June 29, 2010 by Debra.

The success of Timberland’s Victory Garden at their Stratham headquarters is leading to plans for expansion and the addition of fruit-bearing plantings — a terrific example of a workplace community garden benefitting many!

In an expansion of its corporate Victory Garden, Timberland will replace many of the plants at its front entrance with low maintenance, pesticide-free fruit trees (peach and pear), as well as more than 80 blueberry bushes.

 

Since the inception of their Victory Garden in 2008, Timberland employees have used their company-paid community service hours to harvest more than 2,000 pounds of produce which is then sold to the internal Timberland community. To date, this effort has translated into more than $3,000 to the New Hampshire Food Bank. The planned expansion of the Victory Garden (nearly 2,000 square feet of vegetable gardens currently) will more than double in size, allowing for greater production of fruits and vegetables and leading to increased donations to the food bank.

 

“We’re excited that our Victory Garden has been so successful in its first few years, and looking forward to expanding our effort and our impact,” said Ann Caron, chairperson of Timberland’s Garden Committee. “It’s truly a win-win: we’re feeding our own internal family with the fresh, healthy produce we grow and more importantly, helping to feed other NH families in need by donating our garden proceeds to the NH Food Bank.”

 

To read entire article > 

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May 31, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

Wow wow wow! This is such an inspiring story! What an amazing collaboration of passionate kids, the Maine Master Gardeners, and Zach’s Farm! From seacoastonline.com: 

“Carly Osgood, 12, plants broccoli Sunday at Zach’s Farm participating in the annual Coastal Clovers 4H Club’s garden. This is the third year for the garden project which has produced 7000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for local food pantries. Amy Root-Donle photo”

By Casey Sullivan

news@seacoastonline.com

May 31, 2010 2:00 AM

YORK, Maine — Dylan Munn and Zoe Bardwell, ages 12 and 10, said their favorite part about planting vegetables and fruits Sunday afternoon was enjoying the sun and helping people in need.

Bardwell and Munn are two of 15 children who are active participants in the Coastal Clovers 4-H Club — a club that has donated blankets to the homeless, sent cookies to soldiers in Iraq, and is now planting an array of fresh produce at Zach’s Farm on Colby Turner Road to supply the Good Shepherd Food-Bank, York County Food Bank and South Berwick Community Food Pantry. The club’s goal is to help eliminate hunger in York and its surrounding areas. The club has been planting for the community for three years.

Russell Osgood, leader of the Coastal Clovers, thinks it will be pretty hard to surpass last year’s harvest of 3,996 pounds, but the club is going to try. Osgood said that the kids’ goal is to produce approximately 2,000 pounds of winter squash.

“Ultimately we want to provide the best quality produce for people who need it,” Osgood said, stressing that quantity isn’t the club’s only aim this year.

Last year the club regretfully lost some tomatoes to blight, according to York County master gardener Pam Carr. Carr said they hope to avoid those sorts of setbacks this year.

Carr, alongside fellow master gardener Maureen Brydon, has played an integral role in educating members of the Coastal Clovers about planting and harvesting fresh produce.

“In the winter, the kids were taught about the different types of food they could plant,” said Osgood. “From there, the kids made decisions about what they wanted to plant and how much.”

The kids chose to plant celery, cucumbers, summer squash, peppers, a row of 400 sweet potatoes and countless other fruits and vegetables. Yet, for the Coastal Clovers kids, this is only beginning of a long journey — a five-month journey to be exact.

Towards the end of June, the Coastal Clovers kids will come to Zach’s Farm each Wednesday to maintain and harvest their crops to ensure their quality.

“There will be a lot of weeding and watering of the plants,” said Osgood.

The whole process will finally end in October when all the produce will be distributed to food banks. Since it began three years ago, the club has produced over 7,000 pounds of food. This year will make for a good addition to that number.

 Seacoastonline.com website

Zach’s Farm

Maine Master Gardeners

Coastal Clovers 4-H on facebook

Seacoast area food pantries that would love donations of fresh foods!

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March 23, 2010 by Debra.

From Food For Maine’s Future, an opportunity to help preserve genetic diversity through traditional corn varieties:

Corn Seed Collaborative

Interested in preserving genetic diversity and traditional corn varieties in Maine? Food for Maine’s Future is looking for experienced farmers and gardeners to grow open pollinated varieties of corn for us. Please contact Bob St.Peter if you are interested.

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March 3, 2010 by Heather.

Food safety is important to everyone. But sometimes, in an effort to make things safe, regulations come that can end up hurting some just as much as they can help. 

According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), “we can’t let rules designed to address serious food safety deficiencies in our industrial food system shut down the move toward healthy, natural and local food.”

