Weekly Wrap-Up of Farm & Food News

All week long, we post updates on what's happening at Farm Aid and in the world of farms and food on Twitter. In case you missed some of those links, below are some notable stories we shared over since our last update:

• The big story this week is the first in a series of workshops put on by the Department of Justice and the Department of agriculture looking into antitrust issues and corporate concentration in agriculture. Now's your chance to weigh in - please take action through our site now.
• A New York Times op-ed about the threat of "superbugs" from over-use of antibiotics in agriculture.
• A fantastic little blog post from Austin, Texas about why folks who support farmers and eat their food are "local heroes" too!
• "Eat-onomics: The Ten Most Inspiring People in Sustainable Food" — some great people & cool ideas here.
• Mini-goats kept as pets and for their milk in urban areas — is this a new trend?
• A dairy farmer talks about just wanting to earn an honest living.
• Here is lots of information for farmers and consumers alike on the organic pasture rules recently created, posted by the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.
• A great article by the New York Times on the rapid rise of seed prices for farmers (corn seed prices up 135% since 2001, soy prices up 108%).
• Here's video from Thursday night's meeting before the DOJ/USDA workshop on Friday. It's farmers speaking about their views on corporate control of agriculture:

What news did you see out there? Please share in the comments.

Dept. of Justice & Dept. of Agriculture Workshops to examine corporate concentration in agriculture

Today, an historic event is taking place among the corn and soybean fields of Iowa: The Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture is kicking off its series of public workshops examining corporate concentration and antitrust violations in agriculture. If you can't be there, but want to add your voice to the discussion, take action here.

Agriculture is one of the most concentrated industries, to the detriment of family farmers and all of us eaters. For decades, there has been little or no oversight over agribusiness mergers and buyouts, leading us to the place we are today — where one company controls 93% off the soybeans and 80% of the corn grown in the United States. And this concentration is not just limited to seeds — it pervades our entire food system, from livestock to poultry to dairy to food retailers.

Today's workshop looks specifically at the issue of seeds and farmers will be well-represented (although they'll be outnumbered more than 2 to 1 by politicians!). But to make sure that all farmers get a chance to tell their story, food and farm organizations have organized additional events to give the media and people concerned about our food system an opportunity to hear from many farmers.

Last night's "Taking on Corporate Power in our Food System: A Town Hall Meeting" in Ankeny, Iowa brought out more than 250 farmers and activists who chanted "Bust the trust" and strategize about how best to tell the story of how corporate concentration and lax anti-trust enforcement has hurt family farmers and all of us eaters.

Today, Farm Aid and the Center for Food Safety will co-host a lunch for folks at the workshop, featuring farm-fresh food and stories from farmers who have been impacted by concentration in the seed business.

Our very own Joel Morton is there in Iowa and we'll have a complete recap from him, as well as footage from the workshop.

For more information about the workshop in Iowa and future workshops, click here.