The English Farm

Name: The English Farm

Location: Liberty Corner, NJ

Years: 1750- Present

Founded by: The English Family

This farm has been family owned for 8 generations. The farm includes a working farm, a farm market, and barnyard animals: cows, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits, along with bantam chickens and sheep from Harrison Brook Farm. They are open to the public from July through October selling their own eggs, seasonal vegetables including tomatoes, corn, squash, peppers to name a few, and flowers. They also sell herbs and herb plants from Harrison Brook Farm, an herb/sheep farm on Valley Road and peaches and apples from Ripple Hill Farm, an orchard on Mountain Road. Seasonal events include fall hayrides, pumpkin picking and an annual History Day.

Bernards Township recently approved the purchase of the farmland development rights under the New Jersey Farmland Preservation Program. The program helps landowners who want to continue to own and farm their land to sell the development easements to ensure the land remains in agriculture. These deed restrictions will remain in force for any future owners. Preservation of the ancestral farm has been a goal of the English family for many years and they are pleased to be the first farm approved by the Township for this program.

They have placed 81 acres of the farm into the preservation program including the barns, the farm land west of the barns and the meadow on the east side of Valley Road where their cows graze in the summer. They continue to promote their mission around agriculture, history and education and to encourage the community to enjoy the farm while the produce stand is open from July through October. Come visit the animals, enjoy the open landscape and learn more about growing vegetables, caring for animals and local farming operations.

englishfarm.org

Edible Communities Magazine

Name: Edible Communities Magazine

Location: 33 Cities in the USA, and Canada

Years: 2002- present

Founded by: Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian

The mission of Edible Communities, Inc. (ECI) is to transform the way consumers shop for, cook, eat and relate to local food. Through its printed publications, websites and events, ECI strives to connect consumers with local growers, retailers, chefs and food artisans, enabling those relationships to grow and thrive in a mutually beneficial, healthful and economically viable way. A network of 33 regional magazines that offers culinary news tailored to where they are published, placing strong emphasis on local and sustainable food practices.

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/content/images/stories/map/map.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/dining/29maga.html

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/content/

The Food Trust’s Farmers Market Program

Name: The Food Trust’s Farmers Market Program

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Years: 1992- Present

Funded by: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Food Trust strives to make healthy food available to all. Working with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers, they’eve developed a comprehensive approach that combines nutrition education and greater availability of affordable, healthy food.

The Food Trust organization began working with communities to develop lasting and stable sources of affordable foods, through farmers markets and nutritional education classes. Lack of access to healthy, affordable foods has a direct, measurable impact on our health. Research has shown that the presence of grocery stores selling fresh fruits and vegetables in a community helps people maintain a healthy weight. Through the identification of economic development resources, active public/private partnerships, rigorous research and policy advocacy, The Food Trust has successfully addressed the lack of supermarket access in Pennsylvania, New York, Louisiana, Illinois. At present, they are also laying the groundwork for similar initiatives in New Jersey and Colorado. With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we will be expanding this campaign into 8 more states across the country over the next several years.

Philadelphia has the second lowest number of supermarkets per capita of major cities in the nation. The Food Trust began its efforts to address supermarket-access issues here. Their network of farmers’ markets helps sustain regional farms and serves more than 125,000 customers in the Philadelphia region. Many of their farmers’ markets are located in neighborhoods underserved by supermarkets, grocery stores and other fresh food outlets. All of their markets accept food stamps (EBT/Access cards) and Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program vouchers and provide helpful nutrition information to ensure that fresh, local foods are available to everyone. The Food Trust continues to reach new heights of success in promoting healthy eating and food availability in urban communities and advocating for policy to promote long-term change.

http://www.thefoodtrust.org

Farm to School

Name: Farm to School

Location: 40 states in the USA

Years: 2004- Present

Founded by: The Center for Food & Justice

The National Farm to School Network supports community-based food systems, strengthen family farms, and improve student health by reducing childhood obesity. More than 30 million children eat a school lunch five days a week, 180 days a year. The Farm to School approach helps children understand where their food comes through providing local food at each of these meals. They also greatly focus on the introduction of local foods into the school curriculum. This is done through school gardens, farm tours, farmer in the classroom sessions, chefs in the classroom, culinary education, educational sessions for parents and community members, visits to farmers’ markets. from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment and their communities at large.

