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GourmET nEWS SEPTEmbEr 2017 www.gourmetnews.com From ThE EDiTor 4 WWW.GourmETnEWS.Com PubliShEr Kimberly Oser SEnior ASSoCiATE PubliShEr Jules Denton jules_d@oser.com EDiToriAl DirECTor Lorrie Baumann lorrie_b@oser.com SEnior ASSoCiATE EDiTor Robin Mather robin_m@oser.com ASSoCiATE EDiTorS Jeanie Catron jeanie_c@oser.com Micah Cheek micah_c@oser.com Greg Gonzales greg_g@oser.com ArT DirECTor Yasmine Brown GrAPhiC DESiGnEr Jonathan Schieffer CuSTomEr SErviCE mAnAGErS Sarah Glenn sarah_g@oser.com Caitlyn McGrath caitlyn_m@oser.com CirCulATion DirECTor Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CirCulATion mAnAGEr Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com PubliShinG oFFiCE 1877 N. Kolb Road P.O. Box 1056 Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 Fax 520.721.6300 SubSCribEr SErviCES Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 520.721.1300 G OURMET N EWS ® OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP FounDEr Lee M. Oser mEmbEr oF: Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ, and additional mailing office. Gourmet News (ISSN 1052-4630) is published monthly by Oser Communications Group, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsible for proper release of pro- prietary classified information. ©2017 by Oser Communications Group. All rights re- served. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without writ- ten permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when available, cost $7 each within the past 12 months, $12 each prior to the past 12 months. Back orders must be paid in advance either by check or charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card. Gourmet News is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and dis- tribution channels of the specialty foods and hardgoods trade; paid subscriptions cost $65 annually to the U.S. and Canada. All foreign subscriptions cost $150 annu- ally to cover air delivery. All payments must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Gourmet News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. In this month's issues of both Kitchenware News and Gourmet News, you can read stories about how those who produce food for our tables are acting to reverse the causes of global warming. There is no debate about whether our planet is warming, and there's also no real debate about whether human activity is contributing to that. We're not creating the weather, and we're not altogether respon- sible for what's happening to our climate, but there is no question that we are respon- sible for some of what's happening to our planet as a result of the accumulation of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The good news is that the part that we're responsible for is the part we can change. No one's in a better position to help with global warming, which is becoming a cri- sis, than our nation's farmers. "Farming is unique among other sectors of the econ- omy because it has the potential to not only reduce ongoing emissions, but also to re- duce the amount of greenhouse gasses [sic] already present in the atmosphere," wrote Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union in an August 10, 2017, open letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. He also noted that climate change is already undermining the liveli- hoods of American family farmers as well as global food security. While climate change can often be a tough issue to broach in many communities, there is little doubt that farmers and ranchers want to do the right thing and leave the land in a better state than they found it," Johnson contin- ued as he asked Perdue to lead the USDA in its commitment to efforts to help farmers and ranchers participate in climate change mitigation. This is, of course, not an effort that we can just leave in the hands of our farmers and ranchers, depending on them to do all the heavy lifting on climate change. There are a variety of things that we can all do in our own homes, and one of the most im- portant is to minimize the amount of food that we waste. Another is to do what we can to recognize and support the farmers and ranchers who are producing food that's healthy for the Earth as well as nourishing for us. Keep an eye out for products labeled with the Savory Institute's new Land to Market seal, which will begin rolling out in the fourth quarter of this year. That seal will identify products, from leather to cot- ton fabrics to food, that are grown in ways that respect the health of the soils and the diversity of the plant and animal commu- nities – including human beings – that de- pend on them. It's a literal grassroots movement. The Land to Market seal won't say any- thing about the quality of the products themselves – it won't tell you if a jam's going to taste good or a leather sofa is going to wear well – but it will tell you that the farmer behind the product is taking posi- tive steps toward healing a landscape and conserving the plants and animals that rely on it. This is also not like the USDA Or- ganic certification, in that it's not about a prescription for specific practices that can and can't be applied to the land. Instead, this looks at outcomes – whether the soil is getting better at holding water, whether the biological diversity of the landscape is in- creasing, whether the land is becoming more productive and less of a desert. Pur- suing these goals together makes all of us partners in good stewardship of the Earth that was given to us. It's ours to make the best of it. GN — Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director From ThE EDiTor

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