> | KB | > | Results |
2021-22 Budget confirms the Australian Government’s commitment to promoting biodiversity stewardship on agricultural land
A total of 73 previously unrecorded varieties of apples and pears believed to be unique to Wales have been discovered by researchers. About 200 trees were DNA-tested in the two-year project to find, catalogue and preserve new varieties.
A groundbreaking report by the United Nations highlighting the rapid, widespread loss of many of the world’s plant and animal species should be on the front page of every newspaper in the world, argued climate action and food access advocates on Friday.
A team of retirees that scours the remote ravines and windswept plains of the Pacific Northwest for long-forgotten pioneer orchards has rediscovered 10 apple varieties that were believed to be extinct—the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the non-profit Lost Apple Project.
Agriculture is already one of the biggest contributors to global warming. The greenhouse gases released in the form of methane from cattle and rice farms, nitrous oxide from fertilized fields, and carbon dioxide from deforestation to make space for crops and livestock, add up to more emissions t ...
The United Nations (U.N.) had many compelling reasons to declare 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). Consider just a few of them: Healthy plants are the foundation of all life on Earth. They make the oxygen we breathe and give us 80% of the food we eat. Plants sustain our live ...
This fall, Food Tank and The Crop Trust traveled throughout Appalachia to highlight and celebrate its unique food cultures and agricultural diversity. As part of a multi-year, multi-country #CropsInColor campaign, we focused on the role of apples, beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, and chili peppers ...
Many practices are associated with regenerative agriculture — anything from no-till practices to pesticide-free farming. What’s more, the concept means different things for different crops in different regions. What is considered regenerative in one location might not qualify for the same label ...
Almost 90% of the $540bn in global subsidies given to farmers every year are “harmful”, a startling UN report has found. This agricultural support damages people’s health, fuels the climate crisis, destroys nature and drives inequality by excluding smallholder farmers, many of whom are women, ac ...
Chef Rob Connoley is working with farmers, archivists, and Indigenous communities to try to define and revive Ozark cuisine at his restaurant Bulrush in St. Louis, MO. Connoley hopes to increase biodiversity while connecting people back to the land.
In farming and food systems, as in every other avenue of public life, context is everything, as I said during a discussion on Al Jazeera’s ‘Inside Story’, this past Thursday.
The land-sparing argument is mostly flawed when it promises to save land for wildlife or for carbon sequestration. Continued intensification of the food system will lead to increased pressure on nature as well as the continued erosion of food culture.
The European Union urgently needs a common food policy to build sustainable food systems, says a recent report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). This shared policy would provide a common direction for food and farming systems in the Union, which suf ...
In Finland, peat soils account for only ten percent of agricultural land; yet they are responsible for more than half of the country's agricultural emissions.
Decades after farmland was abandoned, plant biodiversity and productivity struggle to recover, according to new University of Minnesota research.
With the Convention on Biological Diversity conference (COP15), United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), and United Nations Food Systems Summit, 2021 is a pivotal year for transitioning towards sustainable food systems. Diversified farming systems are key to more sustainable food produc ...
The third Western Ghat Manifesto seeks to trigger a debate on ecological concerns of the biodiversity hotspot which sustains southern peninsula.
A late, hot and dry growing season keeps Nat Ratchen busy in a one-acre vegetable garden in the shadow of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.
We define it as investing in nature-based solutions, in sustainable economic models based on production from natural systems, whether from land or oceans. It covers sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as investments in conservation and biodiversity protection.
The global population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050—but how will we feed all these people? Roughly one-third of the world's arable land suffers from lack of accessible iron, rendering it inhospitable to staple crops like maize and soybeans.
People in industrialized regions like the United States of America or Europe are generally urged to eat less meat and animal-source foods as part of a healthier and lower-emissions diet.
A unique "star" was discovered from the Ryukyu Islands, a biodiversity hot spot in subtropical Japan: a star-shaped structure that turned out to be the cocoon mass of a new species of parasitoid wasp.
The sweet scent of vanilla has an unusual origin. The aromatic seed pod is the product of a pale yellow orchid that blooms from tree-climbing vines. Native to the tropical Americas, it is now grown around the world, particularly in Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa.
Earlier this year, the UK Government commissioned a review to underpin its first National Food Strategy in 75 years. Eating Better, an alliance of over 60 civil society organisations working together to catalyse shifts towards healthy and sustainable food and farming,
How India can shift its agriculture from a high-yield ideal to a high-value one
a.s.r. is going to reward farmers who are committed to sustainable business operations. Farmers who use agricultural land owned by a.s.r. can receive a discount of 5 to 10% on the rent if they manage their land sustainably. In order to make the agricultural sector more sustainable, a.s.r. has fo ...
