Salad Bar Farms Starts Ventura School Farm
Build it and they will come. On an overcast Friday, I drive my car across the basketball courts at Balboa Middle School in Ventura. I can do this because school’s …
The Girl Who Wants to End Hunger
This story starts with a single cabbage. But it wasn’t just any cabbage, however. It was a 40-pound cabbage, grown by a 9 year old girl named Katie Stagliano. This …
“Gardening is something empowering that kids can do themselves, which shows them that they can make a difference. It gives them an opportunity to create something positive and dynamic.” Ping …
City Slicker Farms Empowers Community
“The demographics of the neighborhood are shifting very dramatically. West Oakland is a hotspot for the tech industry and that has placed enormous pressure on low-income residents. They are being …
Meet UCSB’s “Soup Guys”: French-trained chefs spice creations with passion
The UC Food Observer staff recently visited the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB #gauchos) to learn more about UCSB’s efforts around sustainability and the food system. As part of a larger …
Wormfarm Institute Unites Farmers, Artists, Public
“Rural America is undergoing a period of dramatic cultural and demographic change. Such developments call for our attention and creative action. For thousands of years, farmers in cultures around the …
Treasure Valley’s Tomato Independence Project
If you happen to live in Treasure Valley – a bucolic, rather remote region of the United States that encompasses Southwestern Idaho and Eastern Oregon – the month of May …
“Commercial table egg production has gone through huge changes in the last few years – from conventional systems to enriched cages to now cage free poultry systems. The pendulum has …
Local Foods and Urban-Rural Divide
The recent resurgence in local foods is a trend that we’ve been watching closely at UC Food Observer. Over the last year, we’ve spoken with farmers, food activists, journalists, professors …
Q&A: Mary Peabody, founding director Women’s Ag Network
“I think you’ll see a lot more collaboration, perhaps childcare cooperatives for farmers. Women are confronting a lot of competing responsibilities. We work out of the house, on- and …