Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
It will come as no surprise that I’m a city kid. Born and bred as an urbanite (though with an intermittent stint in a Swiss village that only taught me that farmers own, on average, 10 – 15 cows on large pastures, each with its own little cow bell – bucolic, but not very representative) … Continue reading Hopes and Struggles of A New Farming Family: Plough & Stars
For our last agricultural history lecture, we were fortunate to receive a guest speaker from the department who is involved in a mammoth project of mapping the world’s food systems across time. What an interesting pastime, but what a challenge! This is what I referred to in my last post – one of the off-hand … Continue reading The Pre-Columbian Amazon – A Pristine Rainforest Or Intensive Settlement?
On Friday, I was a participant in a seminar hosted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Forestry and Agriculture. The topic was the interlinkages between the newest scientific insights related to climate change and the future of agricultural and ‘green’ growth in general. My take-away thinking back with a bit of distance? We are great … Continue reading Review: "A changing climate – How does it affect Swedish possibilities of green growth?"
Would you have guessed that Iceland grows bananas? I certainly wouldn’t have, but as I was told by a knowledgeable Icelander on my plane ride back, the geothermal heat allows greenhouses to grow almost anything on the island – including the golden plant. The massive geothermal field at Hveragerði was used in the early 2000s in … Continue reading Iceland – A Banana Republic?
Hey peeps, how is your Tuesday? Are you looking for a reason to procrastinate and not feel bad about it? Well, you are in luck, because I have a list of informative and entertaining videos for your viewing pleasure today! Guaranteed to give you some food for thought… on the origins of agriculture (via CrashCourse … Continue reading Video Times!
Wowowow I saw and bookmarked so many articles recently that I wanted to write about in more detail – but first, many of these articles already perfectly describe the issue, and I trust in your ability to read them too, if you want, and second I fear they will be out of date by the … Continue reading April Reads and Thoughts
I know we have talked about this before, but I found this infographic made by Yes! Magazine a great means to dig down into what differences exist between food safety laws on both sides of the Atlantic. Especially since many of these laws could be on the table during international trade negotiations soon. Americans, Europeans, join … Continue reading Food Safety Law Face-Off
Think of “food” and “North Korea” and chances are you will be reminded of the near-yearly news items speaking of hunger, starvation, and malnutrition in the country. However, times might be changing, at least if you believe Andrei Lankov, professor of Korean Studies at Seoul University. In this Al Jazeera piece, he argues that the … Continue reading 10 Facts About Food (Shortages) in North Korea
It’s nice to see that, once challenges are identified, sometimes we do take steps forward to address them. This is at least the purpose of the European food-waste prevention project FUSIONS (Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimizing Waste-Prevention Strategies) that was launched in 2012 and will run until 2016. Along with UK partner WRAP (Waste … Continue reading Tackling Food Waste – One Strategy at a Time
I love having friends from around the world – it’s the best way to broaden your horizons about what is happening in different countries! My friend Brooke (hi!) pointed me towards the Bettertarian campaign that was recently launched by Meat and Livestock Australia. It’s a pretty comprehensive website that argues for abolishing inflexible diet labels (such … Continue reading The #Bettertarian Campaign – Awareness Raising or Marketing Plot?
