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)
via The Organic Center (http://www.organic-center.org/), which sounds like a pretty useful resource on organic facts and science in general.
What a dramatic title, right? I read a lot of healthy living blogs along side the food policy ones and the craze for Greek yoghurt has been noticeable in the last couple of years. Who can blame consumers that discovered a protein-rich, (often) low-fat, creamy source of deliciousness? Well, I just read an article that … Continue reading The Dark Side of Greek Yoghurt
In preparation for my Sustainability Economics exam on Thursday, I decided to combine the necessary with the fun and write about a concept that I will hopefully remember come Thursday – the Planetary Boundary framework championed by Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Rockström starts with arguing that the planet has moved into the … Continue reading Transgressing the Earth's Boundaries
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
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?!
Over at NPR’s The Salt blog, they published an awesome infographic to visualize how much is needed until a typical quarter-pound hamburger (apparently in France they call it a Royale with Cheese ;)) – just the patty – can land on your plate. Head on over to their site for a great overview, or check out the stats below … Continue reading What are a hamburger’s real ingredients?
