Neonic Updates from Both Sides of “the Pond”

Beyond the Valley

May 20, 2013 by Glynwood Guest Post

By Judy LaBelle, Glynwood Senior Fellow

The European Commission and the USDA both reacted recently to concerns about Colony Collapse Disorder among bees and the neonicotinoid pesticides that have been implicated by many studies.

The contrast in the approaches to risk on the opposite sides of “the pond”–and the willingness to take action commensurate with seriousness of the environmental risk, even in the face of compelling but imperfect data–could not be more stark.

By December of this year, countries in the European Union must impose a ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on crops that attract bees. The ban followed on the heels of a European Food Safety Authority study that concluded that neonicotinoid-based pesticides present an “unacceptable” danger to bees. The ban, enacted by the European Commission in late April, will remain in place for two years, allowing time for further study of the pesticide’s impact.

Meanwhile, the United States has declined to take any regulatory action relating to these pesticides, citing the need for further study.

Last fall the Colony Collapse Disorder Steering Committee, composed of representatives of several federal agencies, convened the National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health to “consider actions to promote health and mitigate risks to managed honeybees in the United States.” The USDA released the report from this Conference within days of the European Commission’s vote to impose a two-year ban.

The report states that: “Acute and sublethal effects of pesticides on honey bees have been increasingly documented, and are a primary concern.” Yet it places greater emphasis on the combination of a variety of factors, including parasitic mites, viruses, bacteria, nutrition and breeding.

Rather than calling for action now to reduce the impact of the pesticides on bee health, the report recommends further study, including on “the effects of pervasive exposure to multiple pesticides on bee health and productivity of whole honey bee colonies.”

As a next step, the Steering Committee plans to revise the CCD Action Plan, to synthesize the input from the Conference and outline major priorities for the next 5-10 years.

During this time, the pesticides can continue to be used.

As Bryan Walsh concluded in Time.com’s Ecocentric blog: “So what we may get in Europe and the U.S. is a de facto field test of the real impact of neonicotinoids… In two years, if American bees are still dying and their European cousins are thriving, we might just have our answers.”


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Sheep Shearing Workshop for Beginning Farmers

Fresh from Our Farm

May 3, 2013 by Valerie Burchby
Sheap Shearing Tutorial
Attention farmers:
Sheep Shearing Workshop for Beginning Farmers
Sunday, May 19th, 4pm
To register, visit http://glynwoodsheepshearing.eventbrite.com/# and check the box at the bottom of the order page indicating you will attend the workshop.
Cost of admission is by car (so bring your farmer friends!)
$15/car for online registration
$20/car for day-of registration
Glynwood invites new and aspiring farmers from across the region to attend a detailed introduction to sheep shearing. This workshop will take place following our annual Spring Sheepshearing Celebration, our biggest annual event where we invite our local community to participate in farm activities that are fun for all ages. During the workshop, Donald Arrant, Livestock Manager at Glynwood, will lead a technical demonstration explaining the different parts of the shearers and proper shearing technique. In addition to the technical elements of shearing, Donald will explain a bit about our philosophy to raising sheep at Glynwood for meat, pasture management and biodiversity.
Please note that this event is specifically for farmers. If you sign up for the workshop, we encourage you to also attend the public sheep shearing event that begins at noon, featuring food, fun, and non-technical sheep shearing demos. Admission for the workshop gains you admission to the entire day. Enjoy!

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Meet Our 2013 Farm Staff

Fresh from Our Farm

April 16, 2013 by Valerie Burchby

Signing up for any farm apprenticeship means taking on a season of challenges. Over the course of this agricultural season, our apprentices will be working hard, rain or shine, hurricane or heat wave. Having gone through the apprentice program myself, I can attest that on their long days, apprentices will be exposed to the elements, multiple types of animal poop, bugs, rotten tomatoes, hot-pepper eating contests, overly-long anecdotes from permanent staff, inexplicable crop failure, animal escape, mechanical malfunction… I could go on. Grit and good humor are as important tools as any other in a farmer’s arsenal. To those who become career farmers, the many challenges of the profession make the satisfaction of the lifestyle even sweeter.

We are thrilled to welcome five new apprentices for 2013. Bill, Christina, Jessica, Leanna, and Maddie have hit the ground running in the few weeks that they have been here. The livestock crew, Maddie and Leanna, have already seen their way through goat kidding season and learned to muck out a chicken coop or two. The vegetable crew, Jessica, Christina, and Bill, can already boast a greenhouse full of seedlings, peas in the ground, and an orchard of apple trees pruned in a foot of snow.

