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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April 10, 2015
How and where to restore tropical forest: a bird’s eye view
Leighton Reid
Missouri Botanical Garden
Great Tinamous are surprisingly light-footed for being rather awkwardly shaped. They wander delicately on the rainforest floor and call to one another in haunting tones at dawn and dusk. When approached by people, they disappear nervously into the underbrush. This shy, sun-dappled lifestyle works well in endless forest, but it complicates the task of restoring […] ...
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March 19, 2015
Potential for Nutrition Gains in Nepal through its Agriculture Sector
Jess Fanzo
Columbia University
Agricultural and food systems around the world have evolved to become more complex and globalized. The nutritional quality of food production, processing, and consumption – as determined by the food system – is intrinsically related to the World Summit goal for all people to have the opportunity to lead a healthy and active life. Nutrition-sensitive […] ...
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March 13, 2015
Management of stingless bees in the Balsas River Basin, Michoacán, Mexico
Octavio Reyes Salas
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Arturo Argueta Villamar
Alejandro Casas
Andrés Camou-Guerrero
Alejandro Reyes González
Stingless bees belong to the order of insects called Hymenoptera and are globally recognized as a very large group of bees, between 400 and 500 species. Tropical regions of the American Continent are considered a center of diversification of stingless bees. In the case of Mexico, there are 46 species of stingless bees, and 26 […] ...
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March 6, 2015
Creating a Sustainable Future Requires the Empowerment of Women
Laurie Benson
1% For Women
Women constitute half of our global population, and the timing is crucial for us to invest in women as agents of change. The link between natural resource depletion, gender inequality, conflict and peace building can no longer be ignored. It is a lack of access to natural resources that ultimately leads to the destabilization of […] ...
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February 25, 2015
Changing the face of agriculture
Kevi Mace
University of California, Berkeley
Lauren Ponisio
Agricultural landscapes in the United States, from the Central Valley of California to the Corn Belt of the Midwest, are largely similar in that the lands encompass expanses of single crops. Whether it is almonds or grapes or tomatoes or a fallow field, the one thing they have in common is their imposing homogeneity. This […] ...
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February 18, 2015
Winter forage and other ways crop-livestock integration improves resilience
Alan Franzluebbers
USDA – Agricultural Research Service
On a bright sunny day in late March, Steven Knapp walks his cropland fields inspecting the lush growth of rye cover crop that has become an oasis of winter forage for his cattle. Across the road, a neighbor drives by another field – likely in astonishment that the previous night’s rain has washed away so […] ...
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