agriculture

“The work of these and other family farmers to put food on our tables is more than a job, it’s a vocation.”

An African faiths environmental institute is calling on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to stop funding green revolution technologies and genetically modified seeds for the continent.

The report “Raising Rural Voices: Listening to the Hopes and Hardships of Rural Communities” identifies a series of difficult economic, communication and social challenges facing rural communities.

One challenge in farming is fighting depression. Mental health resources are available.

Randy and Amanda Hartung are the hosts of this year’s event. Mass begins at 10:30 a.m., followed by guest speaker Joe Gill, Catholic Century Farm Awards, lunch and entertainment by the Slew Foot Family Band.

The movie’s focus is on organic farming — specifically, biodynamic farming, in which the soil is continually replenished without the use of chemical fertilizers and crops are grown without artificial pesticides.

The farm bill that passed both houses of Congress by wide margins doesn’t have money in it to protect endangered species, but it did preserve one that had been on the threatened list: bipartisanship.

110 participants from 18 states were drawn together through concerns about “what’s happening around agriculture and family farms, what’s happening in our rural communities and our rural life, concerns about food security and how we’re going to feed the world in the future, while caring at the same time for our environment,” Catholic Rural Life executive director James Ennis said.