Help CUESA Support Farmers and Educate Urban Eaters ~ Today!

Do you enjoy reading this newsletter each week? Have you attended one of our programs, classes, or farm tours? Or do you simply want to help spread the local and sustainable gospel — in the market and beyond? Please consider giving to CUESA. We rely on contributions from the community to continue our important work. And remember: we're a nonprofit, so all donations are tax deductible.

Complimentary Gift Wrapping at the Market ~ Tomorrow

We'll wrap farmers' market gifts for you at no cost! Our gift-wrapping station will be set up at the information booth on Saturday from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm. Volunteers will wrap your gifts in reusable brown paper bags or plain paper, and we'll provide gift tags as well as colorful ribbon to complete the festive look.

The Market is Open on Christmas Eve and Closed on December 26

Because Christmas falls on a Friday this year, and many of our farmers would rather spend the day with their families than prepare for market, we'll be closed on Boxing Day, December 26. The market on Thursday, December 24, will run from 10 am - 2 pm and feature a special expanded list of sellers to help you stock up for the holiday weekend. Gingerbread Ferry Building, above, by Paul Kwapy & Alicia Harper of Rose Pistola, will be on display at Rose Pistola restaurant through New Year's Day.

Michael Pollan Talk at the Ferry Building ~ January 23

One of our nation’s most trusted names in food-related issues will be speaking about his new book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for people who would like to become more mindful of what they are eating. Many the ideas in the book are drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Pollan is the author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire. Tickets are $20 (includes a copy of the book). A portion of the proceeds will go to CUESA. Call Book Passage at (415) 927-0960, ext 1, to reserve a spot. Learn more >

As ten days of complex climate negotiations come to a close, leaving some us with a serious "Copenhangover," we compiled a quick run-down of the role that food and agriculture have played in the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

December 14
USDA says yes, it is that bad

USDA releases a report on the Impact of Climate Change on U.S. Ecosystems. The data predicts severe drought, livestock deaths, new and more vigorous pests, grain and oilseed crops that mature faster, and changes to the nutritional content of food and animal feed due to an increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. If the future of food production in the US looks anything like what's already taking place in some parts of rural China and elsewhere in the developing world, it's clear we have some immediate work to do. Get visuals of the global situation here (including the diagram above, which represents the estimated global number of malnourished children due to short-term climate change).

Slide show: Voices from the edge of climate change (more than half are farmers, herders, and fishermen) >

December 15

Farmers and activists take to the street on Agriculture Action Day

More than 150 peasant farmers traveled to Copenhagen as part of La Via Campesina, an international organization working for a peasant’s movement. They were joined by over 500 activists who called for politicians to "change the food system, not the climate!"

Protesters shut down a gas station, dumped garbage painted green outside the headquarters of a large Danish supermarket retailer, and convened outside the Danish Meat Council to respond to industrial meat production. “We are not begging for carbon credits or other trade based solutions," said Henry Saragih, the international coordinator of Via Campesina. "We advocate a diverse food system that supports local markets and ultimately promotes food sovereignty.” 

U.S. Secretary Tom Vilsack (this week’s star of the show) made public an agreement with the American dairy lobby aimed at reducing the industry's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 percent over the next decade. (Livestock are currently responsible for nearly a quarter of American methane emissions.) How will dairy farmers do this? The main solution proposed is using anaerobic digestion to capture methane from cow manure. Only two percent of the large dairy operations that could capture methane are currently doing so. However, according to an industry group, farms with fewer than 100 cows (77% of the dairy industry) are unlikely to be able to afford the technology.

The Prince of Wales showed up in Copenhagen to talk about…you guessed it...farming! The long-term proponent of organic food and farming (Charles has his own estate farm and nonprofit organic brand) gave a passionate speech about the link between global deforestation and agriculture. Here's a morsel:

“Through more effective use of vast areas of degraded land, we could feed and fuel a growing population and keep the forests. But, ladies and gentlemen, it must be genuinely sustainable agriculture that helps to empower local communities and small farmers.”

December 16

Two days before the talks were set to wrap up, a draft of the agriculture portion of the Copenhagen agreement got out. The muckraking blog La Vida Locavore published the complete document, which was full of promising language about recognizing “small and marginal farmers, the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional knowledge and practices” and the relationship between "agriculture, land degradation and food security.”