The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) now on the Senate floor will increase FDA regulations on farms that even minimally process their crops and sell them to restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools, and wholesalers. The new regulations would include many expensive requirments that could erect substantial barriers to these important markets for small and mid-size farmers.

The NSAC recommends the following action:

Senator Gregg sits on the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which has jurisdiction over food safety legislation.  He needs to hear your views on this legislation!  

Calling your Senator is easy.

Step 1:  Call Senator Gregg’s office at (202) 224-3324 and ask to speak to the aide responsible for agriculture.  If the aide is unavailable leave a brief voice mail message.  Be sure to leave your name and a call back number.

Step 2:  Urge Senator Gregg to support amendments to S. 510 which:

-Focus FDA regulation only on those processing activities that present the most risk for causing food borne pathogen contamination.
-Exempt farms with modest gross sales from new FDA regulation.  These farms would still need to register with FDA and would be subject to existing state food safety regulation.
 -Exempt from recordkeeping requirements foods using labeling that preserves the identity of the farm all the way through the supply chain to the ultimate consumer.
-Exempt from recordkeeping requirements food produced on farms and sold directly to a consumer, restaurant, or grocery store. 
 -Cosponsor the Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758) introduced by Senator Stabenow (D-MI).  This bill creates a program to deliver training and technical assistance appropriate to small and mid-scale farms to reduce the incidence of food borne illness.

For more information visit:

the NSAC’s blog http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/

the Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.2758:

the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:2:./temp/~c111FUxNNm::

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February 2, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

From NOFA-NH:

ACT AGAINST GENETIC ENGINEERING IN OUR STATE!

There is nothing locally grown nor heirloom about genetically engineered food.  The NH localvore, slow food and organic movement can collaborate and take the first steps in discouraging the presence of genetically engineered food and products in our state. 

Take part in a meeting on:

Wednesday, Feb 3

6:00-7:30 PM

Blue Moon Market and Café

8 Clifford Street, Exeter, NH

http://www.bluemoonmarket.net/retailer/store_templates/shell_id_1.asp?storeID=6CF10CED79FA4E5A8C17EBBF9184343B

 

to hear about two bills in the NH House Committee on Agriculture and the Environment: one to label seeds that are genetically engineered or contain genetically engineered organisms (GMOs) and the other to provide farmers the right to seek damages if their crops become contaminated by GE crops.

 

(The Café will still be serving food if you come hungry.)

 

Speakers at this meeting:

Bob St. Peter of Food for Maine’s Future, will share his experience working on the GE issue in Maine, and will brief everyone on current Maine laws regarding GMOs and past failed attempts at labeling.  

State Representative Susan Wiley and others that sponsored the bills will be present

Northeast Organic Farming Association of NH (NOFA-NH)

There will also be time for an open discussion about your interests in this issue.

 

The hearings for the two bills are scheduled for

 

Thursday, February 11

Legislative Office Bldg (LOB)

Concord, NH

 

            11:00 AM for HB 1388 - Compensation for contamination

1:00 PM for HB 1172 – Labeling of GMO seeds

 

NH House Bill # 1172  Label seeds with Genetically Modified Organisms

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102952052573&s=215&e=001j8G5QbIxw2XbL930A3tizMfQuYF-Ppl2cl1VW849TK5D4r76obJ3j4X15YYrcOT-RP8Ze3UNXPd8VodbpKsfpNkipV1xCLNJGS1Sgulw7_c_vNMmtJwDW5d5RsOcKdFR0s5XjVV0vQkZElGPzrSf893YzEeMfnwKCDz6BKqD-Ag=

 

More and more people raise their own food in NH to insure quality, purity and to save money. How do they know if their seeds contain genetically modified organisms or not if the seeds they buy are not labeled?  This bill asks that the time-honored consumer’s right-to-know be extended to seed labeling.

 

NH House Bill # 1388  Give farmers the right to seek damages if their crops are contaminated by genetic drift

 

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102952052573&s=215&e=001j8G5QbIxw2X-BM1EzEk6AfsFbeaSxKr6H8W06JsRVgneI0dCljUqd8xi8aw7dcIjpMT9izGqRSkh3aeIoE2Xj60ZPDp6ZqufN5vq0Ew8HAi0Rf3BghVNRH4Jssfs0Hj2wrpIpH8lRN581Ynsm6lt2pYnSwHDzHhj7qnYUUbOyXI=

 

Genetic drift is proving to be a huge problem for farmers that do not purposefully raise crops that have been genetically engineered.  If a farmer’s crop becomes contaminated with GMOs through pollen drift, the farmer can be sued by the manufacturer of those genetically engineered seed, most often by Monsanto. This bill gives the farmer the right to seek damages if genetic contamination occurs. 

