Sustainable Agriculture & Food Policy

“No Hay Desechos, solo recursos” reads the Sistema BioBolsa logo, there is no waste, only resources, and that is the heart and sole of Sistema Biobolsa, an organization working in 22 Mexican States, and 15 other countries to bring sustainable resources to agricultural communities. Here is the low down, a highly innovative membrane digester that processes animal waste (especially cow) into a useable methane rich bio gas, and an organic rich fertilizer called Biol.

Laura Bozzi completed her PhD at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2013. She is now Program Manager at Appalachian Mountain Advocates in southeastern West Virginia, where she splits her time between the organization's twin goals to protect the communities and natural resources of central Appalachia and to advocate and help build a just and sustainable economy for the region. In particular, she's working to develop a new sustainable agriculture program.

California farmers feel more threatened by climate policy than they do by climate change, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis. The study, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, found that the greatest climate risk Yolo County farmers believe they face in the future is not drought, water shortages, or temperature changes, but government regulations. However, this view did not make them less likely to participate in government incentive programs that would help their climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.

In this report, we explore the relationship between the business of agriculture and the business of environmental sustainability. Switzer Fellow Jeff Dlott's company, Sure Harvest, provides a full set of solutions for growers and agrifood companies pursuing sustainability strategies - farming management software, sustainability management software, sustainability consulting services and third-party sustainability certification - throughout the agrifood supply chain.

Building more meat processing plants won't yield more local meat unless farmers and processors change how they do business with each other, according to a new report. "Farmers say, 'There aren't enough processors.' But how can processors stay open, let alone grow, without enough steady, consistent business to pay their bills?" said lead author Lauren Gwin, a researcher at Oregon State University. "'I'll call you when I need you' is convenient in the short term but doesn't give either side any long-term stability or growth."

Four years ago, witnessing this rising interest in locally grown grains, it became clear to Ellen Mallory, a sustainable agriculture specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, that there was a need for more research on what it takes to grow grain in Maine and to produce educational resources for farmers interested in doing so.

Ildi Carlisle-Cummins traces her love of food to the afternoons and evenings of her youth helping her father prepare meals. But it was a study abroad trip to Costa Rica in 2001 that brought her interest in food and agriculture into sharper focus.

If one were playing a word association game and were asked what comes to mind when the terms “food” and “land use” are given, chances are high that the response would be “agriculture.” Yet every stage in the food system, from being grown or raised through being consumed, is place-based. Put differently, everything that happens with our food system involves land use in some way.

On February 23, 2013, the staff and board of the Maine Law Review organized a colloquium in Portland, Maine, focused on the future of the food system in the United States. The event brought together more than a dozen legal scholars from across the country (including New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Ohio, Nevada, Indiana, Idaho, Arkansas, Florida, California, Oregon, and, of course, Maine) to discuss and debate a wide range of issues in food law and policy. The colloquium was loosely organized around three broad themes: