Farming

Gulf Coast Update: Growing Better Oysters

by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Dec 16th 2010 @ 3:00PM

farmed oysters Photo: Steve Helber / AP Photo

Nearly eight months after the Deepwater Horizon rig blew out into the Gulf, the U.S. has filed suit with BP and other companies over the spill "in its effort to get billions of dollars for untold economic and environmental damage," reported the New York Times late yesterday. "Under the Clean Water Act alone, BP faces fines of up to $1,100 for each barrel of oil spilled."

And we hear that Gulf fishermen are up to new tricks themselves -- with a new oyster-harvesting method that may result in better (healthier) oysters.

Announced yesterday, by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board (the organization behind Friends of the Fishermen, which had top chefs like Tom Colicchio on board), this new initiative "promises to increase production and open up entrepreneurial opportunities for oystermen."

Normally oysters are grown on reefs attached to the ocean floor, but Gulf oyster farmers are now looking into a not-so-new but new-to-the-Gulf, off-bottom approach where oysters are suspended on water columns and easily pulled to the surface in hunks. Oysters can then grow "in areas where a traditional bottom harvest is impossible" like over sand, notes the Board. It also "protects oysters from predators, provides a means to reduce fouling, increases oyster growth rates and allows for pruning, which results in oysters with fatter meat."

Filed under: Farming

What's in Your Meat? FDA Reveals Antibiotic Use in Livestock

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by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Dec 15th 2010 @ 4:00PM

beef cattle livestock Photo: Alex E. Proimos, Flickr

Until now, we've only guessed the amount of antibiotics used were high to keep our pig, cattle and poultry stocks healthy. In fact, the Animal Health Institute predicted 11.1 million kilograms were used nationwide in 2005. But the Food and Drug Administration's records don't go back that far.

For the first time, the FDA has released an estimate. In 2009 alone, "13.1 million kilograms of antimicrobial drugs were sold or distributed for use in food-producing animals" in the U.S., cites Livable Future from the report (.pdf) made available to the public last Thursday. There's also a chart listing approved antibiotics in each drug class.

That 13.1 million kilograms is just short of 29 million pounds. "That's a lot," writes Maryn McKenna on her Wired magazine blog. (McKenna is a journalist specializing in infectious diseases, and the author of Superbug, notes Food Safety News.)

We think of antibiotics as a good thing, something to rid ourselves of disease, but overuse can lower resistance, and that's exactly what we're seeing in meat production. This in turn calls for stronger antibiotics, which don't just stay with the animal. It carries through to the land and those working on it, not to mention its unidentified consequences to those who consume the meat.

Nutritionist Marion Nestle notes in The Atlantic that since this is the first report, "it is not possible to say whether the numbers are going up or down. But the agency is now requiring meat producers to report on antibiotic use so we now have a baseline for measuring progress."

Filed under: Farming, Food Politics

Fresh Off the Press: Olio Nuovo

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by Clare Leschin-Hoar, Posted Nov 18th 2010 @ 3:00PM

Photo:Getty Images

You might not think this time of year could be filled with coveted first-of-the-season treats, but let us shine a light on that for you. Dungeness crab season is newly opened. Francophiles will be busy celebrating the arrival of Beaujolais nouveau. And in California, where 99 percent of the nation's olive oil is produced, growers are readying their presses for their own season opener: olio nuovo. Italian for "new oil", olio nuovo marks the beginning of the olive oil pressing season.

"Olio nuovo is meant to be a celebration of the harvest," says olive grower Albert Katz, Katz & Company. "In Italy, you would have sat outside the mill with your family and friends and cooked up a meal with the new oil. It's as fresh as you can get."

Crushed and bottled within 24-hours of picking, olio nuovo is viscous, deep green in color, clouded with sediment, and packed with intense flavor. There's no confusing it with a mellow cooking oil. This baby is all about flavor. Depending on the grower and olive varietals chosen for blending, this robust treat can carry flavors of apple, artichoke or pepper.

Filed under: Farming, Food News

Compost, The New Recycling

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by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Oct 5th 2010 @ 11:00AM

food compost bucket Photo: elaine faith, Flickr

The meal is done: Dishes hit the sink; plastic bottles and tin cans go into the recycling bin. But the scraps from dinner and cooking prep -- egg shells, garlic skins, vegetable stems and cheese rinds? A few counties in California have come up with a simple, smart solution for utilizing those, too.

"You put a small bin on your kitchen counter, divert all your organic waste into it, and then just dump it in the larger bin outside when it's full. The rest is taken care of," says Sarah Rich, co-founder of Foodprint Project, a traveling advocacy group and educational panel on urban agricultural. The larger bin is picked up at the end of the week during regular garbage collection. "You don't need to be a gardener yourself in order to make good use of your food scraps," she says. Foodprint Project was formed early this year to evaluate the viability and potential of local food in urban areas. So far, they've hosted panels in New York City and Toronto, and this coming January, they're headed for Los Angeles.

If you look at a landfill, most of the waste is food -- it'll decompose, sure, but then what? Where does all that nutrient-rich soil go? That was the thinking behind the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority's new Food Scrap Recycling Program, which started in September 2007 and is expanding this month to California's Walnut Creek area, along with existing areas: Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga in Contra Costa County.