 

 

Please make the time to appear in person at any of these hearings, and let Elizabeth Obelenus at NOFA-NH know your plans.  The many aspects as to why genetic engineering is not welcomed need to be covered at these hearings to build a strong case.  For example, if you or someone you know works in the sciences and can talk from that point of view about why genetic engineering is bad for our health, or know a farmer that wants to grow sweet corn organically but wonders if their crop will get contaminated by neighboring GE corn, ask them to contact Elizabeth at NOFA.    Written testimony is also encouraged.

NOFA-NH CONTACT INFO:  (603) 224-5022 or info@nofanh.org 

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January 7, 2010 by Debra.

The latest seed catalogs have arrived and we are all starting to dream of Spring planting. With food insecurity and the need for donated food increasing, consider adding an extra row for the hungry while planning for this year:

‘Plant a Row’ program produces tons of veggies for relief agencies 

YORK COUNTY — It was a wet and unusually difficult growing season, but York County’s farmers and gardeners managed a record contribution of 37,765 pounds of fresh nutritious vegetables — and more than four gallons of apple cider — to the “Plant a Row for the Hungry” (PAR) program to benefit hunger relief agencies throughout the region. York County leads the Maine effort of a program that began in Alaska and now operates nationwide. The program is administered by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, with the efforts of Master Gardener Volunteers. The extension and the volunteers ended their season last week with the delivery of more than 1,000 pounds of winter squash to the York County Shelter Programs in Alfred by volunteers working with the Ben Grant Farm of Saco. 

The Spiller Farm, of Wells, operated by Bill and Anna Spiller, has been a major contributor to the PAR program since its local inception nine years ago. Again this year, the Spillers worked with two teams of master gardener volunteers to contribute nearly one-third of the York County PAR total. 

Frosty nights ended the master gardeners’ apple harvest at Smith’s Farm in Acton and the MacDougall Orchards in Springvale, but not before nearly 10,000 pounds of apples were picked and delivered to the York County Shelter Programs and the Sanford Food Pantry. 

At Zach’s Farm Stand in York, volunteers from local food pantries and master gardeners collected the unsold produce at the end of each day of operation to distribute nearly 2,500 pounds of “picked in the morning” vegetables to various area agencies. John Zacharias also generously supported the efforts of the Coastal Clovers 4-H Club by donating land space and support for the 4-Hers to grow almost 4,000 pounds of vegetables to share with local pantries. 

John and Chris Bozak, who operate Berry Best Farm, continued a Labor Day tradition they began two years ago and opened their blueberry patches to volunteers, allowing them to pick one quart for themselves and one for the pantries. Open picking resulted in a contribution of nearly 115 pounds of the precious fruit to hunger relief agencies.

Other contributing commercial farms include Harris Farm, of Dayton, Riverside Farm, of North Berwick, the Rick Grant Farm, of Saco, and the Tibbetts Family Farm, of Waterboro. A number of individual gardeners also participated in the program by sharing their excess produce with their local food pantries.

Joan Sylvester, of York County Shelter Programs, notes the importance of so much fresh local produce being donated at a time when government commodities are increasingly scarce and the number of needy people facing food shortages is on the rise. Sylvester says that produce from “Plant a Row for the Hungry” makes up to more than 80 percent of what the shelter is able to give out to those who need it in food baskets.  For full article >

For more information on the PAR program for York County >

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December 31, 2009 by Sara Zoe.

This article is from the LA Times, and the farms featured are on a different scale than our New England farms, but the concept it there - more intentional connections between food banks and farms.

Here on the seacoast, we’ve got some relationships building between food banks and farmers’ markets, enabling consumers to purchase fresh foods and farmers to donate what they don’t sell and can’t take home. Food pantries love fresh foods - we’ve got a whole list of food banks that accept donations of fresh foods - and farmers and gardeners can (and often do) give generously. What I love most about this model is that the food banks have found a way to ensure that giving doesn’t financially hurt the farmer. They’re not making any money, but they are able to take the time and resources to make sure the food isn’t waste, rather than it being more cost efficient to let it rot. A very innovative solution.

“The common wisdom in food banks for many years was that we need to give people adequate calories,” she said. “Now we know that we also need to give people healthy food.”

All of these forces combined mean that food banks are becoming assertive shoppers. This year, Farm to Family, a program of the California Assn. of Food Banks, will secure 87 million pounds of seasonal produce, some donated but most of it purchased for pennies on the dollar, for 44 food banks all over California, said Ron Clark, the association’s food sourcing and logistics manager.

