Can food crops really be engineered to thrive - and to yield more - under drought conditions? After 25 years we're still waiting for the flood of evidence, says Prof Jack Heinemann
… change, the intensification and expansion of agriculture, and competing demands for … drawn from the ground by humans is used in agriculture. If nothing is done either to reduce agriculture’s thirst or limit other demands on …
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization made a u-turn against organic agriculture after lobbying by the biotechnology industry, according to documents seen by the Ecologist.
… And Farming Archive_193.jpg The UN Food and Agriculture Organization made a u-turn against organic agriculture after lobbying by the … seen by the Ecologist. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) made a U-turn …
Is the light brown apple moth such a danger to crops both agricultural and financial that the US government will risk the health of its citizens to eradicate it? They spray, you pay, warns Claire Robinson
… September 2008 News Moths Insecticides Crops Agriculture Spraying Pesticide Pesticides … moth, or LBAM. According to California’s agriculture secretary, AG Kawamura, the moth … as $640 million annually.’ State assembly agriculture commissioner Tom Berryhill agrees: …
The community supports the farmer and the farmer supports the community. Why isn't everyone taking part in the latest agricultural revolution, wonders Ed Hamer
… Ed Hamer | 7th August 2008 News Community Agriculture CSA Farming Forres Scotland … from your food. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a term used loosely to … are built on the foundations of ecological agriculture, organic certification itself …
Can organic farming feed the world? Ed Hamer and Mark Anslow say yes, but we must farm and eat differently
… in 2003. 6 The techniques used in organic agriculture to enhance soil fertility in turn … trefoil to ordinary grass. 4. Water use Agriculture is officially the most thirsty … cent of total grain production. 15 Organic agriculture is different. Due to its emphasis …
Ed Hamer questions the sanity of agricultural policies that increasingly threaten the sovereignty of the British farmer, as well as the food security of the nation
… Ed Hamer | 20th June 2008 Comment Farming Agriculture Agribusiness Farming Conservation … the Commission’s interventionist policies in agriculture, but instead an economic incentive … along with a sustainable model of settled agriculture that supported the UK’s population …
The promise of more food from increased yields is driving the appeal for more GM crops, but that promise is theoretical and unfulfilled, argue Dr Ricarda A Steinbrecher and Antje Lorch
Feed the world? Dr Ricarda A Steinbrecher Antje Lorch | 1st November 2008 News Gm Focus Yields Yield Gm Crops Cultivation Biotechnology Food And Farming Science And Technology GM_Yield_MAIN.jpg The …
Can organic farming feed the world? Ed Hamer and Mark Anslow say yes, but we must eat and farm differently
… in 2003. The techniques used in organic agriculture to enhance soil fertility in turn … trefoil to ordinary grass. 4 Water use Agriculture is officially the most thirsty … per cent of total grain production. Organic agriculture is different. Due to its emphasis …
It might be fair to say that the earthworm is a farmer’s best friend.
… | 15th October 2008 News Worms Earthworm Agriculture Gilbert White Soil Farming … in turn may have important consequences for agriculture. The UK common earthworm - found …
Can traditional water-harvesting systems teach us how to solve contemporary water problems? Michael Kenneth Cowan says we have a lot to learn from the ancient and troubled ecology of the Middle East
… evident in barren and saline ‘soils’, where agriculture and human settlement once … of water for human populations and their agriculture. The ruins of one of the largest … supplied water for urban populations and agriculture, can be found in different parts …
What could be more cheerful than this ubiquitous breakfast fruit? But if you’re not buying them Fairtrade and organic, argues Ed Hamer, then you’re buying into a modern agricultural scandal
Bananas: from plantation to plate Ed Hamer | 2nd June 2008 News Bananas Fair Trade Organics Slavery Farming Fair Trade Agribusiness Factory Farming Organics Green Living Food And Farming …
The World Bank’s 2008 World Development Report makes a grim prediction of what is to come:
… So much for modern efficiency. Without water, agriculture grinds to a halt. In developed … 20 per cent for industry and 70 per cent for agriculture. In the UK, agriculture accounts for 742 million cubic …
Who decides how our land is put to use? With food security and energy crises on the horizon, the Government’s new think-tank needs to pull its socks up, says Simon Fairlie
… the conversion of a large slice of Britain’s agriculture infrastructure to industrial or …
Can big ever be beautiful where organic foods are concerned? Ed Hamer gets to grips with one of the environmental consumer’s greatest dilemmas
… to the rapid industrialisation of our agriculture, the organic movement is … to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the principles … why, after all, people buy organic. Food and agriculture are central to the problems of …
As biotech companies hoover up patents, Geoff Tansey considers what we could end up paying for our future food supply
… permission or payment, and extend IPRs in agriculture globally. This is where the … impact of TRIPS and the extension of IP into agriculture has hardly begun to be felt. Power … underpins a business model for the future of agriculture and a corporate-led global food …
MPs endorse new report and slam ‘ostrich view’ of farming
A step in the organic direction The Ecologist | 1st June 2008 News Organic Sustainability Farming IAASTD Faitrade Renewable Energy Organics Climate Change Energy Food And Farming Politics And …
With vast areas decimated by industrial farming, the salad days are over for mass-produced olive oil. Laura Sevier looks at the effect its rise in popularity has had on the European landscape, and at some more sustainable brands.
… aren’t always effective. Ana Carricondo, agriculture and rural development specialist … deliver nothing,’ says Ariel Brunner, EU agriculture policy officer of BirdLife …
Eifion Rees finds out that the golfing world’s eco credentials are simply full of holes.
… been earmarked for land that a Department of Agriculture report said had ‘high agricultural … few months after the report, the Minister for Agriculture pronounced the land unsuitable for agriculture,’ says Conway. ‘Lagoon Bay will …
Mark Anslow considers whether new generation hydroponics can feed the world's cities
… river, are part of a pioneering sustainable agriculture experiment conducted by US-based … can work as part of a Community Supported Agriculture scheme, run by – and providing … and 10 times less water, than conventional agriculture) or its ambition – the team has …
Last year celebrity pig farmer Jimmy Doherty kept 1000 organically reared pigs, while this year apparently he's raised barely 200. But if Jimmy’s farm is on the skids, the same cannot be said of his career as a media celeb.
… over a radically different style of agriculture. “Wow!”, “Unbelievable!” enthused … for tackling food security and intensive agriculture’s environmental problems – …
Our excessive appetite for meat is taking a heavy toll on the planet, but as Simon Fairlie explains, the arguments used to depict omnivores as environmental super-villains are far too simplistic.
… News Meat Environmentalism Sustainable Food Agriculture Livestock Cows Farming … to figures from the US Department of Agriculture, consumers throw away 44 per cent … growing crops. In 1997, when the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a …
In the past decade, the sales pitch of the biotech companies has shifted with the climate of public opinion. Public scepticism has remained high, but politicians seem to have bought enthusiastically into the GM ‘solution’. In many ways this encapsulates where science has gone wrong – by inventing technologies without first deciding what problems need addressing. If GM crops are the answer, what exactly is the problem?
… for instance by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), found once again that GMHT … seek to take control of African agriculture. GM crops will completely destroy … needed to feed Africa. The continent’s agriculture is predominantly smallholder- and …
Consuming endangered wildlife is illegal in China, but it continues on a large scale in the country’s south. Walter Parham reports on a habit that locals just cannot kick – even after the SARS crisis.
South China’s taste for wildlife Walter Parham | 2nd August 2008 News China Wildlife SARS Endangered China Animal Rights Conservation Natural World Food And Farming Society mouselg.jpg Consuming …