Want more bang for your grocery buck? This new short documentary shows that local, healthy, humane food from farmers you know is the real bargain. Watch it, then share it...Spread the word! http://tinyurl.com/TheRealBargain
News Release
Release No. 0149.14
Contact: Office of Communications (202)720-4623
Historic Farm Bill Funding Available to Organic Producers and Handlers Funds to assist with Organic Certification Costs
WASHINGTON, July 17, 2014 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that approximately $13 million in Farm Bill funding is now available for organic certification cost-share assistance, making certification more accessible than ever for small certified producers and handlers.
"Consumer demand for organic products is surging across the country," said Secretary Tom Vilsack. "To meet this demand, we need to make sure that small farmers who choose to grow organic products can afford to get certified. Organic food is now a multi-billion dollar industry, and helping this sector continue to grow creates jobs across the country."
The certification assistance is distributed through two programs within the Agricultural Marketing Service. Through the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program, $11.5 million is available to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. Territories. Through the Agricultural Management Assistance Organic Certification Cost-Share Program, an additional $1.5 million is available to organic operations in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
These programs provide cost-share assistance through participating states to USDA certified organic producers and handlers for certification-related expenses they incur from October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014. Payments cover up to 75 percent of an individual producer's or handler's certification costs, up to a maximum of $750 per certification. To receive cost-share assistance, organic producers and handlers should contact their state agencies. Each state will have their own guidelines and requirements for reimbursement, and the National Organic Program (NOP) will assist states as much as possible to successfully implement the programs. State contact information can be found on the NOP Cost Share Website, www.ams.usda.gov/NOPCostSharing.
In 2012 alone, USDA issued close to 10,000 cost-share reimbursements totaling over $6.5 million, to support the organic industry and rural America. Additional information about resources available to small and mid-sized producers, including accessing capital, risk management, locating market opportunities and land management is available on USDA's Small and Mid-Sized Farmer Resources webpage.
USDA has a number of new and expanded efforts to connect organic farmers and businesses with resources that will ensure the continued growth of the organic industry domestically and abroad. During this Administration, USDA has signed four major trade agreements on organic products, and is also helping organic stakeholders access programs that support conservation, provide access to loans and grants, fund organic research and education, and mitigate pest emergencies. Through the NOP, USDA has helped organic farmers and businesses achieve $35 billion annually in U.S. retail sales. The organic community includes over 25,000 organic businesses in more than 120 different countries around the world.
Today's funding announcement for organic certification cost-share assistance was made possible by the 2014 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.
For additional information contact Dana Stahl, Organic Certification Cost Share Program Manager, Dana.Stahl@ams.usda.gov, (540) 361-1126. Additional information is available on the NOP's website at www.ams.usda.gov/NOPCostSharing.
The NOP is responsible for ensuring the integrity of USDA organic agricultural products in the United States and throughout the world. Find out more about organic certification by visiting www.ams.usda.gov/nop.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).
The late 1950s and '60s saw a huge migration from the family farm to the cities. We wanted to work 9 to 5 and wear nice clothes. We also wanted someone else to grow our food and process, deliver and market it.
Many corporations stepped up and gave that to us in spades. The problem was that these same corporations decided they not only wanted the business, but needed to make sure they kept the business. To this end, they bought up local manufacturing and processing businesses and closed them. Since then, our communities have been in an ever-steepening spiral on food security, economic prosperity, job growth and food prices. In their zeal to not only own your food, but own it forever, both foreign and domestic industrial agricultural corporations have created and support the nuclear option of Amendment 1 (also known as the Right to Farm amendment). It is the largest land and power grab I have ever witnessed.
Farmers, Food Consumers Document What
Sustainability Means To Michigan Media Contact: Gail Philbin, gail.philbin@sierraclub.org, 312-493-2384
Lansing, Mich.—As
farmers markets kick into high gear this month, Michigan food consumers and
farmers are voicing support for locally grown food and sustainable agriculture
in Michigan and putting it into their own words and stories in a new video
series available at www.youtube.com/MoreForMichigan/Videos.
Michiganders
from all walks of life discuss why meat, dairy, poultry and eggs that are
locally grown under humane conditions are important to them, their communities
and local economies in a series of one-minute video testimonials produced by
the Less=More sustainable agriculture coalition. The coalition is
also asking people to contribute their own food stories to the series. For more information on submitting a testimonial,
email: Moreformichigansc@gmail.com
Jill Johnson and Mary
Wills of Crane Dance Farm in Middleville will kick off the series with the
release of their testimonial via Less=More’s Twitter account, @MoreforMichigan, and on its Facebook page. Jill,
who studied agriculture in college, says "What I learned about our food
system scared me and I knew at that point that if I was going to eat, I
probably had to grow food. It's been a long journey to Crane Dance Farm." Mary adds, "We've
seen so many small farms go under because nobody subsidizes us. It's really
very hard to be able to do what we do ….Less=More is vital for the voice of the small
farmer."
