Sustainable agriculture resources. You may also find more information of food related topics here

Missouri Farmers Union

Financing Ozarks Rural Growth & Economy (FORGE)

Missouri Organic Association

By supporting local, small family-operated farms, you become part of the solution to global food contamination, industrial agriculture and runaway energy and transportation costs. The food doesn't take two weeks to leave the field and arrive on your table, so nutrition is preserved. Locally grown food, much of it organic or naturally grown without petrochemical pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics or modified genes can be found in various communities in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks.

Few people today know the delight of gathering wild mushrooms, greens, tubers, rhizomes, flowers, stems, buds, seeds, and acorns or other nuts for their own sustenance.

Michael Pollan: Eating Is a Political Act

By Mark Eisen, The Progressive. Posted November 8, 2008.

Michael Pollan discusses food production, consumer choices, the future of organics and climate change.

Most or all of us know by now that agriculture, including backyard gardening, is greatly assisted by the pollinating efforts of honeybees and other pollinators. It has been said that Albert Einstein once stated something like, "if honeybees become extinct, civilization will follow within four years". Note he did not say "humans" will disappear--just civilization.

Aug. 11, 2008
Eating less, eating local and eating better could slash U.S. energy use, CU study finds
By Susan Lang

How much energy we use to produce food could be cut in half if Americans ate less and ate local foods, wolfed down less meat, dairy and junk food, and used more traditional farming methods, says a new Cornell study.

Register now for the Surviving Climate Change roundtable in St. Louis. Only $4 – but it goes up after May 15! Please send the information to anyone you know who might be interested.

*Surviving Climate Change: Producing Less and Enjoying it More*

The effects of climate change, peak oil and toxic production are here. We know it every time we see news of weather disasters and disappearing species. We feel it every time we buy gas. We hear it every time a child uses an asthma inhaler.

Several large dairy producers and food companies have made news recently by getting rid of recombinant bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH or rBST, from their milk supply. This is great news for consumers, since this genetically engineered growth hormone is known to cause harm to cows and may pose health risks to humans. But in Missouri, things appear to be going backwards. SB 1279 is in the Missouri Senate and would restrict dairy labeling telling you whether your dairy was produced without the artificial hormone rBGH / rBST.

Penny Frazier sent this excellent Vanity Fair Article to me and it is really too lengthy to display here, but please go to this website and read the article:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805

Resource for producers

Farm To Family Naturally will be finalizing their deal on the purchase of Sappington Farmers Market in the next couple of weeks. This purchase has been delayed but the progress on sourcing and supplying the store with locally produced items has moved into high gear.