing them though dealers who are contractually prohibited from selling any competitive products.
• No company has done more to enable stacked trait product offerings than Monsanto. That includes licensing competitive traits as well. You can review our position on stacking here. For a complete list of current corn and soybean trait offerings click here. In visiting this link, you’ll see we’ve worked with a number of globally integrated companies to develop stacked trait products and offer them to growers.  We were also recently able to highlight the specific stacking rights Pioneer Hi-Bred has with our business.
• We do treat small local companies differently and for good reason. That said, if they wanted to make a stack, we are open to those discussions. Thus far, these discussions have occurred with integrated trait developers – not with small local seed companies because none have asked. Why do we do it differently? Because unless that small local company can gain regulatory approvals globally, every farmer growing corn or beans could be impacted by lower commodity prices due to the loss of export markets. Technologies that don’t have U.S. regulatory clearance and/or clearance in certain markets can disrupt trade, and you’ve seen a couple of examples of this over the last decade. It’s sad the quoted experts failed to point this obvious fact out.
• Our licensing agreements, which have been used to support the development of and availability of these products, are pro-competitive and have enabled literally hundreds of seed companies – including all of our major direct competitors – to offer thousands of new seed products to farmers. We do not believe there is any merit to these allegations about our licensing agreements.
• The comments of Neil Harl, which suggest that Monsanto controls 90 percent of seed genetics, don’t reflect reality. Monsanto does not control nor supply the underlying seed genetics at anywhere near this level. In fact, Pioneer Hi-Bred holds the leading position in the U.S. soybean industry with about one quarter of the seed market.  In corn, Monsanto’s brands are slightly larger than Pioneer with each of us supporting about one-third of the seed market.  Beyond these brands, hundreds of companies sell corn and soybean seed genetics in the United States. Today, some of our traits are widely used, including the Roundup Ready® soybean technology currently planted on 9 out of 10 soybean acres, only because we licensed the technology to hundreds of seed companies, including our major competitors, and no one has offered a better product to these seed companies or to growers.
• The comments from one of DuPont’s attorneys, David Boies, which suggest there is a requirement of licensees to destroy seed if there is a change of ownership, are absolutely false. Our standard agreements with licensed seed companies specifically provide them with an opportunity to sell out their inventory over a period of time, if they are acquired by another company. Our agreements would also not require a seed company to pay for a product they don’t sell.  Furthermore, the article fails to point out most of the companies we purchased were already using Monsanto’s proprietary breeding lines and traits.
• Importantly, while we are proud to serve farmers and seed companies alike, we recognize there are many choices for them to do business with – including hundreds of seed companies and multiple trait providers. Just take a look at the investor presentations of our competitors if you don’t believe us.

Organic Farm Apprenticeship on Live Earth Farm

Interested in preparing yourself for a career in farming on the Central Coast?

Description:
Live Earth Farm established in 1996 is a 100 acre organic farm overlooking the Green Valley in the Santa Cruz area of California.  We offer a year round CSA with over 800 members during the regular season.  Our Environmental Education programs include 1-2 apprenticeships per year, from January through November.  Our apprentices work on all aspects of our farm, including animal care.  You will be exposed to all of the following areas of farm operation in the first year and be expected to gain expertise and take responsibility for at least one area if you stay on for second year.
•    Farm equipment and machinery use in the field,
o    First Year- general practical hands-on experience including: mowing and hauling,
o    Second Year- Specialized field experience including: disking, cultivation, and sewing;
•    Field production techniques including: large scale, garden scale and year round production;
•    Crop planning for four season production cycle including: fertility management, pest and disease control, planting techniques, perennial and orchard management, annual cropping systems;
•    Harvest and post harvest operations including: propagation, greenhouse management, storage, packing, and distribution;
•    Marketing including CSA, farmer’s markets and direct sales;
•    CSA and farm administration;
•    Animal care including: sheep, goats, chickens, and pigs; and
•    Sustainable Agriculture Education.

