Beginner Farmers at the Cloverleaf Farm, Part 3 and Fair Trade Bananas at UC Davis

Beginner Farmers Series: Cloverleaf Farm, Part 3

Big changes have come to the Cloverleaf Farm over the past three months. Sasha and Emma decide to bring on two new partners to help share the workload of their new farm. Local Dirt introduces the newest members of the team, Aubrey and Marissa, and hear why they are excited to be a part of the all-women farm team. Local Dirt joins the ladies in their first ever pruning workshop in their brand new fruit orchard. Check out the new Cloverleaf Farm website! And sign up for their blog! Photo courtesy of Eric Winford.

Fair Trade Bananas come to UC Davis.

UC Davis students Selina and Ari chat about banana production and consumer choice. Bananas are America's favorite fruit. The top five banana companies, including Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte, control 80% of the global banana production. Selina and Ari delve into the social injustices prevalent the global market for bananas. In an effort to encourage consumers to make the choice to purchase Fair Trade Certified products, including bananas, Selina and Ari will be working with their peers and UC Davis Dining Services to promote Fair Trade February on campus during the entire month of February!

Announcements.

• Seed Saving Workshop this Friday, February 3rd at the Bowley Center at UC Davis at 6:30pm!
• A Day at FARM 2.6 this Saturday, February 4th at 11:00am. Workshops include: tree planting, pruning, wood scouring, bee hive building, and many more. Following the workshops will be a darn dance, so bring your best square-dancing moves!

Music.

Music from Sufjan Stevens, Electro Coco, Max de Castro, The Abyssinians and Pamelo Mounk'a!

LISTEN UP!
To listen to this week's show, visit this show link. Enjoy!
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Sustainable Food and Farming Conference, Joel Salatin, Labeling Genetically Modified Organisms

Today on the show we listened to coverage from the Sustainable Food and Farming Conference that happened this past weekend in Nevada county. Anna Ruth recorded talks by Michael Ableman and Joel Salatin. She also talked with David Edwards who is part of a grassroots coalition to require that foods containing GMO ingredients be labeled. To learn more about this campaign: http://www.labelgmos.org/

We also discussed GMOs and the recent decision by BASF, a German chemical company, to stop selling GM Amflora potatoes in Europe. The company cited widespread consumer opposition to their genetically modified products and has decided to focus their operations and sales in America and Asia. The only biotech crop now grown in Europe is a Monsanto corn variety.

Songs we played:

Dar Williams- As Cool As I Am

Woollen Kits- Out of Whack

P.F. Commando- Allt Ok

The Champs- Tequila

To listen to today's show click here!

Nyame Selassie: Ecobarrios USA, and Laurie Glover: author of "Off-the-road histories, California"

Today's show features Neda Yousefian's interview with Nyame Selassie about the Ecobarrios USA movement which is based out of the Bay Area and also working in Detroit, New Orleans, and Atlanta. For more information about the Ecobarrios movement check out their website: www.ecobarrios-usa.org. Like the Facebook page Ecobarrios USA by clicking here.

Then we spoke with Laurie Glover, a UC Davis lecturer, about her new book On the Road Histories, California. You will never see California the same way again! A great book about the history of this beautiful and diverse state.

Songs we played:

Jac et le Takeifa- Guissane

Fleet Foxes- Sun it Rises

Joni Mitchell- California

To listen to the show click here. (please excuse the minor tech difficulties we had at the beginning!)

Solar Panels in the Mojave & Cofed Retreat : Food, Politics, and Cooperative Business

For the first show of 2012, local Dirt co-host AnnaTruth covers the Cofed retreat in Berkeley, California. Tune in to hear from leaders, organizers and students who are doing work to change the world we live in, one coopreative at a time. AnnaTruth chats with Janaki Jagannath, a small farmer from Southern California and recent graduate of UC Davis, about what it takes to start a coop: organizing, business planning, fundraising and campaigning.

We then hear from Anna Isaacs, Cofed's Northwest regional organizer, and former worker-owner of the Flaming Eggplant, a cooperative cafe on the Evergreen State campus in Olympia, Washington. After traveling to Venezuela and working with farming, grocery, and food processing cooperatives, she became aware of the rich history of coops in the United States, which is what brings her to

Danny Spitzberg, lead trainer of cofed, formerly worked with Slow Food UW in Madison Wisconson

Vassar studetns Zach Zielman and Marshall Daily tell us about their draems of opening the Pumpkin Patch on the Vassar College campus