Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Having moved to Sweden just a week and a bit ago to spend my second year of my Master’s studies here, I am extremely excited to explore Swedish culture and language. Though my language classes only start in two weeks, I already found out about a word that lacks a real English translation and is … Continue reading Swedish Concept of the Day: "Lagom"
“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
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ-iWUkg4t0] These past days, dramatic scenes have unfolded all over Germany and Central Europe in general: after unrelenting rainfalls had overburdened the natural absorption capacity of soils and riverbeds, massive floods spread throughout Central European lowlands and threatened the lives and livelihoods of thousands of persons. People had to be evacuated, some even died, and … Continue reading Floods in Central Europe – Caused by Human Activities?
One week after a global day of protest brought out thousands of citizens that rallied against the biotech company Monsanto, its spokespeople have confirmed reports that it is planning to roll back its operations in Europe due to the low demand of farmers and the continuous public opposition. In the TAZ, a German daily, Brandon … Continue reading Monsanto Retreats from Europe?!
Yesterday, I went to a talk by a rep of Germanwatch, a German NGO, on European Agricultural Policy and its relationship to climate change. As part of the presentation, the presenter gave a great overview of how European agricultural policy evolved and I thought I’d reproduce it here for all the non-Europeans (and Europeans!) who … Continue reading A Brief History of European Agricultural Policy
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G0pNrX_95Ok] “We prefer to work with nature. And you can taste that.” That’s the motto of Swiss organic farmers, and the reason they are hosting a cow marathon as of May 27th. Its purpose: to show that cows from organic farms in Switzerland get to walk around in nature a ton. Thus, 10 contenders will … Continue reading Switzerland Hosts a Cow Marathon – and other Fun Facts about Swiss Agriculture
About a week ago, I wrote about the threats to EU seed diversity possibly contained in a sweeping law that required the mandatory registration of all commercially traded seeds, often at considerable financial and administrative effort involved. Today, the European Commission actually presented its proposal for the first time and, lo and behold, there were … Continue reading EU Seed Diversity – The Final Word
In a way it’s almost funny – all this time a lot of the food policy community’s attention is drawn to seed laws in the US, dissecting Supreme Court cases and hidden Congressional amendments, while at the same time the European Commission is drafting what seems to be at least equally harsh legislation with a … Continue reading What's Happening to EU Seed Diversity?!
Recently, I discovered (via my friend Tereza’s blogpost) an awesome Czech invention that supports self-sufficiency, community and bread-baking in the form of a sourdough map! In order to make sourdough bread, you need to make a pre-ferment (also called starter or lévain), basically a mix of flour and water, which you then expose to the air … Continue reading Sourdough mapping