Fields of Learning: The Student Farm Movement in North America

Where will the next generation of farmers come from? What will their farms look like? Fields of Learning: The Student Farm Movement in North America provides a concrete set of answers to these urgent questions, describing how, at a wide range of colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, students, faculty, and staff have joined together to establish on-campus farms as outdoor laboratories for agricultural and cultural education. From one-acre gardens to five-hundred-acre crop and livestock farms, student farms foster hands-on food-system literacy in a world where the shortcomings of input-intensive conventional agriculture have become increasingly apparent. They provide a context in which disciplinary boundaries are bridged, intellectual and manual skills are cultivated together, and abstract ideas about sustainability are put to the test.

Trader Joe's refuses to do its part.

March & Rally at Trader Joe's Corporate Headquarters
Friday, October 21st ~ 12 Noon
Monrovia, CA

Two SFA staffers are currently living and working in Southern California to mobilize folks for the
Trader Joe's action — if you live in the area or have any contacts there, please let us know!

With more than $8 billion in sales last year, Trader Joe's is an emerging leader in the US supermarket industry. The company’s rapid growth is largely based on its ethical and progressive image.

But behind that veneer lies a disregard for human rights.

For decades, farmworkers who pick tomatoes for companies like Trader Joe's have endured grinding poverty and systemic human rights abuses. Today, hope is on the horizon, but Trader Joe's refuses to do its part.

The Campaign for Fair Food led by the internationally-acclaimed, farmworker-led Coalition of Immokalee Workers has sparked an unprecedented transformation in farm labor conditions. Corporations such as Whole Foods, McDonald's, Taco Bell, and six other food industry giants have committed to a strict, farmworker-designed Code of Conduct and to increasing wages by paying a premium for their tomatoes.

But Trader Joe’s has refused to seize this opportunity to be a part of the solution, responding instead to the just demands of farmworkers and consumers with slick public relations stunts – hardly the behavior one would expect from one of the “most ethical companies” in the US.

Join the movement for Fair Food!

Join Florida tomato pickers and their student, faith and community allies in a mile-long march from a Monrovia Trader Joe's store to their corporate headquarters. Participants will gather outside of Trader Joe's at 604 W. Huntington Dr. on Friday, October 21 at noon, then march east on Hungtington Ave. to the company offices on 800 S. Shamrock Ave. There, farmworkers will lead a creative action calling on Trader Joe's to support human rights for the men and women who harvest the tomatoes sold in its stores.

For info. about the march and rally, including carpools or vans from your area, contact info@justharvestusa.org or 510-725-8752

Occupy Wall Street

<iframe frameborder="0" height="410px" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/610964639/occupy-wall-street-media/widget/video.html" width="480px"></iframe>

700 Arrested on Brooklyn Bridge as Occupy Wall Street Enters Third Week, Protests Grows Nationwide

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.democracynow.org/embed_show_v2/300/2011/10/3/story/700_arrested_on_brooklyn_bridge_as"></script>

Keep Pesticide-Ridden Corn Off Your Dinner Plate

Surveys over the past decade have consistently shown that Americans don’t want to eat genetically engineered (GE or GMO) food. Despite the overwhelming opposition to this risky new food technology, the biotech giant Monsanto continues to impose its unlabeled GMO’s onto our dinner plates.
The latest: Monsanto’s new GMO corn, intended for the frozen and/or canned corn market. This experimental corn will not be labeled, so consumers cannot know when they may be eating a GMO food that contains a toxic pesticide in every bite. Monsanto’s corn is a new GMO variety that has been genetically modified for three different traits, to resist two different insects and to withstand heavy spraying with Monsanto's toxic Roundup herbicide. Because there are already untested varieties of other insect-resistant and Roundup-Ready varieties on the market, federal regulators are not requiring ANY approval process—which means NO public comment on its introduction into our food supply.
CFS has teamed up with the Center for Environmental Health to urge major companies that make frozen and/or canned corn to take action to avoid Monsanto’s new crop. We need tell Del Monte, Bird’s Eye and other major food makers to reject this new GMO corn. General Mills (Green Giant, Cascadian Farms) and Trader Joe’s have already indicated that they will not use Monsanto’s new GMO sweet corn in their products—so can the other top companies!

Juniata's First Potato Harvest

Seeding the Future: Cultivating the College Farm Conference

Join us as we head to Dickonson College for the "Seeding the Future Conference" on beginning, improving, and utilizing farms and gardens on college campus. From creating compost to developing new courses, learn how to cultivate opportunities for local, sustainable food integration across your curriculum, campus and community. Includes skills workshops and tours at the Dickinson College Farm, presentations, discussions and exhibits that feature faculty, students, farmers and staff from many different colleges that are using farms and gardens in their education programs.
The conference goes from October 14-15.  We will have vans leaving juniata on both days; students should feel free to come and go as is confient througout the conference. There is also an option to camp at the Dickonson farm with other students (there is a hoedown involved in this option). Regestration is $65, please contact for possible scholarships.
For more information see link bellow or contact Jarosmk08@juniata.edu
http://blogs.dickinson.edu/seedingthefuture/