Qualifications:
Prior experience is required and a desire to participate in all activities on the farm is a must.  This is an opportunity for those intending to pursue farming as a career path.  It is a learning experience, we expect you to arrive with a good work ethic and a positive attitude.  Please be aware that farming is hard work and we require a full season commitment, with the potential for a multi year experience.  We offer you an eye into the life of a farmer, and a solid knowledge base to pursue such interests.

Duration:
We ask that you arrive on the farm in January.  This gives Farmer Tom an opportunity to work with you one on one before the busiest part of the season begins.  We ask that you stay through mid November so that you have a chance to participate in our full CSA season and to be honored at our end of harvest celebration.

Hours:
An average of  40-45 hours per week.

Compensation:
A private room and communal kitchen, a stipend of $400-$750/month commensurate with experience and responsibility, and all of the fruit vegetables, eggs, and goat’s milk you could want.

Application Procedure:
To apply please fill out our application on our website and send a cover letter and resume to:
Jessica Ridgeway
PO Box 3490, Freedom, CA 95076
LEFeducation@baymoon.com

Jessica Ridgeway

Live Earth Farm Discovery Program
Community Food Systems Education
www.LiveEarthFarm.net

2010 Michigan Family Farms Conference

“Holding on to Good Food, Good Families and Good Farms”

When: January 16, 2010

How: Register online now at www.miffs.org <http://www.miffs.org> . Registration includes, lunch, educational sessions, and keynote presentation. Early-bird Registration (before Jan 10) cost is $30 per person, $25 for MIFFS member or $20 for youth. Registration after Jan 10 or at the door is $40 per person and does not guarantee lunch, so register early. No refunds after Jan 10.

New Hoop House Initiative:  On Wednesday, December 16, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the launch of a three-year study on the effectiveness of high tunnels (sometimes called hoop houses) on the conservation of natural resources.  The study will verify if high tunnels are effective in reducing pesticide use, extending the growing season, increasing yields, and the retention of nutrients in the soil.  The Natural Resource Conservation Service will be providing assistance by funding one high tunnel per farm in the participating 38 states.  Funding is through NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

To see a high tunnel be placed in the White House garden click here.  To find out if your state is participating in the high tunnel study, click here.  If you are in one of the 12 states that has not yet opted to participate in the pilot, there is still time for your NRCS state office to decide to opt in, but they need to move quickly.  If you would like to see your state participate and it is not currently opted in, call the state office and press your case.

Come Sink your Teeth In!

11th Annual NORTHERN MICHIGAN
SMALL FARM CONFERENCE

“Changing Realities in Farming and Food”

Saturday, January 30, 2010
8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Grayling High School
Grayling, Michigan

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Friday Evening Keynote Speaker

Saturday Keynote

Youth Keynote Speaker

CLICK HERE FOR A REGISTRATION FORM

Read more »

Appeals Court Overturns Decision in Wheeler Packers & Stockyards Act Case: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion on Tuesday, December 15 which overturned a lower court decision in Wheeler v. Pilgrim’s Pride, Inc. that favored farmers.  The case involved farmers contracted to grow chickens for Pilgrim’s Pride who claimed that the company provided undue preferences to certain growers.  The lower court ruled that farmers bringing a claim of undue preferences and unfair and deceptive practices under Section 202 of the Packers & Stockyards Act did not need to prove that the specific unfair practice at issue had an adverse effect on competition.  The Fifth Circuit overruled the lower court concluding that farmers must prove a lessening of competition, even if there is clear evidence that a defendant had exercised undue preferences or undertaken unfair and deceptive practices in the company’s dealings with farmers.

Story from National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Apprentices come to the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ Small Farm Unit (SFU) to learn the basics of running a small farm in eastern North Carolina in a practical, hands-on manner by working with the farm manager, extension personnel and university researchers on a daily basis. Apprentices will participate fully in the production and marketing activities of the SFU as learners and partners, and may observe and participate in education and research/demonstration activities as occasions permit. Apprentices are expected to develop the expertise to take charge of specific enterprises or aspects of the small farm unit.

