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Big agriculture is big business; too big, too distant, too reliant on the latest technology, and too focused on profit over good food. Expecting complex technology and genetic engineering to solve the problems of climate change, extreme weather patterns, water shortages, and dwindling supplies of fossil fuels, is not the answer. It is time to go back to the land, to restore our natural resource base and re-invest in our people. 
Walk into any of the nine PCC Natural Markets in Puget Sound and it’s clear your not in your parents’ (or grandparents, if you’re young enough) food co-op! No more cozy slightly run-down food markets with barrels of flour and bags of rice on the floor, around which barefoot children played tag while their parents debated politics and planned social actions against “the establishment.” Today, the PCC (as it’s fondly referred to here in Seattle) is every bit the contemporary supermarket. So what is so special about the nation’s largest natural food co-operative? 
Ina Denburg, our Healthy Eating contributor, joined farmers, food justice activists, community gardeners, and others for a “re-localized” food system in a rally organized by Food Democracy Now and the OWS food justice committee. 
Washington apple growers are in trouble! It was a late spring, a cool summer, a long damp fall, and the apple trees are covered with ripe fruit. Unfortunately, it’s late October and cold, wet weather is just around the corner. If those apples don’t get picked soon they’ll rot on the tree. 
We offer the following interview with Devon Peña to highlight issues that are facing farmers across the US as well as around the world. Challenges like farm worker shortages – is it an immigration issue or worker welfare issue? Or corporate control by Big Ag, Big Food, and Big Org (as in organics)? Or commodity speculation by the world’s stock markets which is driving the cost of basic food stuffs beyond the reach of millions? Or factory farming that have mastered the “art” of growing and killing animals faster and on a larger scale than ever before? We’ll bring you information on all those issues this week, and we start with a “food commons.” 
New research shows a link between use of two pesticides, rotenone and paraquat, and Parkinson’s disease. People who used either pesticide developed Parkinson’s disease approximately 2.5 times more often than non-users. The study was a collaborative effort conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center in Sunnyvale, Calif. 
In winter and early spring, while most of our regional farms lie dormant, grocery store produce sections remain well stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables. Much of this vast selection comes from Mexico. How did these fruits and vegetables arrive here? If Mexican produce is labeled organic, how do we know that it is reliably organic? 
There is a long list of people asking the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), “What part of ‘NO’ don’t you understand?” So why has the California DPR approved the use of methyl iodide in strawberry fields? 
Alvarez Organic Farms is not your ordinary Yakima valley vegetable farm! After realizing that he couldn’t compete in the market for the usual assortment of vegetables, Hilario Alvarez took steps that showed he was an intuitive marketing genius. Find out how he did it. 
All those Americans who are talking about farming – whether buying from farmers markets, becoming members of CSAs, or building urban farms – aren’t ready to actually work on a farm. Not at current farm wages. Not even if they don’t have a job. |
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