“Ten years ago, food banks were much more passive,” said Michael Flood, who runs the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, one of the largest food banks in the country. They took what they could get — packaged food that might have been supermarket rejects or new products that failed.

Today, 20% of the L.A. bank’s food is produce — by far the largest single category, Flood said.

Farmers have long donated food to their local food banks or have allowed people to glean leftovers from their fields. But in 2005, the California Assn. of Food Banks got involved, hiring one solicitor who procured 10 million pounds of food. In 2008, three solicitors got 64 million pounds of produce. A fourth solicitor begins work in January.

Sharp, whose family has long farmed in the Imperial Valley, is a deal maker in a Dodge pickup and a straw cowboy hat, seeking farmers in the Imperial and Coachella valleys who are willing to harvest or pack crops they can’t otherwise sell. They get paid just enough to get the cabbage or garlic or melons into bins.

Read the full article >

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September 28, 2009 by Sara Zoe.

A recent round of funding from the USDA to research partner institutions sets out to measure the real and potential capacity for the Northeast — this is exciting stuff from the USDA, and I hope we hear again when the results come in:

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR RESEARCH ON FOOD SECURITY IN NORTHEAST

Sept. 17, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $230,000 in funding for studies to assess the capacity of the northeastern United States to produce enough food locally to meet market demands, rather than relying on food transported long distances to feed the burgeoning East Coast population. These studies will be conducted as part of the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative launched this week by USDA to connect people more closely with the farmers who supply their food, and to increase the production, marketing and consumption of fresh, nutritious food that is grown locally in a sustainable manner.

“This research project will help identify and quantify the capacity to produce food locally that meets the needs of large urban populations in different seasons of the year,” said Agriculture Secretary Vilsack. “The lessons that we learn and the information that we glean from this project also will give us important insights into how we build and sustain local production systems elsewhere in the United States and abroad.”

Although low fuel prices have contributed to the globalization of the U.S. food system, with food transported to market over long distances, the ARS scientists contend that relying more on the strategic production of locally grown food can counter the challenges of rising transport costs, growing population demands and vanishing farmlands.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA’s principal intramural scientific research agency, will provide $200,000 in additional funding to its laboratories in Orono, Maine, and Beltsville, Md., to hire two scientists to model and determine the suitability of East Coast soils for agricultural production, as well as land availability in the Northeast for local production of fruit and vegetables.

ARS is also providing $30,000 to Tufts University in Boston for a new cooperative agreement to conduct an assessment of marketing and processing options for local food production, and also to determine how land-use policies could further encourage such production.

ARS scientists at the Orono and Beltsville laboratories are mapping an array of county-level data from Maine to Virginia on factors such as weather, soil, land use, water availability, which they will use to model potential crop production along the Eastern Seaboard to find out where local food production could meet current and projected demand, and where it might fall short.

In addition to the work conducted at the Orono and Beltsville laboratories, ARS’ laboratory at University Park, Pa., is participating in the research. Two other USDA agencies-the Economic Research Service and the Agricultural Marketing Service-will also participate in this project. The team is modeling actual crop production practices and the flow of agricultural products into supply chains, including all the associated handling and transportation costs, from farm field to market. This will help identify how the costs and benefits of locally grown produce compare with product transported over long distances to the Eastern Seaboard market.

From the USDA website

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August 14, 2009 by Jeff.

On August 6 the Concord Monitor ran a good story by Chelsea Conaboy on the challenges currently facing New Hampshire’s dairies.  The gist of the story is this, the process by which prices for bulk milk are set has led to a situation where farmers are receiving less money for their milk than it costs to produce.

It is a sad truth that dairy farmers, and many other farmers as well, are price-takers instead of price-makers.  In most industries producers create a product and then charge the retailers or consumers whatever it cost to produce and then their profit on top of that.  Dairy farmers however, are forced to accept prices set by someone else, regardless of whether or not it earns them a profit or even covers the costs of production.

I recommend that all of you read the Monitor’s article so that you’ll have a better understanding of what our dairies are facing.  Six NH dairies have closed so far and more are likely to follow suit.  The one highlight of the article for me was reading our Commissioner of Agriculture, Lorainne Merrill say “What we have seen is a tremendous transfer of wealth, of equity, from dairy farm families to these corporations,” in reference to the increased profits of the Dean Foods corporation at a time when the farmers it buys from are having trouble holding onto their farms.

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August 12, 2009 by Sara Zoe.

We’re looking for 6-10 volunteers for a Friday morning (August 14) farm gleaning project in Stratham, NH. Food will go to the NH Food Bank. email sarazoe@seacoasteatlocal.org if interested/available!

(gleaning is the age 0ld practice of harvesting what remains in a field to help feed people in need)

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