In 2000, the Center for Food & Justice started the four year National Farm to School Project funded by the USDA Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (The National Farm to School Program started farm to school movement across the country. It assited organizations in starting up and sustaining farm to school efforts, fundraising, and providing informational resources, education and training for stakeholders. In 2007, with support by a $2.4 million grant the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Farm to School Network was born. Consisting of eight regional agencies and national staff, this network provides free training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support for policy, media and marketing activities. Farm to School programs have spread to approximately 400 in 2004, 1,000 in 2007 and over 2,000 in 2009 spanning 40 states.

Farm to School brings healthy food from local farms to school children nationwide. The program teaches students about the path from farm to fork, and instills healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. At the same time, use of local produce in school meals and educational activities provides a new direct market for farmers in the area and mitigates environmental impacts of transporting food long distances.

"The Benefits of Farm to School:

- Strengthen children’s and communities’ knowledge about, and attitudes toward, agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment.

- Increase children’s participation in the school meals program and consumption of fruits and vegetables, thereby improving childhood nutrition, reducing hunger, and preventing obesity and obesity-related diseases.

- Benefit school food budgets, after start-up, if planning and menu choices are made consistent with seasonal availability of fresh and minimally processed whole foods.

- Support economic development across numerous sectors and promote job creation.

- Increase market opportunities for farmers, fishers, ranchers, food processors and food manufacturers.

- Decrease the distance between producers and consumers, thus promoting food security while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and reliance on oil."

http://www.farmtoschool.org

SourceMap

Name: Source Map

Location: The Internet

Contributors: The Public

See Where Stuff Comes From with SourceMap: "Imagine a future in which pointing a PDA at a product bar code returns an instant readout of product source and environmental footprint to inform the buyer's decision. This future could be reality with SourceMap. Designed as a "collective tool for transparency and sustainability," SourceMap aims to be the Wiki of visualizing supply chains."

Sourcemap’s goals are to provide visible supply chains, social and environmental sustainability, and sustain business. We have a right to know more about the products and services we buy, including where they come from and what they are made of. Sourcemap is an open source project dedicated to tracking, documenting, and mapping where all of the components for our everyday goods come from. In short, it’s a supply chain publishing platform dedicated to transparency. Believing their program will allow for industrial productionto become environmentally and socially beneficia. Unfortunately, with the resources currently available to the public, it’s nearly impossible to find out how products and services impact the earth and society. Therefore, they are developing Sourcemap so that those who are interested can make informed, sustainable decisions at home and in the workplace. Yet, their main intention is for Sourcemap to help sustain business. Built as a diagnostic and marketing tool that helps to plan for and advertise a long-term outlook. Their website states that “After all, saving energy and materials saves money, and healthy communities become prosperous markets. Sourcemap provides an edge so you can respond to shifting supplies, communicate with customers, and plan for the future.”

Sourcemap is already a running website, yet it has not achieved their initial goals. This is how it works. It catalogues various materials from food to clothing, and their CO2 emissions. You can then use these statistics to map the total CO2 emissions or carbon footprint of the product. Functioning like a social network, anyone can contribute to the storyline of a products lifetime. For example, you can calculate the impact of manufacturing, transporting, using, and throwing away products using their Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculator. The website uses geographic resources and data while relying on user contributions and a panel of advisers to keep information up-to-date. They hope that as the site grows, suppliers will be able to contribute their products to the Sourcemap database, providing a geographic catalogue of materials and products for sale around the world.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/see-where-stuff-is-from-sourcemap.php

