Hello. We picked up a very nice essay from Crop Choice news service in which North Dakota farmer and writer Dean Hulse reflects on how farming got where it got in the last 40 years. It had some personal resonance for me: Just as Hulse describes, I sat in the barbershop on the main drag in Canute, OK, trying to take in the meaning of the populist talk among my granddad and his friend. I could see granddad’s Galaxy 500 angle-parked outside the barbershop window. Lots has changed in 40 years. The barbershop in Canute is long gone, as is the grocery store/
slaughter house, the cotton gin, and most of my family who used to live there. Let me know if Hulse’s story resonates with you, too. Click here to take a look at it.
--Chris Hill, Executive Editor

Please: Take 5 minutes to tell us how we're doing. You can click here to go straight to our new reader survey. There’s also a link to it on the New Farm home page.

The Grassroots OPX is flourishing: We launched the Grassroots OPX last week -- a look at what farmers are getting for their goods at farmer's markets across the country. We started with 3 markets. This week: 6 markets! Thanks again to all the readers who have helped us with this. Click here to view the latest Grassroots OPX. If you're inspired, and would like to help us with this initiative, e-mail us at amanda.kimble-evans@rodaleinst.org.

STILL LOOKING FOR FARMS: The Farm Locator, an easy-to-use online farm directory that lets you post information about your farm on our web site, has about 90 farms now. The more farmers who use it, the more useful it will be to the restaurants, wholesalers, retailers and consumers who use it to look for regional farm products. Go directly to the Farm Locator by clicking here.

Don't forget to check out our latest Organic Price Index.

The fruits of Cuba's 10 year focus on organic
(for more, see below)

Organic farmer trains Hmong immigrants near Atlanta, GA
(for more, see below)

TALKING SHOP: HAVANA
Cuba's 5th conference on organic agriculture features the fruits of a decade-long focus on organic
Better biological pest controls, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, multi-use plows, new intercropping techniques ... necessity (and high-level government commitment) has inspired dozens of exciting new developments in organic production.

OPINION/ANALYSIS
Reflections on Cuba ... and the rest of Latin America Despite its dismal commercial sector and well-documented tyrannies, Cuba is remarkably free of the violence, poverty and lack of education that plague Guatemala, Haiti and other countries in Latin America.

Talking Shop

Opinion

Immigrant farmers get helping hand in Georgia
The Hmong in Atlanta are keen to do agricultural work, but don't have the land or the opportunity. Through a Heifer International grant, organic grower Skip Glover hopes to change all that.

Georgia

One Farmer to Another
Jeff Moyer, Rodale Institute Farm Manager

Small grain harvest coming soon, and things are looking good ...
... but disease resistant pumpkins were a bust. Plus, mid-summer field days and new fungi research that promises to boost yields.

Jeff Moyer

Nuts & Bolts & Dreams:
A Beginners' Guide to Farming

Putting Your Face On
Getting ready for market means "hair, make-up and wardrobe" for your goodies. No matter how sweet your carrots or crisp your lettuce, if they're spattered with grit they won't get a second glance. Don covers the ins and outs of making your vegetables look just as good as they taste.

Beginning farmers

ACTION Alerts

USA! USA! Show your support for country-of-origin labeling
Country-of-Origin Labeling is being quietly killed by Congress--Make some noise for consumers' right to know and farmers' right to profit. Act before July 15!


Important Farm Bill initiatives in trouble
The House has already passed an appropriations bill that cuts funding for the Conservation Security Program and the Value-Added Producer Grants while leaving full funding for commodity programs. Stop the Senate before they do the same. Act before July 15!

Country of origin

Farm bill trouble

Certification Q&A
The New Farm Certification Team answers your questions for July including tips on buying an organic farm and keeping it certified, controlling flies, certifying fields that border suburban lots, finding approved fertilizers and getting honey certified.

Certification

Jason’s Global Organic Odyssey:
The Great Awakening
High on a Himalayan Mountain top--a million miles from his Ohio home--Jason reflects on a trip whose mission was met but whose purpose was usurped by the magnitude of the people met along the way

International Gleanings

Your farm subsidies are strangling us
President Toumani Tourè of Mali and President Compaorè of Burkina Faso enter their plea for a fair turn at the international market.

GM labelling threshold too high
The United Kingdom based Soil Association asserts its disappointment and concerns over the new GM labeling laws.

Madagascar's rainforest faces destruction
In the midst of another drought, desperate Malagasy farmers are turning the valuable resources of the rainforests into charcoal for little more then few cups of corn

Russians accuse Chinese poachers of poisoning rivers in quest for delicacies
Chinese poachers have found a new use for chemical herbicides, instead of waiting for agricultural run-off they are pouring the chemicals directly into the rivers and collecting what pops up.

Mali & Burkina Faso

UK and GM labelling

Madagascar

Chinese poachers