FALL CONFERENCE 2004 ON SUSTAINABILITY ...CD
AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST - PLEASE CLICK LWV LOGO ABOVE.
FOLLOW-UP 2013 NEWS STORIES HERE.
FALL CONFERENCE 2012:
“FROM LAND AND SEA:
Food for the Good of Connecticut”
DID YOU MISS IT? WATCH IT
NOW (SEE LINKS BELOW)
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2013 BREAKING LEGISLATIVE
NEWS HERE ON BIOFUELS
WHOA! What a beautiful black
horse - we almost forgot the conference...WATCH VIDEO HERE
Group picture taken in the beginning of President
Dunson, the three student winners, Commissioner
Reviczky, faculty advisor (in back row) and at right,
Asha Shipman, Fall Conference Committee.
A Black Stallion
(above, left)
Skies were darkening as the Fall Conference began,
the crowd came pouring in...
So many excellent
questions so well handled!
Moderator Kay Maxwell kept things on schedule and
fascinating, as you can tell in picture at the
right...LWVCT ran out of programs (bigger crowd than
anticipated);
We mentioned Lachat
to the Commissioner and he suggested hydroponic
farming!
Opening speaker was the CT Commissioner of
Agriculture Steven Reviczky...who later discussed
farming in Connecticut in terms of family-sized
farms. Recent news here.
Diabetes and other
health problems related to diet
Yale's Dr. David Katz related some not very
encouraging things about the lack of success in
solving of food-health problems short of true
relearning of eating habits.
Public-private
efforts
A presentation by John Turenne on real sustainability - how can
we make it make dollars as well as "sense" - he was interested
in all aspects of this LWVCT program!
Legislative
advocate
Ending hunger was the subject for the final speaker, Lucy
Nolan. D-Snap and other food-stamp-like programs can do a
good job. Along with school lunch standards.
In
closing...
And then LWVCT President Cheryl Dunson introduced Asha Shipman
to award the League's prize award to some very tall members of
Trumbull High School's Ag team, who are entered in a statewide
contest to put Connecticut on the map (as it should be) as an
agricultural state full of small family farms (not "Agri
Business").
Our
future.
And things were actually brighter outside at the end - we
thought we almost saw the sun!
LINK
TO
STORY IN FORUM
“FROM LAND AND SEA:
Food for the Good of Connecticut”
Could
Weston
be more interested in a topic than this one? We think
not! And to add to the excitement, President of the
LWVCT attended Annual Meeting May 11, 2012 and made the
following announcement - President
Dunson
reminded us of the upcoming October 27, 2012 Fall Conference
entitled: “From Land and Sea: Food for the Good of
Connecticut” - to be held at the Trumbull Agriculture High School.
LACHAT NEWS:
Latest news: Selectmen interviewing for membership in a
new Select Committee - one that will include ex-officio
members from related public agencies.
With the final agreement on being able to use the Juliana
Lachat Preserve for something other than the Lachat
Nature/Education Center - which the ATBM quashed some
years ago (beating P&Z to the punch), this magnificent
"gateway" to the Nature Conservancy has gone to seed.
The
rebirth of interest in 2010 began when the Board of
Selectmen posted yellow tape around the main structure
(declaring it a hazard) - which seemed to inspire those in the
community interested in historic preservation to raise funds
to keep the main structure from being "razed."
After Special Town Meetings in 2011 and 2012, long term leases
were exchanged between the partners - Town of Weston and the
Nature Conservancy - and so the search is on for an acceptable
public use for the land and barns! A new "Gateway" to
the Nature Conservancy and a gateway to nature and things
rural!!!
UNOFFICIAL READING SUGGESTION:
PREPARE FOR 2012 FALL CONFERENCE HERE:
A tradition in Weston
FARMING
ANYONE?
