Righteous Blog
Chickens on the White House Lawn?
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Last week, Michelle Obama broke ground on a new White House vegetable garden. I suggest that the next step be adding a colorful flock of egg laying hens. What could be a better way to bring healthy, fresh and delicious food into the White House kitchen while adding beauty and interest to the otherwise boring White House Lawn?
3 Comments | Permalink | Posted in Farming
Hope for Farming’s Future
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
For a nice change, there’s some good news about agriculture. The most recent Census of Agriculture, released a few weeks back, shows that the number of farmers in the United States is actually on the rise. From 2002 to 2007, the number increased by 4 percent. This is welcome news for everyone who cares about sustainable food production. The Census also shows that the new farmers tend to be younger, less white, and more female than the farming population of recent decades. For example, the number of female farmers grew by almost 30 percent. The downside of this growth is that many of these farms are tiny—hobby farms of people with other jobs. In my view, in order to create a truly sustainable food system, we need to make farming a sustainable profession. So, much work remains to be done. But this is certainly a glimmer of hope for the future.