It was still unclear whether or not the document would include agriculture offsets. Similar to the proposed Waxman-Markey “cap-and-trade” bill here in the US, an international carbon market focused on agriculture would make food producers eligible to earn carbon credits for certain practices like no-till and cover crops. Capped industries (like steel mills, energy plants, etc.) could then buy these credits, thereby offsetting their official greenhouse gas emissions.

For two differing views on carbon trading see:
* The Environmental Working Group's report, Crying Wolf: Climate Change Will Cost Farmers Far More Than a Climate Bill
* The Story of Cap and Trade from Annie Leonard, who brought you The Story of Stuff

On Wednesday, the US joined New Zealand (the instigator) and 20 other nations pledging $90 million toward a new global research alliance with the explicit purpose of studying emissions from farming. Agricultural sources account for at least six percent of all U.S. emissions and 14 percent of emissions worldwide (although some say much more), so this could be crucial data to uncover.

Skeptics such as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, for example, expressed concern in a recent statement (PDF) that the research would “duplicate the pitfalls we’ve already seen within the U.S. agriculture research agenda, which... spends billions of dollars on genetically engineered seeds that largely benefit transnational corporations …The loss of traditional knowledge and seed varieties in the Global South is a much more urgent crisis, and much more crippling to the world's capacity to address climate change.”

December 17

By Thursday, proposals to subsidize soil carbon storage with carbon offsetting schemes were back in the draft for good — much to the chagrin of sustainable farming advocates. As the Food First blog put it:

"The proposals would allow wealthy countries to buy carbon credits... instead of reducing emissions at home. The inclusion of agriculture in [the carbon trading scheme] is extremely problematic — transaction costs to participate in the program are high, giving structural advantage to large-scale industrial technologies like GM monocultures."

Wrap up

We can't think of a better way to conclude this wrap-up than with this comprehensive opinion piece by Paula Crossfield over at Civil Eats. Her point-by-point analysis of the issues at hand — including the difference between sustainable no-till practices and their chemical-dependent cousins, the role of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the USDA’s plans, and the increasing interdependence between food production and ethanol — is a must read for all sustainability-mined eaters.   

Tuesday, December 22 ~ Food Wise Booth

12:00 - 1:00 pm - CUESA's market chef Sarah Henkin will be giving out recipe cards and samples of a simple meal made with market ingredients.

CUESA's Saturday Market to Table cooking demonstrations will be on holiday for the rest of December and all of January. 2010 programs will resume in February.

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will be attending the market as of Friday. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. You'll find a list of which farmers regularly attend each market here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes—it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, December 19

In: Brokaw Nursery, Elston Farm (with hot house tomatoes), Happy Quail Farms, McGinnis Ranch, Ridgecut Gristmills

Tuesday, December 22

In: Bella Viva Orchards, Lagier Ranch (with geese for pick up!), Rancho Gordo
Out: Alive Restaurant

Thursday, December 24

In: Fatted Calf, Hog Island Oyster, Lagier Rancesh, Rancho Gordo, G.L. Alfieri Farms, Everything Under the Sun

Returning and plentiful this month (weather willing):
Page mandarins, nettles, root vegetables, winter squash, persimmons, carrots, Meyer lemons, grapefruit, oranges, radishes, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, rapini, limes, baby lettuces, cardoons, puntarella, radicchio, sweet potatoes, leeks, fennel, cabbage, kiwis, chicories, salsify, mushrooms, walnuts, clementines, cherimoyas, stone-ground wheat, dandelion greens, dried shelling beans

Winding down/limited supply:
Grapes, Dungeness crab, pomegranates, avocadoes, berries, pastured eggs, pears and apples (many varieties will still be available of both these fruits from cold storage throughout the winter)

Farms returning this month:
Brokaw Nursery

Vendor and value-added items not to be missed:
Bing cherry syrup from Lagier Ranches, prime rib roasts from Marin Sun Farms, horseradish from Happy Girl Kitchen

Featured recipes for December

Leek and Rapini Fritters from Angelo Garro with Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson (The Kitchen Sisters, authors of Hidden Kitchens)

Grilled Radicchio Salad with Pink Grapefruit, Pink Peppercorns and Garlic-Tarragon “Ranch” Dressing from Chef Eric Tucker of Millennium Restaurant (February 9, 2008)

Hearty Brown Rice, Butternut Squash, and Kale Soup from Sarah Henkin, CUESA's Market Chef (January 13, 2009)

Apple Cider Pie from the Smit Family of Hidden Star Orchards (November 22, 2008)