Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Sometimes it’s easy to follow along the news and never really connect the dots. I would venture to say that everybody has heard about the civil war in Syria, although as the novelty wears off it sadly gets less and less news coverage, though conditions for locals are far from improving. I most certainly was … Continue reading Connecting The Dots – Syria's Destroyed Agricultural Sector
Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problem of wheat. Socrates
New to the mini-series? Check out Wasted (I) on farming and post-harvest waste in the North-American context, Wasted (II) for the same level of analysis in the Tropics, and Wasted (III) for the retail sector! Yay, we finally got to the end of the food supply chain – our own plates and (hopefully) stomachs. In this last part, I’ll again … Continue reading Wasted (IV – Consumer Food Waste)
This is the title of a report that was just launched by the Center for Food Safety, a U.S. NGO that, in their own words, “challenges the use of harmful food production technologies and promotes organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture”. The report gives a great overview of the current state of property rights … Continue reading Seed Giants vs. US Farmers
You know when sometimes you can’t decide whether research ideas are ingenious or ridiculous? This is one of those cases. Apparently, in Costa Rica researchers are working on agriculture that doesn’t require any more land, because crops are grown directly on rafts floating on freshwater lakes and reservoirs. In aquatic agriculture (not to be confused … Continue reading Aquatic Agriculture – Growing Food on Water?!
The European Union is known for its extensive bureaucracy and intricate policies – we talked about the cucumber-straightness regulations before -, but it is also pretty good at trying to gather public opinions on its policies before reforming them. Its newest project: A consultation for the review of the European policy on organic agriculture! It’s … Continue reading The EU wants to know – Organic Agriculture Yay or Nay?
In India, the debate about the benefits and threats of the spread of genetically modified (GM) crops has hit a new peak: Yesterday, 150 scientists submitted a letter to the Minister of Environment and Forests urging her to keep in place the three-year old moratorium on the commercial release of Bt Brinjal, an eggplant variety … Continue reading GM Crops – Vital for India’s Food Security?
New to the mini-series? Check out Wasted (I) on farming and post-harvest waste in the North-American context and Wasted (II) for the same level of analysis in the Tropics! In 2005, an Austrian documentary called “We Feed The World” brought food policy issues onto the agenda for many Europeans, showing stark pictures of many contradictions in our … Continue reading Wasted (III – The Retail Sector)
I was catching up on news the other day and listening to the BBC World Service podcast of February 8th where, in response to the European horse meat scandal (if you haven’t been following it, frozen prepared lasagna had contained up to 100% horse meat though it was labeled as beef), a story on new … Continue reading Meal worms – the future for meat lovers?
New to the mini-series? Check out Wasted (I) on farming and post-harvest waste in the North-American context! Last time, we concluded that in a more industrialized context, food waste is most prevalent at the retail and consumer level. How about in more agrarian, (for lack of a better term) less-developed countries? Here the majority of losses … Continue reading Wasted (II – Farming and Post-Harvest in the Tropics)
