The Burt family is putting its poultry processing operation up for sale, and we should care if a buyer is found. Burt’s Hilltop Poultry is a USDA certified organic on-farm processing plant located in Winona County; it’s the only one of its kind in southeast Minnesota or western Wisconsin. For more than a decade, it has served hundreds of farmers who are selling their poultry directly to consumers and in stores. All the neatly packaged chickens sitting in my freezer right now were processed at Burt’s. Many a sustainably-raised Thanksgiving turkey passed through that facility last week. I visited the family some 11 years ago when they were just putting the finishing touches on the processing building. At the time, direct-marketed pasture-raised poultry was just starting to take off in a serious way. I’m amazed at how much has changed since then. The growth of Burt’s over the years has paralleled the skyrocketing demand for chicken and turkey that’s not produced and processed under horrific conditions. Several farmers have grown their direct-marketing poultry enterprises in-sync with Burt’s flourishing business. Pardon the pun, but what we have here is a true chicken and egg situation: we can’t have direct-marketed, sustainably-raised products like pastured chicken without local processors like Burt’s, and vice-versa. If you have any doubts as to how critical places like Burt’s Hilltop Poultry are to a safe and sane food system, then read Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food. (more…)

by Timothy Rose, media relations director, Fresh Energy

It’s old fashioned, it’s trite and it’s absolutely true – the devil is in the details. That is the challenge for the environmental community as we move forward with a well-earned euphoric glow after the Midwest Governor’s Association’s Energy Summit and regional agreement of cooperation. Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois have climate change advisory task forces. It is expected that all will be recommending significant and hopefully strident legislation to curb global warming pollution, escalate renewable energy, and significantly increase energy efficiency. (more…)

It’s time to put one more crop farming myth out to pasture: it turns out applying lots of nitrogen fertilizer in fact does not reduce global warming. For decades, Midwestern farmers have been advised to pour on the nitrogen. The idea is to feed those corn plants a critical nutrient, and thus maximize yields. It’s created a bit of a treadmill effect: as better hybrids and other advances increase yields, farmers have been advised to apply higher doses of fertilizer in an effort to replace the increasing amounts of nitrogen being removed from the soil by all that nutrient-hungry super-corn. (more…)

by Michael Noble, executive director, Fresh Energy

The “Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform for the Midwest” and a “Greenhouse Gas Accord” to establish a program for capping carbon pollution was announced yesterday in Milwaukee and signed by the governors of Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and the premier of Manitoba. The governors of South Dakota, Indiana, and Ohio signed on as observers, and the governors of Nebraska and North Dakota said, “No thanks.” These governors’ agreements include much that is good, some that is remarkably good, and some that will stir controversy among environmental advocates. (more…)

The 2007 corn and soybean harvest is winding down, which can mean only one thing: the pesticide TV commercial season is upon us. Winter time is when farmers make decisions about what seeds and chemicals they will use come spring, and input suppliers know it. This year, keep an eye out for ads that promise better “weed resistance control” or something of that nature. Weed resistance has become a major issue in the “crop protection” game, and that means we are going to see more toxic chemicals in our fields as farmers struggle to deal with water hemp that shakes off a spray of herbicide like it’s a gentle spring shower. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. (more…)

by Carin Skoog, global warming solutions coordinator, Fresh Energy

What do you get when you cross a polar explorer and a global warming policy expert? Answer: huge crowds of hopeful Minnesotans and piles of signed postcards to elected leaders, asking for deep, science-based reductions in global warming pollution…and it looks like Minnesotans want it NOW. (more…)

Angelina Lopez, TLC’s Media Relations & Communications intern offers the following thoughts on “mobility education.”

A new foundation based in Seattle has a brilliant idea:  replace the narrowly-focused traditional driver’s ed with mobility ed.  Mobility education, “addresses issues of safety, environment, health and economics by redefining our expectations about transportation and its consequences,” according to the Mobility Education Foundation.  By teaching youth how to use public transit, to effectively cycle, to be a responsible pedestrian, as well as how to drive, we can empower students to understand how their lifestyle choices influence the wellbeing of themselves, others, and global ecosystems.

When I was 15, I took driver’s ed.  What I remember most is the “Red Asphalt” films which showed the gory remains of car accident victims.  It used fear to try to instill a sense of the responsibility of driving 3-ton hunks of metal at high speeds.  In high school, I drove the 1½ miles to the school’s massive, overflowing parking lot. This distance would have equated to a 25 minute walk or a leisurely 10 minute bike ride.  I did not know bicycle etiquette, did not use public transportation, and was mostly sedentary.  Though I did not like to drive, emit, or spend money on gas, but I didn’t see that I had a real option.

This is where mobility education comes in.  It offers youth choices.  The foundation phrases it well:

While millions of dollars are spent every year trying, unsuccessfully, to change adult transportation habits, mobility education tackles those habits before they’ve fully formed, focusing on teen driver’s education courses as a point of intervention.

Mobility education empowers teens to make safe choices in a world where motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among people ages 4–33 …[it] instills healthy habits that make it possible for teens to protect the wellbeing of their bodies and the planet…  (From Mobility Education:  A four-point approach).

Instead of frightening youth into obeying traffic laws (the effectiveness of which is questionable anyway), we can showcase the benefits of multimodal personal transportation.  I use a bicycle to get most places.  I am healthier than I ever was, save money, and know my community more intimately.  Encouraging our youth to be aware of their transportation options and their interconnectedness equips them with tools to navigate the challenges of a globalized, climate-changing 21^st century.

During the week of Nov. 5, the full U.S. Senate will debate and vote on the 2007 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill that came out of the Senate Agriculture Committee has some key reforms, but fails to dedicate dollars to critical beginning farmer programs and contains virtually no limits on excessive commodity program payments. Once the Senate Bill passes, Congressional conferees from the House and Senate will get together to hammer out a final law, which will then be sent to the President later this fall. If you want to have a say in farm policy as it relates to conservation, food safety, rural community development and the future of our food and farming system in general, now is the time to speak up. And when you do speak up, remember this phrase: Dorgan-Grassley Payment Limitation Reform Amendment. (more…)

by Ken Bradley, senior policy associate, Fresh Energy

According to Reuters, United States bank Morgan Stanley released a report in October that wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels have the potential to grow into a $1 trillion industry by 2030.From the report: “The global risks posed by climate change are driving spending and investment in clean energy solutions, which is durable and accelerating.” (more…)