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Vol.
II, Issue 6
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May 6, 2008
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Welcome to our 9th "News Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow"
newsletter bringing you important information about urban
agriculture, energy, sustainability, and more.
In this issue,
you will find a series of important news stories about worldwide
food price increases and impending food shortages, an article on
the myth of genetically-modified crops, and an essential story on
declining wheat production in the US.
Be sure to visit our bookstore where you will find all books and DVDs priced at
10% off. And shipping
is now FREE!
Be watching for some big changes coming from us soon including a new
website among many other things. I can't say more right now, but I
think you will like what we are planning to better serve you. We have a
unique program in which we not only provide an opportunity for people
to grow their own food in our community gardens and purchase
locally produced food from our organic farm, but also educate
children and adults about how to grow food and eat nutritionally. We
are emerging as a model for other communities and are planning to
realize this vision.
As always, please consider a partnership or an individual or continuous monthly gift. Our programs only
exist, because of your generosity. So please give generously. With a
$100 gift or more, you will receive a FREE copy of our NEW CD, Troy
Gardens Journal, a $15 value. With a $150 gift or more, you
will receive a FREE copy of the 600-page Real Goods Solar
Living Sourcebook, a $35 value.
For Our Future,
Bob Gragson, Editor
Executive Director
Friends of Troy Gardens
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SOMETHING'S
HAPPENING HERE . . .
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 What It
Is Ain't Exactly Clear
In this series of articles from the last couple of months, is there a
general them emerging?
Take the opportunity to read some of these articles that interest you
the most. They are revealing. Simply use the "Read article"
link provided at the beginning of each headline to go to the entire
article.
Tajikistan
'facing food crisis'
February 6 - BBC
News (Antelava, 2008)
The
deteriorating food situation is part of the energy crisis which hit the
mountainous nation in the middle of its coldest winter in 50 years. The
cost of food has tripled in recent months and some fear Central Asia's
poorest nation is heading towards catastrophe. In sub-zero weather,
most people have no electricity, no heating and increasingly, many
don't have enough food, many just eating one meal a day. And the worst
is still to come since Tajikistan is using up its last energy resources
and may face a total blackout. (Read entire article)
The
World's Growing Food-Price Crisis
February 27 - TIME (Walt,
2008)
Food prices have sparked violent riots in numerous
countries. Rioters tore through three cities in the West African nation
of Burkina Faso in January, burning government buildings and looting
stores. In Cameroon, a taxi drivers' strike over fuel prices became a
massive protest about food prices leaving around 20 people dead.
Similar protests erupted in Senegal and Mauritania late last year.
Indian protesters burned hundreds of food-ration stores in West Bengal
last October, accusing the owners of selling government-subsidized food
on the black market. Oil prices have increased fertilizer prices and
the cost of transporting food from farms to local markets and abroad.
Climate change has disrupted harvests with prolonged droughts in
Australia and southern Africa, floods in West Africa, and this past
winter's deep frost in China and record-breaking warmth in northern
Europe. Production of biofuels is further straining food supplies. (Read entire article)
A
Global Need for Grain That Farms Can't Fill
March 9 - The New
York Times (Streitfeld, 2008)
Everywhere,
the cost of food is rising sharply. Many factors are contributing to
the rise, but the biggest is runaway demand. In recent years, the
world's developing countries have been growing about 7% a year, an
unusually rapid rate by historical standards. The high growth rate
means hundreds of millions of people are, for the first time, getting
access to the basics of life, including a better diet. That jump in
demand is helping to drive up the prices of agricultural commodities.
Farmers the world over are producing flat-out. American agricultural
exports are expected to increase 23% this year to $101 billion, a
record. The world's grain stockpiles have fallen to the lowest levels
in decades. "Everyone wants to eat like an American on this globe,"
said Daniel W. Basse of the AgResource Company, a Chicago consultancy.
