The EssentiaList

by Catherine Haug

I recently happened upon an interesting site, titled “American Feast’s Sustainable Food Blog.” I have added this link to our Food and Ag Links (in the right-hand column of ESP’s site). This blog includes articles about sustainable and slow food around the country, and also mouth-watering recipes; for example:  North Fork Peach Raspberry Pie.

Sustainable Ag, Defined

A post titled “What is Sustainable Food” (by Jeff Deasy on April 29, 2007) caught my attention.  This is an excellent piece, well worth the short read.

Did you know that Congress officially defined “sustainable agriculture” in the 1990 farm bill?  According to Mr. Deasy:

Under that law, the term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:

• Satisfy human food and fiber needs.
• Enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends.
• Make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls.
• Sustain the economic viability of farm operations.
• Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

Sounds pretty good to me.  Read the entire article for more, at blog.americanfeast.com/2007/04/what_is_sustainable.html

Food Alliance Certification for Sustainably Produced Food

Another Post (by Jeff Deasy on June 19, 2009) concerns Food Alliance’s certification program for farms, ranches and food handlers for producing sustainable food.  Look for their label, pictured here, on foods at your market.

To learn more about this certification program, check out their website: www.foodalliance.org.

by Catherine Haugn

You can watch a 2 minute trailer for this feature length film on the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) website: Web video of the week: Food, Inc..  Here’s a synopsis from the OCA: (more…)