From thelaw at olypen.com Fri Mar 27 14:53:07 2009 From: thelaw at olypen.com (Larry) Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:53:07 -0700 Subject: [Psgc4coop] More food resources Message-ID: 19. Food activists seek to change agricultural policy from Oakland to Orono Sustainable-food campaign reaches a critical mass of influence in the United States http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/23/business/food.php With Food Democracy now, Iowan Dave Murphy Is Challenging Corporate Farming http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2009/03/24/AR2009032400754.html Safeguard Food Supply But Respect Small Farms http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/23/na-safeguard-food-supply-but- respect-small-farms/ Big Island Video News: Sustainable farming with tilapia http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/hamakua/2009/20090323talapia.htm Even city folk can make vegetable gardens flower http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-25- mar25,0,4687726.column USDA: Sustainable Agriculture [pdf] http://www.usda.gov/oce/sustainable/agriculture.htm University of California: Agriculture and Natural Resources Free Publications [pdf] http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/FreePublications/ Years ago, some might have heard the words "food advocacy" or "sustainable agriculture" and thought of well meaning groups based in large cities on the West or East Coast. As of late both of these ideas have been gaining currency across the country, and they continue to grow dedicated supporters in states where agribusiness had been a dominant feature of the landscape for many decades. One such supporter is Dave Murphy, an Iowa native who returned back to the heartland after working in Washington, D.C. for years. Murphy's organization, Food Democracy Now, recently circulated a petition calling for more sustainable food policies, along with offering a list of six progressive candidates for secretary of agriculture. It could be argued that the Midwest has lacked an authentic voice as regards to agricultural policy reform, which may be due to the high profiles maintained by well- known celebrity chefs and food pundits who hold sway in the major media markets like San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. Murphy has also made some compelling new suggestions about how to recast the struggle to get young people to eat more fruits and vegetables. He, along with others, has suggested that it might be useful to pitch this argument as one that will work as an economic engine for small farmers and rural America overall. As Murphy recently stated in an interview, "If you want to change the ballgame, you have to address the policies that are responsible for the system we have in place." [KMG] The first link leads to an article from this Wednesday's Washington Post which talks about Murphy's food advocacy work. The second link will take users to a piece from this Sunday's International Herald Tribune which talks about the growing "critical mass" of influential policymakers and organizations calling for a renewed focus on sustainable agriculture. The third link will take users to a timely editorial from the Tampa Tribune that talks about both protecting the nation's food supply, while still supporting small farmers who might not be able to afford new costs associated with more stringent oversight and regulation. On a related note, the fourth link leads to a video feature featuring Richard Ha, who's working on a sustainable aquaculture project with tilapia on the Big Island. The fifth link leads to an astute column by Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich on how urban dwellers can grow their own vegetable gardens. Moving on, the sixth link leads to the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture homepage. From here, visitors can learn about their efforts to support such endeavors by reading recent reports and briefs. Finally, the last link leads to the free publications section of the University of California's Agriculture and Natural Resources division. There's a great deal to check out here, including helpful gardening publications, suggestions for agritourism, and nutritional fact sheets. [KMG] >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cdgold at earthlink.net Fri Mar 27 16:10:26 2009 From: cdgold at earthlink.net (David Goldman) Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:10:26 -0700 (GMT-07:00) Subject: [Psgc4coop] e-mail chnage of address for DG: cdgold Message-ID: <16624273.1238184627273.JavaMail.root@elwamui-norfolk.atl.sa.earthlink.net> PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE USE: herepog2 at gmail.com -----Original Message----- >From: psgc4coop-request at breskin.com >Sent: Mar 27, 2009 7:00 AM >To: psgc4coop at breskin.com >Subject: psgc4coop Digest, Vol 103, Issue 1 > >Send psgc4coop mailing list submissions to > psgc4coop at breskin.com > >To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://eight.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/psgc4coop >or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > psgc4coop-request at breskin.com > >You can reach the person managing the list at > psgc4coop-owner at breskin.com > >When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >than "Re: Contents of psgc4coop digest..." > > >Today's Topics: > > 1. something we were going to talk about, once upon a time > (joe breskin) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:47:21 -0700 >From: "joe breskin" >Subject: [Psgc4coop] something we were going to talk about, once upon > a time >To: "'psgc4coop'" >Message-ID: <72BA31570ED241CFBD008F27D3C43823 at littlejoe> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >WASHINGTON: Investigators find source of many foods untraceable >26.mar.09 >New York Times >Gardiner Harris >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/health/policy/26fda.html?