Small fruit and vegetable farms booming in the U.S. thanks to the local food movement

[Amy SF]

Small fruit and vegetable farms booming in the U.S. thanks to the local food movement
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, June 23, 2014 10:44 EDT

As a teenager, Danelle Myer wanted nothing more than to leave her family’s farm in Iowa and become a big-city advertising executive.

Now, the 42-year-old juggles orders for cabbage and deals with hail damage on her patch of land.

After building a career in public relations, Myer returned three years ago to her rural roots in the US farm belt — the tiny Iowan town of Logan, less than 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Omaha, Nebraska.

“In my 20s, my health was not the greatest. I started realizing what we put in our body matters. I became more health-conscious,” Myer said.

“What pushed me over the edge was the land owned by my family,” said the fifth-generation farmer, as she sat cross-legged among her plants in a pink tank top and flip-flops.

“It is an immense privilege and I should do something about it.”

But she had no intention of taking up the conventional farming practices of her parents, who raise corn, soybeans and cattle.

For her, it would be a truck farm on a small, sloping piece of land “all pesticide- and GM-free,” she said, referring to genetically modified seeds that dominate much of US corn and soybean crops.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/...in-the-u-s-thanks-to-the-local-food-movement/

Whatever the reasons, this is a good thing.

 

[Kitties]

It is a good thing. I wish I were able to make it to the farmers markets around here more often.

 

[PTree15]

I belong to a CSA through a person at work. I love having fresh, organic produce. If I wasn't in the CSA, there would be plenty of farmer's markets for me to get to. I'm in a good spot for those.