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A big data study covering more than 7,500 households across 23 tropical countries shows that natural biodiversity could be effective insurance for rural farmers against drought and other weather-related shocks.
A wider range of crop varieties would decrease fertiliser and water use, reduce soil pollution and help insects.
Developing countries are better than richer nations at promising to protect important agricultural species in the future, but do less well in safeguarding existing biodiversity.
When animals and insects pick up the pollen of flowers and spread it, they allow plants, including many food crops, to reproduce.
How India can shift its agriculture from a high-yield ideal to a high-value one
[NEW DELHI] Arsenic contamination in rice poses a serious health risk in many parts of the world. But an international study has shown that husking rice before parboiling reduces arsenic content, potentially lowering the risk of cancer.
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 ...
En adoptant une agriculture agroécologique basée sur la suppression des intrants chimiques, la baisse de l'élevage intensif, et une augmentation des prairies et de l'élevage extensif, l'Europe parviendrait à nourrir «durablement» ses 530 millions d'habitants en 2050, conclut une étude publiée ce ...
The third Western Ghat Manifesto seeks to trigger a debate on ecological concerns of the biodiversity hotspot which sustains southern peninsula.
On the bright side, the European food system provides 4.2 million jobs in Europe, feeds more than 500 million Europeans, and its greenhouse gases emissions have decreased 20% since 1990. But the social and environmental impacts of the European food system is alarming.
Around 80 percent of land area in Europe is used for settlement, agriculture and forestry.In order to increase yields even further than current levels, exploitation is being intensified.
Hedges, flowering strips and other semi-natural habitats provide food and nesting places for insects and birds in agricultural landscapes. This also has advantages for agriculture: bees, flies, beetles and other animal groups pollinate crops and control pest insects in adjacent fields.
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.
Once you have a glass of your favourite spirit or cocktail in your hand, you rarely think about how it was produced.But climate change is a reality, as is the environmental sustainability of the crops and vineyards that we rely on for our food and drink.
Innovation, access to rural credit – particularly for women – and improvements to rural social protection programmes are important tools to help family farmers in Southeast Asia improve their livelihoods and become more food secure, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FA ...
Human efforts are producing a greener Earth. But the news is not all good, because some of the greening comes from fertiliser pollution.
Dr Olugbenga AdeOluwa is the Vice-President of the Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria (AOAPN). He spoke with Head of Agro-Economy Desk, FEMI IBIROGBA on what organic agriculture implies, how it can feed the growing population and dangers inherent in genetically modified ...
A new Council of Agricultural Science and Technology, or CAST, paper examines the causes and consequences of groundwater depletion throughout the U.S. with a focus on how this will affect agriculture—the largest sector of groundwater use.
The Food and Agriculture Organization recently released a report on the State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture refers to plants, animals and micro-organisms that sustain the ecosystem structures and processes to provide food and non-food ...
"A healthy community requires healthy soil." This idea spurred a consortium of researchers, farmers, and community garden practitioners to dive into the challenges -- and opportunities -- of urban agriculture. Their efforts, now in a second year, may highlight how urban soil can be a resource fo ...
Last week, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization released a landmark report, stating, “There is a real risk of the plant and animal species that provide our food, fuel and fibre (as well as the many animals, insects and micro-organisms that make up crucial parts of the food chain ...
Basic logic demands agricultural production increase as Earth’s population grows. But the ever-expanding impacts of climate change, exacerbated by that population growth, will inevitably drive agricultural productivity downward.
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 ...
Deep within southern Ethiopia’s agroforestry landscapes, where farmers grow grain and keep cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys, researchers counted more than 4,100 birds as part of an assessment on agricultural productivity and biodiversity.
“There’s a rang-tan in my bedroom and I don’t know what to do,” the small girl says. The rang tang replies, “there’s a human in my forest and I don’t know what to do.” Does this ring a bell? It originates from an advertisement of a British supermarket chain, subsequently banned from television i ...
Italy’s olive oil production could be drying up and supplies exhausted within a month, after the industry experienced a concerning 57 per cent drop in production last year.
All over China, a huge change has been taking place without any of us noticing. Rice paddies have been (and are being) converted at an astonishing rate into aquaculture ponds to produce more protein for the worlds growing populations. This change risks creating an unexpected impact on global war ...