The SFU is a 30-acre unit of the 2,000-acre Cherry Research Farm in Goldsboro, in Wayne County, eastern North Carolina. The apprenticeship is designed to be a practical, experience-based, hands-on learning adventure. Apprentices work with other learners and are guided by CEFS staff with experience in production, marketing, research and social context. There is Internet access as well as contact with NCSU, NCA&TSU and NCDA&CS resources.

The apprenticeship for 2010 will focus on production and marketing in the context of eastern North Carolina. Currently the SFU is engaged in the following activities, presently used for research and demonstration purposes:

1. organic systems work (utilizing cover crops, animals, soil building and high-value crops);
2. season extension production in high tunnels and greenhouses;
3. organic transplant production;
4. beneficial insect farmscaping;
5. small fruits—blueberries, strawberries, blackberries—and high-value vegetables;
6. pastured meat (goats and poultry);
7. marketing locally through farmers markets; and
8. post-harvest handling and food safety issues.

Apprentices develop skills and are encouraged to mentor each other as well as interns and others learners engaged in CEFS programs. As relevant, field trips to farms, university campuses and farmers markets in other parts of North Carolina are part of the educational experience for CEFS SFU apprentices.

The apprenticeship is designed around an entire growing season, February 1 to September 30. Some weekend and holiday work is required. There is also the possibility of a winter apprenticeship (October 1 to January 31).

Housing and a modest stipend of $100 a week are provided. If there are sufficient funds, there may be a modest bonus allocation of “profits” from farmer market sales to apprentices. All CEFS workshops are free to apprentices, and attendance/participation is highly encouraged.

To Apply:

Submit an email letter of interest to Steve Moore at steve_moore@ncsu.edu, and include the following information:

1. your area of interest in sustainable agriculture,
2. your background, resume, and contact information for three references, and
3. why you would like an apprenticeship at the CEFS Small Farm Unit. Please mention what you hope to get from the experience and what you can offer to the Small Farm Unit team.

After receiving your information, John O’Sullivan or Steve Moore will contact you.

We will begin reviewing applications on January 1, 2010.

For more information on the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, check out their website at: http://www.cefs.ncsu.edu/index.htm

For More Information on Jobs and Internships, Please Visit the beginningfarmers.org Employment/Internship Page

The Poughkeepsie Farm Project (New York State) seeks farm interns for 2010!

Poughkeepsie Farm Project’s Farming for the City program provides interns with hands on experience growing food and providing education and outreach to the community, weekly trainings and field trips, and meaningful employment which makes a real difference in the community. Interns work with PFP staff and members to grow 10 acres of mixed vegetables, operate a CSA, run a farmers market, teach children and teenagers about food and farming, practice and promote seed saving, and lead outreach efforts to increase food access and awareness of food in the City of Poughkeepsie. Interns also have the opportunity to participate in the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) program.

In 2010 they offer three full-season internships, either 7 or 8 month positions. There are opportunities to gain a wide range of knowledge and skills through weekly workshops and through exposure to a variety of activities at the PFP. At the same time, interns focus on learning management skills in their area of interest. Farm interns focus on learning skills necessary in managing a farm (such as tractor work, harvest management and CSA management). Compensation includes a weekly stipend, vegetables, and training.

They’re seeking dependable and good-natured interns with an active interest in farming as well as an interest in working towards a just and sustainable food system; good communication skills; the ability to take initiative and a desire to be a part of bringing about positive community change. Interested candidates are requested to apply by February 1, 2010; however, the positions will remain open until filled. For more information, or to receive an application, contact them at info@farmproject.org and visit their website at www.farmproject.org.

For More Information on Jobs and Internships, Please Visit the beginningfarmers.org Employment/Internship Page