In these hard economic times, everyone's feeling the pinch. Some farmers have started downsizing to miniature cows.
posted by grapefruitmoon on May 25, 2009 - 35 comments

A Farm For The Future. Wildlife filmmaker Rebecca Hosking, previously in the public eye campaigning for the banning of plastic bags in the UK, is moving back to the family farm to take over from her father. This "deeply hopeful but realistic film" describes her investigation of the steps she could take to change it from a traditional beef pasture farm to a truly sustainable permaculture environment. [more inside]
posted by Happy Dave on Mar 28, 2009 - 23 comments

Cheap Corn Makes Your Life Short
posted by thisisdrew on Apr 20, 2008 - 41 comments

"It's ethnic cleansing happening." Fully ten days after elections that most are speculating were indeed won by the opposition party (Movement for Democratic Change), Robert Mugabe still clings to power in Zimbabwe. The voting results have still not been released, and 5 election officials have been arrested, "accused of tampering with the vote to the detriment of Mugabe's tally." Its been a tense time for Zim, and now the violence and land seizures have started again. [more inside]
posted by allkindsoftime on Apr 9, 2008 - 67 comments

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear. "Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination."
posted by homunculus on Apr 3, 2008 - 77 comments

Trying to get unemployed youth interested in farming, Pasana O₂ boasts a slick website (Japanese only unfortunately), a vision statement, a newsletter and oh yeah, an underground farm covering one square kilometer inside a former bank vault. [Via our very own]
posted by your mildly obsessive average geek on Feb 16, 2008 - 6 comments

Twilight for Black Farms. An interesting topic at NPR. Photos. Audio. Essay.
posted by dgaicun on Feb 24, 2006 - 6 comments

This journal is intended to share my love and appreciation for the hard work farmers and their families do to create such beautiful places and beautiful food. Tana Butler visists small farms near Santa Cruz, CA, sharing her thoughts and photographs [ farms | farmers | markets | food ].
posted by 김치 on Aug 16, 2005 - 21 comments

Delightful photographs of pigs, cattle, sheep, and horses by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (Previous discussion of his aerial photography.)
posted by Wet Spot on Aug 21, 2004 - 10 comments

IN AFGHAN PROVINCE, POPPY PLANTING HAS STRONG APPEAL It isa good to be freed from the constraits of the Taliban and to engage in capitalism at the global level. Chhers for the family farmers.
posted by Postroad on Nov 10, 2003 - 14 comments

'Superweeds' signal setback for genetically modified crops.
posted by thedailygrowl on Jun 25, 2003 - 22 comments

Bet the Farm. Friday Flash Fun! Do you have what it takes to run a modern farm? This online game pits your decision making against the forces of nature and the market in a simple, clever, educational flash game. I made $9.33 an hour! Who will be MetaFilter's master farmer?
posted by putzface_dickman on Nov 8, 2002 - 29 comments

Listen to a true ready made Halloween horror story about a David vs Goliath type struggle. On her October 24th show Caroline Casey creator of the VisionaryActivism Radio show interviewed Percy Schmeiser a canola farmer from Saskatchewan Canada whose organic Canola fields were genetically contaminated with Monsanto's Round-Up Ready Canola. Schmeiser a 40 year organic canola seed saver is in the fight of his life against the powerful Monsanto corporation. This powerful interview should make you cry and provoke you to clean your pantry and refrigerator and rethink food choices like I did.
posted by thedailygrowl on Oct 31, 2002 - 17 comments

Farmland for sale. $80-100 trillion. Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow the sale of Russian farmland for the first time since the days of the czars, but would bar foreigners from buying it.. foreign companies could still purchase Russian land through subsidiaries that are majority Russian-owned.
posted by stbalbach on Jun 26, 2002 - 3 comments

US Department of Agriculture under pressure to purchase surplus crops. One solution is to use the crops in school lunches, so they are testing things like sweet potato pancakes and hamburgers with prune puree in them (which makes them healthier by replacing some of the fat).
posted by o2b on Jan 30, 2002 - 8 comments

This make sense. Farm workers are an ideal market for cells. It's weird how fast the way we relate to a technology changes. What do Mefi'ers think that cell phones meant when they first appeared and how has their meaning changed over the years?
posted by rdr on Jun 7, 2001 - 45 comments

Guardian weblog has assembled a special page with foot-and-mouth disease links, mostly (tho not completely) Eurocentric. The links include one to an elaborate backgrounder (with a few graphic photos) from thepigsite.com.
posted by jhiggy on Mar 15, 2001 - 2 comments

Enjoy what may be your last royalty-free Christmas dinner... Opinion solicitation: is either extreme right here? Is there a compromise solution that will satisfy both sides? Where do the rest of us (i.e., the food consumers) fit in to this?
posted by rushmc on Dec 24, 2000 - 5 comments

Big Business vs. the little guy. After you read the story, go check out the Website of the pig farmer. The only question I have is: Can they find a Judge who doesn't golf?
posted by da5id on May 19, 2000 - 4 comments