Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
It seems in December there is always a surge of announcements that the next year will be dedicated to one cause or another. For 2014, it’s now supposedly the Year of the Brain, the Year of Crystallography, the EU-Russia Year of Science, but also… The International Year of Family Farming! The FAO launched a big … Continue reading 2014 Declared the International Year of Family Farming
Well, the Warsaw summit on climate change has turned out to be a major disappointment, with many prominent NGOs walking out prematurely to signal their protest at governmental inaction and last-ditch agreements remaining vague and postponing real commitments to future meetings. Commentators especially deplored the lack of urgency that seemed to reign among the negotiators, … Continue reading What Does Warsaw Mean for Agriculture?
A couple of years ago, the world thought it had found a solution toward more sustainable transportation patterns – instead of pumping fuel out of the ground, why not grow it? The subsequent ethanol craze is one of the best examples of how policy decisions can have very real – one could even say, dramatic … Continue reading The Ethanol Saga – A Tale of Politics, Interest Groups, and Scientific Head-Butting
Sooooo guess who I had the honor to hear speak yesterday? Allan Savory! [ted id=1683] He is the founder of the Savory Institute and a man on a mission to convince the world that livestock could be the solution to, not the cause of, land degradation and desertification. His TED-talk here is a perfect representation … Continue reading Onto Greener Pastures – Recap of "Holy Cow!" Holistic Management Event
(click through for a larger pdf version) The FAO has just released a new infographic showcasing some of the facts and numbers its statistics unit, FAOSTAT, regularly collects. Some of the numbers that stand out to me: More than 840 million people worldwide are undernourished. Compare that with the fact that the average annual food … Continue reading The Current State of Agriculture (According to the FAO)
Happy Saturday! While environmental management had never been the forte of the Soviet Union, its collapse had even more dire environmental consequences, with the abandonment of mineral and chemical factories and the shirking of responsibilities for clean-ups, and the subsequent development of the oil and gas sector by oligarchs that now constitute one of the … Continue reading Weekend Reads – Post-Soviet Contributions to Fight Climate Change
via The Organic Center (http://www.organic-center.org/), which sounds like a pretty useful resource on organic facts and science in general.
“The land is there,” he said. “All you need is your hands.” This is how one Greek citizen explained the importance of agriculture in times of crisis. After a year of unemployment, he decided to stop waiting for the government to fix the situation, get his own hands dirty and start following an agronomy course … Continue reading Back to the Roots for Greece?
[ted id=1538] Incredible Edible is an amazing idea that transformed an entire British town. In Todmorden, upon the initiative of two energetic women, the community is coming together and connecting with each other, their food and their environment. In the process, they are teaching each other and the next generation about growing vegetables and herbs, … Continue reading Incredible Edible – An Incredible Story
Again, please bear with me while I only post short links to other interesting sources – exam season is upon us! If you need something to listen to while cooking a leisurely Friday dinner to start this weekend in a relaxed fashion, consider this episode of Greenhorn Radio, where a young farmer interviews Joel Salatin … Continue reading Joel Salatin on the "Regeneration Generation" and Young Farmers