Groundswell to receive major USDA grant award!

The Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming will launch a three-year training program for beginning farmers and market gardeners

The EcoVillage at Ithaca Center for Sustainability Education is pleased to announce that its agricultural initiative, the Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming, will receive a three-year grant from the US Department of Agriculture to support the training of new farmers and urban market gardeners. The grant, totaling $349,873, will enable Groundswell and its project partners to provide training, mentoring, business planning support, and affordable access to land for beginning farmers.

“Our goal is to increase the number, diversity, profitability, and environmental sustainability of beginning farmers in the region,” says Joanna Green, Director of the Groundswell Center. “We’re making a three-year investment to develop a strong, multicultural social and economic support network for new farmers.”

The project is the result of over two years of hard work, program planning and contributions of a broad-based group of volunteers, community leaders and organizations. “This is a really exciting development,” says Liz Walker, Director of EcoVillage’s educational programs. “I’m especially pleased that EcoVillage is able to make some of its agricultural land available to others in the community who don’t otherwise have access to land.”

Upcoming Nov 1 Workshop: Farm Labor Policies, Pricing and Local Fair Trade

Preparing the Ground for Local Fair Trade

ATTENTION FARMERS: November 1 workshop will help you understand and implement fair labor and pricing policies

To help set the stage for domestic fair trade, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York is sponsoring a series of workshops for farmers on farm labor policies and setting prices that cover farm production costs. The Ithaca workshop will be held on November 1 and is cosponsored by Groundswell.

Farm Labor Policies, Pricing and Local Fair Trade

Elizabeth Henderson, long-time CSA farmer and leader in the international Agricultural Justice movement, is one of the presenters at the November 1 workshop.

Monday, November 1, 2010
9am - 3 pm

EcoVillage FROG Common House

Rachel Carson Way, Ithaca, NY

Charge: $35 ($30 NOFA-NY members), includes a light lunch and a copy of Richard Wiswall's The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook

Please RSVP by October 15 to Robert Hadad, Cornell Vegetable Program Fresh Market Specialist, at rgh26@cornell.edu 585-739-4065. If you include your email, you will receive an electronic copy of the Agricultural Justice Project Tool-Kit, a guide to good farm labor policies.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: Farm Labor Policies, Pricing and Local Fair Trade
For a farm to be sustainable, the farm needs a steady, well-trained labor force and the products of the farm must bring a price in the marketplace that covers the cost of production, plus a living wage for the farmer, money to do repairs and maintenance, to pay for continuing education for the farm staff, and to make improvements to the farm. Many family-scale organic farmers have the best intentions, but under the day-to-day pressures of farming, do not take the time to learn all the relevant laws and regulations, and to document their well-intentioned practices. The purpose of these workshops is to provide the concrete information and documentation a farmer needs to live up to the claim of social justice.

10/8/10: Growing the Local Food System

Coming up this Friday afternoon! Groundswell's director, Joanna Green, will speak on the topic of "Growing the Local Food System" for Cornell's Sustainable Food Systems Seminar Series. She'll be talking about Groundswell's vision and what we've been doing during out first season of classes. This lecture is open to the public.

Sustainable Food Systems Seminar Series
October 8, 2010 - 12:15PM to 1:00PM

SNES 2000: The Environmental Sciences Colloquium is open to the entire Cornell community and the public. Credit option: S/U, 1 credit

Contemporary environmental issues pose complex challenges to societies that require multidisciplinary views and interdisciplinary approaches to their solution. SNES 2000 is a series of lectures on an annually changing theme central to the Environmental Sciences, which poses biophysical, economical and political challenges to modern society. Participants will become familiar with contemporary issues of environmental degradation and opportunities for their mitigation. The colloquium will provide a platform for discussion about current issues in the environmental sciences and introduce students to the complexity of information, views, and approaches. As part of the Sustainable Food Systems Seminar Series, Joanna Green from the Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming will talk about what Groundswell has been up to during their first season of classes.

LOCATION: Emerson, 135
SPEAKER: Joanna Green, Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming
TOPIC: Growing the local food system
WEBSITE: http://snes.eas.cornell.edu/
ADMISSION: Open to Public, Alumni, Students, Faculty, and Staff.
CONTACT: Suzanne, 255-1269, sw38@cornell.edu

The interactive Cornell Campus Map can be found here: http://www.cornell.edu/maps/interactive.cfm

Ithaca Crop Mob visits Meadowsweet Farm

An initiative of the Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming and the Full Plate Farm Collective, the Ithaca Crop Mob is a group of volunteers who meet monthly (and sometimes more often!) to lend a hand on local farms. Last month, we visited Meadowsweet Farm, home of the Meadowsweet Dairy, LLC. Here's a summary of what we did (pictures and words courtesy of the Ithaca Crop Mob Google group!):

Last Saturday, a small band of crop mobbers visited Meadowsweet Farm, a raw milk dairy in Lodi, NY. Though the Smith family- Barb, Steve, and their children- once sold raw milk to customers directly, Meadowsweet currently operates as an LLC (Limited Liability Company), in which LLC members own the cow herd and the Smith family manages the herd and distributes the milk products to members. The Smiths have been deeply involved in the litigation surrounding the sale of raw milk in New York State, and shared with us some insights and education on this breezy September morning. Read more...

To learn more about the Ithaca Crop Mob or to get involved, visit our Google Group!

Gardens 4 Humanity

The Food Movement, Rising | The New York Review of Books

The Food Movement, Rising | The New York Review of Books
A new essay by Michael Pollan argues that, more than any other social movement, the movement away from industrial agriculture towards more sustainable, smaller-scale, regionalized farming/food systems is bringing together diverse interest groups and creating the possibility of a widespread political and cultural shift.

Cultivating a sustainable local food system

By Joanna Green

Published in Tompkins Weekly

Let’s say you’re a young adult – or maybe a not so young adult – and you’re interested in learning about small-scale farming as a potential livelihood. Where can you go to find out what farming is all about and get the training you need to farm successfully?

Or let’s say you’re an individual or small business owner who just wants to play a role in building a strong, sustainable local food system in our community. How can you plug in and support the next generation of farmers and local foods businesses?