Winter market debuts today after vendors reap required permits
Portland Press Herald - 2/20/2010.By John Richardson – Portland: A new winter farmers market is set to open this morning after some last-minute scrambling to secure city permits and inspections. The Portland Winter Market occupies a storefront at 85 Free St., across from the Cumberland County Civic Center. Farmers and other vendors plan to sell vegetables, bread, cheese, yogurt, milk, beef, pork and fish from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday until the middle of April, when the Portland Farmers Market will return for the summer. |
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To reduce nitrogen pollution, we need new farm policies
Grist - 2/20/2010.By Stephanie Ogburn – Turlock, CA: Joey Rocha tends 2,800 cows at his Central Valley dairy. That may sound like a large herd, but in California, Rocha is a mid-sized dairy producer. Taken together, California’s dairy cows produce more than 100,000 tons of manure every day. Rocha and his fellow dairy farmers put all those cow pies to good use – as fertilizer for the fields that grow the corn that feeds their herds. It’s a perfect closed-loop system, except for one big problem: nitrogen. |
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Fertilizer overuse can acidify soil
Ethicurean - 2/19/2010.Another reason to dislike the N-word: Fertilizer overuse creates many problems, like aquatic dead zones, resource depletion and blue-baby syndrome. One impact that has been mostly out of sight is soil acidification. |
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Genetically modified pork one step closer to dinner table
Leader Post, Ottawa - 2/19/2010.By Sarah Schmidt – Ottawa: Genetically engineered pigs are one step closer to becoming meat on Canadian kitchen tables with the federal government poised to declare that they do not harm the environment. Canwest News Service has learned Environment Canada has determined that Yorkshire pigs developed at the University of Guelph are not toxic to the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. |
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