Crane
Dance Farm is a member of Less=More, a
sustainable agriculture coalition tackling the inequity of the subsidy system
that favors polluting factory farms over safe, sustainable livestock farms at
the expense of the environment and public health. In 2013, the coalition
released a report, Restoring the Balance to Michigan’s Farming
Landscape,that explores the relationship between Farm Bill
subsidies and factory farm pollution in Michigan. To download Restoring
the Balance, visit: .http://tinyurl.com/L-Mreport.
The
number of farmers markets in Michigan has grown from around 90 in 2001 to more
than 300 today, according to the Michigan Farmer’s
Market Association’s website. This proliferation of markets as well as Community
Supported Agriculture farms (CSAs) in Michigan is evidence of a growing demand
from consumers for locally grown, healthy food.
And the passionate
response of consumers and farmers to the Less=More testimonial series indicates
that buying local food isn’t a passing fad. Western Michigan University student
Erin Denay, the series’producer, has been
collecting farmer and consumer videos throughout the month of June during trips
to farmers markets and other locations in Frankenmuth, Kalamazoo, Boyne City,
Lansing, Grand Rapids and other Michigan communities.
“I
am so happy to be part of the Less=More campaign,”says Denay, a senior
majoring in environmental and sustainability studies. “I have learned so much
about the support that small-scale sustainable farmers need. Particularly, it
has made me more appreciative of the local farmers where I live who share my
values and help give me more choices as a consumer."
At the Kalamazoo Farmer’s Market, Denay captured
the thoughts of several consumers and
farmers, including Joseph Battistella of Sunshine Silo Farm, who says,
"Smaller farmers are used to doing what they can with what they have so
any sort of help like tax dollars can go a very long way on a small farm.”See
the full Sunshine Silo Farm testimonial here: http://youtu.be/QH83tD8s07c
Less=More is comprised of
national, state and local organizations and farmers, including: Beery Farms of
Michigan, LLC, the Center for Food Safety, Crane Dance Farm, LLC, ELFCO Food
Cooperative, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan, Food
& Water Watch, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, Groundswell Farm,
Zeeland, Humane Society of the United States, Michigan Small Farm Council,
Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, Michigan Voices for Good Food
Policy, Michigan Young Farmers Coalition, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and
Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.
Less=More is made possible
in part by support from the Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation.
Less support for polluting factory farms means a more sustainable
Michigan. For more information, visit, www.MoreforMichigan.org.
Farmers, Food Consumers Document What
Sustainability Means To Michigan
Media Contact: Gail Philbin, gail.philbin@sierraclub.org, 312-493-2384
Lansing, Mich.—As
farmers markets kick into high gear this month, Michigan food consumers and
farmers are voicing support for locally grown food and sustainable agriculture
in Michigan and putting it into their own words and stories in a new video
series debuting July 1, available at www.youtube.com/MoreForMichigan/Videos.
Michiganders
from all walks of life discuss why meat, dairy, poultry and eggs that are
locally grown under humane conditions are important to them, their communities
and local economies in a series of one-minute video testimonials produced by
the Less=More sustainable agriculture coalition. The coalition is
also asking people to contribute their own food stories to the series. For more information on submitting a testimonial,
email: Moreformichigansc@gmail.com
Jill Johnson and Mary
Wills of Crane Dance Farm in Middleville will kick off the series with the
release of their testimonial via Less=More’s Twitter account, @MoreforMichigan, and on its Facebook page. Jill,
who studied agriculture in college, says "What I learned about our food
system scared me and I knew at that point that if I was going to eat, I
probably had to grow food. It's been a long journey to Crane Dance Farm." Mary adds, "We've
seen so many small farms go under because nobody subsidizes us. It's really
very hard to be able to do what we do ….Less=More is vital for the voice of the small
farmer."
Crane
Dance Farm is a member of Less=More, a
sustainable agriculture coalition tackling the inequity of the subsidy system
that favors polluting factory farms over safe, sustainable livestock farms at
the expense of the environment and public health. In 2013, the coalition
released a report, Restoring the Balance to Michigan’s Farming
Landscape,that explores the relationship between Farm Bill
subsidies and factory farm pollution in Michigan. To download Restoring
the Balance, visit: .http://tinyurl.com/L-Mreport.
