Tag Archives: sustainability

A Difficult And Strange Season Of Weather

Posted on August 15, 2018 by

By Carmen Black (Editor’s Note: Iowa Farmers deal with an existential reality that is the weather. Regardless of increasingly polarized discussions about climate change, weather affects real people in tangible ways. Carmen recently wrote this piece to members of her … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Local Food | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

There Is A Family Dairy Farm Crisis

Posted on April 25, 2018 by

Things are bad when the coop sends the suicide hotline number with the milk payment. Milk prices are currently about $15 per hundred weight while cost of production at family farms is more than $22 per hundred weight. Like so … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming | Tagged , , ,

Grit Alone Won’t Protect Local Food Systems

Posted on October 5, 2017 by

The marketplace of home vegetable gardens, community supported agriculture, farmers markets, road side vegetable stands, restaurants, retail interests and direct farm sales hasn’t coalesced into a sustainable local food system, and may not. One should never doubt the resilience of … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Local Food | Tagged , ,

Social Security Runs Out! (In 2034)

Posted on July 18, 2017 by

Last Thursday the board of trustees overseeing Social Security released its 2018 projection. 61 million beneficiaries — retirees, disabled workers, spouses and surviving children — will get an increase in monthly benefits. The forecast increase is 2.2 percent or about … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , , ,

Exiting Paris – Not The End Of The World

Posted on June 5, 2017 by

We survived U.S. failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions and will survive if Republicans drag us out of the Paris Agreement after the 2020 general election, as was announced June 1 in Washington, D.C. Make … Continue reading →

Posted in Progressive Community | Tagged , , , , ,

24 Hours of Reality — 2016 Edition

Posted on December 1, 2016 by

Who knows what President Trump’s impact on the environment will be? To hold ground environmental advocates have claimed since the Nixon administration, we can’t ignore the renewed challenges presented by the mogul’s rise to power. We don’t know what Trump … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged , ,

After The Latest Iowa Flood

Posted on September 28, 2016 by

The Cedar River crested in Cedar Rapids at 21.91 feet at 11 a.m. yesterday. As the river recedes over the next few days the temporary flood wall and earthen berms built over the weekend will be monitored for breaches. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged , , , , ,

August Is No Recess When Working Poor

Posted on August 25, 2016 by

School is out for Iowans who work yet remain on the margins of society. There is no recess from the constant demand to secure basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. The add-on expenses of transportation, health care, interest on … Continue reading →

Posted in Progressive Community, progressive values, Sustainability, working poor | Tagged , ,

Opioids: A Conjured Crisis

Posted on August 22, 2016 by

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack scolded the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine about opioid abuse on Friday. The institution is not doing enough to train its soon-to-be health professionals on an opioid abuse epidemic that claims thousands of … Continue reading →

Posted in Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

An Iowa Onion Trimmer

Posted on August 19, 2016 by

Between picture perfect onions and the compost heap lies an opportunity. A friend grows onions using organic practices as part of a Community Supported Agriculture project. Onions are harvested from the field then dried in the greenhouse for storage. Sorting, … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Labor | Tagged , , , ,