One of their first (albeit not exactly farm-related) challenges was to register their opinions on a number of improbable topics, from an imaginary vegetable boxing match, to life stranded on a desert/dessert island, to a rhyming challenge explaining their motivations as farmers. An introduction to each of our new apprentices and their responses follow.

 

Bill, Vegetable Apprentice

Bill

A bit about Bill: William Raymond Ladd-Cawthorne hails from Chicago via rural North Carolina, Maryland, California, Vietnam, and Russia. He and his wife were married at Glynwood (in the back yard of the Main House). They currently live in New Paltz, but Bill is thinking about squatting in the root cellar (don’t tell anyone…).

What are five words to describe your dream farm business? City folk sustainably feeding themselves

What book would you bring with you to a desert island? On a desert island, maybe I’d bring the complete works of Shakespeare because I could get a lot of mileage out of it. On the other hand, maybe a book about boat making and survival skills would be the way to go.

What would you hope to find on a dessert island? On a dessert island, I would hope to find ice cream. Ice cream is delicious and infinitely variable.

What vegetables would you pit against each other in a veggie boxing match? I guess if I wanted to make veggies fight (which I don’t), I’d pit a bitter melon against a pumpkin, because I’m pretty sure the pumpkin would squash the bitter melon, which would almost certainly have it coming.

 

Maddie, Livestock Apprentice

MaddieA bit about Maddie: Born in Chicago, raised in Indiana, and schooled at the University of Michigan, Maddie Morley is a Midwesterner at heart who very recently moved to the Northeast from California. Having spent the past two years farming mixed veggies and fruit at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Maddie is psyched to be broadening her farming knowledge by working with livestock at Glynwood.

What are five words to describe your dream farm business? Rosaceae. Chenopodaceae. Solanaceae. Alliums. Pigs.

What would you hope to discover on a dessert island? If I were stranded on a dessert island, I would be absolutely relieved to find Old Tyme Vanilla milkshakes with homemade whipped cream on top.

What vegetables would you pit against each other in a veggie boxing match? Onion vs. potato. I’m a bit biased, but my guess is the onion would win since it would cause the eyes of the potato to tear up.

Fun Fact: I am a fraternal twin and a British citizen.

 

Jessica, Vegetable Apprentice

JessicaA bit about Jessica: Jessica O’Callahan is originally from Floral Park, Long Island. She studied Chinese and Anthropology at Bennington College. After graduation, she worked as an arts administrator for a modern dance company and is happy to begin a new career as a farmer!

What book would you bring with you to a desert island? Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.

What would you hope to discover on a dessert island? Anything chocolate.

What vegetables would you pit against each other in a veggie boxing match? Dinosaur Kale v. Elephant Garlic. I think the elephant garlic has a stealth advantage over the dinosaur kale.
Fun Fact: I’ve been playing the flute for a really long time and now I’m planning to teach myself the banjo.

 

Christina, Vegetable Apprentice

ChristinaA bit about Christina: Christina Pellegrini was born in Rochester, NY, spent her childhood years in Hummelstown, PA, went to middle and high school in Maryland, and spent her college years in NH studying environmental studies. After working at a lodge in the White Mountains and doing some Farm-to-School and environmental education, she spent nine months in Italy at Slow Food’s university as part of a master’s degree program in sustainable food systems. Just prior to arriving at Glynwood Christina was living in Oregon and interning with a non-profit organization that is in the early phases of establishing a community-scale food hub.

What are five words to describe your dream farm business? Diversified, whole-diet, community-based, educational farm.

What book would you bring with you to a desert island? The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz

What would you hope to discover on a dessert island? The island equivalent to a wild fiddlehead fern.

Fill in the blank: Growing up my parents refused to let me eat: butter, red meat, too much cholesterol or fat, and nothing other than skim milk. Now I thoroughly enjoy: my pasture raised meats, bright orange egg yolks, ghee, raw goat’s milk kefir, and basically everything I grew up being told wasn’t “healthy.”

What vegetables would you pit against each other in a veggie boxing match? Stinging Nettle vs. Reckless Rhubarb. Who thinks a battle between fierce stinging prickles and wickedly puckering acids wouldn’t be riveting?

