Many of us don’t pay much attention to the Farm Bill. This piece of legislation that goes through the US house and senate every four to six years seems to concern farmers, not the general public. When the general public thinks about farmers, we most likely envision hardworking farm families out on their tractors or at work in their dairy barns.

That picture of the American farmer is fading quickly as huge agri-businesses take over our food production. As companies like Cargill, Tyson and Monsanto acquire more and more farmland and meat operations, the quality of our food gets worse and worse. These behemoth factory farms also degrade the soil, use large amounts of toxic chemical fertilizers and pesticides and, for the most part, treat their laborers unfairly. In fact, instances of slavery here in the US have recently been associated with some agribusinesses.

Farmers’ markets depend on smaller, local farmers to provide healthier, chemical free foods in our communities. A local campaign is asking Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, to stand up for Fair Farm Rules legislation that would protect our small farmers from being put out of business by these huge corporations. If you would like information on how to join the campaign, email OKTable1@gmail.com or call OKT at 616-570-0218.

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Between Friday at Gerald R Ford Middle School and Saturday at Garfield Park, nearly 80 folks came together for the  the Greens Cook-off & Fried Green Tomato Festival. The food was delicious! In addition to tasting the cook-off entries, the crowd got to fill up on Chef Nancy Rutledge’s green tomato cake, fried green tomatoes, green tomato chow chow, collards and more. She and her assistant, Spencer, prepared most of the dishes  as the crowd watched–and learned.

On Friday, the evening fun took off with a DJ and dancing–it was a real party atmosphere for folks of all ages.

Our “celebrity” judges included Dr. Brad Mathis, Dr. Andola Mathis, Ms. Stephanie Pierce from the Grand Rapid African American Health Institute, Ms. Penda Childrey  and City Commissioner, Elias Lumpkin.

Our winners were:

FIRST PLACE – Ms. Arlene Davis, Cabbage & Greens

SECOND PLACE – Ms. Anne Reaser, Collards

THIRD PLACE – Rosaia Woodard, Salsa Collard Greens

Honorable mention goes to Ms. Margie Butts, Curried Garden Greens; Liseia Woodard, Garlicky Green Tomato Salsa; and  Flavia De la Cruz, Beans & Rice.

The following post originally appeared on GRIID Indy News

Author, activist and feminist Vandana Shiva spoke at the recent Right 2 Know march in Washington, DC.

Shiva talks in the video below about food justice, food sovereignty, challenging Monsanto GMO foods and holding the Obama administration accountable. Shiva is the author of dozens of books on environmental justice and the corporate takeover of our food systems. She is also a co-founder of a seed saving movement in India known as Navdanya.

“. . . our food shapes every cell of our body, every bit of our organs and . . . our thinking, too. You eat bad food, you have bad thinking. You eat good food, your mind is fresh, creative, beautiful.” Vandana Shiva

Rally for Fair Farm Rules
Calder Plaza, Grand Rapids, MI
4:10 p.m. Thurs. Nov. 3

On Thursday, Food & Water Watch urges people from Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids are gathering at Grand Rapids’ Calder Plaza to ask Senator Debbie Stabenow to support the Fair Farm Rules and Michigan’s small farmers. Stabenow, the Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has so far refused to take a stand on the issue despite the fact that over the past two months, community members in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo have gathered more than 2,500 postcards urging her to support the Fair Farm Rules.

The Fair Farm Rules prevent meatpackers from giving undue preference to large factory farms, which put small independent producers at an economic disadvantage. The new rules would:

• Stop price premiums and secret preferential contracts granted to cattle and hog factory farms.
• Prevent one buyer from representing multiple meatpackers at an auction. This practice effectively eliminates competitive bidding on livestock, which hurts small-scale producers.
• Prohibit retaliation against poultry growers who speak out about abuses.
• Protects poultry growers who make expensive upgrades and investments and prevents companies from requiring growers to make expensive upgrades to their facilities if they are in working order.

Michigan consumers and the environment lose out as small and midsize farmers are pushed out of business. We are left with fewer options for grass-fed and free range meat and poultry products as well as less access to meat, milk and eggs that are free of antibiotics and artificial hormones.

In addition, factory farming takes a terrible toll on Michigan’s environment and waterways. And, it’s only humane to agree that animals farmed for our meat, milk and eggs should be allowed to live lives free of the constant pain, darkness and social isolation that is the norm on large factory farms. As small farms disappear, so will humane conditions for a growing majority of our fellow creatures.

The 2008 Farm Bill included new reforms to protect small and midsize livestock farmers, but those reforms are being blocked by a handful of large companies that dominate the meat and poultry industries.

Over the past five years, nearly 27,000 midsize independent family farms have been driven out of business nationally. Those remaining are squeezed by a market that favors big agribusinesses.

In June, Senator Stabenow hosted a public hearing on the Farm Bill in East Lansing that mostly involved Michigan based agri-business and agri-business associations. These entities and the clients they represent have been the recipient of billions in subsidies in the past 15 years as has been well documented by theEnvironmental Working Group.