Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
(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)
I love information that is being visualized, and this is a particularly interesting assembly of stats on corn production in the US, including its use in ethanol. Also the “ethanol supply” curve shows the huge impact that policies (such as mandatory renewable fuel use) can have on food systems. All the more important to get … Continue reading Fields of Gold: Changes in the US Corn Industry
For some reason the comparison really made apparent to me the immensity of the broiler industry – helped, undoubtedly, by the fact that chickens have much shorter growing cycles than other animals. Still, as this number will only get bigger if demand for meat increases in transition countries such as India and China, should … Continue reading Wait, How Many Chickens?
via The Organic Center (http://www.organic-center.org/), which sounds like a pretty useful resource on organic facts and science in general.
I have not one, but two great links for you today to help you in your consumption decisions. The first one refers to the latest research on fish stocks and gives a (very pretty!) overview of which fish is okay to eat and which stocks we should let recuperate. Click through to get to the … Continue reading New Fish and Meat Guides Help to Choose Responsibly
The Union of Concerned Scientists has come out with a helpful infographic to bring the idea of agroecological production methods closer to interested citizens. Through a model farm that you can explore via a mouseclick, you can learn about the benefits of: Cover crops Crop diversity and rotation Landscaping approaches The integration of crops and livestock … Continue reading Visions for a Healthy Farm
Click here to access the interactive map! After looking up some information for yesterday’s post, I realized that the International Food Policy Research Institute has a great visualization tool of their last World Hunger Index report online. Click on the country of your choice to find out where it ranks on the Index and to … Continue reading A Map of Hunger