Rhyme: Creating healthier environments and communities is what I aspire to do,

By reconnecting us to our food, land, neighbors, and, oh…ourselves too.

Fun Fact: I almost made it to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro (before food poisoning took hold of me 2 hours from the top).

 

Leanna, Livestock Apprentice

LeannaA bit about Leanna: Leanna Mulvihill is from New Paltz, NY and is thrilled to be farming in the Hudson Valley. After completing a summer at a veggie CSA in Michigan and a compost apprenticeship at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture she is rounding out her farm experience by getting elbow deep in livestock with Glynwood.

What are five words to describe your dream farm business? Agroforestry for profit, food and smiles.

What would you hope to discover on a dessert island? If I were stranded on a dessert island, I would be relieved to find hazelnuts, cacao and honey among the local flora and proceed to make a very rough approximation of Nutella to keep myself occupied and fed.

Fill in the blank: Growing up my parents never: had beets, kale or arugula. Now I: add olive oil, vinegar and eat with gusto.

What vegetables would you pit against each other in a veggie boxing match? I would most likely set up a boxing match between one bunch of watermelon radishes and one watermelon. The watermelon was miffed that the radishes were stealing his style.

 


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Connecting the Dots for the “Valiant Bestiary”

Beyond the Valley

April 5, 2013 by Glynwood Guest Post

By Judy LaBelle, Glynwood Senior Fellow

One of the most remarkable images from the movie “Queen of the Sun” is of flying over mile after mile of California almond orchards–nothing as far as one can see but almond orchards.

This came to mind in response to a recent NPR piece entitled “Why California Almonds Need North Dakota Flowers (and A Few Billion Bees).” In the piece, Journalist Dan Charles described the troubled connection between the California orchards that now produce two-thirds of the almonds in the world and the fields of North Dakota.

To produce almost two billion pounds of almonds each year, California farmers rely on bees that are trucked in. At the time of the NPR interview, a stunning 1.6 million bee hives had been delivered.

After the brief almond bloom, beekeepers like Zac Browning truck the bees to “the fringes of rural America, where we can stay away from pesticides, where we can find wildflowers.” For years, they have gone more than 1,000 miles to North Dakota, where large expanses of land had been set aside by farmers receiving compensation through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

That is changing rapidly. In just the past five years, the amount of CRP land in North Dakota has declined by about a third as farmers have responded to high market prices for corn. Concerned government scientists have begun to study whether bees placed next to corn fields are as healthy as those that can graze the mixed vegetation on CRP land. Beekeepers are concerned about whether their businesses can survive.

This report also brought to mind The Forgotten Pollinators, written by Stephen L. Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan nearly 20 years ago. In his introduction, Edward O. Wilson wrote, “Eighty percent of the species of our food plants worldwide, we are informed, depend on pollination by an animal, almost all of which are insects. One of every three mouthfuls of food we eat, and of the beverages we drink, are delivered to us roundabout by a valiant bestiary of pollinators.”

Two decades later, these pollinators continue to be undermined on all sides, by loss of habitat, increasing use of pesticides, disease, and other factors that are not yet well understood. Commercial beekeepers, who once anticipated losing 5-10% of their hives each year, have lost 40 to 50% of their hives in the past year.

Finally, the surprising connection between the California almond producers and the North Dakota farmers, brought to mind the scene from “Big River” in which shrimpers traveled up the Mississippi to urge Midwestern farmers whose runoff was causing the “dead zone” in the Gulf to change their fertilizing practices to help restore the resource the shrimpers rely upon.

The need to connect the dots in the food system has never been more critical. Policies or actions that are intended to have one purpose have profound unintended consequences–sometimes nearby, sometimes far away, and often hard to detect or prove.

Yet even when we can connect the dots, taking action based on what we learn is not easy. A recent example from Europe helps make this point: after a report from the European Food Safety Authority cited the neonicotinoid-based pesticides as presenting an “unacceptable” danger to bees, the European Commission considered a proposal to suspend their use for two years to allow further study. The proposal, fought by the companies that dominate what has been termed the “billion dollar market” for these pesticides, was not adopted when considered earlier this month.

In the US, environmental and consumer groups–and some beekeepers–have long attempted to force the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to undertake more studies of the impact of pesticides that may be “bee-toxic,” in particular the neonictinoid-based pesticides, before continuing to allow their widespread use. In late March attorneys from the Center for Food Safety filed suit on their behalf against US EPA seeking to compel it to take action.

