http://www.newwest.net/topic/main/C520/L/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2008 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:49:58 MDT Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:49:58 MDT http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_family_farm_version_20/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_family_farm_version_20/C520/C520/ Fri, 09 May 2008 12:30:00 MDT I spread my sleeping bag on the floor and crumpled my coat for a pillow. I put the bag where my bed used to be. The room still smelled the same. Aside from the echo, there was something homey, something warm, the smell of a vanilla candle still lingering in the empty walls. My brother and I were at the now vacant house for the night. It was Thanksgiving, and we wanted to stay somewhere familiar. The land had sold, but the house hadn’t yet, so we would stay the night on the floor in my old bedroom. Facing me, in the wall, was a small hole about the size of a heel. My brother and I had been fighting about something teenagers fight about and, in a tantrum, my foot connected with the wall. My brother had laughed. I was 16 at the time. I had forgotten about the hole, hidden by a dresser long ago. As I ran my fingers over it one more time, my brother walked in, shaking his head. He always told me I was too sentimental about this place. It’s just a house, just a farm. They’re just walls. It’s just dirt. He didn’t believe it either. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/commodity_prices_are_on_the_rise_but_so_are_input_costs/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/commodity_prices_are_on_the_rise_but_so_are_input_costs/C520/C520/ Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:06:00 MDT In theory, farmers should be sitting pretty with record crop prices. In reality, they're still pinching pennies, with the price of diesel and fertilizer also soaring. This year many farmers are putting a lot more pennies into their operations hoping to take advantage of market conditions, Mother Nature permitting. With more money out there for the taking, farmers are willing to pony up for the expensive operational costs. "Farmers are gamblers and they're willing to bet," said John Youngberg, vice president of governmental affairs for the Montana Farm Bureau. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_biggest_ground_beef_recall_in_us_history_a_serious_downer_for_montana_s/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_biggest_ground_beef_recall_in_us_history_a_serious_downer_for_montana_s/C520/C520/ Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:04:00 MDT On January 30th the Humane Society of the United States released an undercover and extremely graphic video that shows meat packers of the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company kicking sick cows. These animals, referred to as “downers” by the meat industry because they fall down with illness or fatigue, were prodded and pushed with forklifts in order to get them on their feet and pass the USDA inspection. The cows passed the inspection and promptly collapsed. Rather than tell the on-site regulators of the animals' changed condition (as required by law), the Westland/Hallmark employees went ahead slaughtered them. Such actions are clearly inhumane but the processing of downer cows has also been linked to mad cow disease, making such treatment an issue of human health. With the release of the year old video, the USDA put a hold on all meat sold through the company, meaning that those with the meat should simply hold onto it rather than cook and eat it. 18 days later, the USDA made the largest meat recall in United States history: 143 million pounds of ground meat. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/food_film_festival_comes_to_missoula/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/food_film_festival_comes_to_missoula/C520/C520/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:20:00 MDT This weekend, the first annual "Reel to Real Food Film Festival" will take place at the Roxy and Crystal theaters in Missoula as a way for interested eaters to, “Feast Your Eyes, Feed Your Mind, and Nourish Your Soul.” Organized in part by the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition, the festival will include a showing of “Eat at Bill’s,” a documentary about the Monterey Farmers' Market and "Two Angry Moms," which links the health of our children to school food. On Sunday, the event will culminate with the acclaimed film, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.” In this personal reflection on the agro-food system, Farmer John begins by asking, “What do you do when nothing is left?” In response, he takes a bite out of his soil. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/class_c_basketball_identity_and_loss_in_rural_montana/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/class_c_basketball_identity_and_loss_in_rural_montana/C520/C520/ Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:01:00 MDT On Saturday night the film “Class C” premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The movie details the lives of a handful of Class C women basketball players in Montana, and as they play each other and make their way to the state championships we learn that basketball is more than a sport for them. It is not just a part of their identity; it is a part of their town’s identity. When they travel to games their hometowns shut down and folks follow the girls across the state to watch them play. At late night parties, they discuss strategy and tournaments won in the past. But the film is most striking for what it reveals about the loss of small towns and an agricultural way of life in Montana. There is a common sadness among these young women as they talk about their small hometowns. They are not melancholy that they are 255 miles from the nearest mall, but that towns across the Highline and in eastern Montana are shrinking in population and dying. