I have been so busy trying to put together a panel today on sustainable agriculture at Duke Divinity School, which employs me, that I did not even think to publicize it in this blog. It was a lively discussion about how better to feed the poor in this country while improving our agricultural practices. The upshot: We need policies to fight poverty, not just food banks to plug up the holes that exist. And we need to develop economies that will make healthy, fresh foods available to all, not just those who can afford to buy local, organic produce.
Panelists were Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty, and Divinity faculty members Norman Wirzba and Ellen Davis, both of whom write on ecology, agriculture, and the Bible. (Ellen’s new book, Scripture, Culture, Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible, will be out next month.) These are authors worth reading, and a subject worth discussing, especially in the land of Whole Paycheck.
The Newlyfeds 
These are must reads for any localvore Christian.It was great to meet you.Let me know next time you are in Charlotte.
And don’t forget algae as the best option for biofuel production, as it leaves all cropland available for food production, and, depending on what algae farming process becomes standard, may possibly not require fresh water — or, if it does, it would be able to reuse its water repeatedly if it is grown in closed containers. And then, once the oil is separated, the algae can be used as food additive for humans or animals. Not that we all want to go around eating algae.