Blog for People, Food and Nature

By Tibor Hartel, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Department of Environmental Science and Art, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Wood-pastures are probably the most important ecological and cultural identity bearing landscapes of the European continent. These are grazed landscapes with trees and shrubs—similar landscapes evolved in prehistoric times under natural phenomena, ...

By Lauriane Mouysset, University of Cambridge Modern agriculture and associated farming intensification has been identified as a major cause of declining biodiversity in farmlands. Nevertheless, the world’s growing population must be fed, and a balance must be struck between the ecological and economic objectives of managing farmland and their surrounding landscapes. Economic ...

By EcoPlanet Bamboo Group The Bonn Challenge aims to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020. Commercial bamboo plantations can help achieve these goals by serving as an alternative to traditional timber and as a resource to stimulate national and local economies and reduce foreign imports. Bamboo is a rapidly growing […] ...

By Dr. John Paull, School of Land & Food, University of Tasmania, Australia Todmorden may be a small, drab, post-industrial English village but it has one big, bold and bright idea. This Yorkshire village decided to “do something, take action” about the disconnect between food production and consumers. The Incredible Edible idea is to seize […] ...

The theme of Earth Day 2014 is Green Cities, and as the cities of the world gear up for a day, a year, a future of more climate- and Earth-friendly practices and activities, we want to bring focus to a city region that is making an effort toward a sustainable agriculture future. Naivasha is a […] ...

Editor’s Note: A new study on a program called Bolsa Floresta (which translates to “forest allowance”) pays families and small farmers to participate in conservation programming, and its positive results point to opportunities to expand similar financing programs. This post was originally published on ForestsNews, the blog of The Center for International Fore ...

When you hear “low emissions agriculture,” what comes to mind? Before attending a discussion at the World Bank on Meeting Global Food Needs with Lower Emissions, I envisioned an emphasis on food miles and chemical fertilizer use. But, the recent IPCC assessment report suggests that it’s really all about soil management in agricultural landscapes and figuring […] ...

By Irene Hoffmann, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations When we were invited to contribute to the book “Diversifying Food and Diets: Using Agricultural Biodiversity to Improve Nutrition and Health”, my colleague Roswitha Baumung and I were faced with an interesting challenge. Agricultural biodiversity, including livestock breeds, is important for food and ...

This post was written by John Buchanan and originally published on Conservation International‘s blog, Human Nature. It is in response to the premiere episode of Showtime’s new documentary series, Years of Living Dangerously, which addressed the problems of palm oil agriculture in Indonesia and the impacts the industry has on climate change. If you watched Sunday’ ...

Sago palm groves are cultivated in swamps and alongside streams. When a mature sago palm is felled for starch extraction – which can provide sustenance for a family for several months – new suckers grow from the stump or root. Unlike crops grown in shifting cultivation, sago can be continually harvested at the same place, […] ...