Tag Archives: local food

Americans waste 150,000 tons of food each day – equal to a pound per person


Research shows people with healthy diets rich in fruit and vegetables are the most wasteful and calls for better education for consumers

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/18/americans-waste-food-fruit-vegetables-study

About 150,000 tons of food is tossed out in US households each day, equivalent to about a third of the daily calories that each American consumes. Fruit and vegetables were the most likely to be thrown out, followed by dairy and then meat.

This waste has an environmental toll, with the volume of discarded food equivalent to the yearly use of 30m acres of land, 780m pounds of pesticide and 4.2tn gallons of irrigated water. Rotting food also clogs up landfills and releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Researchers at the US Department of Agriculture analysed eight years of food data, up to 2014, to see where food is wasted and also what members of the public say they do at mealtimes. The research has been published in Plos One.

A Garden’s Glory brings healthy food to the community

A Garden’s Glory became the first Certified Naturally Grown farm in eastern Florida in November, and they’re gearing up for a season of events and markets this winter.

Farmer Ann Nyhuis received certification for her tender microgreens and sustainable growing practices.

Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) is a certification program for farmers and beekeepers who use natural practices, without any synthetic chemicals or GMOs, to produce food for their local communities.

Nyhuis decided to seek Certified Naturally Grown’s grassroots certification because CNG’s commitment to non-GMO, real food, grown in harmony with nature matched her farming philosophy.

You can find her Piatto Fresco takeaway microgreen plate at the Stuart Green Market or at www.agardensglory.com.

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/specialty-publications/your-news/martin-county/reader-submitted/2018/01/19/gardens-glory-brings-healthy-food-community/1046376001/

Farming for a Small Planet

How we grow food determines who can eat and who cannot—no matter how much we produce.

People yearn for alternatives to industrial agriculture, but they are worried. They see large-scale operations relying on corporate-supplied chemical inputs as the only high-productivity farming model. Another approach might be kinder to the environment and less risky for consumers, but, they assume, it would not be up to the task of providing all the food needed by our still-growing global population.

Contrary to such assumptions, there is ample evidence that an alternative approach—organic agriculture, or more broadly “agroecology”—is actually the only way to ensure that all people have access to sufficient, healthful food. Inefficiency and ecological destruction are built into the industrial model.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/01/12/farming-small-planet