http://vimeo.com/5133927

http://www.sourcemap.org/beta/stage/

Growing for Life

Name: Growing for Life

Location: Dartmoor Prison, Princetown, UK

Years: 2004- Present

Funded by: Bromley Trust and Tudor, Lankelly Chase

Founded by: Eden Project

The Growing for Life program is a regeneration project, which began in 2004 at the resettlement wing of Dartmoor Prison. The Eden Project, supported by Bromley Trust, has been working closely with prison staff and prisoners to create fruit, vegetable and healing gardens in the centre of an exceptionally bleak environment. It has had a marked benefit on health, behavior and outlook within the prisons walls. They worked with Cisco to provide learning in prisons (in horticulture, enterprise, life skills, and computing) and a network of social businesses outside the walls to offer extended learning opportunities and jobs. During the summer of 2007, the team harvested their first crops and delivered them to the elderly and schools in Princetown; a marginalized community with a variety of tough challenges, amongst which is poor nutrition and health of young families and older residents. The program has been a great success both inside and outside the prison walls.

Now extended to a number of other prisons, the program has become less about a simple prison activity and more of a community enterprise, concerned with resilience and prosperity. The next phase of the Growing for Life project began at Occombe Farm in Paignton in January 2009 supported by Tudor, Lankelly Chase. It set up an organic market garden; a social business created and active in the region, based on growing and food production, but involving marketing, distribution, sales, teaching, catering, construction and maintenance – creating an integrated, supportive scheme. It receives people (who choose to participate) on release from Dartmoor, Exeter and Channings Wood prisons in addition to providing training, volunteering and employment opportunities for those at risk of offending, homeless people and those on probation – including providing an alternative sentence to custody. The network of social businesses within Growing for Life is set to expand and there is potential to evolve the scheme elsewhere in the UK.

http://www.growingforlife.org/

http://www.edenproject.com/our-work/plants/growing-for-life/index.php

Isles Community Gardens and Nutrition Education

Name: Isles Community Gardens and Nutrition Education

Location: Trenton, NJ

Years: 1981- Present

Founded by: Student and Faculty of Princeton University

With 35 community gardens and 10 school gardens established on brownsites, unused lots, Isles brings the community together and provide them with fresh produce they might otherwise have difficulty getting or lack of inclination to purchase. Isles’ Community Gardening and Nutrition Education initiative fosters self-reliance and goes beyond emergency food assistance by providing residents with the skills to grow their own food and improve their nutrition. In 2008, more than 30 community gardens that Isles supports in Trenton raised thousands pounds of fresh produce that improved diets and strengthened finances for more than 3,000 residents. Many gardeners either can or freeze their produce; they also donate to members of their families and neighbors.

Isles has created their urban gardens with the intention that they Improve nutrition and health by providing exercise and fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables. Yet they have also proved that urban gardens save families hundreds of dollars per year. Low-income Trenton residents face significant barriers to healthy nutrition and food security. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 21% of Trenton’s population live below the poverty level. As a result of such poverty, more than 60% of Trenton school district students (Pre-K to 12) are eligible for free and reduced lunch. In addition, according to a recent Community Food Assessment completed by Rutgers University, there are challenges related to education and eating behaviors that contribute to poor nutrition; few people surveyed were concerned about eating healthy and many either did not know how to cook or preferred to eat pre-prepared meals.

During Trenton’s long growing season, an 800-square-foot plot can provide enough vegetables to feed a family for an entire year. By participating in Isles’ Community Gardening and Nutrition Education initiative, low-income families are able to gain greater food security, stretch food budgets and obtain fresh and nutritious produce. Studies report that every $1 invested in a community garden plot yields approximately $6 worth of vegetables. In a 2006 survey, Isles’ community gardeners reported an average savings of about $200 dollars per year, per gardener. This program strengthens the community by enhancing connections between people, making the streets more secure, and giving people a chance to share food with others. Over 70% of Isles’ gardeners report that gardening greatly improves their neighborhoods. Lastly, Isles’ urban gardens clean the environment by improving soil and growing plants that filter the air.

http://isles.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WX6dcsn-fc

Aquaponics in Antarctica

Name: Aquaponics in Antarctica

Location: Ross Island and the South Pole, Antarctica

Years: 1987- Present

Institutions: McMurdo Station in Ross Island and Amundesn-Scott South Pole Research Centers