The National Farmers Federation wants to lift the value of Australian agricultural production to $100 billion by 2030.While that might be possible – on the current trajectory it is forecast to reach $84 billion by 2030 – we should be mindful of the substantial, and sometimes painful, reforms tha ...
For years, "sustainable" has been the buzzword in conversations about agriculture. If farmers and ranchers could slow or stop further damage to land and water, the thinking went, that was good enough. I thought that way too, until I started writing my new book, "One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s ...
Unfolding events all over the world are pointing in one direction; that is the imminence of climate change which may prove irreversible. The timing, magnitude of impacts and places where impacts would be felt might vary, but climate change has proven to be inescapable. Choices before nations and ...
Rapid population and economic growth are destroying biological diversity—especially in the tropics. This was reported by a research team led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned in a recent report that the biodiversity of food and agriculture in the Arab region is under serious danger. This is the first-ever report to analyse the state of plants, animals, and microorganisms that support food and agricultural production ...
The Ark of Taste aims to rescue traditional foods at risk of extinction. Its catalog already numbers more than 5,000 products from around the world, and is open for more nominations.
Scientists have recently advocated a shift to the planetary health diet (or flexitarianism) to halt the widespread environmental damage done by the food production industry. But what would these new diets look like in practice and how much of a change do they entail?
The deep flaws in the way in which we produce our food were brought into sharp focus during a drive from the Lowveld to the Highveld. South Africa’s food system is in trouble but I’d be the first to admit that it’s not a message that’s immediately easy to credit. On the surface, we appear to hav ...
Agriculture is critical to achieving many Sustainable Development Goals. New research from Lund University shows that researchers, policymakers, and farmers in Europe currently have different, often conflicting, priorities for sustainable agriculture. The researchers propose a way forward built ...
In Ethiopia and other developing nations, scientists are working with small-scale farmers on trials to see which seed varieties perform best in changing conditions. These initiatives are enabling farmers to make smarter crop choices in the face of rising temperatures, drought, and more extreme w ...
A drop in global biodiversity is putting our ability to produce food at risk, a new United Nations report warns. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, biodiversity in food and agriculture “is indispensable to food security and sustainable development.”
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.
The plants, animals, and micro-organisms that are the bedrock of food production are in decline, according to a UN study.
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 20 2019 (IPS) - In 1992, the idea of replanting her father’s ruined coffee farm seemed foolhardy at the time. But in retrospect it was the best business decision that Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, an international development consultant and broadcast journalist, could have made.
Research shows loss in yields could be offset by reorienting diets away from grain-fed meat
Unsustainable food systems are threatening human health and environmental sustainability. We need to change the way we farm—and our diets. There are more of us, we’re getting wealthier, and we’re demanding more protein-rich foods, such as meat. In the long run, this is simply not sustainable.
Last week, Bavarians forced their state legislature to change farming policies with the most successful petition in the state’s history. And while the law proposed by the petition covers a range of measures, it’s no surprise that campaigners’ rallying cry quickly became “save the bees”.
18 - 22 February 2019, Rome, Italy
There are signs more actors in the food system are focusing more on biodiversity to try to make their businesses more sustainable. just-food's US columnist Victor Martino explores.
Uganda is a country with a huge potential when it comes to agriculture. It’s blessed with a lot of water and fertile soils which can guarantee sustained production and food security. But when we look at the statistics in terms of food and nutrition, we realise that there is still a lot of work t ...
It is 2040 and Britain’s green and pleasant countryside is populated by robots. We have vertical farms of leafy salads, fruit and vegetables, and livestock is protected by virtual fencing. Changing diets have seen a decline in meat consumption while new biotech production techniques not only hel ...
For generations Algerians like the Gueldasmi family have barely eked out a living growing prickly pear fruits, but thanks to the cactus's new found virtues their lives are steadily improving."Now, my future is here. There is no need to go abroad" to find work, said Fethi Gueldasmi, 40, whose fam ...
There is not a country in the world that is not grappling with the serious health and environmental consequences of its citizens’ diets. There has to be a better way to feed everyone well and sustainably.