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Student Uses Huntington Convention
Center Farm for Bee Research
On a quarter acre of land at the north end of its property, the Huntington
Convention Center has a sustainable farm that supplies its in-house catering
group with fresh food. Alongside raised garden beds, 26 chickens, and three
Mangalista heritage breed pigs, the lot is also home to 13 bee hives, whose
buzzing occupants annually generate more than 2,000 pounds of honey. This
summer, Andy Mondello, a business management undergrad from the Ohio
State University at Wooster, worked closely with the facility’s bees for a special
research project. He and professor Reed Johnson collected pollen samples
in traps located at the entrance of hives. They then looked at the samples to
determine the pollen’s origin to study how the insects interacted with and
moved in the urban environment of downtown Cleveland.
- tsnn.com
Organic Trade Association Steps
Up Fight Against Organic Fraud
As organic food continues to grow in popularity, the reports of organic
food fraud—situations in which conventionally grown food is labelled
and sold as organic—also rises. To combat this trend, the Organic
Trade Association (OTA) is forming its own anti-fraud task force, which
will share information and documentation with organic certification
agencies. “There is a strong desire on the part of industry to
stop the incidence of fraud in organic,” OTA director Laura
Batcha says. “The consumer expects that organic products
are verified back to the farm. The industry takes that contract
with the consumer very seriously.” The USDA also announced it is now
publishing suspension or revocation of organic certification notices,
and it will post more organic program enforcement actions on its website. The agency
is also lobbying to give USDA more enforcement powers in next year’s new farm bill.
- fooddive.com
Boy Creates Garden to Feed His Community
Austin Hurt, an 11-year-old boy from Indianapolis, has created a garden across
the street from his school to help feed the community. “It’s the right thing
to help feed the community, and it feeds people so nobody goes hungry,”
he says. So far, he and different groups in the community have planted
blueberries, raspberries, grapes, blackberries, peppers, tomatoes, beans,
lettuce, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes on the donated land. Hurt, who started
gardening at the age of seven to help provide extra food for his family,
says the garden is open at any time for anyone to stop by and pick fresh
fruits and vegetables. Hurt’s mom says that they work at the garden
every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and everyone is welcome to
help. Hurt is also sharing his message and gardening knowledge
on his YouTube channel, theyoungurbangardener Hurt.
- wishtv.com
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