Roma Farms

NY Times Food & Drink Issue

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:53:28 -0500

A couple months back, the New Times put together a great collection of articles examining some of the current issues in the food world. Enjoy!

Check out this article on the scary consequences...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:42:02 -0500

Check out this article on the scary consequences “fracking” is having on our food supply.

…Fracking a single well requires up to 7 million gallons of water, plus an additional 400,000 gallons of additives, including lubricants, biocides, scale and rust inhibitors, solvents, foaming and defoaming agents, emulsifiers and de-emulsifiers, stabilizers and breakers. About 70 percent of the liquid that goes down a borehole eventually comes up—now further tainted with such deep-earth compounds as sodium, chloride, bromide, arsenic, barium, uranium, radium and radon. (These substances occur naturally, but many of them can cause illness if ingested or inhaled over time.) This super-salty “produced” water, or brine, can be stored on-site for reuse. Depending on state regulations, it can also be held in plastic-lined pits until it evaporates, is injected back into the earth, or gets hauled to municipal wastewater treatment plants, which aren’t designed to neutralize or sequester fracking chemicals (in other words, they’re discharged with effluent into nearby streams).

At almost every stage of developing and operating an oil or gas well, chemicals and compounds can be introduced into the environment. Radioactive material above background levels has been detected in air, soil and water at or near gas-drilling sites. Volatile organic compounds—including benzene, toluene, ethylene and xylene—waft from flares, engines, compressors, pipelines, flanges, open tanks, spills and ponds. (The good news: VOCs don’t accumulate in animals or plants. The bad news: inhalation exposure is linked to cancer and organ damage.)

Underground, petrochemicals can migrate along fissures through abandoned or orphaned wells or leaky well casings (the oil and gas industry estimates that 60 percent of wells will leak over a thirty-year period). Brine can spill from holding ponds or pipelines. It can be spread, legally in some places, on roadways to control dust and melt ice. Truck drivers have also been known to illegally dump this liquid in creeks or fields, where animals can drink it or lick it from their fur.

Combine that with the impact being seen and felt and you have a frightening situation:

Earlier this year, Michelle Bamberger, an Ithaca veterinarian, and Robert Oswald, a professor of molecular medicine at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, published the first (and, so far, only) peer-reviewed report to suggest a link between fracking and illness in food animals. The authors compiled case studies of twenty-four farmers in six shale-gas states whose livestock experienced neurological, reproductive and acute gastrointestinal problems. Exposed either accidentally or incidentally to fracking chemicals in the water or air, scores of animals have died. The death toll is insignificant when measured against the nation’s livestock population (some 97 million beef cattle go to market each year), but environmental advocates believe these animals constitute an early warning.

Exposed animals “are making their way into the food system, and it’s very worrisome to us,” Bamberger says. “They live in areas that have tested positive for air, water and soil contamination. Some of these chemicals could appear in milk and meat products made from these animals.”

In Louisiana, seventeen cows died after an hour’s exposure to spilled fracking fluid. (Most likely cause of death: respiratory failure.) In north central Pennsylvania, 140 cattle were exposed to fracking wastewater when an impoundment was breached. Approximately seventy cows died; the remainder produced eleven calves, of which only three survived. In western Pennsylvania, an overflowing waste pit sent fracking chemicals into a pond and a pasture where pregnant cows grazed: half their calves were born dead. The following year’s animal births were sexually skewed, with ten females and two males, instead of the usual 50-50 or 60-40 split.

In addition to the cases documented by Bamberger, hair testing of sick cattle that grazed around well pads in New Mexico found petroleum residues in fifty-four of fifty-six animals. In North Dakota, wind-borne fly ash, which is used to solidify the waste from drilling holes and contains heavy metals, settled over a farm: one cow, which either inhaled or ingested the caustic dust, died, and a stock pond was contaminated with arsenic at double the accepted level for drinking water.

Right to Know Election Statement

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:50:34 -0500

Narrow Loss; Movement Victory!

Statement on Election Results from the California Right to Know Campaign

Yesterday, we showed that there is a food movement in the United States, and it is strong, vibrant and too powerful to stop. We always knew we were the underdogs, and the underdogs nearly took the day. Dirty money and dirty tactics may have won this skirmish, but they will not win the war.

Today, we are more than 4 million votes closer to knowing what’s in our food than when we started. This is a victory and a giant step forward. We are proud of our broad coalition of moms and dads, farmers, nurses, environmentalists, faith and labor leaders who did so much with so few resources to bring us to this point, and we will carry forward.

These results are also a reminder of the corrupting influence of huge multinational corporations on our electoral process. The world’s leading pesticide and junk food companies outspent Yes on 37 by more than 5 to 1, and beginning on October 1, spent about a million dollars a day on a hailstorm of false claims, misrepresentations and fear mongering over five simple words on a label. In the end, they spent enough money to hide the truth from the majority of voters. The food manufacturers are on the wrong side of history; they should not fight their customers, but join them.

Today is not the end of our campaign to secure our fundamental right to know what’s in our food. It is a strong beginning, and we thank the millions of Californians who stood with us. We are proud of our grassroots movement, our 10,000 hardworking volunteers, and the diverse coalition of health, faith, labor and consumer groups that stood with us. We will keep fighting for consumer choice, fairness and transparency in our food system. And we will prevail.

To Victory!

...

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:39:14 -0400

The Future of Food

Trust Us: Vote...

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:36:27 -0400

Trust Us: Vote Yes on CA Prop 37

Last big take of year :(

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:31:27 -0400

Last big take of year :(

Stretching the season out as long as we can.

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:52:49 -0400

Stretching the season out as long as we can.

Alarming: Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Corn Study Results

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:12:00 -0400

Alarming: Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Corn Study Results:

The above link comes from the supporters of CA Prop 37, a proposition that calls for the labeling of genetically engineered foods in California.