Contributors: University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center

The largest research station in Antarctica goes without sunlight for 4 months of the year, meaning that it relies on food deliveries for fresh vegetables. To eliminate this dependency, they created an 820-square foot insulated hydroponics tank that grows vegetables to provide the 240 workers with fresh weekly salads. The Antarctic Conservation Act prohibits the import of soil into Antarctica as a precaution to prevent the introduction of microorganisms. So, one might wonder, how can fresh vegetables be grown in a place with out sunlight and soil? The answer is Hydroponics! An 820 square foot insulated growth chamber containing 41 high intensity discharge lamps and 10 NFT hydroponics systems was built at McMurdo in the 1980’s. Plants grown in the chamber include lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and even flowers. McMurdo’s “greenhouse” is operated manually. That is to say, the hydroponics nutrient solutions are monitored using a hand held meter and nutrient adjustments are made by adding stock solution with a graduated cylinder.

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station, located at the South Pole at 90 degrees, is in darkness 6 months out of the year. The distance between the South Pole and McMurdo is more than 800 miles. Although the South Pole has had a year-round presence since 1957, a new station is currently being built to replace the original aging station. Within the new station, a computer controlled vegetable growth chamber has been in operation for almost 2 winters. Like McMurdo, the South Pole cannot be re-supplied over the winter and so, if fresh vegetables are to be had, they must be grown on site.

The South Pole Food Growth Chamber’s (SPFGC) production room, covering a 392 square foot area, was designed and built by The University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) under the supervision of Dr. Gene Giacomelli (Director, CEAC) and built in cooperation with the Sadler Machine Company.

The South Pole “greenhouse” is climate controlled. It has automated atmospheric CO₂ enrichment, hydroponic nutrient delivery and acid injection systems. It records, controls and displays key environmental conditions via its ARGUS agricultural environment control equipment. And it is illuminated by twelve 1000-watt water-jacketed HPS lamps capable of capturing waste heat given off by the lights to supplement the heat used in warming the station’s fresh air supply. Obviously, heat is hard to come by at the South Pole and with the SPFGC, it is not wasted.

With support from University of Arizona’s CEAC, Nan Rogers and Kelly Kozdras currently operate the South Pole chamber. The SPFGC now grows tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries and many different herbs for the 70 crewmembers currently wintering at the South Pole.

http://www.aquaponicsjournal.com/articleAntarcticHydroponics.htm

Growing Power

Name: Growing Power

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Years: 1993- Present

Founded by: Will Allen

In 1993, Will Allen transformed his farm into a program that offered teens a place to work and provide food for their community. Allen, a former professional basketball player, grew up on a farm in Maryland. In 2008, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" for his work on urban farming, sustainable food production, and with Growing Power. Growing Power is an urban agriculture organization headquartered that runs the last functional farm within the Milwaukee city limits. It is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.

Its facilities include seven large greenhouses, a kitchen, indoor and outdoor training gardens, aquaculture system and a food distribution facility. Fish, worms, bees, goats, chickens, turkeys, and ducks are also raised there. Growing power conducts workshops and demonstrations in aquaculture, aquaponics, vermiculture, horticulture, small or large-scale composting, soil reclamation, food distribution, beekeeping, and marketing. It also focuses on food distribution by providing on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner. It runs numerous collaborative projects and training projects, including a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee to train city youth in gardening.

The farm grows a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, and also farms tilapia and perch through the use of aquaponics. Thousands of people tour the facilities every year. hosts 5,000 visitors and uses 400 tons of the city’s food waste in a single year.

In September 2005, Growing Power, whose relationship with Heifer began in 1997, established a 19,000-square-foot community garden in the center of downtown Chicago, from which all produce will go to shelters and soup kitchens in Chicago. It is a sort of flagship garden for urban agriculture, and for the organization’s goals of using sustainable agriculture to make communities everywhere successful, independent and self-sufficient.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html

http://growingpower.org/