Résultats de recherche

Wild Olives Provide a Healthy Oil Source

The oil obtained from the fruit of wild olive trees has excellent sensory, physicochemical and nutritional stability characteristics, according to an article published in the journal Antioxidants.

Mind-boggling variety’: the food crusaders preserving India’s heritage

A small army of botanical heritage enthusiasts is spearheading a m ovement in India for the revival and preservation of the country’s rapidly vanishing food biodiversity by bringing back the rich crop varieties that thrived in the past, but are now on the verge of extinction.

Statement by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of World Food Day

Statement by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of World Food Day

World Food Day 2020

16 October 2020, Rome, Italy

11th session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-AnGR/11) at FAO

1 - 3 July 2020, Rome, Italy

164th Session of the FAO Council

8 - 12 June 2020, Rome, Italy

8th session of the Global Soil Partnership Plenary Assembly (FAO)

4 - 5 June 2020, Rome, Italy

Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity (FAO)

1 - 3 June 2020, Rome, Italy

A Light at the End of the Covid Tunnel?

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.

Experts apply microbiome research to agricultural science to increase crop yield

The global demand and consumption of agricultural crops is increasing at a rapid pace. According to the 2019 Global Agricultural Productivity Report, global yield needs to increase at an average annual rate of 1.73 percent to sustainably produce food, feed, fiber and bioenergy for 10 billion peo ...

The pandemic is just another sign of our broken food system

As many as 265 million people around the world are suffering from food insecurity and possible starvation, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Food Programme has warned of widespread famines “of Biblical proportions” and its latest report is a stark reminder of the disconnects in our ...

Crops sown in a uniform spatial pattern produce higher yields and reduce environmental impact

Higher yields and fewer weeds are possible if farmers sow wheat, maize, soy and other crops in more uniform spatial patterns, according to University of Copenhagen researchers. More precise sowing can also help reduce herbicide use and fertilizer runoff.

Fairtrade Africa supports alliance on climate action and living incomes in cocoa regions

This year, as the world celebrates World Earth Day on the 22nd April 2020, Fairtrade Africa is highlighting its stakeholder collaboration towards climate action. Environmental degradation and climate change in the last couple of decades have reached alarming levels and global action is urgently ...

Agricultural economist evaluates research results on food security

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 ...

Build diverse food systems for post-COVID-19 world

The spread of COVID-19 across the globe has led to never-before-experienced lockdown situations—which in turn are having a significant impact across agricultural systems—threatening food security for increasing numbers of people around the world.

How COVID-19 affects farmers and the food supply chain

Empty shelves lining supermarkets, farmers dumping milk and abandoning fields of crops, restaurants laying off staff—the American food landscape has changed dramatically in just a month, thanks to stay-at-home advisories and social distancing in the age of COVID-19.

The importance of the (wild) bee and what you can do to help!

The bee is a special creature: of great importance for the conservation of biodiversity and our food. But why does the bee play such an important role and what can you do to help it? Nienke Vennik – editor for Slow Food Netherlands – interviewed a local beekeeper and found out.

UAE wages war on tiny scourge threatening date palms

Said Al-Ajani looks proudly over his lush date plantation, which recently survived a plague of red weevils—a destructive insect wreaking havoc across the Middle East and North Africa.

[Commentary] Covid-19 and food security: Lessons for Indian Agriculture

I started my post-graduate work on potato in 1947 at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. Growing up in Tamil Nadu, I had witnessed the damage to the potato crop by a disease called late blight (caused by Phytophthora infestans) in the Nilgiri Hills.

Business as usual is no longer an option

There are currently no lack of visitors at Eosta, the market leader in the European organic fruit and vegetable sector. "The turnover is exploding and organic fruit and vegetables are in high demand. We have seen this often in times of crisis, the demand for bio is growing exponentially. In one ...

The forward movement of organic growth

When Antony John first started growing organic produce on a quarter acre of land for restaurants near his farm in Stratford, Ontario, he met with the perplexed reactions of loan officers at the bank. “They were willing to lend us money, but you had to prove yourself to them every year with a cas ...

WATCH: Why farmers should take climate change seriously

When it comes to climate change there is no doubt – Mzansi’s agricultural community has seen it all. From increasing floods to devastating droughts. As if that’s not enough, our farmers are in constant combat with another threat – pests or disease outbreaks.