The
number of farmers markets in Michigan has grown from around 90 in 2001 to more
than 300 today, according to the Michigan Farmer’s
Market Association’s website. This proliferation of markets as well as Community
Supported Agriculture farms (CSAs) in Michigan is evidence of a growing demand
from consumers for locally grown, healthy food.
And the passionate
response of consumers and farmers to the Less=More testimonial series indicates
that buying local food isn’t a passing fad. Western Michigan University student
Erin Denay, the series’producer, has been
collecting farmer and consumer videos throughout the month of June during trips
to farmers markets and other locations in Frankenmuth, Kalamazoo, Boyne City,
Lansing, Grand Rapids and other Michigan communities.
“I
am so happy to be part of the Less=More campaign,”says Denay, a senior
majoring in environmental and sustainability studies. “I have learned so much
about the support that small-scale sustainable farmers need. Particularly, it
has made me more appreciative of the local farmers where I live who share my
values and help give me more choices as a consumer."
At the Kalamazoo Farmer’s Market, Denay captured
the thoughts of several consumers and
farmers, including Joseph Battistella of Sunshine Silo Farm, who says,
"Smaller farmers are used to doing what they can with what they have so
any sort of help like tax dollars can go a very long way on a small farm.”See
the full Sunshine Silo Farm testimonial here: http://youtu.be/QH83tD8s07c
Less=More is comprised of
national, state and local organizations and farmers, including: Beery Farms of
Michigan, LLC, the Center for Food Safety, Crane Dance Farm, LLC, ELFCO Food
Cooperative, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan, Food
& Water Watch, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, Groundswell Farm,
Zeeland, Humane Society of the United States, Michigan Small Farm Council,
Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, Michigan Voices for Good Food
Policy, Michigan Young Farmers Coalition, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and
Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.
Less=More is made possible
in part by support from the Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation.
Less support for polluting factory farms means a more sustainable
Michigan. For more information, visit, www.MoreforMichigan.org.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- How do Michigan farmers and consumers feel about food from local farmers?
Since last month Erin Denay has been posing that question at farmers markets across the state to create enough video snippets to roll out one a day during the month of July, part of a collaborative project with Sierra Club, said Gail Philbin, assistant director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.
"We really want consumers and farmers already involved in the sustainable agriculture scene to understand there are people supporting them," said Denay, 22, of Bay City. She is a senior at Western Michigan University majoring in environmental and sustainability studies and organizational communication.
Sustainable agriculture, she said, is farming that "revolves around the well-being of the surrounding environment, people, and animals while producing healthy, high-quality food that protects the quality of the land and water for future generations.
In the series of one-minute video testimonials produced by the Less=More sustainable agriculture coalition, Michigan residents talk about why meat, dairy, poultry and eggs that are locally grown under humane conditions are important to them, their communities and local economies, a news release from Sierra Club said.
"Sustainable agriculture is farming that revolves around the well-being of the surrounding environment, people, and animals," Denay said, " so as to produce healthy, high-quality food that protects the quality of the land and water for future generations."
"We want them to know we are here for them," Denay said, "and to draw more attention and tax dollars to them," the farms practicing sustainable agriculture methods.
Maynard Beery of Beery Farms in Middleville, for instance, told Denay that though he could not keep up with soaring demand for his grass fed beef "there is no way that I can compete with a 50,000 animal feedlot. They're happy if they wind up with $10 a head in profit and no, that's not going to support myself and my son."
Farm subsidies for which he currently does not qualify would allow his farm to expand, he said.
The project also hopes to let people know there are 300 farmers markets in Michigan, and lots of choices when it comes to shopping for food. "We want to illuminate the opportunities to eat local, sustainable healthy food," Denay said.
What were the most promising findings of Denay's interviews?
"The appetite, pardon the pun, for local, healthy food is alive and well in Michigan," Philbin said.
The series kicks off July 1 with the release of the testimonial of Jill Johnson and Mary Wills of Crane Dance Farm in Middleville via Less=More's Twitter account, @MoreforMichigan, and its Facebook page.
The remainder of that week the videos feature Kalamazoo farmers and consumers, Denay said.
"Being involved with this project has made me so much more aware of the healthy, high-quality food that is being made available by small-scale sustainable farmers in Michigan communities," Denay said. "I want this testimonial series to really highlight the wonderful things they are doing and why they deserve our support so they can succeed and grow and continue to provide for their communities."
Sierra Club believes issues such as antibiotic overuse, the viability of local economies, climate change, fair wages and working conditions for workers and animal welfare can be traced back to how food is grown.
