The various and numerous safety concerns of genetically modified food crops altered with foreign DNA is widespread worldwide. Those concerns are miniscule compared to the apprehension over genetically modified crops grown for drugs and vaccines or “pharming.”
Like their GMO food cousins, these GMO drug crops should not be grown until as much unbiased scientific research as possible is done on them, preferably as in these underground caverns of Controlled Pharming Ventures, known as underground pharms.

Scientists outside a grow chamber containing GMO plants grown for vaccines or medical properites in them. Photo credit: Wired

As Kristen Philipkoski writes in Wired magazine,

Researchers who want to grow genetically modified plants that contain pharmaceutical drugs are being forced underground — literally.
Environmental activists and regulatory agencies have not looked favorably upon “pharming” projects. They don’t trust that the transgenic plants, crops with foreign DNA added to their genome, won’t contaminate other crops. The result could be disastrous: Medications could make their way to people for whom the drugs were never intended. So an entrepreneur in Indiana has come up with what he thinks will satisfy regulatory agencies, if not watchdog groups. He wants to grow pharmaceutical-yielding plants in a 60-acre former limestone quarry in Marengo, Indiana.

Luis Bruno writes in Popular Science magazine,

Don’t tell anyone, but Doug Ausenbaugh has built an underground drug farm—in bucolic southern Indiana, no less. It’s cleverly cached in an old limestone mine near the hamlet of Marengo. There, carefully cultivated stalks flourish under the glare of artificial lights and the rainlike spatter of drip irrigation.
The facility, run by Ausenbaugh’s biotech startup firm, Controlled Pharming Ventures, in cooperation with researchers from Purdue University, is intended for growing pharmaceutical crops—corn, tomatoes, tobacco and other plants whose DNA has been altered to produce a vaccine or medicinal compound. Drug companies have hailed this new field, known as biopharming, as a low-cost alternative to traditional manufacturing. But environmentalists, food-industry officials and other critics have decried pharma crops—which aren’t meant to be eaten and in some cases are toxic to humans—because of the danger of contaminating food supplies.
The fears aren’t based on mere conjecture. In 2000, evidence of a genetically modified corn intended only for animal consumption showed up in Taco Bell taco shells. Aventis CropScience, the corn’s grower, quickly abandoned the product and was forced to pay $2.4 million to people who said they had suffered allergic reactions to it. Two years later, federal officials fined the biotech company ProdiGene $3 million for allowing pharma corn carrying an experimental pig vaccine to contaminate soybeans in Iowa and Nebraska. Regulations have since been tightened, and the young industry suffered a huge blow when biotech behemoth Monsanto abandoned its biopharming research in 2003. Although several plant-produced biopharmaceuticals are still under clinical evaluation, none have reached the market yet.
Going underground, Ausenbaugh says, will resolve many of the sector’s problems. The 60-acre mine in Indiana provides a formidable barrier between the grow room and the rest of the world, easing the burden of containment in several ways. It makes pesticides unnecessary (the space is free of bugs), and it reduces the threat of vandalism (the entrance is policed by armed guards).

Will everything on the planet be genetically modified in 25—50 years? I am glad I won’t be here to see it—or eat it!

As I have stated in previous posts, Corvallis (where I live) and the Willamette Valley of Oregon is a bread basket of farms producing large amounts of a wide variety of food. Just south of the Corvallis city limits is Sunset Valley Organics on the main highway going south to Eugene, Highway 99.
Organic production hasn’t always been the way Sunset Valley Organics operated. For years when one drove south to Eugene, all one would see was a commercial, non-organic corn operation. When they switched to growing blueberries they still grew them non-organically with chemicals. Over time, they noticed the quality of soil and plants on the 75-acre

Bob Wilt walks among the 75 acres of organic blueberries. Photo credit: Organic Connections

farm was diminishing. And despite the use of all the chemicals, they were still seeing an increase in the number of insects and evidence of fungal disease. Then eight years ago they switched to organic cultivation methods using compost and aerated compost tea. The soil and plants became healthier. The yields of the plants increased. The flavor of the blueberries became sweeter.
The amount of compost the farm uses is staggering as one observes when driving by the farm. On the south side of the highway are huge windrows of aging compost which they mulch the blueberries with in late summer. Click to go to the Sunset Valley Organics web site for more information about their farm. Click to read the article in Organic Connections magazine about Sunset Valley Organics.

