Fertile Ground CSA featured on CBC Radio

Angie Koch, of Fertile Ground CSA, plus friends and co-farmers Tarrah Young and Caitlin Hall, are featured in this recent CBC documentary "Down to Earth" (description from CBC below). They talk about the "new breed" of young farmers, who are city-raised, university educated, but are choosing to move to the land in search of sustainable ecological farming and organic food production in new and creative ways (e.g Community Supported Agriculture ventures such as Fertile Ground!). Angie will be distributing her 30 member CSA at Little City Farm each Tuesday this summer (from July-October) and we are extremely excited about her venture and this partnership! Following the first documentary, is a short interview with legendary food justice advocate Frances Moore Lappe (author of Diet for a Small Planet, among many other writings) who talks about the current state of the global food system and the future of global food security. DOCUMENTARY: DOWN TO EARTH

Here's one picture of a farmer: tough, weatherbeaten, pitchfork in hand, a bit grim, proud member of a vanishing breed. Here's another picture of a farmer: Thirty years old, five foot two, fresh-faced, female, city-bred. Meet Tarrah Young, proud and very determined member of a NEW breed. Tarrah - and people like her - are real risk takers. They're not starry-eyed back-to-the landers, and they know know what they're up against. Across Canada, the number of farmers under thirty-five has declined by more than 50% in the last ten years. For those who want to loosen the grip of the agribusiness giants, to spurn cheap pesticide-laden imports, and to eat local - this is really bad news. And we all have enough of that! So this morning, venture out with a few of agriculture's young pioneers. Frank Faulk's documentary is called "Down to Earth"

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/sundayedition_20080505_5659.mp3

FRANCES MOORE LAPPÉ

In the past few weeks, a hungry planet has become dramatically , and suddenly, even hungrier. Food riots have shaken communities as diverse as Austria and Uzbekistan, and as far apart as Egypt and Mexico. The Canadian government pledged fifty million dollars this week to be channeled through the United Nations. Individual Canadians are helping as well. The situation is desperate. Incredibly, Filipino Canadians are buying twenty and forty pound bags of rice and shipping it to relatives back home. And in Montreal, people are desperately trying to send food to their relatives in Haiti. At least six people were killed during riots in that country earlier this month in protests against rising food prices. Frances Moore Lappé has been an activist in the fight against world hunger for thirty seven years, ever since the publication of her blockbuster bestseller, " Diet for a Small Planet". That was in 1971. Ms. Lappé has written sixteen books since then. She is also a co-founder of the Small Planet Institute. Frances Moore Lappé is in our studio in New York this morning. Small Planet Institute: World Hunger Solutions