Sustainable Agriculture & Food Policy

According to Lisa Bunin, Organic Policy Director at the Center for Food Safety (CFS), “Both stages in the strawberry production process use enormous amounts of methyl bromide, and both represent critical junctures in the supply chain that need to figure out alternative production strategies.” According to a recent in-depth report by the Center for Investigative Reporting, CFS is leading a project to grow an experimental nursery crop of organic strawberry starts in Central California, and late last year, six organic farms planted those starts in soil for the first time.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic standards are based around the principles of sustainability and health. In addition, organic farming has many environmental advantages when compared to conventional farming. Organic farming supports biodiversity and soil health, decreases nutrient runoff and has the ability to mitigate climate change. These science-based facts are missed in Henry Miller’s opinion piece “Why Organic Isn’t Sustainable” published in Forbes magazine. Several of Miller’s points lack sources, and when citations are provided, they often link to papers that do not support his claims. In fact, some of the studies he cites contradict his arguments. This is not the first time The Organic Center has responded to Miller’s opinion pieces. This piece, like his previous articles, should have been fact checked before published.

SureHarvest, a leading agrifood sustainability solutions company, announced that it is rolling out sustainability performance management software with three new clients – produce supply chain management company PRO*ACT, the California Cut Flower Commission and the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board. These organizations are deploying SMIS, SureHarvest’s secure online sustainability performance management platform.

Peter Vorster is a spritely hydro-geographer (“I invented that term!” he told me, beaming) from the Bay Institute, a group that studies this watershed “from the Sierras to the sea.” I’d asked him to join us on the mountain. He arrived a shaken-up soda can of a person -- just literally bursting with stories. It was easy to see how much he loves this river; his enthusiasm was infectious.

Once an ordinary stretch of land, a new greenhouse, raised beds and an adjacent field tucked away behind brick buildings at the University of Texas-Pan American became officially organic last week. Students, faculty, staff and other supporters of the Subtropical Organic Agriculture Research program, or SOAR, gathered in the afternoon heat to tour the garden used for student experiments intended to advance organic farming.

The new agriculture: From food farms to solar farms Across the U.S., government agencies and energy developers are looking at agricultural land to develop renewable energy resources like wind and solar. Researchers will examine the policy shift from protecting farmland at all costs to promoting renewable energy over other uses. They will begin with a case study from California, which favors renewable energy development instead of agriculture, and make policy recommendations that could be applied to renewable energy development in Western New York.

That’s right. Neither wild fish nor farmed fish can be certified organic because no organic standards exist in the U.S. to regulate them. But that may be about to change—for the worse. Why? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently proceeding with the development of organic aquaculture regulations that could allow wild fish and ocean-based fish farms to be certified organic. Read a Switzer Fellow Thought Leadership piece by 1994 Fellow Lisa Bunin of the Center for Food Safety.

Hospitals and other large institutional buyers represent a major marketing opportunity for good food entrepreneurs like farms and ranches. But how can the two ends of the food chain best connect? GoodFoodWeb.com guest author and Switzer Fellow Kendra Klein cites one success story happening in Northern California. Read the article