For more videos about the Sunset Valley Organics operation

Photo credit: Seattle Urban Farm Company

Seattle Urban Farm Company hopes to create many new sites growing food in the urban metro area of Seattle. The collective farming and gardening experience of SUFC can establish a productive organic vegetable plot in a client’s urban yard. SUFC gives a thorough garden consultation, answering a clients’ questions and giving the client new ideas and advice. They also can help revitalize an ignored or overgrown garden space or help design a new garden and plan out a multi-year garden strategy.
They can install a ready-to-go vegetable garden complete with clean, healthy, soil, drip irrigation, and raised beds which will start producing food within weeks.
After an initial garden installation, SUFC will provide weekly maintenance for the vegetable garden to keep the plants vigorous and productive, organically manage pests and diseases, and by using succession and relay planting techniques, harvest a weekly supply of fresh produce for the host family.
Ashley DeForest interviews the founder of the Seattle Urban Farm Company on the UrbanFarmHub.org,

What’s the story behind starting Seattle Urban Farm Company?
I was really interested in sustainable agriculture in college and spent my summers working on farms. This turned out to be the

Photo credit: Seattle Urban Farm Company

greatest formative experience of my life. The most amazing people I met were the small family farmers who put everything into their farm. But it’s difficult and very stressful to make a living as a farmer. On such a small-scale, it’s challenging to stay in the black.
After college I found myself living in Seattle doing landscaping work, which I didn’t find especially gratifying. I thought about becoming a farmer, but it was really intimidating to lease or purchase land to start a farm and I was unsure of my ability to make a profit. It occurred to me that maybe I could grow food for people in the city and make a living from it. This was in the winter of 2006. There weren’t any models I could look to for guidance. I had no idea if there was a market for this type of work. The general mentality in the landscaping business was that no one pays for someone to tend their garden. People interested in gardening will grow food themselves–it’s the part of gardening they enjoy most.
I’m glad I didn’t listen. My early customers would often say things like, “I wondered whether there were people doing this.” These folks wanted to grow food, but didn’t know where to start. I was busy from the beginning.

Click to read the rest of the Seattle Urban Farm Company story.
The Seattle Urban Farm Company won an award at the 2010 NW Flower and Garden Show for it’s Crops For Clunkers exhibit.

An urban farm in Montreal, Quebec. Photo credit: gabemac's Flickr photostream.

For over 30 years, different urban agriculture (UA) experiments have been undertaken in Montreal (Quebec, Canada). The Community Gardening Program, managed by the City, and 6 collective gardens, managed by community organizations, are discussed in this report. These experiments have different objectives, including food security, socialization and education. Although these have changed over time, they have also differed depending on geographic location (neighborhood).
The UA initiatives in Montreal have resulted in the development of a center with a significant vegetable production and a socialization and education environment that fosters individual and collective social development in districts with a significant economically disadvantaged population. The various approaches attain the established objectives and these are multi-dimensional tools used for the social development of disadvantaged populations.
Although there is less surface area of agricultural land available in the city, and although it would be difficult to feed the entire population of a city like Montreal with the available land, a multi-approach implementation of gardening in urban environments, such as land agriculture, container gardening on balconies and roofs and a vertical integration of elements, would certainly contribute to the social development of disadvantaged neighborhoods. Although not exclusive, the data presented in the report reveal that the initiatives are socially inclusive, that is, they encourage diversity in the gardens and therefore avoid excluding or stigmatizing certain groups of people. Moreover, this diversity fosters social support.
Click to read the complete Urban Agriculture: Multi-Dimensional Tools For Social Development In Poor Neighborhoods report.