_r=2 > >WASHINGTON -- Most food manufacturers and distributors cannot identify the >suppliers or recipients of their products despite federal rules that require >them to do so, federal health investigators have found. > >A quarter of the food facilities contacted by investigators as part of the >study were not even aware that they were supposed to be able to trace their >suppliers, according to a report by Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector >general of the Department of Health and Human Services. > >The report, expected to be made public Thursday, comes as President Obama >and a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers have promised major changes to the >nation's food-safety system. > >And it may help explain why many small food makers continue to issue >peanut-related recalls more than two months after the Peanut Corporation of >America was identified as the source of a salmonella scare that has sickened >at least 691 people and has been linked to 9 deaths. The New York Times >obtained a copy of the report. > >The investigators contacted 220 food facilities to ask about their supplier >records. But only 118 of these businesses were included in the study because >the rest were not required under rules adopted by the F.D.A. in 2005 to >maintain supplier and recipient records. Of those 118 firms, 70 failed to >provide investigators with required information about suppliers or >customers, with 6 of the companies failing to provide any information at >all. > >One vendor told investigators that it kept no records of tomato purchases. >Tomatoes have repeatedly been implicated in nationwide food contamination >scares, including one last year. Fifteen facilities told investigators they >mixed raw products from more than 10 farms. > >"According to an estimate from a manager at a grain storage facility, if >grain from one farm were contaminated, millions of bags of flour would be at >risk and might have to be removed from retail shelves," the report stated. > >WASHINGTON: Investigators say food tracing system full of gaps >26.mar.09 >Associated Press >Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar >http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAgIorlF-SHlwfBMkgQjMl573F >XAD975G0MG0 > >WASHINGTON -- Government investigators testing the nation's food tracing >system were able to follow only five out of 40 foods all the way through the >supply chain, according to a report to be released Thursday. > >The ability to trace food is a critical part of investigations into >outbreaks of food-borne illness and would be crucial in a bioterrorism >attack. Food companies are required by federal law to keep records that >would allow investigators to follow suspect foods one step back and one step >forward in the supply chain. > >But an investigation by the Health and Human Services inspector general's >office found that the records many companies keep are not detailed enough. >And one-quarter of the company managers were totally unaware of the record >keeping requirements. > >"The food safety regulatory structure lacks an adequate traceability >system," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who requested the investigation. >"Traceability is a critical tool in our ability to identify the source of a >food-borne illness outbreak. Trace-back will be a critical part of food >safety reform in this Congress." > >In the test, government investigators bought 40 food items, including >bottled water, eggs, oatmeal, tomatoes, fruit juice and yogurt. They then >attempted to trace the items back from the retailer to the source. >They were only able to fully trace 12.5 percent of the items. >For 31 of the 40, investigators said they were able to identify the >facilities that most likely handled the products. > >And in the case of four items - 10 percent of the total - investigators were >unable to identify the facilities than handled them. > > > >------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >psgc4coop mailing list >psgc4coop at breskin.com >http://eight.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/psgc4coop > > >End of psgc4coop Digest, Vol 103, Issue 1 >***************************************** From thelaw at olypen.com Fri Mar 27 18:50:13 2009 From: thelaw at olypen.com (Larry) Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:50:13 -0700 Subject: [Psgc4coop] Malware attack Message-ID: Odd target isn?t it? Dear Larry, ? Your regular issue of Organic Bytes will not be delivered this week due to a?fraudulent malware attack on the Organic Consumer Association's web server. For those of you who have tried to visit our website and have received warnings about malware, rest assured that our website is safe. The OCA web server has been scanned and is free of any?problems, and Google has confirmed that this is the case, but there seems to be a slight delay in resolving warning messages with the Safari browser.? We are doing some final updating and will return next week with another issue of Organic Bytes. In the meantime, please let us know if you have any concerns. ? Ronnie Cummins National Director Organic Consumers Association http://www.organicconsumers.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: