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Tag Archives: industrial agriculture
Dead Zones: Industrial Agriculture versus Ocean Life
Dead Zones: Industrial Agriculture versus Ocean Life Worldwide, there are now over a thousand coastal areas where fish can’t breathe. The nitrogen that makes crops grow is also destroying offshore ecosystems. “Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on […]
Slaughter of the Innocents: COVID-19 & the Future of Agriculture
Slaughter of the Innocents: COVID-19 & the Future of Agriculture listen to the author read this post: or watch on YouTube It’s early days yet, but the COVID-19 pandemic has already proven to be revelatory, exposing much that is ugly about the “normal” functioning of the US: the sorry state of health care, the unresponsiveness […]
Why Gardening Starts With Growing Good Soil
Why Gardening Starts With Growing Good Soil For two months now, we’ve been advising readers to “grow a garden” in response to the covid-19 pandemic. We’re recommending that for a number of reasons. Food security is the primary one. Domestically, several of the small number of concentrated players in our Big Ag food supply chain […]
Small farms don’t produce most the of the worlds food – but they could produce all
Small farms don’t produce most the of the worlds food – but they could produce all Recently, I wrote an article about how difficult it is to survive as a commercial smallholder and floated some ideas of why that is and what can be done about it. I want to follow up with two articles. This one […]
Climate crisis needs radical food changes
Climate crisis needs radical food changes The entire food system needs to change, researchers say. From farm to fork, agriculture fuels global heating. Can the world eat well, but stay a little cooler? That will need radical food changes. LONDON, 3 July, 2019 – To feed 9 billion people by 2050, and keep planet Earth from […]
‘Finally!’: Court Orders EPA to Stop Stalling Potential Ban on Pesticide Tied to Brain Damage in Kids
‘Finally!’: Court Orders EPA to Stop Stalling Potential Ban on Pesticide Tied to Brain Damage in Kids “We hope Trump’s EPA finally decides to protect the future of countless children and the health of millions of farmworkers.” American farmers use chlorpyrifos, a pesticide tied to brain and nervous system issues, on crops such as apples, […]
The Failures of Farming and the Necessity of Wildtending
The Failures of Farming and the Necessity of Wildtending Kollibri terre Sonnenblume came through Saint Paul late last year and I will never forget his eye contact. It was steady and intimate. He was unafraid of what judgements lay on the other side. I tried my best to keep it, but rather sheepishly, turned away […]
Why did local go global?
Why did local go global? When discussing the food system, I find that few seem to understand why the system is like it is. Some discuss the system in a way where it sounds like Big, Bad and Ugly corporations made the system into what it is today, and all we have to do is […]
Ecological Civilization: Could China Become a Model for Saving the Earth?
Ecological Civilization: Could China Become a Model for Saving the Earth? Peasant and industrialized agriculture facing each other — in China. Painting gifted to me by Ye Jingzhong, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Photo: E.G. Vallianatos. Industrialized agriculture is threatening humanity with catastrophe. It feeds global warming and dissolves societies. In addition, its pesticides contaminate […]
Managing without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster
Managing without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster It took homo sapiens some 200,000 years to reach the first billion by about 1800. In just the 10 years separating the first and second edition of Managing without Growth: Slower by Design, not Disaster, the human population increased by the same amount putting increased pressure on an already crowded […]
Land Grabbers: the Threat of Giant Agriculture
Land Grabbers: the Threat of Giant Agriculture In the 1980s, I met a retired general at a Borders bookstore in northern Virginia. He used to buy tons of military history books. I used to buy environmental and classics books. We started talking about books. But, slowly, in our discussion of Latin America, I criticized American […]
Unlike a Globalized Food System, Local Food Won’t Destroy the Environment
Unlike a Globalized Food System, Local Food Won’t Destroy the Environment If you’re seeking some good news during these troubled times, look at the ecologically sound ways of producing food that have percolated up from the grassroots in recent years. Small farmers, environmentalists, academic researchers and food and farming activists have given us agroecology, holistic […]
The battle for the future of farming: what you need to know
The battle for the future of farming: what you need to know It is widely agreed that today’s global agriculture system is a social and environmental failure. Business as usual is no longer an option: biodiversity loss and nitrogen pollution are exceeding planetary limits, and catastrophic risks of climate change demand immediate action. Most concede that […]
Fight Climate Change in Your Own Garden
Fight Climate Change in Your Own Garden Your backyard could be the next front in the war against global warming. During World War I, Americans were encouraged to do their part in the war effort by planting, fertilizing, harvesting, and storing their own fruits and vegetables. The food would go to allies in Europe, where there […]