"Many consumers are searching for a way to have some control over the food they eat because they are disillusioned or disgusted with the industrial food system," she said. "Growing your own food or buying from local farmers they know is a good way to do that."
Sierra Club is a member of the Less=More Coalition, producers of the video series. The group is made up of national, state and local organizations as well as consumers and farmers who support sustainable agriculture and seek to level the playing field for sustainable livestock farmers.
Specifically, the coalition is tackling inequities in the subsidy system that the coalition argues is weighted toward concentrated livestock operations.
In 2013, the coalition's report "Restoring the Balance to Michigan's Farming Landscape" noted that some farms continue to receive taxpayer-funded subsidies even when they have been fined for violations of environmental law and blasted the farm subsidy system for favoring concentrated animal feeding operations in the award of funds.
Less=More members include: Beery Farms of Michigan, LLC, the Center for Food Safety, Crane Dance Farm, LLC, ELFCO Food Cooperative, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan, Food & Water Watch, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, Groundswell Farm, Zeeland, Humane Society of the United States, Michigan Farmers Union, Michigan Small Farm Council, Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy, Michigan Young Farmers Coalition, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.
The coalition is also asking people to contribute their own food stories to the series. For more information on submitting a testimonial, email:Moreformichigansc@gmail.com
Crane Dance Farm is a grass-based livestock farm nestled among the rolling hills, forests, and wet lands of beautiful Barry County. We raise 100% grassfed beef, Animal Welfare Approved pastured heirloom pork, poultry and eggs, emphasizing farming techniques that nurture the land, the animals, the humans and the planet. Every animal is the recipient of TLC 24/7. We direct market all of our products, thus our customer relationships are parallel in importance to our relationships with our animals.
What makes this opportunity unique?
All of our cattle and pigs are bred, birthed, and finished on our farm.
We source, grind, and mix local grains for our omnivores that are 100% GMO-free.
We direct market all of our products through farmers markets, on farm sales, and online ordering.
We were the first Michigan farm to be Animal Welfare Approved for pigs in 2009. Presently, we are one of only two farms in MI to hold this prestigious certification. Pending is our status as American Grassfed Association certified for beef.
Intern Responsibilities:
Daily attending to food, water, shelter, bedding, fences for all livestock
Property maintenance and repairs
Marketing assistance
Participation in problem solving as situations arise
Expectations:
Work outside in all kinds of weather
Work efficiently alone and as part of a team
Ability to lift 60 pounds repeatedly
Aptitude in farming, building and mechanical skills
Easy to work with, fast learner, sense of humor, heart for animals
Intern Provisions:
Housing, plus one shared meal a day; additional cooking facilities and foodstuffs available
Weekly stipend with bonus at satisfactory completion of agreed duration
Minimum length of stay 4 months; longer preferred; negotiable
Willing to work with your college for internship credit
After years of political wrangling, the 2014 Farm Bill was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 7 on the campus of Michigan State University. The five-year, $956 billion bill includes $56 billion in funding for conservation programs, with $8.9 billion going to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).For an overview of the 2014 Farm Bill, visit:http://tinyurl.com/FBoverview
To read the Farm Bill in its entirety:http://tinyurl.com/actualfarmbill What is EQIP The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a Farm Bill Conservation Program that provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to address natural resource concerns. It aims to deliver environmental benefits such as improved water and air quality, ground and surface water conservation, soil erosion and sedimentation reduction and wildlife habitat. http://tinyurl.com/EQIPoverview
Categories of EQIP practices eligible for funding in Michigan include:
Animal Waste
National Water Quality Initiative
Conservation Activity Plans
Organic Initiative
Energy American Indian Tribes
Locally-Led Conservation: MAEAP Water Quality Monitoring
Wayne County Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative
How to Apply for EQIPIf you’ve never applied for EQIP funds, you should know that you need to have an approved Conservation Action Plan before you’re eligible to apply for EQIP funds.So, the first step is to apply for funds to develop the plan with an approved “technical service provider.”The deadline for this application is usually early in the year. After you get the funds and the plan is approved, you’re free to apply for EQIP funds in the following year.For details on the application process for EQIP, visit: http://tinyurl.com/EQIPsteps Find your local NRCS field office:http://tinyurl.com/NRCSofficelocator
For more info about Michigan’s EQIP program: Steve Law, EQIP Coordinator; Phone:(517) 324-5282; E-mail: steven.law@mi.usda.gov
Crane Dance Farm, a Less=More Coalition member, is offering a farm work experience for a student or non-student. Application deadline is April 30, 2014. Details below:
Pasture-Based LivestockFarmInternship
Crane Dance Farm is a grass-based livestock farm nestled among the rolling hills, forests, and wet lands of beautiful Barry County. We raise 100% grassfed beef, Animal Welfare Approved pastured heirloom pork, poultry and eggs, emphasizing farming techniques that nurture the land, the animals, the humans and the planet. Every animal is the recipient of TLC 24/7. We direct market all of our products, thus our customer relationships are parallel in importance to our relationships with our animals.