It is clear that more work is needed on both the scientific and policy fronts to protect the “valiant bestiary” on which most of our food supply depends. At the same time, it is also clear that the ecological health and resiliency upon which our food supply depends is enhanced by the expansion of regional food systems based on practices that do connect the dots–that build soil health, conserve water, and protect the health of pollinators while producing fresh and healthful food for consumers.


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Glynwood Renews Its Regional Focus in Promoting Sustainable Food and Farming

Fresh from Our Farm

April 2, 2013 by Ashley Holmes

The past few months have been exciting and eventful here at Glynwood as we enter a time of growth and revitalization. While we will continue to engage broadly to help fuel the national sustainable food movement, we have renewed our commitment to strengthening the regional food system here in the Hudson Valley.

Under the leadership of new President Kathleen Frith, Glynwood has recently hired five new employees who will be key in facilitating the organization’s expansion. Please join us in welcoming Valerie Burchby, Program Assistant; Ashley Holmes, Communications Manager; Alena Kaufman, Event Producer; Maureen McLennon, Financial Manager; and Jessica Winberry, Director of Development to Glynwood’s dynamic team.

At the same time, Glynwood is saying goodbye to Diane Hatz, who directed a program within Glynwood known as the Glynwood Institute and is best known for organizing three TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” events, which brought together food and farming experts to offer their insights and expertise on creating a more sustainable national food system. While the Institute will be discontinued due to Diane’s departure, she will be pursuing independent projects going forward, such as EndFoodWasteNow.org, and continues to hold the license for hosting TEDxManhattan.

“All of us at Glynwood are extremely grateful for the impressive results Diane Hatz has achieved, and we wish her continued success in all her future endeavors,” said Ms. Frith. “Glynwood is going through a period of revival, and I am thrilled that we are entering this exciting new chapter.”

With a new team in place, Glynwood is working on a number of exciting new initiatives, including developing a culinary program to educate professionals and the public on the importance of sustainable farming and regional food. We are now hosting a monthly Farm Dinner series open to the public that are designed around different themes critical to a regional food system. For our first Farm Dinner, which took place on February 23rd, Culinary Director Jason Wood prepared a special five-course meal featuring Glynwood’s own goat meat for the main entrée.

In addition, Glynwood is working on expanding existing programs, such as its Apple Project, which has fostered the creation of a regional food culture around the production of hard cider and apple spirits as value-added products. Glynwood is also bringing its Keep Farming® program to new communities in both New York and Massachusetts to guide them through a process of identifying their agricultural resources and establishing strategies that will encourage the long-term viability of farming.

We hope you will stay tuned and follow our progress over the coming weeks and months as we continue to expand our work to enhance the capacity of our regional food system.


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Glynwood Farm Dinner Series

Fresh from Our Farm

March 20, 2013 by Valerie Burchby

February 23rd marked the first in our new Farm Dinner Series at Glynwood. The evening was a great success, Culinary Director Jason Wood prepared a five-course meal featuring local goods and starring Glynwood’s own goat meat for the main entrée.

Photograph by Frankie Kimm.

An apple tree in bloom, photograph by Frankie Kimm.

Each meal in this series will have a different focus, with different seasonal ingredients, meal structure, and price point. The next dinner will be a spring celebration, offered in five courses, from 6-10pm on Saturday, April 6th. All farm dinners are currently BYOB and seating is limited. Reserve now. For questions or to RSVP call Anita Barber at (845) 265-3338 or email at abarber@glynwood.org. Tickets are $75 per guest, please note that reservations will only be held upon receipt of payment. For an additional fee, overnight accommodation is available.


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Land Trusts, Farming, and the Hudson Valley

Beyond the Valley, Fresh from Our Farm

March 4, 2013 by Glynwood Guest Post

By Judy LaBelle, Glynwood Senior Fellow

Our colleague Erik Hoffner, from Orion Magazine, has written a terrific post for grist.org on the rapidly growing involvement of land trusts in the local foods movement. We are delighted to see this, since Glynwood’s own efforts to encourage land trusts to support sustainable agriculture extend back over nearly a decade.

As described in Erik’s post, land trust activities run the gamut from purchasing agricultural land to protect it from development, to leasing conserved land to farmers, to creating incubators to support the development of new farmers, to operating farms directly as part of their stewardship and educational programs.