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/pick_your_ticket_how_the_presidential_candidates_view_agriculture/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/pick_your_ticket_how_the_presidential_candidates_view_agriculture/C520/C520/ Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:53:00 MDT Just a few months ago when Iowa was on the mind of every presidential contender, agriculture was a well-discussed issue (especially ethanol). But it seems like an eternity since the presidential candidates left Iowa and the cornfields that dictated much of their talk. Since then, candidates have mostly left agriculture off the campaign trail, and only a few have posted their stance on agriculture on their websites. As much of the Rocky Mountain West heads into Super Tuesday, here is some of what the current front-runners think about agriculture... http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/building_community_through_food_the_missoula_community_co_op/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/building_community_through_food_the_missoula_community_co_op/C520/C520/ Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:09:00 MDT In the fall of 2007, a small portion of an old shipping depot on Missoula’s Westside was scrubbed clean and given a new coat of paint. Volunteers made curtains and built shelves to hold staple items like olive oil, cheese, eggs and recycled toilet paper. New plants by the front steps started to take root, and so too did the new storefront of the Missoula Community Co-op. Across the country, similar food or grocery cooperatives, better known as co-ops, have become an increasingly popular way for a community to gather around food, especially in the Northeast and the Midwest. Food co-ops can be buying clubs or an actual store, and to shop there, an individual or family pays a membership fee to the co-op and becomes a “member-owner.” The member can then order food through the co-op or shop at the store. Food often comes in bulk amounts, which reduces packaging and cost, and because it is ordered through and often delivered to the co-op, the person who orders the food does not pay shipping costs. The idea is that members will also volunteer their time at the co-op to reduce the costs associated with running a store, and keep costs lower for all members…hence the use of the term “cooperative.” http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/after_fda_approval_input_sought_from_montanans_on_cloning/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/after_fda_approval_input_sought_from_montanans_on_cloning/C520/C520/ Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:32:00 MDT Two weeks ago, I reported on the possibility that the FDA would make a decision that cloned meat and milk is safe to eat. This article follows up on that story, after the FDA released their decision January 15th that cloned food is indeed safe to enter our food chain. This week, Whitefish, Montana’s State Representative Mike Jopek, sent out an email asking constituents to tell him what they think about cloned food. In it, he writes: "I am looking for input as I truly respect the insight on the best approach. If no approach at all is warrented, (sic) please let me know. I also know many folks are unaware of this debate and may rather I continue to advocate for a more fair tax climate, better state funding of our education system, and clean water and open public lands. But I am a farmer who believes that good food is the foundation to a great health system." The organic farmer's outreach comes less than a week after the FDA decided that cloned milk and meat are safe to eat. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/winter_listening_sessions_give_farmers_and_ranchers_a_voice/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/winter_listening_sessions_give_farmers_and_ranchers_a_voice/C520/C520/ Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:32:00 MDT Montana’s Senator-Farmer Jon Tester finished up a brief listening tour this week in Billings, where he spoke to the annual meeting of the Mountain States Beet Growers Association of Montana and highlighted the promising points of the Farm Bill. In particular, Tester discussed his provisions to the farm bill, which included assistance to farmers converting to organics. The Senator also worked to keep all Farm Service Agency offices open and called for the implementation of Country of Origin Labeling. While his listening tour is over for now, (Tester headed back to his farm in Big Sandy this week where he and his family run an 1,800 acre organic farm) winter continues to serve as the talking season for most farmers and ranchers. And during the coldest months, a few agencies will hold similar listening sessions and conferences to hear concerns of those working in agriculture and use those responses to shape farm policy. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/send_in_the_clones_fda_set_to_give_final_approval/C520/C520/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/send_in_the_clones_fda_set_to_give_final_approval/C520/C520/ Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:08:00 MDT A small paragraph on a back page of Sunday's Oregonian revealed that after six years of debate over the safety of cloned meat and milk, the Food and Drug Administration is set to give a final approval this week that cloned food is safe to eat. The FDA made an initial decision on the matter in December of 2006, ruling that cloned cattle, pigs and goats were, "as safe as the food we eat every day." The decision was followed by a public comment period in which 145,000 people opposed the FDA’s plans to introduce cloned food. But these comments seem to have gone unheard as the FDA plans to announce a final approval.The move would come less than a month after the Senate also voted to delay the FDA’s endorsement of cloned food.