What makes this opportunity unique?
· All of our cattle and pigs are bred, birthed, and finished on our farm.
· We source, grind, and mix local grains for our omnivores that are 100% GMO-free.
· We direct market all of our products through farmers markets, on farm sales, and online ordering.
· We were the first Michigan farm to be Animal Welfare Approved for pigs in 2009. Presently, we are one of only two farms in MI to hold this prestigious certification. Pending is our status as American Grassfed Association certified for beef.
Intern Responsibilities:
· Daily attending to food, water, shelter, bedding, fences for all livestock
· Property maintenance and repairs
· Marketing assistance
· Participation in problem solving as situations arise
Expectations:
· Work outside in all kinds of weather
· Work efficiently alone and as part of a team
· Ability to lift 60 pounds repeatedly
· Aptitude in farming, building and mechanical skills
· Easy to work with, fast learner, sense of humor, heart for animals
Intern Provisions:
· Housing, plus one shared meal a day; additional cooking facilities and foodstuffs available
· Weekly stipend with bonus at satisfactory completion of agreed duration
· Minimum length of stay 4 months; longer preferred; negotiable
· Willing to work with your college for internship credit
On a Sierra Club-sponsored tour of local concentrated animal feeding operations, the one near Forest Hill got some attention.
“That was one of the worst I’ve smelled,” said Joe Maxwell, a Missouri hog farmer, former lieutenant governor and a U.S. Humane Society official.
And he has toured industrial farming sites all over the world.
The tour was part of a “Less=More” program made up of Sierra Club members as well as farmers, food safety organizations, environmental and welfare groups who believe there is “an unfair bias toward factory farms.”
At a short program at the Alma Public Library before the tour Wednesday, Anne Woiwoide, Michigan Sierra Club president, said the group is not making claims of illegal activities. The focus instead is on unfairness.
The group wants to encourage both the state and federal governments not to support what she called “polluting factory farms.”
“These farms are receiving your tax dollar support,” she said.
She cited a dairy farm that’s located in both Gratiot and Midland counties, and which has subsidiary farms.
“From 2001 to 2012, they received $744,941 in federal farm subsidies and tax subsidized loans of $5 million,” according to a written statement from the Sierra Club.
Small farms cannot compete with that kind of financial assistance.
Yet even though the Midland/Gratiot farm received the subsidies, it was fined by two different agencies for about $45,000 related to five separate incidents.
Some of those incidents included discharge of wastes into county drains, improper storage of wastes, and stockpiling of wastes near a road.
It was also pointed out that a CAFO can generate millions of gallons of waste – enough to equal a city of 16,000 people - but the farms, unlike cities, aren’t required to treat the waste. And that waste can include antibiotics, chemicals, pathogens and other contaminants.
In Gratiot and Midland counties there are 24 CAFOs. Since 1996, 14 have been cited for environmental violations.
On the tour, Maxwell said that CAFOs, especially those run by people from out of the country, “deplete the wealth of the community.”
He said that studies have shown that the resources and profits are taken out of the community and that there is a loss of business. He spoke of two neighboring counties. One allowed CAFOs and one did not. The one that did, floundered.
CAFOs began with Tyson Foods and his chickens, he said. Farmers are told to get big or “we won’t buy from you,” he said.
“But there is an alternative,” he said. “Which one is most profitable and sustainable and doesn’t cost the taxpayers?”
Farms can reach of point in size when it is no longer effective, he said.
But women are helping to change things, he said, since 14 percent who run farms are now women. And he cited an example in North Carolina, which included women farmers. They took some tobacco settlement money and began a sustainable agriculture program.
Lynn Henning, an employee of the Sierra Club and environmental prize winner, also provided some insight into the damages done to Michigan’s water.
She looked at the number of animals on each farm - well into the thousands - how much waste is produced and where that waste goes.
She also talked about the amount of water used. At one farm in the Midland/Gratiot group of dairy farms, 122,000 gallons are needed each day.
“There is concern that there are too many wells,” she said.
Too many wells can affect the surface and ground water.
For more information, you may visit www.MoreforMichigan.org
No one from the Gratiot agricultural community was present and one MSU Extension office agent who asked to be included in the tour was denied.
