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Crops Ahoy: Farms That Float

No Land? No Problem. If Barcelona-based Forward Thinking Architecture has its way, farms of the future will operate autonomously as they float on the open sea. Stretching eco-friendly concepts to the limit, the ambitious design firm has come up with the idea of Smart Floating Farms, large triple-decker agriculture barges that feature fish farms down below, hydroponic gardens up top, and solar panels on the roof to keep things running. They don’t exist yet, but they’re certainly providing plenty of food for thought.

The concept hits all the current buzzwords: preservation of arable land, local organic food sourcing with less “food mileage,” environmental protection, self-sufficiency and sustainability.

More from the Huffington Post

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“An average of 30 years ago there was probably 20 to 30 commercial harvesters,” said LeBaron. “Now there’s just a handful. It’s a dying thing.”

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In early May, the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Urban Food Policy Institute Forum hosted a group discussion exploring the ways food activists and their allies could strengthen the food movement in New York City and elsewhere over the next four years. Here are eight ways food movements can create change in ways that could benefit everyone.

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Ben Burkett’s family has been farming on the same land in Petal, Mississippi, since 1889, when his maternal grandfather acquired a 164-acre homestead. Today, it’s known as B & B Farm, after Burkett’s parents, Ben and Bessie. His daughter Darnella Burkett Winston, who lives a hundred miles away in Union Church but still farms with him regularly, is the fifth generation to work the family land. At just under two years old, Darnella’s daughter is already riding horses, so she may be on her way to becoming the sixth.

Not only does Burkett grow exceptional sweet potatoes and watermelon, he’s been an activist for more than 30 years, speaking, writing, testifying, and organizing for the rights of independent family farmers in his community, around the U.S. and internationally. He is President of the National Family Farm Coalition; State Coordinator of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives, the local arm of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives; and a member of the international peasant network La Via Campesina. He is the recipient of a 2014 James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, among other accolades.

But this is planting time, so Burkett is home on the farm. He took a break to talk with us about spring at B & B Farm and how hard it’s gotten to get tractor parts.

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Dear Mr. President,

I am a ninth-generation family farmer in Snow Hill, North Carolina. For 18 years, my family and I worked under a contract to raise chickens on land that has been in my family for nearly three centuries. In 2003, Perdue Farms cancelled our contract and the contracts of many other farmers in the region, moving to another area to cut costs on slaughterhouse operations. In doing so, they inflicted huge financial losses and buried us in debt. I’ve managed to barely hang on to the family farm for now, but many others have not been so lucky.

Mr. President, poultry farmers desperately need your help. http://bit.ly/2qrOt1o

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The clock is ticking on the 2018 Farm Bill.

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Amidst the clam chowder bowls and t-shirt shops on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, Giuseppe “Joe” Pennisi’s weathered trawl boat looks out of place. Stationed on his docked vessel, the third generation, Monterey-born fisherman has been working tirelessly to accomplish one goal—to reconnect this community with local fish.

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Summer Rayne @homesteadbrooklyn and @sugardetoxme and is taking over our Instagram feed for the week. She’ll be posting some home gardening photos. Follow along at http://instagram.com/civileats

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On May 1, just two days after the People’s Climate March, workers across the country and around the world rallied for living wages and better working conditions—and food system workers featured prominently at many of the protests.

In New York City’s Washington Square Park, several hundred protesters—including street vendors, undocumented immigrant workers from Tom Cat Bakery, which was recently targeted by the Department of Homeland Security, and restaurant workers—were present. They held up signs that read “Produciendo Comida. Ganando Justice.” (“Producing Food. Winning Justice.”) and “Luchamos Por Nuestras Familias” (We Fight For Our Families).

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This May Day, a proposed CA law promises to give home cooks the right to sell their food, but will they be the next generation of Uber drivers?

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This weekend, hundreds of thousands of citizens will march in Washington, D.C., and around the world, raising their voices to demand action on climate change, one of the most critical issues of our day.

Energy and fossil fuel will be at the center of the dialogue, of course, but it’s also critical to address the reality that our industrial agriculture system—drenched in fossil fuels and sucking up energy, water, and other critical resources—is a leading climate change culprit.

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The Global Seed Network, will be an online tool where small growers can “meet” to swap diverse, rare, and heirloom seeds, and in the process, propagate and expand seed diversity around the world.

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Can the Perennial Plate change minds through Facebook newsfeeds?