"But if they do, we're going to need another two or three globes
to grow it all." (Read entire article)
Food
Riots in Egypt
March 13 - Al
Jazeera ("Food riots," 2008)
Shortages are
forcing prices to rise which may have devastating consequences for the
world's most vulnerable communities. The most acute effects have been
seen in Egypt, where thousands of people have resorted to violence due
to shortages of basic food commodities and rising food prices. At least
10 people died in early March in riots that erupted at government
subsidized bakeries. (Read entire article)
Is
your grocery bill going up? You're not alone: From
rice in Peru to miso in Japan, food prices are rising all over the
world
March 24 - MSNBC ("Is your grocery
bill," 2008)
Although food commodity prices are expected to
stabilize, because farmers will grow more grain for both fuel and food,
consumers still face at least 10 years of more expensive food,
according to preliminary UN Food and Agriculture Organization
projections. Among the driving forces are petroleum prices, which
increase the cost of everything from fertilizers to transport to food
processing. Rising demand for meat and dairy in China, India, and other
developing countries is increasing the cost of grain used for cattle
feed and raw materials for biofuels. What's rare is that the spikes are
hitting all major foods in most countries at once. Food prices rose 4%
in the US last year, the highest rise since 1990, and are expected to
go up as much again this year. In December, 37 countries faced food
crises, and 20 had imposed some food-price controls. The U.N.'s World
Food Program says it's facing a $500 million shortfall this year to
feed 89 million needy people. (Read entire article)
Japan's
hunger becomes a dire warning for other nations
April 21 - The Age (Norrie, 2008)
Japan has an
acute butter shortage, a result of a steep increase in the cost of
imported Australian cattle feed and a decline in milk imports, is the
latest unforeseen result of the global agricultural commodities crisis.
Japan braces for perhaps a permanent reduction in the quality and
quantity of its food. A 130% rise in the global cost of wheat in the
past year from rising demand from China and India and more speculation
in wheat futures, has forced three rounds of mark-ups -- the latest a
30% increase this month - and is leading to speculation that Japan,
which relies on imports for 90% of its annual wheat consumption, is no
longer on the brink of a food crisis, but has fallen off the cliff.
According to one government poll, 80% of Japanese are frightened about
what the future holds for their food supply. (Read entire article)
Soybean
scarcity puts tofu company on brink
April 23 - Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel (Hajewski, 2008)
Simple Soyman, a Milwaukee producer of tofu for over 25
years, may go out of business if the company can't find the soybeans it
needs to make its product. The company thought they had a standing
order with a Wisconsin mill, but due to an apparent error by a mill
employee, their order was mishandled. The called 19 different suppliers
nationwide, but no company could fill their order, because there is a
national shortage of soybeans due to
companies in Japan and China buying US beans as a result
of the low value of the dollar. (Read
entire article)
Sam's Club, Costco limit rice
purchases as prices rise
April 23 - Yahoo! Finance
(Kabel, 2008)
Rice prices are up 70% this year due to persistent
demand from developing nations and poor crop yields raising concerns
about severe shortages of this primary food eaten by almost half the
world's population. These price increases follow similar rises in the
price of wheat, corn and soybeans which led to violent food riots in
poor countries. (Read
entire article)
Costlier
food a silent tsunami: UN
April 23 - The Age ("Costlier food,"
2008)
A "silent tsunami" unleashed by costlier food
threatens 100 million people, the UN has said. Riots in poor Asian and
African countries have followed steep rises in food prices caused by
many factors - dearer fuel, bad weather, rising disposable incomes
boosting demand and the conversion of land to grow crops for biofuel.
Artificially created shortages, such as those caused by countries that
have slowed or stopped exports, are worsening the problem. Major food
exporters including Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Cambodia have
closed their stocks to safeguard supplies. The world has been consuming
more than it has been producing for the past three years, so stocks
have been drawn down. (Read
entire article)
The
end of cheap clothes is near
April 23 -- BBC
News (Madslien, 2008)
Global demand for cotton exceeded global supply by about
a million tons last year. Despite the US shifting to other crops this
year, the global cotton harvest is expected to grow 3% as production
increases in China, India, Australia, Brazil, and West Africa. While
supply growth is exceeding demand growth, supply isn't growing fast
enough. (Read entire article)
Wheat
Croop Failures Could Be Total, Experts Warn
April 24 - MoneyNews.com ("Wheat
Crop," 2008)
Atop record-breaking
rice and corn prices, wheat is now rusting in the fields across Africa.
Total crop losses are feared, and the fungus, known as Ug99 (Puccinia
graminis) spread by windborne spores, is now spreading from Africa to
Asia (including Iran and Pakistan) with crop losses in some
areas expected to be 100%. Losses in Africa are already at 70% of the
crop. Economic losses are in the billions and increasing with
an intensifying fear of exacerbated food shortages in poor and
emerging countries of the world. Food rioting continues to expand
with the most recent in Johannesburg. Riots have been directed at
rising prices, but actual shortages are looming. About 25% of the
world's global wheat harvest is currently threatened by the fungus. (Read entire article)
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DECLINING
U.S. WHEAT PRODUCTION
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 Farmers Turning to Corn & Soy
World wheat markets have sent prices of bread and other
wheat products higher. "Underlying . . . food inflation are
changes transforming U.S. agriculture and making a return to . . .
cheap wheat products doubtful."
