Farmed Salmon and Sea Lice: What’s Killing Wild Pink Salmon?

Every fall, when kids go back to school, epidemics of lice skyrocket. It’s simply a case of more bodies in one place at one time; where the little critters can spread from one kid to another. And, every year when wild juvenile salmon migrate from freshwater lakes and rivers to the open ocean, the same phenomenon seems to occur when they come into fairly close range of farmed salmon. Sea lice are not at all related to the dry-land versions, but they can be just as aggravating. Unfortunately for the salmon, they can cause severe damage to both wild and farmed populations.

When Immigrant Workers are Americans – in Mexico

Strange that will all the talk about urban agriculture, city farming, and the move to “grow our own,” Americans don’t consider “farm worker” jobs as an alternative to unemployment. The December 2010 “nonfarm” unemployment rates were 12.4% in California and 12% in Florida, two top agricultural states. States where there are plenty of farm worker jobs.

Sustainable, Healthy, and Safe Food Systems: How We Get There

It has been obvious from the beginning that farmers and food professionals of all kinds are committed to providing the safest food possible and limiting the “unintended consequences” that such a law could bring with it. Food safety is just part of good – and sustainable – agricultural practices; the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) recently published Sixteen Food Safety Tenets for Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems.

The County Fair Comes to the City – Seattle Tilth’s Harvest Fair

An old-fashioned county fair gathered farmers, their families, and hundreds of “city folk” to meet and connect over good food. Barns full of prize-winning livestock; exhibits of garden produce, baked goods and preserves; and lots of music and excitement helped build a sense of community. Seattle Tilth’s annual Harvest Fair is an urban version, but all of the components are there!

The Problem of Pesticides: They Get Into Places They Don’t Belong

Rachel Carson warned us of the dangers of pesticides in Silent Spring. And it took years for poisons like DDT to be outlawed. However, we’re still dumping millions of pounds of pesticides on farms every year. All these millions of pounds are getting into places where they don’t belong. Onto crops in fields near those sprayed and into the bodies of farm workers, their children, and those families living near large scale agriculture.