Sulfur Shelf Mushroom. Photo credit: Ken Litchfield/Oakland Tribune

Ken Litchfield writes in the Oakland Tribune,

Mushrooms make tasty and beautiful additions to your garden, building soil, and providing food, health and aesthetics.
Adding mushrooms to your garden is easy, fun and exciting to diversify your garden space to include edible, medicinal and beautiful mushrooms.
While the average person can easily be confused about how to identify all the different kinds of mushrooms they may encounter in their garden, park or woods, gardeners have an advantage if they cultivate various mushrooms as they would any other plants.
A simple way to get a handle on the mushroom kingdom is by categorizing them into their four basic culture types.
These garden-growing categories are parasitic, symbiotic, saprobic and opportunistic. Mushrooms can be propagated by spores, which are like seeds, or by the mycelial spawn, like cuttings. Remember that, like plants, you may get “weed” mushrooms coming up in your garden that you don’t want and you would need to recognize those if you find them.

Click to read the rest of the Add Mushrooms To Your Garden story.

We saw what good corporate citizens the US Supreme Court were a few weeks ago when they ruled 5-4 in favor of corporations, giving them the rights of free speech and personhood by allowing them to throw unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns and buy their own personal Congressional Representative or Senator.
Now the Supremes (Judges, not Diana Ross’ Motown musical group) are considering the case of Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, Docket No. 09-475. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case which could have an enormous effect on the future of the American food industry. This is Monsanto’s third appeal of the case, and if they win a favorable ruling from the very corporate friendly high court, a deregulated Monsanto may find itself in position to corner the markets of numerous U.S. crops, and to litigate conventional farmers into oblivion.
Doesn’t that just leave a warm and fuzzy feeling in you? Will you have to put a Monsanto logo on all gardens that you grow? Who knows, but it can and will get a lot weirder than it is already if Monsanto wins the case. A look at two of the Supreme Justices who are hearing the case, one who recused himself and one who won’t:
Stephen Breyer—Charles Breyer, the judge who ruled in the original decision of 2007 which is being appealed, is Stephen Breyer’s brother, who apparently views this as a conflict of interest and has recused himself.
Clarence Thomas—From the years 1976 – 1979, Thomas worked as an attorney for Monsanto. Thomas apparently does not see this as a conflict of interest and has not recused himself. A great example of the revolving door of corporations and government in action.
Click to read dsnodgrass views on the case on the Daily Kos.

A healthy soil food web produces lush vegetable plants. Photo credit: Southern Foodways Alliance

It was just a few short years ago that organic gardeners and growers were looked upon as freaks of nature in the gardening world. Miracle-Gro, Roundup and Peters were the norm on the shelves of garden sheds in most places. Now, those products are kept out of sight and usually shunned at the garden center. Organic is the new mantra for the 2010 gardening season as Annie Spiegelman writes on Huffington Post,

More and more home gardeners are interested in growing their own food this year. Plant nurseries and seed companies are already showing sales of vegetable seedlings and fruit trees on the rise this spring. For the most part, this is fantastic news. Bring me more garden geeks! But here’s my dilemma. Are home gardeners going to be hoodwinked into buying more chemicals to feed their crops and contaminate their entire zip codes or will they smarten up and go organic?
Garden tip of the day: If you’re going to grow food in your backyard, you must grow it organically. This means without synthetic fertilizers and chemicals pesticides. If you’re not going to grow your food organically, I’d rather you choose a different hobby. Try knitting or name-dropping. Or, how about Hacky Sack?
As a master gardener, garden author, dirt diva, mom and a relentlessly annoyed ex-New Yorker, I’m telling it to you straight up. If you’re not going organic in your backyard, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution. And, that’s lame. Gardening with chemicals is so 1960’s. That should have gone out with Beatle boots and bell-bottoms! It’s not your fault, really. Chemical companies have huge marketing budgets purposely driven to brainwash you while us organic gardeners, well . . . all we’ve got are earthworms, aged horse manure and a rickety old compost tumbler.
Fire it up!

