By Micheal Pollan 

Dear Mr. President elect,

It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food. Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration — the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda. But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close. What this means is that you, like so many other leaders through history, will find yourself confronting the fact — so easy to overlook these past few years — that the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention. Click Here to read

THIS town’s granite companies shut down years ago and even the rowdy bars and porno theater that once inspired the nickname “Little Chicago” have gone. Facing a Main Street dotted with vacant stores, residents of this hardscrabble community of 3,000 are reaching into its past to secure its future, betting on farming to make Hardwick the town that was saved by food. read more • add new comment

“Home grown” by Bill Berry is about the difference between the
farmers market in Stevens Point and the financial markets in New
York.
"Financial markets have no conscience, but people are not financial markets."
Click here to

The Italian government banned the use of several neonicotinoid pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The Ministero del Lavoro della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali issued an immediate suspension of the seed treatment products clothianidin, imidacloprid, fipronil and thiamethoxam used in rapeseed oil, sunflowers and sweetcorn. The Italian government will start a monitoring program to further investigate the reasons of recent bee deaths. Click here for Story

Stoney Acres is featured in this WAOW TV 9 segment as part of the Marathon County Public Library's promotion of the "all county read" Hoot! We presented on Eating locally and organically in reference to Hoot's environmental theme. Schultz says, "Buying locally supports our community so it keeps money in the community.  If you spend a dollar on our farm, we're going to spend that at other local businesses and recycle that money in the community." Click here for story and video

Hot Commodities, Stuffed Markets, and Empty Bellies

What's behind higher food prices?

By Ben Collins

"The current commodities boom could be a sign of looming agricultural scarcity, or it may prove to be a short-lived speculative bubble that will deflate over the next few months or years. But regardless of where agricultural commodity prices are headed, the boom has already begun to transform how food is financed, grown, and sold, and may dramatically change how people around the world eat (or don't)."

If the land is to be used well, the people who use it must know it well,…must have the time to use it well, and must be able to afford to use it well… Farmers must tend farms that they know and love, farms small enough to know and love, using tools and methods they know and love, in the company of neighbors they know and love.” – Wendell Berry

Getting closer to the food we eat: Part I—What does 'Farm Fresh' really mean? Ruth Sproull , Manager, NewsoftheNorth.Net  Published 06/29/2008 - 6:55 p.m. CST