'Hobby Farms' Cropping Up

Ideal growing weather wipes out flood fears

(NEWSER) - America's farmers are on track to deliver the second-biggest corn harvest ever despite June floods, according to the Department of Agriculture. Shortages were predicted after severe flooding swamped fields, but the Midwest has had ideal corn-growing weather since, the New York Times reports. A healthy soybean crop is also expected. More»

21st century-style 'sharecropping' takes root nationwide

(NEWSER) - Consumers wanting food straight from the source are buying up shares of farms in growing numbers, the New York Times reports. For a set annual fee, shareholders buy access to the land and a guaranteed share of the harvest income. The number of community-supported farms in America has mushroomed from 100 in the early '90s to almost 1,500 today. More»

It's got plenty of weight but no taste: Author

(NEWSER) - In America’s melting pot of food culture, few ingredients have been as broadly assimilated as the tomato. Whether it’s ketchup, marinara, salsa, or just fodder for salads, our country’s demand for the tomato is extreme. But as journalist Barry Estabrook says in an interview with Salon , America’s love for the tomato has turned it into a tasteless commodity. How? Simple economics. A tomato grower puts it bluntly, “I don’t get paid a cent for flavor, not one cent. I get paid for weight." More»

Family farms have a magic all their own—and can compete

(NEWSER) - We know today’s food industry cranks out “unhealthy food, mishandles waste, and overuses antibiotics,” writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, but the heart of the matter is that today’s industrial farms have “no soul.” In a visit back to his old stomping grounds, Kristof reflects that the “kind of diverse, chaotic family farm” he grew up on is now disappearing, replaced by insipid food assembly lines”—leaving us with “food that also lacks soul—but may contain pathogens.” More»

(NEWSER) - Matchmaking just might save the family farm, the AP reports. States such as Iowa, Virginia, and Washington have started programs pairing would-be farmers with those aiming to retire, in the hopes of beefing up independent agriculture and keeping rural areas populated. "I thought I may never get a chance like this in my life," one farmer-in-training says. "I knew there was no way I could do this on my own." More»