Click to read the rest of the In A Few Short Years, Organic Has Become The Norm story.

The Talking Farm's plans are to establish a 3-acre, working farm site in Skokie. Photo credit: The Talking Farm/Peter Tracy

The urban farm movement is happening in large cities like New York, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Detroit. It is also happening in small towns like Skokie, Illinois as Mike Isaacs writes on the Skokie-Review.com,

The Skokie Park District is trying to acquire about three acres of property near Howard Street and the North Shore Channel that would be turned over to a non-profit organization for the creation of a new urban farm.
Building an urban farm in the area has been a long-time goal of Evanston-based The Talking Farm, which first believed the property it sought was in Evanston because it’s east of the North Shore Channel.
But a small strip of property east of the channel is located in Skokie and owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Once The Talking Farm representatives learned the true location of the property, it sought the village’s help.
Skokie itself could not provide much help in acquiring the property, but the Park District can. Commissioners recently voted to authorize Park District Executive Director Mark Schneiderman to try to execute a lease agreement with the MWRD so the Park District can partner with The Talking Farm on the project.

Click to read the rest of the Three Acre Urban Farm Planned For Skokie story.

Here are some comments from traditional, conventional farmers who say sustainable farming has been “co-opted” or taken over by the organic movement. Some of their points are valid (such as the packaging one) but if they are still dumping hundreds of pounds of chemicals on their soil, I am sorry, I can’t classify you as sustainable. Sustainable means (to me) building up the health of the soil food web, not using it as a foundation to grow plants with chemicals that are necessary to keep the plants alive. Better farming through chemicals is not sustainable no matter how much one green washes it.

Cindy Snyder writes in Ag Weekly,

Ask a dozen people what sustainable means and you’re likely to get at least a half dozen different answers. It doesn’t matter whether they are consumers or food producers.
That was evident at the 2010 Larry Branen Ag Summit that featured “sustainability” as its theme.
“I look around this room and see many second, third and fourth generation farmers, but we’ve lost the word ’sustainable’, ” said Doug Jones, who farmed with his father and brother in the Twin Falls area for 35 years. He is now a director in a non-profit organization called Growers for Biotechnology, Inc., dedicated to promoting research, development and acceptance of agricultural biotechnology.
Jones’ implication was that the word “sustainable” has been co-opted by the organic movement and now refers to only “green” production practices.

Click to read the rest of the What Does Sustainable Agriculture Look Like? story.

Father Nature: The Baton Rouge backyard bounty of George Atherton. Photo credit: Sam Irwin/Country Roads

George Atherton of Baton Rouge knows he should have been a truck farmer. If you met him you would see a face tanned by the sun and inscribed with the lines that are the roadmap of the life he has lived. He is sixty-seven years old. The years must manifest themselves in some manner. Still, his green eyes reveal a youthful, impish quality and his broad grin suggests satisfaction.
If you look even more closely at George’s face, you may see the furrows of a bountiful garden. The creases in his forehead are the tomatoes, his favorite vegetable. The strawberries are planted in the smile lines around his mouth. The gray flecks in his eyebrows are sprinkled with peppers, squash and melons and the crow’s feet around his eyes are populated with nectarines, peaches, apples and pears. With his easy manner and self-deprecating humor, he would have been a powerful force at the fresh market in days gone by.
A transaction between Farmer George and a city resident may have sounded like this: “How much are my tomatoes? Three for a dollar, but I tell you what. I’ll let you have seven for two-fifty to go along with this bushel of okra. Can’t have tomatoes without just-cut okra, can you? I can’t. And why don’t you call your wife and have her start boiling the water for this fresh, sweet corn on the cob?”
For reasons unknown, George once thought he wanted to be a doctor—but the bonds of matrimony made him rethink that life plan. Most of his life story can be told in fifty-nine words.

Click to read the rest of the Urban Gardening In Baton Rouge story.