Not glamorous, perhaps, but extremely important

Here is a great example of the difference simple improvements in small scale sustainable agriculture can make. It's also a wonderful story of selective seed saving, and how it can make a difference in a few generations locally, without benefit of a research lab and expensive technologies.
https://closeup.oxfamamerica.org/stories/seeds-success

This link came in an Oxfam newsletter.

Meanwhile, I've used a chunk of time this weekend to catch up with following many links on food waste, a current topic of great interest here in Sonoma County. I plan to post some of them with notes and/or reflections during Advent.

What did you do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? How do you plan to prevent or repurpose holiday excess this Advent and Christmas?

Bits of good news

In case you missed them

SCHOOL MEALS

"BATTLE CREEK, MICH. – A new national survey commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) shows that people in the United States overwhelmingly support current efforts to keep school meals healthy. Among the key findings:

• 86 percent support today’s school nutrition standards, which are helping more than 31 million kids get their daily nutrition through healthy school meals;
• 88 percent support government-funded farm to school programs, which help supply school cafeterias with local, fresh produce."

In addition, those surveyed note the improvement in school lunches.

WASTE

French Supermarkets have a year to contract with charities to recover their food waste.

But - the BBC cites stats from the French Ministry of Ecology:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33907737?ocid=socialflow_twitter

67% is wasted by consumers themselves, and another 15% by restaurants, while shops and distributors waste 11% of the total.  

Apparently we in the USA are not alone in our wasteful household ways. And here I thought the French were different.

HUNGER

Food hardship rates are down nationally and in many states, overall the lowest they have been since this data collection effort began in 2008. http://frac.org/pdf/food-hardship-rate-by-state-first-half-2015.pdf

FOOD PRICES

Earlier this week a friend posted on Facebook this stat: egg prices here are up. $3.61 versus $1.45 per dozen a year ago. I pointed out that less than $4 per 1 1/2 pounds of animal protein is still reasonable. The bird flu epidemic in the midwest combined with drought caused higher prices for chicken feed (it's not chicken feed anymore!) and the effects of Prop 2 (anti-CAFOs) have combined in this effect. Personally, I think the chickens are happier, and so am I to be paying what seems like a fair price for their labors. You go girls! 

(Actually, I buy from a neighbor, or Clover organic, so pay a little more.) 

For some time I've had on my list of concerns the post harvest waste in the 2/3 world. Seems like our food waste here in the U.S. is concentrated in the retail and consumer sectors, while so much waste in the developing world is because of poor storage and refrigeration of harvested crops. So I was very interested when a Worldwatch video led me to Compatible Technologies International http://www.compatibletechnology.org/ . I was even more interested when I read about their many projects, and saw that two of their corporate sponsors are Cargill and Monsanto. Compatible Technologies do seem to be compatible with the resources and cultures where they are placed - so that they can be used effectively and maintained easily.

I wonder if anyone reading this blog has some insider knowledge about CTI? It seems the kind of organization worth supporting.