Invest In Farmers Impacted By Winter Storm Elliot - The Farmer Fund
Right before Christmas, temperatures dropped to record lows, somewhere around 12 degrees in metro Atlanta with a stern wind that made it feel much lower. The news in cities was about pipes bursting and subsequent flooding, but in farm country it was about farmers losing their crops. Not a handful of crops either, more like entire fields of food wiped out in two days.
The Farmer Fund has been around since 2015 to help farmers recover from sudden events like hurricanes – which can be a bit more isolated. In this instance, almost every farmer north of Macon felt the impact. Several organizations are banding together to raise money that will help farmers deal with the financial impact of losing a season’s worth of crops. If you can, pitch into this worthy cause.
OUR FRIEND QUIANAH IS ABSOLUTELY KILLING IT
Serving Mostly Vegan Dishes, a Pop-Up Incubator Launches This March in South Atlanta - Eater Atlanta
Quianah is one of my closest friends and collaborators, and I’m excited to share the latest update about her creation Nourish Botanica from Eater Atlanta. If you’re not familiar with her journey, Beth McKibben does a magnificent job (as usual) capturing the story so far and previewing what’s next – specifically, the first phase of the cafe.
Starting in March, Nourish Botanica will host a series of popups with local, talented chefs, including our good friends at Meraki Soul. There’s also a scoop about a special Valentines Day dinner for those of you planning ahead.
If you’d like to help Quianah get ready for the soft launch of her cafe, join an upcoming volunteer day on Saturday 2/4, Saturday 2/11, or Saturday 2/18. Sign up here.
BACK ON MY SOLAR / AGRICULTURE BS
How Solar-Powered Refrigerators Could Cool Down Climate Change - Modern Farmer
As some things change, some things stay the same. Yes, I am obsessed with solar and agriculture, and all signs indicate the obsession is only getting bigger.
This is a slightly new take on what I’ve shared in the past, but speaks to an area of huge importance: refrigeration. If you’re not sure how important this is, check out this article that shows how American fridges use more power than entire households in some countries.
Now this isn’t talking about household fridges, it’s talking about supply chain cold storage to prevent food waste. But it’s all the same principle. Cold storage prevents spoilage but uses a chunk of energy to do so. It’s hotter when the sun’s out, so why not capture that energy to keep food cold? It makes way too much sense not to do this (insert joke about why we won’t do this here).
TRACTORS OF THE FUTURE HAVE ARRIVED
John Deere Robot Planter: The Future of Farming Looks Like Fewer Chemicals - CNET
British Company Develops First Tractor in the World to be Completely Powered by Cow Dung - Good News Network
As we’ve shared many times, robots are coming for agriculture. But this has gone too far. Poop eating robots? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Hilariously, the article refers to cow poop as “cow pies,” and I for one would hate to be the person who got them confused.
On a more serious note, industrial agriculture has systematically sought to remove humans from growing food. This is just the next step. Perhaps it’s a good thing that these robot tractors could one day have zero emissions and dramatically reduce the need for herbicides and pesticides, even if the overall concept is, well, dehumanzing.