agriculture definition

While the local food movement is well recognized in the media and popular culture, a local food/food sovereignty movement has been gaining strength among native tribes in the U.S. without gaining much outside attention.  That is changing. Pati Martinson and Terrie Bad Hand, Directors of the Taos County Development Corp. (TCEDC) have been working toward a Native American Food Alliance since 2008. That alliance is now a reality. The first meeting was held at the recent First Nations LEAD conference  at Mystic Lake Casino and Hotel, Prior Lake, Minnesota. The following Call to Action was adopted. Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance  Call to Action  Restoring Native food systems is an immediate and fundamental need for the continued survival and physical and spiritual wellbeing of Native peoples and our Mother Earth � now and into the future. The costs of doing nothing � and the potential benefits of action � are massive. The Native American Food Sovereignty Allia...

Last week, in the LL.M. Program in Agricultural & Food Law , we received a request for information about the impact of the government shutdown on women and children who rely on food assistance.  I asked Erin Shirl, an attorney in our Program, to reply.  The information that she reported was so important and so well researched, that I asked her to prepare it for Agricultural Law.  Erin's report follows, and her bio and contact information can be found at the conclusion of this post.  Approximately 49 million Americans struggle with food insecurity. The most recently released USDA statistics place 7 million Americans in the "very low food security" tier; this means that "at times during the year, the food intake of household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources for food." A frightening ninety-nine percent of those 7 million Americans reported that they worried food would be ...