In Weston, come to Norfield Grange for the Winter Farmer's Market,
"coffee house" mornings to discuss community, farming and Weston
historic Grange history! SOURCES:
More farms are doing
business in Connecticut
By Kelly
Catalfamo Day Staff Writer
Article
published Mar 31, 2014
Kerry
Taylor, 38, and her husband, Max, 27, decided three years ago to
leave western Massachusetts and start their own farm in
Connecticut, braving the state's notoriously rocky soil because it
brought with it the opportunity for more independence and less
competition.
"It's super
rocky, it's awful," said Taylor, but "you just learn how to weld
and fix equipment."
The Taylors'
move to Salem made them part of a statistic recently publicized by
the governor: a preliminary report of the federal census of
agriculture shows that the number of farms in Connecticut has
increased by 22 percent in the past five years. The full report
will be available in May.
The 2012
Census of Agriculture, which documents a national decline in
farmland, shows that Connecticut boasts the highest farming
increase in New England. The average size of a farm, however,
decreased from 83 to 73 acres, and the average market value of
agricultural products sold decreased by almost 18 percent (from
$112,195 per farm to $92,120).
The state
Department of Agriculture confirmed that farming seems to be
becoming more popular but also noted the trend may be somewhat
exaggerated.
Department
of Agriculture Chief of Staff George Krivda said the last five
years have been an exciting time for agriculture in the
Connecticut, but he doesn't want to draw hard and fast conclusions
from the census numbers.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at THE DAY (New London, CT) website]
State's farmers feel left out of big clean energy programs
Jan
Ellen Spiegel, CT MIRROR
February 18,
2013
Woodstock --
Paul Miller has two words for the watery cow manure being pumped
from catch basins under his barns into a large tanker truck -- and
those words, surprisingly, are not "that stinks!"
The words
are: "liquid gold."
For the
record, the manure does stink, and by all accounts would be even
worse if the temperature wasn't in the low teens this frigid
morning. But stinky or not, the manure, which each of Miller's
1,600 cows produces to the tune of 100 pounds a day, does indeed
have the potential to be liquid gold as a way to pay his farm's
$150,000-a-year electric bill.
And then
some.
The problem
for Miller, whose Fairvue Farms in the state's northeast corner is
one of the dairies in the Farmer's Cow cooperative, is that state
laws and regulations don't make the economics of his
manure-to-electricity plan work.
What Miller
wants to do is install an anaerobic digester. This would
essentially decompose the manure, and/or other organic waste such
as food, in a closed container that largely eliminates the nasty
odor that comes from two gases the manure releases, ammonia and
methane.
The digester
turns the gases into electricity and heat. What remains in the
digester is a non-smelly residue that can be used for fertilizer.
Miller currently uses his manure for fertilizer, though in a much
more malodorous form.
The
anaerobic digester Miller has been trying to put in place for the
better part of 10 years would make 20 to 40 times the 50 kilowatts
of electricity he needs.
"We would
like the possibility of doing a community digester where
neighboring farms would bring the manure in, digest it, and then
in turn we would bring the manure back to them and spread it on
their fields," he said.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CT MIRROR website]
Blizzard delivers crushing blow to
Connecticut agriculture
Jan Ellen Spiegel, CT MIRROR
February 13, 2013
Patti Popp of Sport Hill Farm in Easton was at least managing to
laugh a bit as she described the collapsed hoop house.
"It's mess," she said. "I went inside praying it didn't fall on
me."
Popp is among Connecticut farmers who for about the half-dozenth
time in less than three years are taking stock of major
weather-induced damage. This time hoop houses and high tunnels
like Popp's -- made from heavy duty plastic over metal ribbing
-- took the brunt of last week's blizzard.
The toll, while incomplete, is already well beyond 100
structures collapsed or seriously damaged.
"It's everywhere," said Bob Heffernan, executive director of the
Connecticut Greenhouse Growers Association. His members are
largely non-food growers and at $1.1 billion account for half
the agriculture industry in Connecticut, representing 3,000
businesses and 48,000 employees. "The issues for some of these
people are that they can't even get there yet to actually see
the damage. It's very dangerous."
