Berkshire Grown Newsletter
November 2013
   
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Coming soon:   
Join us at the season's most wonderful farmers' markets,  
a delicious way to support local farmers!

 

 

 

 


TAKE ACTION!

 

You can make a difference (really)  

please make a call, send a letter  - thank you! 

 
"New regulations will burden farmers and small-scale food producers - raising prices and reducing availability of good food for consumers."
More info at Massachusetts Farm Bureau 

 

 

 

Because you care about local food- please speak up!   

 

click here Thanks to National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: 

  

Stand up for your farmer, stand up for your food!

The US Food and Drug Administration has proposed new rules this year that will have a huge impact on how fresh fruits and vegetables are grown and processed in the US. 

 

This is a big deal for farmers and eaters! 

 

Everyone has a role in ensuring safe food from field to fork - but FDA's new proposed rules as written will unfairly burden family farmers, target sustainable and organic farming, and reduce the availability of fresh, local food in our communities. Right now, we have a chance to tell FDA that this is unacceptable - and we need your help to do it.

FDA's new food safety rules must:

  • Allow farmers to use sustainable farming practices, including those already allowed and encouraged by existing federal organic standards and conservation programs. 
  • Ensure that diversified and innovative farms, particularly those pioneering models for increased access to healthy, local foods, continue to grow and thrive without being stifled. 
  • Provide options that treat family farms fairly, with due process and without excessive costs.

Are you a farmer or food processor? Start here. 

Are you a concerned consumer? Start here.

    

More info at: CISA's WEBSITE 

  CISA header

 



 
November in the Berkshires!

Dean Cycon '75: Progressive Social Change in the Coffeelands-with Tasting!

Tuesday, November 12 at 4:00pm to
5:30pm

Thompson Chemistry, Wege Auditorium

Dean's Beans supports better economic opportunity, improved health, and nutrition in coffee villages. Learn about the Fair Trade model and taste special coffees.

 

Dean Cycon '75 has played a significant role in establishing Fair Trade coffee. In this lecture he will speak about his business model, current development projects, and the future of his company and coffee in general.

More at Dean's Beans 

 

 

 


 



What We're Reading
 
Creating the Broccoli Craze:

What happens if an advertising agency markets fresh fruits and vegetables the way they do processed foods?

By Michael Moss in the NY TIMES
Photo illustration from Victors & Spoils

The photo illustrations in this article were created by the advertising agency Victors & Spoils, as part of a fictitious campaign designed to increase broccoli sales in the United States. See more Broccoli vs Kale and read the article in the New York Times

 


What We're Reading
    

The Hidden Benefits of Food Stamps

From Mother Jones Magazine 

Research shows the much-maligned aid to the poor buys broad economic and public health gains. 

 

By Christopher D. Cook  an award-winning journalist who has written for Harper's, the Economist, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. He is the author of Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis. Reach him on his website .

 

 

 

 

What We're Reading
 

 Is perfect the enemy of good in the food reform world? Yes.

 

 

 

broccoli
photo by Christopher Blair 
"...Food reformers (all reformers, actually) seem to fall into two camps-the realists and the idealists-in terms of how they approach policy change. Realists see the weaknesses in new regulations but they also weigh those defects against the old regime. Idealists, on the other hand, are sometimes so attached to their laudable vision of a perfect world that agreeing to anything less is viewed as a defeat..."

 

 Read more

 

Volunteer Opportunities

veggies against red
Interested in volunteering at one of  
Berkshire Grown's Holiday Farmers' Markets?   
Please e-mail barbara (at) berkshiregrown (dot) org.  Thanks!

+ If you can loan or donate an iPad for us to use at the farmers' markets let us know. 



Berkshire Grown's 2013 Buyer's Guide to Locally Grown Food, Flowers and Plants is out!  
 

2013 Farm Guide color  
Woven Roots Farm, Lee, MA               photo by Jonathan Hankin

Find your way to farmers' markets, local farms and farm stands. Look for a copy wherever you find brochures and flyers around the county.
 
You can also browse listings of Berkshire Grown members on Map-o-licious..

The Buyer's Guide is distributed free throughout the Berkshires at more than three dozen locations. Many thanks for support from our members and the 

 

vegies slim vertical
In the area?

Check out Berkshire Grown's
Massachusetts grown... and
fresher!


______________________________________________________
Stay In touch!  
BG logo Berkshire Grown's e-newsletter comes out monthly.  Please send information to barbara@berkshiregrown.org, thanks!  Join Berkshire Grown here.

    Barbara Zheutlin, Director  
Sheryl Lechner, Outreach Coordinator
Suzie Fowle, Program Associate 
413-528-0041



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