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When the hop fields come to town
 By Rob Hopkins – The idea is a simple one: rather than breweries in London buying their hops from wherever they can source them (sometimes as far afield as New Zealand), people across London grow hops in their back gardens, on their patios and balconies, allotments and community gardens, which are then used by local brewers.
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Arsenic found in some infant formula, cereal bars
By Shari Roan (Los Angeles Times) – Los Angeles: Worrisome levels of arsenic have been found in two infant formulas that contain organic brown rice syrup as a main ingredient, researchers reported Thursday. Arsenic was also found in some cereal bars that contain organic brown rice syrup.
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Unspinning the web of spider-goat
By Dr. Mae-Wan Ho – Within the past two years, a concerted media campaign has been launched to promote the ‘spider-goat’, a goat genetically engineered to produce spider silk proteins in its milk.
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They might be giants
 By Ray Routhier – To the casual giant pumpkin fan – those of us who gawk open-mouthed at 700-pound specimens on display at Maine fairs each fall – the appeal would seem to be simply the size. "Wow, that's a big pumpkin," folks say approvingly to each other when they see the fair's prize-winning behemoths.
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Garish, chancy, new … bring it on, Avent says
 By Tom Atwell – Opinionated people expand your horizons. You don't have to agree with their opinions, but you at least have to think about what they say, and sometimes that will open your horizons. Tony Avent, founder and owner of Plant Delights Nursery in North Carolina, loves bright and gaudy plants, loves to push the hardiness zones – the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture revision backs him up on that – and likes to bring new plants to the market.
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Grange project may be boon for area farmers
By David Robinson – Farmington: Peter Beane has a great idea for selling salad dressing, vegetarian soy burgers and other popular health food treats made from tofu. Like so many other aspiring food entrepreneurs, however, he has never been able to turn his great idea into a successful business. Beane, 57, has money to invest in the new venture but can't afford the thousands of dollars it takes to build a commercial kitchen. That's where the Farmington Grange Hall comes in.
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The Ooooby local economic model
By Pete Russell – Ooooby began in December 2008 on Waiheke Island, Auckland, as an online social network of food gardeners. An evolving project, it now also facilitates the distribution of locally grown food. Each month an Oooobyversity evening is hosted to share knowledge about food-growing and ways to enhance local production.
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Tree hay-the answer to farming’s prayers?
 Conventional farming around the world is facing a crisis. The consolidation of power in the hands of a few transnational companies, reliance on finite chemical inputs and fragility in the face of climate change have led to calls for an end to “business as usual” and an increase in innovative environmental practices.
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Obama’s budget axes bacteria testing for fruits and vegetables
By Garance Burke (AP) – San Francisco: President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would eliminate the nation’s only program that regularly tests fruits and vegetables for deadly pathogens, leaving public health officials without a crucial tool used to investigate deadly foodborne illness outbreaks.
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Organic gardens on small plots take lots of advance planning
By Denis Thoet – The ground is frozen solid. We're two months away from spring and more than three months away from the last frost date, which can be as late as the first week in June. Time to relax? No, it's time to get moving at Long Meadow Farm.
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Local in winter: an invitation
 By Twilight Greenaway – This string of dried peppers was a gift from Annabelle Lenderink, a farmer I know. When she handed them to me on one of her last days in the Berkeley Farmers Market for the season, I remember her saying, “They look really nice when the sun shines through them.”
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How to heat your chickens with compost
 By Sami Grover – We know that you can heat your shower with a compost pile. Heck, you can even cook food on compost if you want to. But here's a neat use of waste heat from the composting process – you can use it to keep your chickens warm.
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Why farms want cold winters
 By Matthew Kronsberg – Despite appearances, winter is a surprisingly important time on a farm. There’s a lot going on, biologically, below the surface, much that can influence what we see on market tables for the rest of the year. And much that can go wrong if the winter is warm, as this one has been in the Northeast.
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Corn corn everywhere – and not a drop to eat
 By Tom Laskawy – If you want to understand the state of American commodity agriculture at the moment, you need only read this recent Bloomberg article. It begins: U.S. farmers will plant the most acres in a generation this year, led by the biggest corn crop since World War II, taking advantage of the highest agricultural prices in at least four decades.
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Augusta residents could opt out of spraying
By Keith Edwards – Residents would have the option of not having the sidewalks next to their homes sprayed with chemicals if they agree to get rid of the weeds themselves. That choice is offered under a new herbicide ordinance and policy meant to control weeds on city sidewalks and other property.
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End of New England shrimp fishing season looming
 Portland – The end of the New England shrimp fishing season is looming. Regulators are expected to set a closure date for the fishery during a conference call today to review how much shrimp has been caught since the season began Jan. 2.
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Mainers are leading a push to restore family farming
By Matt Kanner – It was 20 degrees below zero when farmer Jim Gerritsen got up on the early morning of Feb. 13. Gerritson operates Wood Prairie Farm in rural Bridgewater, Maine, near the Canadian border in Aroostook County, the most sparsely populated county east of the Mississippi River. With more land than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, it’s home to only about 71,000 people.
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Organic Certification Standards In U.S. And Europe Will Soon Gain Mutual Acceptance
 Right now, the U.S. government only officially recognizes two standards for organic foods: the USDA's Organic Seal and the equivalent certificate from Canada. That's made it hard for producers of organic foods from overseas to get recognized for their sustainable practices and charge accordingly. But NPR reported today that a landmark agreement between officials in the U.S. and European Union will allow European organic certification to be marketed with impunity in the United States, and vice versa.
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Recipes so good they had to be published again
 By Avery Yale Kamila – An encounter with a camel's head in a Libyan market set Maine cookbook author and artist Jean Ann Pollard on the road to health food. As Pollard describes it, she was in an open-air market in Tripoli, where she and her husband, Peter, lived in the 1970s after they were first married. There, she witnessed a vendor cut off a camel's head, which promptly fell into a pile of manure. Next, the vendor picked up the head, sprayed it with DDT and sold it to a customer.
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Fresh ideas for Portland farmers markets
 By Kelley Bouchard – Mainers who receive federally funded food assistance will be able to use their electronic benefit cards to buy produce at certain farmers markets and farm stands in Portland and Lewiston, thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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