October 8, 2015
Is the French call for action on soil and climate a promising game changer?
Wanqing Zhou
Worldwatch Institute
Editor’s Note: The following was originally published on the Worldwatch Institute blog on October 7th, 2015. It is reposted here with permission of the author. We’re often told that agriculture is a “victim” of climate change and needs to adapt. But farmers, ranchers, and researchers increasingly recognize that industrial agriculture is itself a major emitter o ...
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October 6, 2015
The sleeping giant of the research-policy-action chain of development
Amanda Grossi
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
As 2015 comes to its conclusion, the world is engaged in a battle for sustainability, but what political headway is being made in the field? Editor’s Note: Steps Toward Green, recently published by EcoAgriculture Partners and the World Bank, discussed pathways for improving agri-environmental policy in East and Southeast Asia. Among the recommendations was for policymakers ...
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September 22, 2015
Report on climate change resilience for service providers-Part 2
The science is clear—climate change is happening. How are farmers grappling with changes in local climate regimes, vegetative variability and soil quality? Editor’s Note: In August we posted the first part of an interview with researcher Rachel Schattman on her graduate work for the University of Vermont Center of Sustainable Agriculture. By conducting interviews wit ...
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August 6, 2015
Report on Climate Change Resilience for Service Providers – Part 1
Rachel Schattman
University of Vermont
Dry places are getting dryer while wet regions are getting wetter. A shift in climate regimes has farmers feeling the impact, but how are they coming to terms with change? Editor’s Note: Rachel Schattman of the University of Vermont set out with a team of diverse stakeholders to talk to farmers about climate change challenges […] ...
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July 31, 2015
Integrated farming systems optimize landscapes for the best outcomes
Tom Goddard
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry
Society’s environmental and health concerns are playing a more prominent role in directing agricultural policy. Beyond the ever-present issues of health care, education, and a safe and reliable food supply, society has become more concerned about the environment (and health linkages), energy use efficiencies, industrial and human footprints, and climate change. The agric ...
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July 28, 2015
Land Use and Disease Emergence
Max McClure
Catherine Machalaba
EcoHealth Alliance
Zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans, are currently enjoying a moment in the sun—at least by disease standards. There are now popular depictions of spillover events, as in the movie Contagion, reflecting real-world examples where disease is transmitted from animals to humans. The most recent and significant series of zoonoses events points to this […] ...
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June 23, 2015
Coffee’s Other Ingredient and Why It Matters
Paul Cebul
Reach Trade
Coffee is a golden bean that awakens drinkers and economies around the world. However, like all good things, its production comes at a cost much more profound, and lasting, than the depths of our pocketbooks. We all love coffee. Even if you don’t drink it, I’m sure you’re well aware of its power to make […] ...
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May 30, 2015
Urban farming is booming, but what does it really yield?
Elizabeth Royte
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on Ensia.com. The benefits of city-based agriculture go far beyond nutrition. Midway through spring, the nearly bare planting beds of Carolyn Leadley’s Rising Pheasant Farms, in the Poletown neighborhood of Detroit, barely foreshadow the cornucopian abundance to come. It will be many months before Leadley is selling produce f ...
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May 11, 2015
Avoid a Collision between Human and Environmental Wellbeing
Geurt van de Kerk
Sustainable Society Foundation
Many people, if not all, wonder what will happen when countries like China and India – together with about one-third of the world population – achieve a similar level of income and consumption as rich countries have nowadays. China saw its income per person (purchasing power parity) increased by no less than 140% from 2005 […] ...
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April 20, 2015
Choosing sustainability: food production to 2050
Fiona McKenzie
Australian Futures Project
It is often claimed that we need to increase global food production by 70-100% in order to feed the world in 2050. The assumption that food production is tied to food security dismisses the role of access and consumption to food. This is partly because food security is only weakly linked to the capacity of […] ...
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