Filed under: Farming, Eco-Friendly

Don't GMO with Greenpeace Italy

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by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Aug 4th 2010 @ 5:00PM

Photo: Peter Blanchard, Flickr

Saving whales; closing BP service stations: Greenpeace accomplishes things many of us fainter environmentalists only dream of, and last week was no different. A courageous bunch snuck into a field of GMO corn to deactivate the crop's pollinating tassels -- by way of machete or delicate plucking, we cannot say, but we'd like to think they had some fun.

The event took place in -- where else? -- Italy, the heirloom-touting country responsible for constructing Slow Food's global umbrella in the '80s, from which all sustainable, green, local and such movements have sprung since. Specifically, the crop-beheading went down on a field in the northern region of Friuli, one of the country's 16 regions (out of 20) that were gradually designated as GMO-free zones starting in 2007.

Greenpeace Italia first took a sample from the field in question and brought it to a certified lab to confirm that it was, in fact, the patented Monsanto GE maize type MON810. Since pollen can quickly spread to other fields, further contaminating non-GMO land, Greenpeace decided to nip it in the bud and send a message to the Italian government to follow through. GMO-free zone or not, a landowner would still need to obtain a permit to grow GMO crop in Italy, which Greenpeace claims the owner had not done.

Filed under: Farming, Food Politics, Eco-Friendly

After 378 Years in the Family, Farm for Sale

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by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Aug 2nd 2010 @ 3:00PM

Lucy and Will Tuttle. Photo: Jim Cole / AP Photo

Eleven generations of Tuttles have worked the land at the family farm in Dover, N.H., but this generation may be the last.

The family has put the 378-year-old farm on the market, CNN reported.

"We've been here for 40 years, doing what we love to do," Lucy Tuttle, 65, told the Associated Press . "But we're not able to work to our full capacity any longer, unfortunately." She runs the 134-acre farm with her brother Will, 63.

The farm, started in 1632, grows sweet corn, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. It was listed last Tuesday for $3.35 million, the AP reported. The farm carries a deed restriction stating that as conservation land, it cannot be developed into strip malls or a housing development.

Filed under: Farming

Fresh & Easy Delivers "Farm to Store in 24"

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by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Aug 2nd 2010 @ 1:00PM

Photo: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market(TM)

Our desire for fresh(er) food has been heard, though the responses have sometimes been questionable. We've got everyone from Walmart to McDonald's touting "organic" and "local" but we're perhaps most excited when grocery stores, other than standbys Whole Foods Market and Stew Leonard's, start delivering from their neighboring farms.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, an energy-efficient supermarket chain in California, Arizona and Nevada, started their "Farm to Store in 24" pilot program earlier this summer with grapes and strawberries picked and shelved within 24 hours. Their customers liked it so much, the company has decided to roll it right into fall, introducing local stone fruit for August and root vegetables come September.

A "Farm to Store in 24" logo on a package of produce signifies that it has not only been shipped but also picked from a nearby farm in California within 24 hours. This accounts for up to 65% of the store's produce.

Filed under: Farming, Business, Food News

Wine-fed Okanagan: The Next Great Beef?

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by Jason Best, Posted Jul 26th 2010 @ 3:00PM

Photo: Urban Mixer, Flickr

It looks like some folks in British Columbia are aiming to give purveyors of Kobe beef a run for their money. If they have their way, wine-fed Okanagan beef may soon be turning up next to Japan's prime bovine on the menu of high-end steakhouses.

That's right, "wine-fed" cattle -- as in, each cow gets a liter of Okanagan Valley red wine mixed into its feed every day for the last 90 days before it is processed. Yes, it seems strange at first, but when you stop to think about it, red wine and beef are one of the most classic pairings imaginable. What seems even stranger, then, is why didn't someone think of this sooner?

According to the Vancouver Sun (Vancouver is about four hours west of the Okanagan Valley), the genius credit here goes to Janice Ravndahl, a local meat purveyor from the town of Kelowna who also happens to come from five generations of Canadian cattle ranchers.

Filed under: Farming

Scenic Farmers Markets

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by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Jul 23rd 2010 @ 3:00PM

farmers market vegetables local produce Photo: avlxyz, Flickr

Just because you're on the road doesn't mean you can't enjoy the bounty of local farmers' markets, even if you can't exactly pick up a few grass-fed steaks to throw on the grill.

But where are the best farmers' markets in America for travelers? CNN asked food writers and chefs to pick their favorite farmers' markets for experiencing local food culture while on the road.

"You can still get a wonderful sense of what's grown in that community, and what you can find in restaurants when you dine there," Janet Fletcher, author of Fresh From the Farmers' Market, told CNN.

Filed under: Farming, Food News

Ozark Forest Mushrooms, Missouri Ozarks - Ask a Shopkeeper

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by Chris Dudley, Posted Jul 7th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Photo: gynti_46, Flickr

The Big Springs region of the Missouri Ozarks has been designated as one of the "Last Great Places" by the Nature Conservancy, thanks in no small part to people like Nicola MacPherson. As owner of Ozark Forest Mushrooms, she's doing her part to preserve the unique ecology of the region while at the same time bringing its best culinary offerings to the masses. Her operation, run from a family-owned farm located along a picturesque, limestone ridge detour of Sinking Creek, grows shiitakes as nature intended: on logs, in the forest.

Read more about Ms. MacPherson's adventures in fungal farming after the jump.

Filed under: Farming, Interviews, Features, Eco-Friendly