Members of the Sausser Farms coop in Ruckersville found the building abandoned when they came to pick up their shares on June 16th. Sausser Farms vacated the building without paying rent and without giving the landlord any idea it was leaving. When the Greene County Record asked Sausser why he had vacated the Ruckersville without [...]
Tagged Sausser FarmsIn addition to getting vegetables delivered from Homestead Creamery, I paid $35 for a share in Sausser Farms CSACo-op, which was supposed to result in 5lbs of vegetables a week for 24 weeks, and they were supposed to have a presence at the Salem Farmers Market. They haven’t opened at the Salem Farmers Market. Their [...]
Tagged Sausser FarmsThis week we received 2 vegetable boxes from Homestead Creamery. It’s the first week we’ve received 2, and it’s the first week that I’ve received any tomatoes, herbs, egg plant, and non-pickling cucumbers. The only other items we’ve received so far this season are cabbage, carrots, one mess of wax beans, one beet, and lots [...]
Tagged Sausser FarmsPast American recessions call to mind images of poor farmers forced off their land by heartless bankers. But this time, instead of “Grapes of Wrath” migrations or Farm Aid concerts, farmers around Chicago are buying back the land — at rock-bottom prices — from shell-shocked banks. This may become more common as farmland in exurban [...]
After an outbreak of the bird flu, most carcasses end up in landfills. There, according to a new study, the virus can survive for up to two years. Landfills are designed to contain waste for far longer than that, so the practice is probably safe. Still, the new study suggests that waste managers might want [...]
Since January, cows at 15 farms across Vermont have had their grain feed adjusted to include more plants like alfalfa and flaxseed — substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat. As of the last reading in mid-May, the methane output of one herd had [...]
In 1973, when Secretariat, a stallion born and raised in Caroline County, Va., won the Triple Crown, the state was a regular contender in the nation’s highest-profile races. Virginia has been famous as a producer of great horses since before the Civil War. But this month, not one Virginia horse ran in the Kentucky Derby; [...]
Not only is there less farmland in Virginia than ever before, but it’s disappearing at a faster rate than ever before. A Census of Agriculture report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that Virginia lost 521,000 acres of farmland from 2002 to 2007, the largest decline in the past 20 years. That’s more than [...]
A community garden in Madison County is bringing people together and giving the local economy a jumpstart at the same time. The garden, located along Route 29, just opened to the community a week ago. The garden is giving the people of Madison a chance to take the locally grown food movement to a whole [...]
The Charlottesville region lost nearly 8 percent of its farmland in only five years — a rate that outpaced the rest of Virginia. Statewide, Virginia lost roughly 6 percent of its farmland during the same period. Between 2002 and 2007, the total quantity of local farmland fell by 56,836 acres, according to the 2007 Census [...]
The credit crisis is spilling over into the grain industry as international buyers find themselves unable to come up with payment, forcing sellers to shoulder the losses. Before cargoes can be loaded at port, buyers typically must produce proof they are good for the money. More deals are falling through as sellers decide they don’t [...]
Small-scale farmers are experiencing growing pains as they adapt to the country’s expanding diet for locally grown foods and the exacting demands of high-volume distributors of their produce. Companies such as Sysco, Whole Foods, and Wal-Mart want things like guaranteed volumes, set prices for an entire season and the ability to trace produce back to [...]
For decades nations in the Mideast and North Africa have drained aquifers, sucked the salt from seawater and diverted the Nile to make the deserts bloom. But those projects were so costly and used so much water that it remained far more practical to import food than to produce it. Today, some countries import 90 [...]
In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of pervasive food shortages, evidence is mounting that they will be average at best. Some farmers are starting to fear disaster. American corn and soybean farmers are suffering from too much rain, while Australian wheat farmers have been plagued by drought. [...]
Huge investment funds have already poured hundreds of billions of dollars into booming financial markets for commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans. But a few big private investors are starting to make bolder and longer-term bets that the world’s need for food will greatly increase — by buying farmland, fertilizer, grain elevators and shipping equipment. [...]
As corn prices have risen with demand for ethanol in recent years, corn farmers are prospering. But others, such as hog farmers who rely on corn feed, are facing tough times, and some critics blame ethanol demand for rising food prices worldwide. Read, Listen and/or Watch (PBS)
High prices at the pump and the produce aisle have sent home gardeners into their yards with a mission: Grow-it-yourself dining. Sales of vegetable seeds, tomato transplants and fruit trees are soaring as enterprising planters grow their own food. Burpee, the nation’s largest seed company, has sold twice as many seeds this year as it [...]
Amid the tightly packed row houses of North Philadelphia, a pioneering urban farm is providing fresh local food for a community that often lacks it, and making money in the process. Greensgrow, a one-acre plot of raised beds and greenhouses on the site of a former steel-galvanizing factory, is turning a profit by selling its [...]
Scientists say they may have discovered the reason why swarms of locusts are driven to devour such huge quantities of vegetation. They suggest that locusts combine into swarms because they are frightened of being eaten by each other. Read (BBC)
Shoppers have long been willing to pay a premium for organic food. But how much is too much? Prices are rising for organic food, which typically costs 20 percent to 100 percent more than a conventional counterpart. Rising prices for organic groceries are prompting some consumers to question their devotion to food produced without pesticides, [...]