Touch the Soil News #1483 (Feature photo – Michigan Urban Farming Initiative – courtesy of MUFI https://www.miufi.org/) YES news portal brings us the story of MUFI – Michigan Urban Farming Initiative. It is a 3 acres urban farm focusing on the food insecurity of one of Detroit’s poor neighborhoods. The closest fresh produce store to…
Author: Touch the Soil
High Tech Farming Comes with a High Price
Touch the Soil News #1482 (Feature photo – Indoor Farming – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, Goldlocki) AgFunder News brings us more insights into the costs and direction of vertical farming. Vertical farming with the latest technologies can now cost tens of millions of dollars. You can read more of the story here:…
Food Robots
Touch the Soil News #1481 (Feature photo – Robot – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International) Phil Lempert (https://www.supermarketguru.com/) brings us the story of the infiltration into the job market by robots. On thing is for sure is that manufacturers and big companies that use robots will loose business from people whose jobs have been…
The Latest on Big Indoor Vertical Farms
Touch the Soil News #1480 (Feature photo – Lettuce Greens – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic, Oregon State University) FastCompany brings us the latest in the vertical and indoor farming trend. The story features Bowery Farms. Bowery has attracted millions of dollars of venture capital in its vision to grow big. You can read…
$100 Million – Now That’s a Big Food Order
Touch the Soil News #1479 (Feature photo – pigs – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International) China is fighting an almost losing battle with the African Swine Fever and the nations withering pork supplies. Estimates are that China may have to cull over 200 million pigs this year. In attempts to fill the shortages and…
Philadelphia – Creating an Urban Agriculture Manifesto
Touch the Soil News #1478 (Feature photo – Seal of the City of Philadelphia – Public Domain) WHYY news portal brings us the story of how the city of Philadelphia is working on an urban agriculture manifesto. Philadelphia is also one of the first cities to have a dedicated director of urban agriculture who will…
Backyard Chickens Are Alive and Well
Touch the Soil News #1477 (Feature photo – Urban Chickens – By Alain Rouiller – Cascais Costa do Esteril 52, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62137300) The confrontation between urban environments and backyard chickens will continue – so will the proponents of urban chickens in changing city ordinances. Recently a group of Chicagoans put together this YouTube…
An Inside Look at Pig Farming – 360 Degrees
Touch the Soil News #1476 (Feature photo – Pig Farming – Public Domain, JDbunod) The National Pork Board has put together a 360-degree capable video of what it’s like inside three different pig barns used for different phases of the operation. What makes this unique is that you can click on the YouTube screen and…
Trade War Losses
Touch the Soil News #1475 (Feature photo – Global Trade – Public Domain) Foodmarket News brings us an interesting insight into the trade war between the U.S. and China. Interestingly, like any war, both sides are losers and it is the people at the bottom of both nations that suffer the most. Because U.S. trade…
Farm It Forward
Touch the Soil News #1474 (Feature photo – Fresh Vegetables – Public Domain, Leon Brooks) Australian ABC news brings us the story of an urban organic farming enterprise that farms people’s lawns and strives to minimize social isolation. Folks who allow the farmers to use their front or backyards receive a weekly box of fresh…