Even if you are not interested in being a part of Greater Los Angeles' Urban Agriculture Committee, you can still fill out an application to be eligible to vote or nominate someone else. Deadline April 14.
Author: Cindy Cotter
Building a Local Food System in Greater Los Angeles
The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is opening a new office in Compton to support urban agriculture in the greater Los Angeles region, and they're establishing a committee to help.
Competition in the American Economy
Today President Biden signed an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. It includes the agriculture sector. He intends for the Department of Agriculture to toughen enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act by making rules that clearly identify unfair and unjust practices, reinforce the interpretation that a violation of the act doesn't … Continue reading Competition in the American Economy
CAFF Policy Priorities 2021
The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) is a California nonprofit. Their mission is: "To build sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient family farms, communities, and ecosystems." This is a slide from one of their webinars:
Public Comments to Federal Agencies
I was recently involved in my first attempt at making a public comment to a federal agency, in this case The Department of Agriculture. It was a great learning experience, though I'm sure we could do a much better job the second time around. My first lesson was that we need to allow LOTS of … Continue reading Public Comments to Federal Agencies
My Thoughts on Meat
I don't have a lot of well-formed opinions on food policy. I'm learning as I go. But I do have thoughts on meat. While I'm opposed to the way animal agriculture is usually done in the United States, I'm not against meat per se, and I'm troubled by the argument that meat, just by virtue … Continue reading My Thoughts on Meat
AB 125 Passed by Ag Committee
Today AB 125 passed the Assembly Agriculture Committee. The $3 billion agriculture bond is now awaiting hearing by the Committee on Natural Resources. There seems to be strong support for the bill. Some groups objected to the portions of the bill that deal with meat because, meat. It's a polarizing issue. And then Assemblyman Adam … Continue reading AB 125 Passed by Ag Committee
AB 125 Amended Upwards
$180 million added to bill Yesterday AB 125, a multi-billion dollar bond proposal creating an entirely new agriculture-related division in California's Public Resources Code, was amended in the Assembly's Agriculture Committee, increasing it by $180 million to a new total of $3,302,000,000. What next? Making it out of the Agriculture Committee where it was introduced … Continue reading AB 125 Amended Upwards
Countdown to Destruction
This is the first of three videos in a series by Greenpeace called Countdown to Destruction. This episode, Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?, is about the environmental danger posed by commodity agriculture. Below the video are links to the remaining two episodes. https://www.youtube.com/embed/9TSpxd0y2YA Episode 2: Can we fix our broken food system? … Continue reading Countdown to Destruction
Climate Change and Food Production
We often think about agriculture as a cause of global warming (which it is) and as a possible solution (which it can be), but it is also a victim. However you view it, our food supply should be an important part of any discussion about climate change. Anthropogenic climate change has reduced agriculture productivity by … Continue reading Climate Change and Food Production
Acorns and Alligators 