Linda Gittleman may be reached at 989-463-6071, lgittleman@michigannewspapers.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lgittleman.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Gittleman’s alma mater is Western Michigan University where she majored in speech and English and her hometown is Alma. She’s worked at the Morning Sun's Alma office for more than 20 years. Reach the author at lgittleman@michigannewspapers.com .
The meat on your dinner table probably didn't come from a happy little cow that lived a wondrous life out on rolling green hills. It probably also wasn't produced by a robot animal killer hired by an evil cabal of monocle-wearing industrialists.
Truth is, the meat industry is complicated, and it's impossible to understand without a whole lot of context. That's where Maureen Ogle comes in. She's a historian and the author of In Meat We Trust: An Unexpected History of Carnivore America.
Inc. BY BO BURLINGHAM It's late afternnoon in bucolic Bolinas, California, and Bill Niman has indicated that yes, he is willing to talk about his unhappy exit from the company he founded. But he has a lot going on just now. There are 78 heritage turkeys that are cackling, clucking, gobbling, and squawking as they fly into trees, jump up on fences, and generally resist the efforts of Bill and his wife, Nicolette, to herd them into their coop for the night. Meanwhile, over at the cattle barn, a grieving cow needs tending to. The cow recently lost a calf during birth, and Bill and Nicolette have a plan to unite her with another calf that has been rejected by its mother. As for the rest of the herd, it's spread out across Niman's thousand-acre ranch on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. More ...
Livestock Rancher, Lawyer, and Author, Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms
Most people share at least the following traits: they want to be healthy; they like animals; and they value clean air and water. Yet relatively few Americans connect those concerns with their food. As more people start making the link (especially if they've seen graphic video footage of industrial animal operations), many decide it's time to stop eating foods from factory farms. This is a guide for doing just that.
Lansing, Mich.— As part of its effort to help level the playing field for sustainable livestock farmers in Michigan, the Less=More Coalition has made available information about taxpayer-funded Farm Bill conservation subsidies in one place online at http://tinyurl.com/EQIPsubsidies.
“Farmers are busy folks, and sustainable farmers often lack the kind of outreach and support for farm program applications that large-scale industrial farm operators receive,” said Sandy Nordmark, vice president of the Michigan Farmers Union, which is a member of Less=More. “We aim to make it as easy as possible for them to access funding possibilities for their conservation practices by putting all the information they need in one cyber-location.”
Less=More is a sustainable agriculture coalition launched earlier this year to address the inequity of Farm Bill subsidy distribution in Michigan and how the system favors polluting factory farms over safe, sustainable livestock farms at the expense of the environment and public health
The Less=More web link connects farmers with basic information about 2013 Farm Bill subsidies in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in Michigan. It includes a listing of the more than 100 conservation practices funded by EQIP and the amount of money available for each practice as well as the most current EQIP application.
“This information is available on the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Michigan website, but it can be tricky to find if you don’t know where to look,” said Lynn Henning, a Water Sentinel for the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, another Less=More coalition member. “We make it as simple as possible. A farmer can sit down and get an idea of what’s out there for him or her with a click or two of the mouse.”
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the agency that distributes taxpayer-funded subsidies through a State Conservationist in Michigan, is mandated to distribute 60 percent of the EQIP funds to livestock operations. Currently, most go to support Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), also known as factory farms, in Michigan.
Of the 104 EQIP subsidies available in 2013, 53 are practices identified by the NRCS as being applicable to farmers with organic certification, according to Henning. These include such activities as brush management, grassed waterways, fencing and filter strips.
Although about half of the practices are listed as organic, the reality is that the biggest EQIP subsidies go to support practices dealing with waste -- handling, storage, separators, transfer systems and biodigesters -- that are specific to large-scale operations with thousands of animals that generate millions of gallons of manure. For example, a factory farm can apply for and receive more than $43,000 for a solid/liquid waste separation facility, and anaerobic digesters fetch anywhere from roughly $300-$600 per animal unit, which translates to a substantial sum for an operation with thousands of animals.
“Essentially, factory farms take a perfectly good natural material – animal manure — and concentrate it until it becomes an environmental issue and then they receive federal money to address the problem they’ve created,” said Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter director. “Meanwhile, sustainable farmers who work with nature and have appropriate numbers of animals for the amount of land available have little need for funds to address such problems, but they—and consumers--would benefit greatly from receiving more support for their sustainable practices.”