In spite of these land conservation activities, the market price of agricultural land in many parts of the country still exceeds its value for agricultural use.  We look forward to learning more about how land trusts are trying to address this issue and make land affordable for farmers long-term, which is the focus of a national survey of land trusts recently undertaken by our colleagues at The National Young Farmers’ Coalition.

Glywood began to encourage land trusts to support sustainable agriculture back in 2004, when we held a convening titled “You Saved It, Now What?”, which brought together local officials, land trust professionals, farmers and other national experts to discuss how land owners could be encouraged to make conserved land available for productive agricultural use.  This led to a 2007 convening of the leading land trust professionals from across the country designed to identify best practices in working with agricultural land.   The resulting report: “Land Trusts and Agricultural Land: Saving Farmland or Farming?”, was the basis for a workshop at the Land Trust Alliance national Rally in 2007 and continues to be widely circulated to encourage land trusts to promote the productive use of protected farmland.

The Hudson Valley, which is the primary focus of Glynwood’s work, is blessed with a strong network of regional, county and local land trusts.  Glynwood works directly with many of them to encourage and support their engagement in the effort to strengthen our regional food system.  An important current example of this effort is our partnership with The Open Space Institute to create a farm business incubator on agricultural land OSI has conserved in the heart of the Valley.   Stay tuned as this project is implemented!


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2013 CSA Registration now OPEN

Fresh from Our Farm

February 22, 2013 by Valerie Burchby
CSA Registration Button3

Click for more information and registration.

Spring is right around the corner, and that means that CSA registration is now OFFICIALLY OPEN. Come visit our beautiful farm off RT. 301 in Cold Spring each week to pick up your share of fresh, Certified Naturally Grown vegetables. Enjoy our hiking trails, visit our animals, and take in some of the best views in Cold Spring!

Shares are $675 for our 24 week distribution season beginning in late May. Glynwood raised meats, eggs, prepared foods, and other local products available for purchase a la carte at our distribution site.

Visit http://glynwood.csasignup.com for more information or email Dave Llewellyn at dllewellyn@gmail.com for questions.


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Lambing Season

Fresh from Our Farm

February 5, 2013 by Valerie Burchby

first lambs

Last Friday we had the first of the lambs born in the barn. Lambing kicks off the 2013 season for the livestock staff, and it will be full-speed ahead through the summer with goats kidding, more lambing, cows calving, and pigs farrowing to follow.

A pair of healthy boys came first. We are already up to five boys and one girl.

first lamb

Isn’t new life exciting?

Donald and lamb


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“Understanding Restaurant Systems” at NOFA-NY

Beyond the Valley

January 25, 2013 by Valerie Burchby

This weekend, Glynwood’s Culinary Director, Jason Wood, will be presenting at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York’s 31st annual winter conference. He will join food and farming experts of all stripes with the hopes of collaborating, educating, and inspiring the next wave in sustainable agriculture. The theme for this year’s conference: Resilience.

Photo via NOFA-NY, click to view website.

Photo via NOFA-NY, click to view website.

His three-hour workshop, “Understanding Restaurant Systems,” will educate farmers about growing, marketing, and selling to restaurants. This presentation builds on Jason and co-presenter Gabe McMackin’s deep experience managing restaurant kitchens over the course of their careers. The goal of this education is to equip farmers using sustainable growing practices to meet institutional demand for fresh, local produce. By building strong relationships with restaurants, hospitals, universities, business parks, and public cafeterias, farmers will have more demand, more diversity, and ultimately, greater resilience.

In her announcement for the 2013 conference, NOFA-NY’s Executive Director Kate Mendenhall described the theme as follows:

Organic farmers are no strangers to adversity. 2012 was a year of extraordinary economic and environmental upheaval…Yet our farmers once again plowed on (pun intended). For the unsung role organic farmers play for our health, our communities, our culture, and our very survival, together we want to recognize and celebrate their remarkable resilience.

Since its formation in 1983, NOFA-NY has been a tremendous resource for farmers in the region. Glynwood has a deep affinity for NOFA-NY’s mission and has long supported its work. Each year, Glynwood sponsors its apprentices to attend the NOFA interstate council’s summer conference, where Director of Farmer Training Dave Llewellyn has presented many times. With this presentation, Jason Wood will continue the tradition and start a dialogue that we hope will help New York farmers for years to come.


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