In case you missed it, organizers of Faith, Food & the Environment held a national conference in St. Paul, Minn., on March 21-23. The conference — “A Noble Vocation: Integrating Faith, Food and the Environment” — addressed pressing challenges facing modern agriculture from a unique perspective: How can our religious beliefs guide us in the ethical production […]
SAVE THE DATE: March 21-23, 2018 Organizers of the Faith, Food & the Environment project are inviting farmers, academic researchers, sustainable ag advocates, agribusiness professionals and others to participate in a three-day conference on the critical issues facing our nation’s agriculture and food production practices. How do we perceive agriculture as a moral act? How […]
National Farmers Union recently raised this alarming news: “We’re in the midst of a farm crisis.” They rightly point out: “Net farm income has been cut in half over the past four years, and other indicators point to intense, ongoing stress within our rural communities. Importantly, there is no foreseeable end to these tough conditions. Farmers, […]
Jim Ennis, executive director of Catholic Rural Life, recently visited parts of Texas for a series of workshops and presentations on the Vocation of the Agricultural Leader. One stop was San Angelo in central-west Texas and another was Victoria in the southeast. “It is always a blessing to be out in the field meeting rural […]
Farmers face challenges that the rest of us hardly consider at all: the timing and amount of rain, the natural elements in their many forms, a changing climate, global competition in agricultural commodities & goods, constant pressure to make a viable living while also serving as good stewards of the land, and passing on the […]
Urgent call for policies in support of family farms, rural economies As the new Congress and new Administration continue to shake up “business as usual” in the nation’s capital, policies will begin to take shape on trade relationships. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is on the top of the list — and paying close […]
North American farm families today face a number of major challenges — some inherent in the nature of farming and others new. In a new report produced by agriculture economist John Ikerd, professor emeritus of the University of Missouri-Columbia, he takes a thorough look at the state of family farms in the U.S., Canada and […]
Over the past three years, the organizers of the Faith, Food & Environment project have worked with farmers, theologians, sustainable agriculture advocates and agribusiness leaders to develop a faith-based reflection entitled The VOCATION of the AGRICULTURAL LEADER. Farmers and ranchers face the challenges of turbulent weather and a changing climate, market competition on a global […]
If you saw our previous posting (July 6, below), you know that we give due attention to the growing number of studies decrying our current industrialized agriculture and food system. Yet another study, published in Environmental Science & Policy (Vol. 55, Part 1) has come out, this one receiving special award recognition from an online information […]
A new report by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems confirms much of what our discussions on Faith, Food and the Environment have been pointing out: that today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in supplying large volumes of foods to global markets, but are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts. The […]