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dantata Foods and Allied Product Company, Alhaji Tajuddeen Aminu Dantata, said Africa has the most under-exploited potential for agricultural production globally. He also said smallholder farmers play a key role in the global agricultural value chain, espe ...
Coping with water scarcity is one of the fundamental global challenges we face in achieving sustainable development. This is not just a physical problem, it is also caused by institutional, economic, and infrastructure-related constraints and is linked to pressures that emanate from population g ...
United Nations — While the modern agricultural system has helped stave off famines and feed the world's 7 billion residents, the way we eat and produce food is posing a threat to future populations' food security.
The Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) kicked off yesterday with a call to preserve this vast community of living soil organisms and the vital ecosystem services they provide.
Small-scale farmers can play a crucial role in creating sustainable food systems. But more investment is needed, writes Sabrina Elba, UN Goodwill Ambassador for the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
That half-eaten apple tossed in the trash bin after lunch is contributing to the staggering mountain of food wasted globally, at a time when more than 800 million people still go to bed hungry, UN agencies said on Wednesday, marking the International Day to increase awareness of this issue.
Industrial farming has contributed to water pollution and loss of wildlife habitats. A promising project has helped improve salmon farming standards in Chile. How did ‘fundamentally different’ organisations make it work?
Plant breeding has considerably increased agricultural yields in recent decades and thus made a major contribution to combating global hunger and poverty. At the same time, however, the intensification of farming has had negative environmental effects. Increases in food production will continue ...
A census of agriculture conducted by the National Statistics Office paints a sad, but not unexpected picture of the sector, with less land under cultivation and fewer livestock in many cases.
The world’s drylands are becoming hotter and drier. Expanding commercial agriculture and investing in sustainable land management practices are two ways in which governmentscan mitigate this form of land degradation, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
A recent impact report published by the European Commission lays bare the terrible mismatch between the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the bloc’s biodiversity objectives, writes Jabier Ruiz.
The African population is expected to triple by 2100. This means that more food, water and agricultural commodities are required. To meet these needs, African governments and development agencies have set up large agricultural projects.
The diversity of plants, animals and microorganisms that directly or indirectly support food and agriculture is critical to achieving healthy diets and agroecosystems. Here we present the Agrobiodiversity Index (based on 22 indicators), which provides a monitoring framework and informs food syst ...
Our intensive agriculture plays a key role in the changing of climate by releasing different gases and volatile compounds in air and in soil. This climate change has serious threats on human being as well as plants.
People are keener than ever to make ethical, environmentally friendly food purchases. But a spate of bad press about the environmental impact of organic produce may leave some people scratching their heads.
Scientists know that biodiversity is declining across much of the world although less universally and dramatically than we feared. We also know that things are likely to get worse in the future, with a combination of habitat loss, climate change and overexploitation set to drive species and habi ...
The American bumblebee is quickly moving towards the endangered species list as their population has declined by 89% in the last 20 years. The vital pollinators have also already vanished from eight states. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue analyzing populations and create their “ ...
More than 90 per cent of rice is produced and consumed in Asia. Prior to the green revolution in the 1960s, India was home to more than 100,000 rice varieties, encompassing a stunning diversity in taste, nutrition, pest-resistance and, crucially in this age of climate change and natural disaster ...
The Indigenous food system of the Khasi community in Nongtraw village in Meghalaya offers lessons in climate resilience and sustainable food systems, says a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation report.
Like a shimmering purple spaceship, the glowing greenhouse stands in the middle of an old dairy factory in an Eindhoven industrial park in the Netherlands. It can't fly — but if the founders of the startup Phood Farm have their way, their business will soon take off. They hope the future of agri ...
Zero-budget natural farming is a form of agricultural system redesign being practised at scale in India, particularly in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is an emerging set of agricultural practices designed dramatically to reduce farmers’ direct costs (hence “zero-budget”) while boosting yields ...
An Arctic "doomsday vault" is set Tuesday to receive 60,000 samples of seeds from around the world as the biggest global crop reserve stocks up for a global catastrophe.
Take a glance down at the earth. The soil is one of the world’s biggest reserves of biodiversity.Did you know one handful of topsoil contains more microorganisms than all the people who have ever lived in the history of our planet?
While the governments chant the mantra of "leaving no one behind", it is ironic that they are abetting corporate grabbing of land and resources, which is pushing farmers out of agriculture. Corporations are exercising more and more control over food and agriculture and influencing public policies.