But the fallout from storm damage goes beyond the structures to
the plants and the production processes to grow them. With the
local food movement entrenched in Connecticut and a number of
farmers' markets and community supported agriculture programs
running year round, indoor growing has become increasingly
popular through the winter. The structures are also used for
what's known as season extension -- the ability to add a month
or two on each end of the season by growing indoors.
"It's good for us when you're trying to make a living off of
farming," said Popp who had expected to be able to sell arugula,
mustard greens and beets at the winter Westport famers' market
from her now-destroyed 96-by-30 foot hoop house. "We want to be
able to have the revenue."
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CT MIRROR website]
Retiring Lawmaker Invites Lawsuit
Over GMOs
CTNEWSJUNKIE
by Hugh
McQuaid | Dec 12, 2012 4:57pm
Earlier this
year, a bipartisan bill that would have required a label on foods
that contain genetically modified organisms was tabled for fear it
would provoke a lawsuit. At a Wednesday rally, the bill’s
proponent, retiring Rep. Richard Roy, said “Let them sue us.”
Genetically
modified organisms, or GMOs, are crops have been genetically
engineered not to die when sprayed with herbicide. They’re
commonly used in the production of soybeans, corn, canola, and
cotton. While more than 60 countries have required that consumers
be notified that they’re purchasing food containing GMOs, the
United States has not.
If it
passed, Connecticut’s legislation would have been the first of its
kind as an attempt to regulate an area of the food industry that
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has — more or less— chosen
to ignore. The FDA argues that genetically modified food is
generally recognized as safe and therefore does not warrant a
label for consumers.
It’s a
position that some dispute. But advocates say it’s irrelevant
whether GMOs are safe for consumption because consumers deserve to
know what they are eating.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CTNEWSJUNKIE website]
Task Force Tackles
Genetically-Modified Food Labeling
CTNEWSJUNKIE
by Elizabeth Bowling | Jul 3, 2012 5:30am
A bill which
would have required growers and producers to label any genetically
modified food products sold in Connecticut passed the Environment
Committee in March by a 23-6 vote, but it never came up for a vote
in the House before the session ended in May.
Rep. Richard
Roy, D-Milford, who was one of the bill’s biggest proponents, said
the labeling provision was stripped after opponents threatened a
lawsuit and said any forced labeling provision would be
unconstitutional. Roy said public information on the food
industry is minimal because genetically modified products are
patented and because of the lack of independent testing. Many crops, such
as corn and soybeans, grown in the United States have been
modified to resist pesticides or insects. Corporations that grow
the food often patent their techniques.
“It’s
a matter of education and secrecy,” Roy said.
But some
members of the task force, headed by Rep. Philip Miller, argued
that the public has a right to know about what they consume and
will create another bill that they hope will pass next year.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CTNEWSJUNKIE website]
Weston students are fed up with the
size of school lunches
Weston
FORUM
By
Patricia Gay on November 20, 2012
“We are
hungry!”
That’s the
cry of Weston High School students who signed a petition
complaining about the size of their school lunches.
After
noticing that his burrito and other entrées were smaller than last
year, Connor Gorkin, assisted by friends Asher Lee-Tyson, Ethan
Lee-Tyson, and Kei Pritsker, circulated a petition asking the
school to increase the size of its lunches.
The boys got
more than 200 signatures from fellow students on the petition.
“Food
portion sizes have dramatically shrunk this year due to new
federal laws. For some of my friends, it takes three lunches to
get full,” Connor said.
The students
presented the petition to Andre Santelli, director of dining and
food development for Chartwells, the school district’s food
service.
Mr. Santelli
acknowledged that lunch portions are smaller than last year. He
said changes were made in accordance with the government’s new
nutrition standards — part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 — that went into effect in
2012 as a bid to combat childhood obesity and promote healthier
eating.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Weston FORUM website]
Lawmakers Resolve Differences Over GMO
Labeling
CTNEWSJUNKIE
by Hugh
McQuaid | Jun 1, 2013 8:22pm
Following
attempts by both chambers to pass their own versions of
legislation regarding the labeling of genetically modified foods,
the Senate voted unanimously Saturday to approve a compromise bill
supported by House leadership and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Advocates
have pushed throughout the session to see Connecticut enact
first-in-the-nation legislation requiring the labeling of food
containing genetically modified ingredients. But they rebuffed a
bill passed last week by the House, which scaled back considerably
legislation approved earlier by the Senate.