In addition, this taxpayer money doesn’t always solve an operation’s underlying environmental problems, according to a recent report by Less=More, Restoring the Balance to Michigan’s Farming Landscape, which demonstrates that many polluting factory farms have continued to receive taxpayer money. The report found that 37 Michigan factory farms cited for environmental violations and unpermitted discharges over the 15 years ending in 2011 were awarded nearly $27 million in various Farm Bill subsidies between 1995 and 2011. Of these operations, 26 jointly racked up fines and penalties of more than $1.3 million for their share of these violations.
“Taxpayers are providing millions of dollars in government subsidies to industrial mega-farms in Michigan that generate pollution and cause health risks while undermining sustainable farms at the same time,” said Woiwode. “This happens at a time when more and more Michigan consumers are seeking safe, healthy, local sources of meat, dairy, poultry and eggs at farmers markets, stores, restaurants and community supported agriculture.”
Less=More is a coalition of organizations engaged in various aspects of our food system that seek to level the playing field for sustainable farmers by addressing the inequity of how taxpayer subsidies are distributed in Michigan. It includes: Beery Farms of Michigan, LLC, the Center for Food Safety, Crane Dance Farm, LLC, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan, Food & Water Watch, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, Groundswell Farm, Humane Society of the United States, Michigan Farmers Union, Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy, Michigan Young Farmers Coalition, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.
Less=More seeks to level the playing field for sustainable humane livestock farmers by tackling the way taxpayer subsidies give an unfair advantage to polluting factory farms in Michigan.To learn more about this revolutionary new campaign, visit MoreforMichigan.org.
Now you can support Less=More with a secure online donation. Simply click on the link below.
The Less=More Coalition is looking for volunteers to help collect petition signatures at farmers markets around the state this summer. We need help harnessing the voice of concerned consumers like you who want to help even the playing field for sustainable agriculture in Michigan by sending a message to Garry Lee, the Michigan State Conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to stop using taxpayer subsidies to support polluting factory farms.
Lee has the power to reapportion how Farm Bill subsidies are distributed, and right now, they heavily favor massive animal factories that cram thousands of animals into warehouses and pollute our water and air. (If you haven't already, click here to send him an email.)
If you have an hour or two to spare this summer, spend it at your local farmers market getting signatures for our petition! A small amount of your time can yield big benefits for sustainable farming in Michigan. For details, contact gail.philbin@sierraclub.org. Thank you!
Less=More is a coalition of advocacy groups, farmers and consumers that supports sustainable agriculture in Michigan. It seeks to level the playing field for sustainable livestock farmers so they can compete with factory farms by tackling inequitable farm subsidies in Michigan.
To this end, the Less=More coalition is making information available to sustainable farmers about Farm Bill subsidies that
might be applicable to their needs. Below are links to information about the 2013 EQIP subsidies in Michigan. For questions, contact lynn.henning@sierraclub.org.
Michigan EQIP General Information ( May 17th deadlines for some)
TOLEDO, Ohio — For those who live and play on the shores of Lake Erie, the spring rains that will begin falling here soon are less a blessing than a portent. They could threaten the very future of the lake itself.
Lake Erie is sick. A thick and growing coat of toxic algae appears each summer, so vast that in 2011 it covered a sixth of its waters, contributing to an expanding dead zone on its bottom, reducing fish populations, fouling beaches and crippling a tourism industry that generates more than $10 billion in revenue annually.
The spring rains reliably predict how serious the summer algae bloom will be: the more frequent and heavy the downpours, the worse the outbreak. And this year the National Weather Service says there is a higher probability than elsewhere of above-normal spring rains along the lake’s west end, where the algae first appear. The private forecaster Accuweather predicts a wetter than usual March and April throughout the region.
It is perhaps the greatest peril the lake has faced since the 1960s, when relentless and unregulated dumping of sewage and industrial pollutants spawned similar algae blooms and earned it the nickname “North America’s Dead Sea.” Erie recovered then, thanks to a multibillion-dollar cleanup by the United States and Canada that became a legendary environmental success story.
But while the sewage and pollutants are vastly reduced, the blooms have returned, bigger than ever.
Once, fisheries and sports anglers pulled five million walleye from the rejuvenated lake every year. Today the catch is roughly one-fifth that, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Commercial fisheries’ smelt catch is three-fifths of past levels. The number of charter fishing companies has dropped 40 percent. Sport fish like walleye and yellow perch are deserting the lake’s center and moving shoreward in search of oxygen and food.
“We’ve seen this lake go from the poster child for pollution problems to the best example in the world of ecosystem recovery. Now it’s headed back again,” said Jeffrey M. Reutter, who directs the Sea Grant College Program at Ohio State University.
The algae problem is hardly isolated. Similar blooms are strangling other lakes in North America and elsewhere, including Lake Winnipeg, one of Canada’s largest, and some bays in Lake Huron.
