Ask any old-time farmer in Ogden Valley how he decided what crop to grow. Chances are he’s not going to say that the beauty of alfalfa captured him in a moment of deep spiritual recognition. But that’s how farmer Pete Rasmussen tuned in to the living organism Allium sativum, or garlic. “I had a connection to the plant from the first moment and something sparked inside me,” Pete … [Read more...]
Farms vs. Suburbia: Does Population Growth Mean the End of Family Farms?
The Wasatch Front has been growing out rather than up for years. Sprawl is now threatening Utah’s most successful family farms. Over eighty percent of Utah residents say they want more farms, open space, and locally produced food, but it appears that city, state and local leaders haven’t received the memo. As with most things political, it’s all about the money. Thayne … [Read more...]
Is The FDA Preventing Us From Eating Healthier?
Foodborne illnesses claim 2400 lives in the United States every year. These lives are lost despite the best efforts of the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), with a combined spending of $15.6 billion on meat recalls, and $56 million in total food recalls. Let's consider just the meat recalls for a moment: $15.6 billion. The total … [Read more...]
Rock Hill Creamery
In recent years, farmers markets have been popping up around Utah nearly as quickly as actual farmland has been disappearing. Most of the markets offering locally grown produce and handcrafted goods tend to sprout up in parks or parking lots during the summer months, but the Harvest Market held each Saturday in the northern Cache Valley city of Richmond, is among the few held … [Read more...]
High Altitude Organic
What began as an effort to produce locally sourced, organic food for one Park City family nearly 10 years ago has blossomed into a community cooperative with approximately 90 members, as well as a public farm stand featuring products created mostly by members of the co-op “family.” Copper Moose Farm, on the flatland of the Snyderville basin just outside Park City, is owned … [Read more...]
Water(melons): The Essence of Life
Before Interstate 70 opened in 1970, Nancy Dunham’s children would haul their Red Flyer wagon filled with homegrown pumpkins to sell along the highway that ran through Green River. “That’s how it started,” the 86-year old Dunham Farms matriarch recalls. The kids soon started growing watermelons, and now Dunham Farms is one of three major melon farms in town, known for its … [Read more...]
Sweet Corn and a Strong Legacy at Miya’s Farm
Miya’s Farm is situated in the middle of a Clearfield, Utah, residential area, but the urban farm wasn’t always so… urban. Renie Miya remembers when his family farmed 350 acres of land throughout Davis County before relatives sold their portions of the Miya family farmland. Miya’s farm is now about 40 acres. Over the years, Renie has seen surrounding farms come and go, and … [Read more...]
Utah Ranch Viable Thanks to Wildlife not Livestock
Croydon UT—The Wilde family is now in their sixth generation of raising 2,800 sheep and 300 head of cattle on 17,000 acres. But despite having all of these animals and all this land, the Wildes earn close to nothing on the livestock. Instead, their living is made from the wildlife. In a changing trend of both consumer demand for wild game, which is healthier, and the growing … [Read more...]
The History Behind Monsanto’s Assault on Mexico’s Corn
Searching for the "impact that GMO corn has had on Mexico" I came across this interesting article from Regeneration International. In 2009, changes in Mexican law allowed biotech giants like Monsanto to conduct trials of GMO corn in approved regions of the country. Two years later, in 2011, Monsanto and Syngenta asked for a permit to plant GM corn in several states in … [Read more...]
How Our Choices Affect Our Landscape – Utah Stories Farm Issue July 2017
We recently took a close look at the farms in Sevier County. There are some massive, football field sized warehouses housing thousands of chickens. You don’t see the chickens. There are acres of alfalfa pastures watered automatically—no animals. Across the street there is a very smelly feedlot where cows are standing atop piles of their own manure while putting on massive … [Read more...]