the beat

RateBeer, a worldwide consumer web site dedicated to craft beer and the craft beer culture, recently announced their 2013 list of the 100 best breweries in the world. We're awfully proud of the two Vermont contenders, Hill Farmstead Brewery and Lawson's Finest Liquids. New Hampshire was represented by Smuttynose Brewing Co, while California held 14 of the 100 slots. Michigan came in next with six of the best breweries.  Check out the full list of 100 top breweries to find the best brews near you!  After you do that, click here to browse FarmPlate's list of over 600 American craft breweries.  Cheers!  

Fred Kirschenmann is the Distinguished Fellow at the Iowa State University Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, where he is also a professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy.   Kirschenmann is a longtime organic farmer, having converted his family’s farm in North Dakota to a certified organic operation in 1976. He is also President of the Board of The Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.  Along with Steve Stevenson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a group of others, Kirschenmann has developed a body of research known as “Ag of the Middle.” It focuses on the challenges faced by mid-sized farm and food businesses – and how to overcome them. We...

The circus is a quintessial summer event. When the big top rolls into town, rumours spread about elephant sightings, supposed meetings with clowns in bars, and the love affair between the two main acrobats. A circus brings not only a wonderful performance but also a bandwagon of excitement wherever it goes. Part of its charm is the mystery of this magical community that rolls in, able to perform seemingly impossible feats defying the laws of gravity and making us laugh 'til we cry. Who are they? Were do they come from? What do they do outside the ring? In the case of Circus Smirkus, the performers are youngsters between the ages of 10 and 18, from New England and around the world. During...

On July 17, 2012, Three Revolutions launched the world's first crowdfunding platform dedicated to farm and food ventures! Here's how the platform works: Farmers, food processors, and food-associated businesses, artists and artisans, communities building gardens, brewers, abattoirs, activists, food hubs, and many others can share their story and funding needs on the 3R platform. Backers can fund these ventures with as little as $10 or as much as several thousand. The farmer or food entrepreneur responds with the tempting promise of a monthly shipment of cheese over the coming year, an open tab at the local brewpub, a half-priced CSA or perhaps an overnight stay at their farm. 3R takes a cut...

We recently linked to a great blog post from Derek Singleton, a distribution management sofware analyst, where he argued that the U.S. stands to benefit from a more European-style local food distribution system. Now, Singleton’s back with a thoughtful analysis of how technology can help alleviate some of the challenges of food deserts. According to the USDA, a food desert is defined as “a low-income census tract where a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store.” Low access in rural areas is defined as 10 miles, versus one mile in urban areas. In the piece, Singleton consults several experts and discusses some local food distribution...

Hello all! My name is Ana Bowens, and I am excited to be interning at FarmPlate for the next couple of months! I am a senior at Dartmouth College in Hanover but originally from downtown Manhattan. I am an evolving foodie with particular interests in sustainable food practices and spreading knowledge about the benefits of eating locally and sustainably. Needless to say, there are many misconceptions about health and nutrition in today’s world of Big Macs and other foods that are assumed to be healthy simply because they are marketed as sugar free (which often just means “full of chemicals that make this food item taste artificially sweet!”). There is a lot of work to be done on...

Former vegan Tovar Cerulli ate no meat products for ten years. Now, he hunts and eats deer meat from around his home near Marshfield, Vermont.  A PhD student in the communications department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Cerulli chronicles this journey – and his discoveries of the complexity and ambiguity of food production – in the new book, The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian’s Hunt for Sustenance. Published by Pegasus Books, the book came out in February and is distributed by W.W. Norton in hard copy and e-book formats. In the book, Cerulli describes how his concern about animal welfare and the environmental impacts of the meat industry led him to vegetarianism...