"Many farmers are cutting back on growing wheat in
favor of more profitable, less disease-prone corn and soybeans for . .
. Asian consumers" and ethanol refineries needing corn from an
area about the size of Rhode Island. "In the 1980s, more than half
the farm's acres were wheat." This year only 10% of acres will be
in wheat while 40% will be in soybeans. "Farmers are considering
investing in a $180 million plant to turn the beans into animal feed
and cooking oil, both now in strong demand in China."
U.S. farmers are expected to plant about 64 million
acres of wheat this year, down from a high of 88 million in 1981. In
Kansas, wheat acreage has declined by a third since the mid-1980s, and
nationwide, there is now less wheat in grain bins than at any time since
World War II -- only about enough to supply the world for four days.
This occurs as developing countries with some of the poorest
populations are rapidly increasing their wheat imports. . . .
"U.S. wheat yields per acre have increased little
in two decades, partly because commercial seed companies have all but
abandoned investments in improved varieties, preferring to focus on the
more profitable corn and soybeans. Subtle warming changes in the
climate and the recent availability of new plant varieties that thrive
in cold, dry conditions have pushed the corn belt north and west.
"In 1996, Congress gave a strong nudge to these
changes by passing legislation allowing wheat growers for the first
time to switch to other crops and still collect government subsidies.
The result is that farmers received federal wheat payments last year on
15 million acres more than were planted. . . .
"The US government stopped holding large stocks of
wheat in the 1980s," but still "allows countries to shop here
even when others have shut off exports. This free-trade policy resulted
in a run on the 2007 US wheat crop this year by foreign buyers taking
advantage of the favorable dollar exchange rate to stock up, even as
Ukraine, Argentina and Kazakhstan blocked exports. . . .
"Problems started last summer with poor European
harvests and a disappointing winter wheat crop in the southern Great
Plains. US prices moved above $7 a bushel, then crossed $10 after
Australia harvested yet another drought-damaged crop in December. As
supplies of wheat ran low, foreign countries began grabbing limited
stocks of premium wheat from the northern plains." (Morgan, 2008)
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 The Great
GM Crop Myth
"Genetic modification actually cuts the
productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining
repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed
to solve the growing world food crisis.
"The study - carried out over the past three years
at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt - has found that GM
soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional
equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology
that it increases yields. . . .
"The new study confirms earlier research at the
University of Nebraska, which found that another Monsanto GM soya
produced 6 per cent less than its closest conventional relative, and 11
per cent less than the best non-GM soya available.
"The Nebraska study suggested that two factors are
at work. First, it takes time to modify a plant and, while this is
being done, better conventional ones are being developed. This is
acknowledged even by the fervently pro-GM US Department of Agriculture,
which has admitted that the time lag could lead to a 'decrease' in
yields.
"But the fact that GM crops did worse than their
near-identical non-GM counterparts suggest that a second factor is also
at work, and that the very process of modification depresses
productivity. The new Kansas study both confirms this and suggests how
it is happening.
"A similar situation seems to have happened with GM
cotton in the US, where the total US crop declined even as GM
technology took over." (Lean, 2008)
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WENDY
JOHNSON TO SPEAK
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 Author of Gardening
at the Dragon's Gate
Rainbow
Bookstore Co-op, Troy Gardens, and Family Farm Defenders are bringing
veteran organic gardener and recently published author WENDY JOHNSON of
Green Gulch Farm, Marin County, CA, to a free community event Thursday,
May 15th at 5:30 PM at Troy Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wendy will
speak on her lifetime of experience gardening at the Green Gulch Farm
and Zen Center in northern California, famous for its founding role in
California's food revolution.
Wendy has been
teaching gardening and environmental education since the early 1980s,
helping to establish many garden programs in local communities and
public schools (including teaching and advising to the Edible
Schoolyard program of the Chez Panisse Foundation founded by Alice
Waters). She's distilled her decades of experience into a new book, GARDENING AT THE DRAGON'S
GATE - part memoir of a passionate gardener, part master
class in organic gardening and sustainable agriculture, and part
meditation on the natural world.
The event
begins at 5:30 with a local food community potluck, follows with
Wendy's talk, and ends with a book signing and opportunity for Q &
A from gardeners. Gardeners of all ages and experiences welcome.
Signed copies
of her new book, Gardening
at the Dragon's Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World,
will be available for purchase.
For more
information, contact Rainbow Bookstore at 608-257-6050, or visit Wendy's website.
