Land

New film on urban gardening in Detroit uses creative marketing strategy

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Detroit native Mark McInnis is giving away seeds to help introduce his new film on the explosion of urban gardening in his home city. In Urban Roots, McInnis connects  the decline of the city’s auto industry to the rise of  vacant lots that now provide space for gardens. McInnis’s mother worked for Ford Motor Co. in Detroit throughout his childhood. “That job put braces on my bother’s teeth, paid for our skateboards and our weekend trips up north,” he said.

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VIDEO: Big farms tend to cluster

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Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations are farm operations where large numbers of animals are raised in confined facilities. The farms themselves also tend to concentrate.

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Groups seek specialty crop grants

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A new federal grant program to raise the competitiveness of specialty crops may give apple growers a boost.
It supports conservation, innovation and promotion. That includes marketing, research and ways to promote sustainability.

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Ethanol fuels debate; How about cars?

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By Hyonhee Shin
Oct. 31, 2009

LANSING, Mich. — Ethanol is promoted as an eco-friendly tool to reduce air pollution because it can be made from common crops such as sugar cane, potato and corn. Is it the key to a renewable energy future? In Michigan, the number of gas stations selling E-85 — a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline — has risen from two in 2003 to 117 in 2008.  The state has five ethanol plants able to produce nearly 50 million gallons a year.

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Great Lakes researchers create fruit to meet consumer preferences

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By Haley Marie Walker
Oct. 30, 2009

Jim Luby is a fruit forensics investigator. The University of Minnesota horticulture professor is among 29 researchers on a project using genetics to create fruit with characteristics consumers want. “It is similar to human forensics,” Luby said. “The way we are able to relate differences in DNA from one individual to another, we will now do with differences in traits of fruit.”

The project, called RosBREED, targets five fruits in the Rosaceae plant family: strawberries, apples, peaches and sweet and tart cherries.

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Local MSU programs may be in peril

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(MI) Traverse City Record-Eagle – Some officials expect Gov. Jennifer Granholm to line-item veto funding for Michigan State University’s research and extension offices. “I think it’s a safe assumption,” said Patrick Cudney, north region director of MSU Extension. The state allocates $64 million a year to MSU Extension and Michigan Agricultural Experimental Station. But October’s payment was $5 million short, and no one seems to know why. More

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Poultry farmers say animal welfare bill leaves egg on their bottom line

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(MI) The Holland Sentinel – A controversial farm animal welfare bill signed into law this month by Gov. Jennifer Granholm has left some local farmers wondering how they will survive after implementing the law’s new requirements. The law requires that farm animals confined to cages have enough room to turn around and fully extend their limbs. More

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Food, Humanity, Habitat and How We Get to 2050

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(NY) The New York Times – According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, feeding humanity in 2050 – when the world’s population is expected to be 9.1 billion – will require a 70 percent increase in global food production, partly because of population growth but also because of rising incomes. The organization hopes that this increase can be brought about by greater productivity on current agricultural acreage and by greening parts of the world that aren’t now arable. It is also “cautiously optimistic” that, even with climate change, there will be enough land and probably enough water to do so. It’s important to look at this projection in light of another United Nations goal – preserving biodiversity – and ask whether the two are compatible. More

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Gov. Granholm signs law giving farm animals room

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(MI) The Associated Press – Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed legislation requiring that farm animals confined in small cages have enough room to turn around and fully extend their limbs. The bill signed Monday makes Michigan the second state to ban commonly used cages for egg-laying chickens, the fifth to ban common crates for veal calves and the seventh to ban certain stalls for pregnant pigs. More