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Farm Bill Updates

About every five years, the U.S. Congress passes the biggest set of food and farming policies that define the majority of federal farm, food, nutrition, and rural economic programs. At a cost of about $440 billion over five years, these programs influence: What is grown; who grows it; how it is grown or produced; what is done with those products and where they are sold; who can access and afford those goods; and how we invest in rural communities.

Watch and listen as two experienced farmers share stories and practical approaches for small-scale, diversified farms that use the principles of agroecology.  This discussion may provide you with ideas that small farms where you live can adapt and thrive.

After many long days of negotiations, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) made a historic move for safer food and farming by passing a resolution on highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) that calls for action to globally phase out the use of the world’s most toxic pesticides by 2035. Tied with this resolution was the passing of a mandate for UNEP to implement this commitment by forming the Global Alliance on HHPs.

spray-pesticide-drift

In case of (dicamba) drift

Pesticide drift is a severely underreported problem in rural, agricultural communities. And now we’re in the middle of an epic summer of drift thanks to Monsanto’s new dicamba-resistant seed line, Xtend. Expanded planting of Xtend soy and cotton is leading to more spraying of the

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The clear case against Clovis

Sam Clovis is not a scientist. Trump’s absurd nomination for the top scientist post at U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a former radio talk show host with a history of racist and homophobic commentary — and zero scientific or agricultural background or credentials. Zero.

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Food and farming group condemns racist violence in Virginia

For Immediate Release: August 14, 2017 On August 11 and 12, white nationalist groups rallied and marched in Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the state’s decision to take down a confederate statue. Both Nazi and confederate symbols were in abundance. These groups promote hatred and fear,

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fumes-pesticide-spraying

California, stop the drift

Pesticide drift regularly occurs in California agricultural communities, and too often it flies under the radar. But in the past several months there have been four major drift incidents that bring the problem into sharper focus. The findings are in Earlier this week, Kern County

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