http://www.yesmagazine.org/commonomics/boston-s-emerging-food-economy
Land, Co-ops, Compost: A Local Food Economy Emerges in Boston’s Poorest Neighborhoods by Penn Loh — YES! Magazine
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Vegetables Take On Office Doughnuts When Farms Connect With Workers
Farm To Work in Texas offers a new twist on community supported agriculture: farmers deliver boxes of produce to workplaces. Similar farm-to-office programs are taking off in other states, too.
Source: Vegetables Take On Office Doughnuts When Farms Connect With Workers
FarmShare White Paper
This document is intended to provide an overview of the potential application of internet-connected sensor devices and a blockchain-based alternative ownership model in the context of a rural agricultural community. The proposal builds upon the existing business model known as Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA), which aims to create mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and local communities by involving CSA members/subscribers in the production and decision-making processes.The FarmShare application serves as a platform for facilitating collaboration between farmers and shareholders, which has generally proved difficult for CSA organizations relying on traditional modes of planning and communication.
This looks to be the start of a very interesting discussion on the combination of Blockchain technologies in Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA).
The resulting benefits in areas such as decentralisation, localisation and resiliency should be great. As with all young technologies there will be pitfalls along the way. But the innovation in the cryptofinance space has been rapid and there is already several project that are making rapid progress.
Source: FarmShare White Paper — Medium
Urban farmers around the world – in pictures
We asked our community to share pictures and stories of farming projects in cities across the globe. Here are our favourites
A Scientist Has Created the Perfect Tomato—but Supermarkets Refuse to Sell It
Tomato lovers, stop rejoicing. Because you will not find the perfect supermarket tomato in any supermarket. Not now, and perhaps not ever. It’s not because the Garden Gem is a genetically modified organism—it was bred the same way tomatoes have been bred for thousands of years. It’s not because some multinational owns the patent and won’t release it in the U.S. (which, unfortunately, is the case with a superb British potato called the Mayan Gold). It’s because Big Tomato doesn’t care about flavor. Tomato farmers don’t care. Tomato packers don’t care. And supermarkets don’t care.
Source: A Scientist Has Created the Perfect Tomato—but Supermarkets Refuse to Sell It
Food as a commons: A shift we need to disrupt the neoliberal food paradigm | Heathwood Press
Key Series: Systems, Commons and Agriculture By Jose Luis Vivero Pol Our society has a troublesome relationship with food. Although we produce enough food to adequately feed all, both obesity and under-nutrition affect an estimated 2.3 billion people globally causing 6 million deaths annually (1-2). Nowadays, many eat poorly to enable others to eat badly …
Source: Food as a commons: A shift we need to disrupt the neoliberal food paradigm | Heathwood Press
My edible classroom gives deprived New York kids a reason to attend school
Teacher Stephen Ritz explains how a project to grow fresh food in his school turned into a wider movement encouraging healthy eating among US students
Source: My edible classroom gives deprived New York kids a reason to attend school
How a Bronx Community College Could Change the Conversation About Food
Building off of the growing popularity of nutrition-based degrees, one Bronx community college is attempting to change how lower-income communities eat.
Source: How a Bronx Community College Could Change the Conversation About Food
Small / Young Farmer Movement
With all the doom and gloom out there this is a video that makes you hopeful for the future. From the great folks at Bioneers (http://www.bioneers.org/)
Further reading
Soil is a non-renewable resource
Hence the distruction of soils is a long-term attack at human prosperity. As part of the 2015 International Year of Soils the FAO has published a series of resources that are well worth the read and contemplation.
Original article by FAO: Soil is a non-renewable resource | FAO.