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Tag Archives: farming
Human manure: Closing the nutrient loop
Human manure: Closing the nutrient loop Using human urine and faeces as fertiliser may seem an unappetising concept but it’s been common practice for centuries. In the sewage systems of today, which deal with millions of tonnes of domestic waste and industrial effluent, this human fertiliser comes in the form of treatedsewage sludge. Promoting a […]
Soil Science Spelled It Out A Whole Century Ago
Soil Science Spelled It Out A Whole Century Ago An organic farm marketer brought me a strange book to read and I can’t get it out of my mind. It was written by Cyril Hopkins, an agronomist at the University of Illinois in 1911. Already a century ago, science had committed the wisdom of the ages […]
The Cash Value of Home Gardens
The Cash Value of Home Gardens The ROI (return on investment) of a home garden can be $1,000 a year and $30/hour. The benefits of a vegetable garden extend beyond the food being grown and the superiority of that food in nutritional value and quality over agribusiness-grown vegetables. I listed some of these intangible benefits in The […]
With Too Much of a Good Thing, Europe Tackles Excess Nitrogen
With Too Much of a Good Thing, Europe Tackles Excess Nitrogen In Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and other countries, European governments are beginning to push farmers, industry, and municipalities to cut back on fertilizers and other sources of nitrogen that are causing serious environmental harm. by christian schwagerl Only seconds after Claudia Wiedner drops the metallic […]
Food Not Lawns!
Food Not Lawns! The mission of Food Not Lawns is just what you’d think from its title—grow gardens instead of a useless beds of monocropped grass. The organization is actually about much more than that though. Perhaps most importantly, it’s about having communities come together with a common purpose to transform wasted lawn space into a productive food […]
How Many People Will Have To Migrate Out Of California When All The Water Disappears?
How Many People Will Have To Migrate Out Of California When All The Water Disappears? The drought in California is getting a lot worse. As you read this, snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains are the lowest that have ever been recorded. That means that there won’t be much water for California farmers and California […]
WHAT DO YOU FEED YOUR FOOD?
WHAT DO YOU FEED YOUR FOOD? Often we focus on what animals such as cows or chickens were fed prior to becoming our dinner meat or producing milk and eggs. But how often do we question what plants were fed before we consumed them? For those of us growing our own produce or acquiring locally […]
SOLVING CRIME AND INEQUALITY, WITH A SEED
SOLVING CRIME AND INEQUALITY, WITH A SEED A sense of community itself goes a long way towards building the kind of trust and equality necessary for safer and more just communities. [1] Indeed, many of today’s social improvement programs, from arts to sports, to jobs, housing and political forums, are choosing to base their efforts […]
Food democracy South and North: from food sovereignty to transition initiatives
Food democracy South and North: from food sovereignty to transition initiatives When the idea of food sovereignty emerged twenty years ago, from the mobilisation of campesinos in Costa Rica and from the protest marches of small farmers in the Indian state of Karnataka, it had one important lesson to teach us: policies in the areas of food […]
Polish Farmers Blockade Motorways Across Country
Polish Farmers Blockade Motorways Across Country This week thousands of Polish family farmers from the Solidarity trade union turned out to protest in over 50 locations across the country. Over 150 tractors have been blockading the A2 motorway into Warsaw since the 3rd February and hundreds more have closed roads and are picketing governmental offices […]
The state of our soil
The state of our soil Jointly published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and theInstitute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, the Soil Atlashighlights the current state of our soils and the ways in which we are draining this precious resource: “We are using the world’s soils as if they were inexhaustible, continually withdrawing from an account, but never paying in.” […]
Pesticide Free Farming
Pesticide Free Farming A revolutionary experiment in sustainable agriculture is showing impressive results in south India. Around two million farmers in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have ditched chemical pesticides in favour of natural repellants and fertilisers, as part of a growing eco-agriculture movement. The sustainable techniques are spread through a network of women’s […]
Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s struggles in Europe
Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s struggles in Europe This report, involving 25 authors from 11 countries, reveals the hidden scandal of how a few big private business entities have gained control of ever-greater areas of European land. It exposes how these land elites have been actively supported by a huge injection of public funds […]
No Country for Poor Men as India’s Big Farmers Get Cash – Bloomberg
No Country for Poor Men as India’s Big Farmers Get Cash – Bloomberg. Vattikuti Prasad grows rice, bananas and sugar cane on his farm as big as 27 football fields in a part of southeastern India where most farmers own plots the size of just one. He has two homes, including a four-bedroom house he rents out […]
Food Safety Modernization Act – An Assault on Sustainable Agriculture?
Food Safety Modernization Act – An Assault on Sustainable Agriculture?. The sustainable agriculture movement, and its complementary local food movement have become, over the past several years, one of the fastest growing and most concrete demonstrations of a cultural challenge to American values of consumerism, corporate power, and the belief that complex technology is always […]
