Photo: USFRAOn Thursday, Sept. 22, the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, a new trade association made up of some of the biggest players in the food industry -- including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Dupont, and Monsanto -- hosted what it called "Food Dialogues" in Washington D.C., New York City, U.C. Davis, and Fair Oaks, Ind. The USFRA describes the Food Dialogues, and its broader multimillion-dollar media campaign, as an effort to amplify the voice of farmers and ranchers and help consumers know more about "how their food is grown and raised." Sounds good, on first blush. Most of us …

Photo: RickYesterday, to much fanfare, the First Lady announced that the Darden Group -- owners of Red Lobster and Olive Garden, among other restaurants -- will voluntarily improve their menus, cutting calories and sodium and making healthier options available for kids. In an allegedly bold move, the company is specifically committing to cutting calories and sodium on its menu by 10 percent over the next five years. What does this really mean? Let's imagine you're dining out at Olive Garden one evening. You've got an appetite, so you order your favorite, the fried calamari appetizer. For an entrée, you go …

With all due respect, Nina Federoff’s New York Times op-ed reads like it was written two decades ago, when the jury was still out about the potential of the biotech industry to reduce hunger, increase nutritional quality in foods, and decrease agriculture’s reliance on toxic chemicals and other expensive inputs that most of the world’s farmers can’t afford. With more than 15 years of commercialized GMOs behind us, we know not to believe these promises any longer. Around the world, from the Government Office for Science in the U.K. to the National Research Council in the United States to the …

For the series "Grist dared me to make a change," we challenged author and activist Anna Lappé to write love poems to her favorite green groups in NYC. Read her first, second, third, fourth, and fifth here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! The Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York emerged out of organizing by the surviving workers of Windows on the World, the restaurant on top of the World Trade Center North Tower. First came Colors, a cooperatively owned restaurant in Lower Manhattan. Restaurant Opportunities Center of NY was formed soon after as a way to …

For the series "Grist dared me to make a change," we challenged author and activist Anna Lappé to write love poems to her favorite green groups in NYC. Read her first, second, third, and fourth here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! Mary Cleaver and the entire team at Cleaver Co. bring to life some of the most delicious and sustainable meals I've had in the city. They're also dedicated to supporting many of the food justice organizations in the city, including being generous supporters to our Small Planet Fund event every year.

For the series "Grist dared me to make a change," we challenged author and activist Anna Lappé to write love poems to her favorite green groups in NYC. Read her first, second, and third here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, with views of the United Nations and the East River, is a spectacular farm that combines growing great food and building community with fabulous weekly programs. Learn more at rooftopfarms.org. ("Annie" is Annie Novak, co-founder of Eagle Street and a New Agtivist.)

For the series "Grist dared me to make a change," we challenged author and activist Anna Lappé to write love poems to her favorite green groups in NYC. Read her first and second here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! The Lower East Side Girls Club was founded in 1996 to address the historic lack of services available to girls and young women on the Lower East Side. Their Farm Girls CSA offers affordable, healthy, and locally sourced farm foods to participating members. They have three Entrepreneurial Training & Social Venture Programs: Sweet Things Bake Shop, La Tiendita, …

For the series "Grist dared me to make a change," we challenged author and activist Anna Lappé to write love poems to her favorite green groups in NYC. Read her first here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! Thanks to Just Food, a New York City nonprofit started in 1995: More than 100 Community-Supported Agriculture programs now bring fresh vegetables to roughly 30,000 people living in all five boroughs. Hundreds of people throughout New York learn about all aspects of urban agriculture through a newly launched innovative two-year cer­tificate program, Farm School NYC. Dozens of community gardens …

For the series "Grist dared me to make a change," we challenged author and activist Anna Lappé to write love poems to her favorite green groups in NYC. Read more here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! What's On Your Plate? is the captivating journey of two intrepid friends who set out to learn the truth behind the food on their plates. Along the way, they discover how communities can work together to ensure more of us have access to healthy, fresh food. It's a great film and an inspiring project. Learn more at whatsonyourplateproject.org.

This is Anna's first entry in the series "Grist dared me to make a change." Read the other entries here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! Courtesy of biscotte via FlickrNew York City, my home for the past 15 years, can be gritty and grimy. Its characteristic summertime smell of sweltering trash is a far cry from fragrant flowers and fresh cut grass, but I love this place in all its smelliness and crowded-subway glory. I especially love it for the hope that springs up -- like the relentless green that grows in cracks in the concrete …