The updated Food Sovereignty for All Handbook: Overhauling the Food System with Faith-Based Initiatives is available free of charge! Cover-small Download PDF of Food Sovereignty for All Handbook Thanks to the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon for their work writing and publishing this valuable guide. This is a slightly updated version. The first Food Justice for All Webinar was recorded and can be found here. It is 67MB and can be viewed with Windows Media Player (WMP can also be downloaded onto a Mac). Join or invite others to one of remaining “Food Justice for All” webinars These webinars explore ways that congregations around the country are growing community by alleviating hunger and connecting healthy local food to people and communities with little access. The webinars will detail proven faith-based initiatives like summer-feeding programs, community gardens, farmers markets, tactics for getting local produce in food pantries and kitchens, and other models for linking people with healthy and local food. Sign up by clicking on the registration link below: 1. May 5th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: Growing community through local food 2. May 12th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: What congregations are doing to build just and sustainable food economies 3. May 19th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: SNAP outreach and Summer Feeding Programs 4. May 26th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: What congregations are doing to build just and sustainable food economies See also the US Dept. of Agriculture’s Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships website for various resources.

Calls for food justice and food sovereignty are echoing around world. From landless farmers in Brazil to seed savers in India, from urban farms in Oakland to affordable produce drop-offs in Cleveland, from agroecological farms around Lake Victoria in Kenya to farmer-owned cooperatives in Wisconsin, the sprouting of sustainable and just food systems is as sure as spring rains. Hundreds of PCUSA congregations are joining the movement—opening their kitchens, digging food gardens, hosting farmers markets, and advocating forfair food policies. Sixteen Food Justice Fellows, comprised of pastors, urban agriculturalists, grassroots advocates and students, have begun their work together and in their own communities. The Fellows will develop their own personal agrarian/food justice faith statements to more deeply ground their work. The idea came from participants of the HEART trip and the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) is hosting this national fellowship. PHP is also hosting two Americorps*VISTAs who are supporting congregations in their efforts to bring food access to neglected parts of of our cities and states. Interested people are invited to join the Fellows, VISTAs and other Presbyterians online on the Food and Faith Groupsite to share ideas about ways you and your congregation can address inequities in your local food economy and around the world. Congregations and faith-based groups are also invited to join the US Food Sovereignty Alliance. PHP is a founding member and has been active in its development. Learn more about the Alliance here. Finally, for ideas and practical assistance, consider joining the Food Justice for All Webinars for free. Click on the webinar you wish to participate in to register. 1. May 5th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: Growing community through local food 2. May 12th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: What congregations are doing to build just and sustainable food economies 3. May 19th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: SNAP outreach and Summer Feeding Programs 4. May 26th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) – Food Justice for All Webinar: What congregations are doing to build just and sustainable food economies

Below are some great articles and organizations from “Setting the Anti-Racist Table,” ~ conversations on recognizing racism, white privilege, and counteracting oppression in communities of color, as expressed in the commerce and culture of food. These conversations are happening on…

Posted by Harvesting Justice – the blog of Farmworker Justice | 19 Apr 2011 08:42 AM PDT Written by Jessica Felix-Romero The New York Times published an article on April 13th titled States Look to Ban Efforts to Reveal Farm Abuse in which reporter A.G. Sulzberger writes about pending legislation to criminalize taking or distributing photos or videos taken at agricultural facilities without the express permission of the facility management. The proposed law has a primary focus on stopping animal rights activists from exposing illegal or inhuman treatment of animals. However, this type of legislation has significant repercussions for farmworkers. Farmworker Justice invited attorney Melody Fowler-Green to blog on the potential impacts restricting video collection would have on farmworkers who are often working in isolated settings with limited ability to document violations of law or abuse that they experience.

Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) is a member-based, grassroots, non-profit eco-justice network. PEC is holding its national conference August 31 – September 3, 2011, at Highlands Presbyterian Camp and Retreat Center in Allenspark, Colorado. The theme for 2011 is “God’s…

This past week, the World Bank began its Spring Meetings with the primary focus: The food crisis. In an effort to visualize the too-often invisible victims of this crisis, the World Bank installed a “World Hunger Clock” that counts not…

Gratitude. A visiting scholar from UC Davis, Dr. Robert Emmons, made two presentations at my school last week about gratitude and its power upon our lives. Gratitude is an expression of thanks to someone or something for a benefit given…

Rural Coalition and Agricultural Missions are gathering this summer, and you are invited. If you are a farmworker, small farmer, rancher, rural or tribal community member, or if you hold land near and dear to your heart in other ways,…

Exciting new developments in the world of biotechnology: Cows can now produce human milk. That’s right. Read all about it on the UK’s telegraph. Leaving aside issues of veganism, animal rights, and whether it’s really desireable to nurse from other…

Recording live on the low-power FM radio in the Coalition of Immokalee’s community center. (Left to Right) Dora from Cuba, Mattias from Switzerland and Antonella from Italy spoke with Rev. Miguel Estrada, Guatemalan pastor and director of the nearby Mision…