Your thoughts, please?

Linda Black of Washington Post writes about US food policy or lack thereof and how we can gather together to affect change.

USDA Gives Final Rule on “Naturally Raised,” Hisses and Boos Resound

UK Study Finds Biodiverse Systems Produce Healthier, Better Tasting Meat

We Are What We Eat (part one)

A Day at the Stuart Family Farm with the Channel 11 News Team

We just returned from an exciting day at the Stuart Family Farm in Bridgewater, Connecticut. We visited with Bill and Deb Stuart along with WPIX/CW Channel 11 News who wanted to see firsthand what an Animal Welfare Approved farm looks like and how the auditing process works. Arthur Ch’ien and his cameraman Jason Johnson spent three hours with us and took so much farm footage that they ran out of tape! And despite, both Arthur and Jason’s initial apprehension about getting up close and personal with the cows, they became fast friends with Urma and a few other heifers in the Stuarts’ grassfed herd.

Meadow Lark Farm – Nampa, ID

Farmer Janie Burns raises Animal Welfare Approved sheep on Meadow Lark Farm in Nampa, Idaho.

Vilsack Moving to Secretary of Commerce Post?

Report from the Oxford Farming Conference

Upcoming Event: Animal Welfare Approved to Attend 6th Annual American Grassfed Association Conference

We are excited to attend the 6th annual American Grassfed Association Conference! The conference runs from February 6-7, and will be held at in Lexington, Kentucky. Acclaimed author and sustainable agriculture guru Wendell Berry will give the keynote address, followed by Dr. Lee Myer of the University of Kentucky who will discuss successful economic strategies for alternative ranching practices.

Animal Welfare Approved has recently announced a partnership with the American Grassfed Association (AGA) through which farmers meeting both organizations’ standards may receive both accreditations through one audit. These complementary accreditations will help differentiate farmers from those using only the USDA-defined “grassfed” label, which still allows feedlot confinement and growth hormones. Animal Welfare Approved Program Director Andrew Gunther and American Grassfed Association Director Don Davis will lead a workshop on obtaining these two seals, and walk farmers through the audit and certification process.

Price Family Farm – Lincoln County, MO

David Price didn’t intend to make the transition from a middle-school history teacher to a fulltime farmer. After all, he was suburban boy who simply wanted to raise food for his family so that he and his wife would know what their children were eating. But his passion for farming took over and now he farms fulltime to supply his direct-market customers with beef.