TWO ITEMS FROM FOOD FIRST'S LATEST NEWSLETTER:

Organic Agriculturalists graduate from Agriculture and Land-Based Association (ALBA)

At ALBA, based in Salinas, California, 22 organic farmers graduated on April 5, 2008. They have been learning how to become organic, independent farmers, producing high quality products, protecting the environment, and their health. ALBA’s training consists of five modules: protecting soil fertility, reducing chemical inputs, weed and pest control, the impact of the farming system, and building local economy.

Food First’s executive director, Eric Holt-Giménez gave the keynote graduation speech in which he reminded the audience that from the time that women invented agriculture 8,000 years ago, the relationship between human beings and nature has been the basis for social change. Peasants have always been responsible for the environment and food for everyone in the world. The industrial revolution was possible thanks to the successes of agriculture. In all social transformations the peasant has played a key role; but it is rarely recognized. In capitalist and socialist nations alike, they have tried to eliminate peasants. “But here you are after 8,000 years defending the seeds. Why? Because of peasant values: respect for the life of others, mutual aid, innovation, environmental protection, and the love of producing food are maintained.”

“Thank you for insisting to produce food in a moment of scarcity and inflation of prices, when there are 840 million hungry people in the world – 36 million of whom can be found in the United States.

“Thank you for insisting on producing food in a way that improves the environment, while agroindustry seems only to look for ways to destroy it, contaminating our air, our soils, our rivers and oceans, and even poisoning our workers.

“Thank you for producing healthy food in a time in which there are millions of obese people because of processed junk food, which we feel obliged to eat because it seems cheap, but it poisons us, giving us serious problems with blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

“Thank you for continuing in the most noble profession that exists in this world. Thank you for opening the doors to a new transition… A transition towards a healthy agriculture and a just, equitable, and sustainable food system… A transition on the road to food sovereignty.”

You can read the entire graduation address by Eric Holt-Giménez at

https://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2089

Food Not Lawns!—A Banner for Local Food Production

Lawns, a symbol of the American dream and a very real representation of America's profligate waste, are being slowly ripped up throughout the western United States. People from Eugene, Oregon to Bisbee, Arizona are turning their lawns into plant food gardens. “Food Not Lawns,” the banner for this nascent movement, has inspired independent groups in several states to devote city lots to local food production. The newest group to take up the banner is based in the arid mountain town of Fort Collins, Colorado.

Grow Food Not Lawns Fort Collins is helping their community “grow the idea of food production in people's backyards.” With plenty of volunteer labor, free soil testing, access to tools, advice from master gardeners at Colorado State Extension and “educational, celebratory, hands-on” workshops, member gardeners have plenty of support in making the lawns to food transition. Water, a scarce resource on Colorado's dry front range, is a major concern of the group. Organizers teach water conservation methods like building contoured beds, mulching, and drip irrigation, which they claim makes abundant food gardens consume less water than their grassy alternative. For those who want a partial conversion but still love their lawn, the group provides seed and know-how to grow native drought-tolerant Buffalo Grass. For the Fort Collins group, Food Not Lawns is a mission to both build a healthy food system, and find the “essence of community.”

For information on Food Not Lawns, or how to start your own backyard gardening support group, visit www.foodnotlawns.com or check out Food Not Lawns by H.C. Flores available from Chelsea Green Publishing.