- Author: Rose Hayden-Smith
The 2008 Farm Bill provided more support for local and regional agriculture. In 2009, under the leadership of deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan, the USDA launched its Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative, with an eye towards doing just that. The list of initiative goals is lengthy, but include promoting, locally and regionally produced and processed foods; expanding access to affordable and fresh food; and demonstrating the explicit connections between food, agriculture, communities and the environment.
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food is a USDA-wide effort. It is not a new department, but rather, an effort that seeks to more effectively connect existing USDA departments and work to strengthen local...
- Author: Pam Devine
We all know that eating dark leafy greens is good for us, right? So that’s why for lunch lately I’ve been on a health kick to eat a big bowl of dark leafy greens topped with a lean protein source. I have, however, been subject to some good-natured ribbing around my office regarding my lunch selections. So I decided to research my lunch ingredients, and why I, as well as my inquisitive co-workers, already know it’s something of a power lunch, in the most nutritious of ways. First, the base of my lunch: a mix dark leafy greens (today it’s spinach, baby bok choy, and red and green chard).
The USDA describes the following general health benefits by eating your...
- Author: Brenda Dawson
Ever tasted a cherimoya?
Upon first taste, many Californians often argue whether cherimoya tastes like a combination of pear, banana, lemon or other familiar fruits. But Isabel Barkman, UC Master Gardener who grew up eating the subtropical fruit in her native Chile, says that’s not quite right.
“I say it tastes like heaven. The cherimoya tastes like cherimoya. It’s creamy. It’s incredible. Nothing tastes like it,” she said.
On Saturday, she helped organize a tasting of 15 varieties of cherimoya at the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center. About 120 local residents, UC Master Gardeners and members of California Rare Fruit Growers attended. Though “heaven” wasn’t an option, participants were given a scale...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Nopales, which can add interest to any landscape and, when harvested, a green-bean flavor to many dishes, are easy to propagate and grow in most parts of California, says UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Richard Molinar.
Molinar has produced a sampling of spineless and spined varieties of the cactus plant at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center specialty crops demonstration field. Late winter, he said, is an ideal time to plan for planting nopales when the soil warms and the threat of freeze passes.
Nopales may be started from seed, however, growth from seed is slow. Propagation from pads...
- Author: Diane Nelson
While working in Tanzania on community development projects several years ago, Iago Lowe came to a life-changing conclusion:
Food security is central to projects that make a lasting difference in people's well-being. It ensures that communities have the seeds, soil, water and environment to produce enough to eat.
However, his bachelor's degree in physics and religion from Dartmouth College did not adequately prepare him to spearhead those kinds of projects.
To address that gap in his ability to "make some small difference in the world," Lowe started doctoral studies at UC Davis in 2007 in plant breeding and genetics.
"There are so many needs in developing nations — for schools, roads, water, other...