The
agreement passed Saturday by the Senate was endorsed by Tara
Littman-Cook of GMO [genetically modified organism] Free
Connecticut, a group which lobbied against the version of the bill
passed by the House. In a press release from Senate Democrats, she
called Saturday’s compromised legislation “historic.”
“Today’s GMO
labeling agreement is historic and Connecticut will now set the
standard for states around the country to follow,” Littman-Cook
said.
The
legislation does not require companies to label foods containing
GMOs outright, rather it requires that four other states pass
similar legislation in order to “trigger” Connecticut’s labeling
requirement. One of the states must share a border with
Connecticut and their combined population must equal at least 20
million people.
The trigger
provisions are a compromise between the original Senate bill and
the version passed by House, which would have required more states
and a higher population total as a trigger. Unlike the Senate’s
first attempt, the bill approved Saturday does not include a
“stand-alone” clause, which would have triggered Connecticut’s
requirement in a few years even if no other state had acted.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CTNEWSJUNKIE website]
Senate Backs Bill To Label Genetically Modified Foods
The
Hartford Courant
By DANIELA
ALTIMARI, altimari@courant.com
10:20 PM EDT, May 21, 2013
HARTFORD
A bill that would require food made with genetically modified
organisms to carry labels cleared the state Senate late Tuesday
night.
The Senate's
approval, on a 35-1 vote, gives new energy to a measure that had
strong grassroots backing but appeared stalled at the Capitol this
year. But its prospects in the House of Representatives are
murkier.
"I'm
concerned about our state going out on its own on this and the
potential economic disadvantage that could cause,'' House Speaker
Brendan Sharkey said. "I would like to see us be part of a compact
with some other states, which would hopefully include one of the
bigger states such as New York."
Sharkey said
he is taking a vote count to see if there is sufficient backing
for the bill in his chamber.
Even if the
bill passes the House and is signed into law by Gov. Dannel P.
Malloy, it would not take effect until at least three other states
pass similar legislation. GMO labeling legislation is pending in
more than a dozen states.
Some food
would be exempt from the labeling mandate: food served or sold in
a restaurant for immediate consumption, as well as alcoholic
beverages and farm products sold at farmer's markets, roadside
stands and pick-your-own farms.
Still,
supporters hailed the bill as a victory for consumers.
"We're not
banning anything, we're not restricting anything, we're not taxing
anything," Senate Republican leader John McKinney said at a press
conference on the Capitol steps several hours before the vote.
"We're just saying let moms and dads know what's in the food their
buying for their young kids. … That's not a lot to ask."
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Hartford COURANT website]
Farm Fresh: New Generation Of Farmers Feed A
Demand
The Hartford
Courant
BY
STEVE GRANT, Special To The Courant
August 26,
2012
Embedded in
the dense suburbs that encircle Hartford is a small farm in
Newington that could have disappeared, as so many other
Connecticut farms have in the past 50 years. But the Eddy Farm has
been re-energized by a new generation with a vision.
Haley Fox,
granddaughter of Roger Eddy, the inventor, author, legislator and
farmer who cultivated the land for decades, took over the farm
more than a year ago with her fiance, Andy Billipp.
Fox and
Billipp cultivate only three of the 60 acres so far, doing almost
everything themselves. They grow a variety of about 50 vegetables,
without herbicides or pesticides, and raise free-range chickens
and heritage pigs, the old fashioned, flavorful pig breeds ignored
by factory farms.
Farming is
in the midst of a renaissance in Connecticut. And Fox and Billipp
are emblematic of the bounding new energy in Connecticut
agriculture as farmers seize the opportunity to meet growing
public demand for fresh, safe and locally produced vegetables,
fruits, meats and poultry.