Wendy is
available for interviews.
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MAKE A
DIFFERENCE
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 Your Support Is Important
In
our current fund drive, we have raised $16,161, or 64.6%, of our
current $25,000 goal. Won't you help us meet our goal to benefit our
important programs?
It
is your generosity that makes Friends of Troy Gardens work for all of us. Your
gift supports our children's educational program educating
over 600 school children at Troy Gardens and in public and private
schools, provides sponsorships to low-income individuals and general
support to our 189 community gardeners and 330 community garden plots,
continues restoration of five acres of prairie and forest, further
develops and increases production at our organic farm and CSA with 115
household-members, and more.
- $50
provides a low-income gardener a garden plot for a season,
- $100
provides a service-learning opportunity for an at-risk youth,
- $150
provides a low-income child hands-on participation in our Kids
Gardening Program,
- $250
provides a free workshop for 25 community members in our Natural
Areas Restoration Program,
- $430
provides a low-income household a CSA share from our farm for a
season, and
- $1,000
provides a low-income teen participation in our eight-week Farm
and Field Program or a 150-hour educational training opportunity
for a college student.
Please support our work and our vast array of programs
with a one-time or monthly donation, a gift to our endowment fund, or by becoming a member. You will be helping educate thousands of
people each year with the skills necessary to make a sustainable future
a reality.
With a $100 gift or more, receive
a FREE copy of our NEW CD, Troy
Gardens Journal, a $15 value. With a
$150 gift or more, receive a FREE copy of the 600-page Real
Goods Solar Living Sourcebook,
a $35 value.
Thank you for your support.
- Make
your contribution online,
or mail to: Friends of Troy Gardens, 3601 Memorial Dr., Bldg.
14, Rm. 171, Madison, WI 53704.
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NEW TROY
GARDENS CD
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 Be
Inspired, Support Our Programs
Troy Gardens
inspires us. If we are writers, the gardens become our muse. If we are
musicians, the land brings us new songs. The newly released CD, Troy Gardens Journal,
contains spoken excerpts from our board member Marge Pitts' collection
of essays by the same name, enhanced by six original songs written and
performed by Maury Smith, who also produced the project.
The CD's 12 tracks mark the passage of the seasons at Troy Gardens, and
cast a glance back to the project's organizational beginning. These
stories and songs offer a nourishing taste of hope. In these times when
"the big garden" that is our world seems to be bleak and
getting bleaker, we celebrate the solace and strength found in
relationships, in community, and in our "little gardens" at
Troy.
The Troy Gardens Journal CD is available now.
Proceeds will help support the work of Friends of Troy Gardens.
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GREEN
JOBS
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 Essential
Websites for Green Jobs
For environmental
positions throughout the world, the following are some good websites
for your review:
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Friends of Troy Gardens, is a 501(c)(3)
charitable nonprofit organization, in Madison, Wisconsin. On 26-acres
of urban property, we integrate community gardens, an organic farm, and
restored prairie and woodlands. (On an adjacent five acres is
mixed-income green-built co-housing developed by the Madison Area
Community Land Trust.) Altogether, Troy Gardens is a unique, nationally-recognized
model for sustainable multi-purpose land use.
Friends of Troy Gardens' environmental
education programs include a nationally recognized leadership program
for teenagers and an award-winning children's garden. Local residents
care for 330 family garden plots in our Community Gardens. Volunteer
stewards restore and maintain native tall grass prairie and maple
woodlands in the natural areas. Each growing season, 110 households
pick up weekly bags of fresh organic vegetables from our Community Farm
(CSA).
Be sure to visit the Friends of Troy Gardens Web Store.
References:
Antelava, N. (2008). Tajilistan 'facing food crisis.' BBC News
(February 6, 2008). Retrieved April 24, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7231528.stm.
Costlier food a silent tsunami: UN. (2008). The Age (April
23, 2008). Retrieved April 24, 2008, from http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/silent-tsunami-of-costly-food-un/2008/04/23/1208742973847.html.
Food riots in Egypt. (2008). Al Jazeera (March 13, 2008).
Retrieved April 24, 2008, from http://www.infowars.com/?p=791.
Is your grocery bill going up? you're not alone: From
rice in Peru to miso in Japan, food prices are rising all over the
world. (2008). MSNBC
(March 24, 2008). Retrieved April 24, 2008, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23781864/.
Lean, G. (2008). Exposed: The great GM crop myth. The Independent
(April 20, 2008). Retrieved April 26, 2008, from http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/exposed-the-great-gm-crops-myth-812179.html.
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