Posted in Other on 03. Mar, 2010
Social media or “new media” is revolutionizing the way by which knowledge – both ‘scientific’ and ‘lay’ – is communicated. Indeed, social media represents a powerful set of constantly evolving tools for engaging society in scientific discourse. These tools have two main strengths that are relevant to scientific communication. This blog post is based on a poster presented at the 2010 PrioNet conference in Ottawa Ontario. Click here to download it or read on. (more…)
Bernard Smith Chatting with Some Visitors at Full of Life Farms
I believe that, as much as possible, the crops grown and animals raised on a farm should be thought of as food not commodity. So, naturally, I’m interested in how we move towards having more farmers/ranchers transition into direct relationships with eaters where food is grown and moved into the hands of eaters without being commoditized.
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Check out the newest F2F video short created with and for the Friends of Family Farmers in Oregon.
I’ve been in Oregon for almost nine months now and have learned a great deal about direct farm marketing and local food in this part of the continent. Along the way, I have found myself in the company of some good folks here at an organization called the
friends of family farmers.
Specifically, I have connected with Michael Moss and Megan Fehrman who are responsible for facilitating the
Agriculture Reclamation Act (ARA). The purpose of the ARA is to organize and mobilize family farmers in Oregon to have a greater say in the future of agricultural policy in the state of Oregon. Powerful agribusinesses
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I stumbled across a link to the United States Department of Agriculture’s YouTube site the other day. To my surprise, they had a channel dedicated to a new initiative launched earlier this year entitled “know your farmer, know your food”. Click for YouTube channel.
Ostensibly, the initiative aims to connect local consumers with local producers to create new economic opportunities for communities. The campaign includes a short video of the secretary of agriculture encouraging consumers to get to know their farmer and promoting the importance of local food.
I don’t have a sense of the authenticity of this campaign. Is there real action behind these words? (more…)
USC Canada has released a new video short describing “the story of food”. The video largely outlines the decline of biodiversity in mainstream/industrial agro-food production systems. It touches on the downside of genetically modified crops, the plight of the family farm, climate change and hunger/obesity. The short video ends by encouraging consumers to ‘buy local, organic and fair trade’ wherever they can, to support small scale organics and to think about where your food comes from and how it is produced. This succinct video outlines some important issues with an attractive delivery (more…)
Social media or “new media” is revolutionizing the way by which knowledge – both ‘scientific’ and ‘lay’ – is communicated. Indeed, social media represents a powerful set of constantly evolving tools for engaging society in scientific discourse. These tools have two main strengths that are relevant to scientific communication. This blog post is based on a poster presented at the 2010 PrioNet conference in Ottawa Ontario. Click here to download it or read on. (more…)