The algae are fed by phosphorus, the same chemical that American and Canadian authorities spent billions to reduce — for good, they believed — in the 1970s and ‘80s. This time, new farming techniques, climate change and even a change in Lake Erie’s ecosystem make phosphorus pollution more intractable.
Like plants, algae thrive on a phosphorus diet. Decades ago, some 64 million pounds of phosphorus flowed into Lake Erie each year from industrial and sewer outfalls, leaky septic tanks and runoff from fertilized lawns and farms.
The United States and Canadian governments responded by capping household detergent phosphates, reining in factory pollutants and spending $8 billion to upgrade lakeside sewage plants. Phosphorus levels plunged by two thirds, and the algae subsided. But in the mid-1990s, it began creeping back.
“2002 was the last year that we didn’t have much of a bloom,” said Thomas Bridgeman, a professor at the Lake Erie Center at the University of Toledo. “2008, ’09 and ’10 were really bad years for algal blooms.
“And then we got 2011.”
2011 was the wettest spring on record. That summer’s algae bloom, mostly poisonous blue-green algae called Microcystis, sprawled nearly 120 miles, from Toledo to past Cleveland. It produced lake-water concentrations of microcystin, a liver toxin, that were 1,200 times World Health Organization limits, tainting the drinking water for 2.8 million consumers.
Dead algae sink to the lake bed, where bacteria that decompose the algae consume most of the oxygen. In central Lake Erie, a dead zone now covers up to a third of the entire lake bottom in bad years.
“The fact that it’s bigger and longer in duration is a bad thing,” said Peter Richards, a senior research scientist at the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University in Ohio. “Fish that like to live in cold bottom waters have to move up in the thermocline, where it’s too warm for them. They get eaten, and that tends to decrease the growth rates of a lot of the fish.”
Last spring, the rains arrived amid a record drought, and the algae retreated to waters near Toledo. “We had two extremes in two years,” Mr. Bridgeman said. “The lake responded exactly the way we thought it would.”
But no one hopes for a drought. To cut phosphorus levels this time, scientists say, the habits — and the expensive equipment — of 70,000 farmers along the Erie shore must change. Most of the phosphorus that feeds algae these days comes from farmland.
Much of the phosphorus originates near Toledo, where the Maumee River completes a 137-mile journey and empties into the lake’s shallow western basin.
The Maumee watershed is Ohio’s breadbasket, two-thirds farmland, mostly corn and soybeans. Farming there is changing radically, said Steve Davis, a watershed specialist with the United States Agriculture Department’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Plowing is declining; 55 percent of farmland is planted using anti-erosion methods promoted by the Resource Conservation Service, like no-till farming, in which seeds are inserted into small holes in unplowed ground. Fertilizing is now contracted to companies that cast pellets onto the bare ground from trucks, or to “factory farms” that spray liquefied animal waste on their cropland.
Mr. Davis has analyzed his watershed almost to the last cornstalk. Animal waste makes up 14 percent of all fertilizer. The rest is fertilizer pellets, 48 pounds per acre. In past days, most pellets sank into plowed soil and stayed there. Now, rain and snowmelt wash an average 1.1 of those 48 pounds off unplowed soil. Much winds up in the Maumee, then in Lake Erie.
The Maumee supplies only about 5 percent of Erie’s water, but half its phosphorus. And while algae struggle to digest ordinary phosphorus — only about 30 percent gets taken up — fertilizer phosphorus is designed for plants to use instantly.
Two other recent changes make matters still worse.
One is the zebra mussel, a foreign invader that has dominated Erie since its discovery in 1988. Millions of mussels feast on nontoxic green algae, removing competitors to the toxic Microcystis algae and decimating the base of the food chain that supports Erie’s fish. Then in a vicious cycle, mussels excrete the algae’s phosphorus, providing the Microcystis a ready-made meal.
The other is climate change. Only heavy rains wash fertilizer off farmland, and since 1940, Mr. Richards said, heavy spring rainstorms have increased by 13 percent.
The Maumee’s phosphorus can be limited, Mr. Davis says, but only if farmers change their approach. More soil testing and new G.P.S.-guided machinery can ensure that crops receive the minimum fertilizer they need. Other new equipment can put fertilizer in the ground during planting instead of pellets being broadcast in the winter. Leaving land fallow beside streams reduces runoff.
The catch is that fertilizing is already efficient: that wasted 1.1 pounds is but 2 percent of all pellets spread on Maumee-area farms. “When you’re only losing a pound per acre,” Mr. Davis said, “how do you cut it to a half?”
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