 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
The Provender Journal July-August 2010 Read the first paragraph or two of articles from the current Journal. Provender Conference Just Around the Corner Provender Conference Just Around the Corner The 34th Annual Provender Alliance Educational Conference is coming up fast! We are heading back to the Columbia River this year and will be in Hood River, Oregon. The conference will be held Thursday and Friday, October 7 and 8, with additional events on Wednesday, October 6. The conference will be returning to the Hood River Inn. Organizations and Businesses Appeal to DOJ-USDA Regarding Health of Seed Industry —from Organic Seed Alliance, www.seedalliance.org Nearly 40 organizations and seed and food companies sent the Departments of Justice and Agriculture (DOJ-USDA) a simple reminder in early June: The seed industry demonstrates some of the most troubling concentration trends in agriculture and is in need of a serious examination. Provender Conference Work Trades Available —by Melissa Minton, Provender Conference Volunteer Coordinator Are you interested in requesting work-trade for the conference this year? We would like to ask you to do so as soon as possible. We have many jobs that need to be done to ensure a happy, smooth and clean conference. We need work trade volunteers to pull off this event so we definitely need the applications. Please provide your estimated arrival and departure times so we can plan accordingly. We wouldn´t want to assign you a task that you won´t be there for. —by Vicki Reich, Provender Board President Do you support Provender? Do you like the idea of someone in your community who’s doing great things to promote healthy living being able to attend a Provender conference for free? Do you make cool stuff? “One Person Can Make a Difference” Scholarship The “One Person Can Make a Difference Scholarship” application is now available! This is the first year this scholarship, which was inspired by the life and work of Craig Winters, will be available. Applications can be downloaded from the conference page of our web site (www.provender.org/conference.htm) or by calling the Provender office at Accounting Firm to Host Seminar —from Moss Adams, www.mossadams.com Moss Adams will be holding a seminar in September. Join us as we examine the nature of workplace fraud and theft—both have been in the news lately. Learn steps you can take to both detect and prevent it. We’ll also cover damage control and recommendations for what to do if fraud does —from Oregon Organic Coalition, www.oregonorganiccoalition.org The Oregon Organic Coalition is now accepting nominations for the Awards in Excellence that will be presented at its luncheon on September 15, one of the highlights of Organically Grown in Oregon Week, which this year will be celebrated September 13 through 19. Farmer ISO Buyer Willing to Commit —by Deborah Kane When describing FoodHub, a new online directory and marketplace for regional food buyers and sellers, I often recount a conversation I had a few years back with a retail grocery buyer. This grocery buyer was frustrated. She wanted to support regional farmers but oftentimes didn’t know where to go to find suitable farm partners for her store. “Why can’t I just walk to my computer, type in the word cranberry and get a list of all the cranberry producers that might want to do business with our stores?” she wondered aloud. —from Food & Water Watch, www.foodandwaterwatch.org How many times a day do you wash your hands? What about doing dishes or brushing your teeth? Most of us do these things throughout the day. Unfortunately, many products like hand soap, toothpaste and dish soap contain a toxic chemical called triclosan. This chemical is being widely used in the U.S. despite evidence that it is a real and imminent threat to public and environmental health. Can you take action today to help ban this unnecessary Corporate Stranglehold on GE Research —fromPesticideActionNetworkUpdates, May21,2010, www.panna.org The battle for the freedom to investigate the impacts of patented gene technologies continues unabated, reports Yale e360. In spring 2009, two dozen scientists anonymously submitted comments to the EPA on an obscure docket for an industry proposal to approve genetically engineered (GE) seeds, warning that corporate influence made independent analysis of GE seeds and their effects on the environment impossible. They told the EPA —from Ecological Farming Association, www.eco-farm.org The Board of Directors of the Ecological Farming Association (EcoFarm) in Watsonville, California announced that Poppy Davis joined the organization as Executive Director in May. Poppy is a California native, returning home after three years at the USDA in Washington, D.C. where she worked on Secretary Vilsack’s“Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, Women and Working Lands, and with Native American farmers and ranchers. PCC Farmland Trust Hires New E.D. —from PCC Farmland Trust, www.pccfarmlandtrust.org PCC Farmland Trust, the only known organic farmland trust in the nation, has hired Rebecca Sadinsky as its new Executive Director. A past Executive Director of Powerful Schools and, most recently, an Associate with EnviroIssues, Ms. Sadinsky is positioned to lead the Trust into the next decade of farmland preservation. The Trust’s work focuses on Washington state, where 22,000 acres of farmland are lost every year to development. USDA Releases Local Food Systems Report —from USDA Economic Research Service, www.ers.usda.gov USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) has released a new report entitled: “Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts and Issues.” This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative —from University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, www.ucanr.org A blog providing a steady stream of current information about the creation and consumption of food has been launched by the University of California at http://ucanr.org/ food. The blog is also available in Spanish at http://ucanr.org/alimentos. ‘People’s Gardens’ Now in Every State —from USDA, www.usda.gov Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in early June that ‘People’s Gardens’ now exist in all 50 states, two U.S. territories, and three foreign countries. To date, there are over 400 ‘People’s Gardens’ across the country. This is a significant milestone in ‘The People’s Garden’ initiative since Secretary Vilsack broke ground one year ago at USDA headquarters in Washington, DC. —The Hartman Group, www.hartman-group.com About 75 percent of consumers use organic products, and one-third buy organics monthly, up from 22 percent in 2000, according to the State of the Organic Consumer 2010 by The Hartman Group.
Provender Alliance
|