Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held illegal the Department of Commerce’s federal regulations (through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service) that would have permitted, for the very first time, large-scale industrial finfish aquaculture operations offshore in U.S. federal waters. The appellate court affirmed a 2018 […]
An Open Letter from Our Oceans Dear Humans, Did you know that this special day of June is World Oceans Day?! It’s a day to celebrate ME! And as part of that, I ask you today, to please listen to my humble message, so that you might better understand, and perhaps address, my current situation. […]
Expanding nearshore finfish farming or establishing an offshore industry in the U.S. carries significant risks to aquatic ecosystems and public health, according to a report published by researchers at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health and Engineering. The report assesses whether an expanded […]
WOW – we can’t believe it’s been 5 years! This summer the RFC team celebrated it’s 5th birthday along with our extended family – our volunteers, gardeners, neighbors, and friends. We partied NOLA style with a big shrimp boil and all the fixings (corn, mushrooms, onions, garlic), fresh from the farm watermelon, red beans and […]
On Friday afternoon, February 12th, twelve fishing and public interest groups jointly sued the federal government, challenging new regulations allowing industrial fish farming in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), under the Department of Commerce are agencies charged with protecting […]
What a great weekend we had June 12 -14! We hosted the first in a series of intensive urban farmer “market” trainings for new and beginning growers. In a combination of classroom-type presentations and discussions and on-the-farm real activities, 38 excited participants learned the basics of growing food, sustainable urban style. We kicked the weekend […]
February 2nd was an exciting day for us here at the Recirculating Farms Coalition. We learned that we’d been awarded a New and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to supporting training and mentoring for urban farmers in innovative growing methods like recirculating hydroponics, aquaculture and aquaponics, […]
Both the House and Senate of the U.S. Congress have now passed the same version of the Agriculture Act of 2014, the reauthorization of the law commonly known as the Farm Bill. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation, making it law soon. The new Farm Bill comes with changes not just for farmers, […]
Recirculating aquaculture is getting the spotlight early in 2014 with Canada announcing a new Vancouver Island facility that is raising salmon commercially in a completely land-based system. The new endeavor has created much discussion about how recirculating farms are changing the landscape for farming across the continent and that open water aquaculture should be a […]
In recent months, there have been so many happenings in food policy – from genetically modified foods studies to questionable permits issued for ocean aquaculture in Hawaii. As each new occurrence was announced, we thought – more people need to know about what’s happening with our food system and speak out for affordable healthy food […]