In all
likelihood, agriculture in Connecticut — and some say the country
— is more exciting, more dynamic than at any time in recent
decades, if not a century or more.
"What I see
is a very exciting trend where you have folks across the board in
Connecticut agriculture striving to meet that demand" for fresh,
locally grown foods, said state agriculture commissioner Steven K.
Reviczky. "It is an upward spiral. As consumers are voting with
their dollars, farmers increasingly are seeing an opportunity."
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Hartford COURANT website]
Fraud happens
at Connecticut's
farmers'
markets -- but not often
Jan
Ellen Spiegel, CT MIRROR
August 3,
2012
Rick Macsuga
has heard the allegations for years. That "jobbing" -- farmers
buying produce to sell as their own -- occurs regularly and
illegally in the farmers' market system he oversees for the
Connecticut Department of Agriculture.
"Does it
happen?" he asks semi-rhetorically. "Most likely it does happen."
But not
much, he and others agree.
"I think people
should feel pretty confident that farmers' markets are abiding by
all the rules," Macsuga insisted. "The general feeling is that
99.9 percent of the farmers are doing the right thing here."
Several
farmers, however, say otherwise, though most do so anonymously.
The truth? Well, it's a bit squishy. With the state
arguably at farmers'-market saturation --at least 130 markets
compared with 22 when Macsuga started in 1986 -- some feel there
are too many to monitor adequately with diminished resources and
an inherently problematic dynamic: how do you distinguish New
Jersey tomatoes from New Milford tomatoes in a huge pile?
Having many
markets means more competitive pressure for farmers, a situation
some think is pushing growers to take liberties in the interest of
making a living. That said, the rules for farmers' markets in
the state are less stringent than many might imagine. In fact the
vast majority of markets allow farmers to purchase produce and
resell it. Up to a point, anyway.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CT MIRROR website]
Heat wave causes harvest issues
Peter Kirby,
Westport NEWS
Updated
11:53 p.m., Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The July sun
baked residents, crops and lawns alike on Tuesday, as another day
of heat lengthened a stretch that the National Weather Service has
deemed the worst nationwide drought in the past 50 years.
On Tuesday,
temperatures reached as high as the mid-90s across the region.
This month, meanwhile, rainfall in Bridgeport has been nearly half
an inch less than the average.
And while
the Northeast hasn't been hit as hard as other parts of the
country facing drought conditions, area farmers, greenskeepers and
homeowners are all feeling the effects of the dry weather.
Fred Candee,
of Candee Farm on Morehouse Road in Easton, said that the lack of
rain would mean delays for his tomato crop.
"We don't
have irrigation, so the fertilizer we've laid hasn't reached the
roots," he said. "It's probably set them back by at least two
weeks."
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Westport NEWS website]
Bringing local food to schools: a hard nut to crack
Jan Ellen Spiegel, CT MIRROR
April 22, 2013
Deep River -- The cafeteria at John Winthrop Middle School is a
picture of healthy fresh food. On this pasta Wednesday, the
special is homemade lasagna with tomato or a vegetable-spiked meat
sauce. Gorgeous green salads with precisely cut grape tomatoes and
cucumbers are lined up for quick grabbing during blitzing-fast
lunch periods.
There are fresh strawberries, cantaloupe, pears and apples. And
there's a full salad bar and sandwich station that includes turkey
roasted in the gleaming kitchen a few feet away.
But there's one thing almost none of this food is: local.
"Right now what would be available local is apples and butternut
squash," said Thomas Peterlik, an Austrian-trained chef who took
over as food service director for Regional School District 4 --
Deep River, Essex and Chester -- two-and-a-half years ago.
That Peterlik -- a 10-year veteran of Yale's famously locally
sourced dining operation -- has yet to substantially crack that
barrier for a Connecticut public school system speaks to just how
challenging the concept of farm-to-school is here.
[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the CT MIRROR website]