From a Right to Know email:

…[the study] shows that a variety of corn engineered by Monsanto has been linked to mammary tumors, kidney and liver damage and other serious illnesses in the first ever peer-reviewed, long-term animal study of GMO foods.

As a result of the massive breast tumors, liver and kidney damage, it was concluded that around 50% of the males and 70% of the female test subjects died prematurely, compared with only 30% and 20% in the control group. By two years of age, at the end of their lives, the scientists also found that 50 to 80% of female rats had tumors, compared to only 30% of those eating non-GM food.

Fresh Beet Juice (made from our Bull’s Blood beets)

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 16:34:06 -0400

Fresh Beet Juice (made from our Bull’s Blood beets)

In Praise of Happy Cows

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:09:59 -0400

In Praise of Happy Cows:

Considering that “about 80% of of antibiotics in the United States go to farm animals — leading to the risk of more antibiotic-resistant microbes, which already cause infections that kill some 100,000 Americans annually” - it might be a good idea to evolve from the “bottom line” mindset to a “TLC and green grass” approach.

Outstanding in the Field

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:54:49 -0400

Just came across this wanderlust-ful “restaurant” Outstanding in the Field (actually tripped over them thanks to our friends over at Aquidneck Farms).

Their mission:

…to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.

Outstanding in the Field is a roving culinary adventure – literally a restaurant without walls. Since 1999 we have set the long table at farms or gardens, on mountain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches. Occasionally the table is set indoors: a beautiful refurbished barn, a cool greenhouse or a stately museum. Wherever the location, the consistent theme of each dinner is to honor the people whose good work brings nourishment to the table.

Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (sometimes sourced within inches of your seat at the table!) and generally prepared by a celebrated chef of the region. After a tour of the site, we all settle in: farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners sharing the long table.

We unfortunately discovered the dinner at Aquidneck Farms too late (the event is sold out) but we hope to catch them next time around!

Pretty gnarly carrots!

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:35:16 -0400

Pretty gnarly carrots!

Brick Alley Pub’s Stacked Eggplant ROMA We are playing in...

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:27:56 -0400

Brick Alley Pub’s Stacked Eggplant ROMA

We are playing in the big leagues! Brick Alley Pub is using our Rosa Bianca Eggplant in their latest special!!!

(the above is NPR’s episode on the latest Stanford Organic...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:35:28 -0400

(the above is NPR’s episode on the latest Stanford Organic Study)

New Stanford Study on the Advantages of Organic

Stanford’s latest study has kicked up a dust storm in the organic vs. non-organic debate. As Consumer Reports broke it down, the review, conducted by researchers at Stanford University, was a meta-analysis of data from 240 studies comparing organically grown versus conventionally grown food. Seventeen of the studies were done in humans; the rest looked just at the foods themselves. The researchers looked at three main variables: health outcomes, nutrient levels, and levels of contaminants, including pesticide residues. They concluded that “the published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods,” though consuming them “may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”

But the article goes on to say that the study has serious limitations, several of which the authors acknowledge. Among them:

The analysis included plenty of studies that did find a nutritional benefit to eating organic food, such as higher levels of phosphorous and phenols (a type of antioxidant compound) in organic produce and more omega-3 fatty acids in organic milk and chicken. Some other studies weren’t able to identify a benefit, meaning the findings overall were heterogeneous, or mixed—which is very different from “no benefit” across the board.

Only three of the 17 human studies in the analysis looked at health outcomes, and two of those focused on allergies in children—an odd metric for comparing organic to conventional diets, since there’s no reason that organic diets should correlate with fewer allergies. “That isn’t part of what organic food production even is and it isn’t surprising to learn there may not be any difference” in the rates of allergies between children who eat organically and those who don’t, says Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., director of consumer safety and sustainability for Consumer Reports, adding that it was interesting that the authors also found one study that did suggest a benefit, for childhood eczema.

It could take many years for the cumulative effects of pesticide buildup in the body from eating conventionally grown food to show up. Cancer risks, for example, are calculated over long periods of exposure to carcinogens. The human studies in the Stanford analysis lasted at most two years.

The study downplays the importance of the prohibition of antibiotics in organic agriculture, which can help counter the serious public-health problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Such bacteria have increased greatly in prevalence in recent years, possibly due to the routine use of antibiotics in conventionally raised farm animals. Indeed, the meta-analysis determined that conventionally produced chicken and pork had a 33 percent higher risk for bacteria that’s known to be resistant to at least three antibiotics.

The perception of better nutrition is only one reason that people might choose to eat organically. Even if the research in that area remains murky, it’s clear that organic diets provide less exposure to pesticides and antibiotics, two potential safety benefits, and that organic agriculture is better for the environment. A nationally representative poll of Americans conducted by Consumer Reports earlier this year found that 86 percent want their local supermarkets to carry meat raised without antibiotics, and the majority said they’d be willing to pay extra for that feature.

For more takes on the study check out the New York Times recap along with Chuck Benbrook’s analysis.

Bud Nip, Organic, and the makings of a Potato Project

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:47:34 -0400

Bud Nip, Organic, and the makings of a Potato Project

The latest in the CA PROP 37 campaign (learn more here and here)

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 19:14:24 -0400

The latest in the CA PROP 37 campaign (learn more here and here)

Another round of drying fruits!

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 19:05:27 -0400

Another round of drying fruits!

Dietitians: Coming to a Grocery Store Near You?

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:13:36 -0400

Dietitians: Coming to a Grocery Store Near You?

Beautiful.

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:01:05 -0400

Beautiful.

ROMA Farms Rosa Bianca Eggplant

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:59:50 -0400

ROMA Farms Rosa Bianca Eggplant