Plant disease: UK restricts olive tree imports to halt infection

Severe restrictions will be placed on imports of some very popular trees and plants in an effort to halt a deadly infection. Xylella fastidiosa has wreaked havoc on olive plantations in parts of Italy and has also been found in France and Spain. To prevent the disease spreading to the UK, import ...

COVID-19 is wake up call for global food systems, say experts

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has exposed a crisis in the global food system, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) — a panel of developmental economists, agronomists, nutritionists and sociologists from 18 countries — said in April 2020.

Returning land to nature with high-yield farming

The expansion of farmlands to meet the growing food demand of the world's ever expanding population places a heavy burden on natural ecosystems. A new IIASA study however shows that about half the land currently needed to grow food crops could be spared if attainable crop yields were achieved gl ...

Healthier climate: Fava beans could replace soy

Tofu, soy milk and veggie mince. More and more Danes are opting to supplement or completely replace their consumption of animal-based proteins with plant-based proteins. Climate considerations are part of their reasoning.

From land evictions to intensive agriculture: the struggle to reconnect Ogiek beekeepers to the Mau forest environment

The diversity of ecosystems that characterize the Kenyan territory lend themselves particularly well to beekeeping activities. From the arid areas of the northern part of Kenya to the montane forests in the center of the country, beekeeping has for centuries represented an important interface be ...

Olive oil industry under increasing threat from 'olive leprosy'

One of southern Europe’s most important staples, olive oil, is under pressure from a potentially deadly disease that new research shows could infect nearly all of the productive areas of Italy, Greece and Spain.

Commission confirms new schedule for Farm to Fork strategy

The launch date of the highly-anticipated new EU food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F), is currently under review and an updated programme is due to the published in the coming weeks, a Commission official told EURACTIV.com.

Crisis Should be the Time to Rethink Food and Farming Models

“The problem of the global COVID-19 pandemic is often related to the market of ‘exotic’ meat, but the truth is that the model that allows the emergence of these diseases is the intensive model itself much practiced in European countries, in the United States and even in Brazil,” says Glenn Makut ...

10 pioneer-era apple types thought extinct found in US West

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.

Foods that last forever: Preserving crop diversity during a crisis

As global supply chains grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, the safeguarding of food security is of dire concern to governmental and agri-food stakeholders. Speaking to representatives of the world’s leading seed vaults, FoodIngredientsFirst explores the role of gene banks in conserving crop di ...

Caffeinated conservation: Colombian farmers switch coca for coffee to protect wildlife

In a clearing around his modest smallholding, farmer Arcadio Barajas stands before a sea of coffee plants, cloaked in the shadow cast by a wall of verdant forest that covers the San Lucas mountains of northern Colombia.

In semi-arid Africa, farmers are transforming the 'underground forest' into life-giving trees

Around the world, nearly 5 billion acres of land — an area larger than Russia — are degraded. Degradation can take many forms: clearing of forests; soil erosion; or the decline of nutrients in the soil, all of which result in less productive land. The loss of soil fertility is dragging down agri ...

Strengthening local capacities for climate-smart agriculture – Insights from Nepal

Aastha Bhusal and Laxman Khatri from the Nepali NGO LI-BIRD share their first-hand insights of how farmers are gaining knowledge of climate-smart practices and boosting their communities’ resilience in Gandaki province, Nepal.

When agriculture focuses on profit instead of food

In the mid-20th century, the so-called Green Revolution changed humanity’s relationship with agriculture. A series of technological advances in high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat seeds, along with irrigation systems and new fertilisers and pesticides – which marked the official entry of t ...

Country diary: beauty and the bee orchids

I push the spade beneath the neat rosette of leaves, trying carefully not to castrate the plant. Castrate may seem an odd choice of word, I am after all just digging up a plant to move it, but hidden in the soil, underneath that Garden of Eden fan of greenery, there are two oval tubers, and they ...

Researchers discover a novel chemistry to protect our crops from fungal disease

Pathogenic fungi pose a huge and growing threat to global food security. Currently, we protect our crops against fungal disease by spraying them with anti-fungal chemistries, also known as fungicides.

Agriculture and biodiversity: A make or break for European Green Deal

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.

Countering arable land degradation: The waste that woke the soil

Soil is a natural resource that we often overlook and abuse just because of its supposed abundance. Some call it "dirt" and many times we attribute to stains and things we should rid ourselves of in the name of cleanliness.

To Meet Paris Agreement Targets, India Should Pay More Attention to Soil

The nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement typically include afforestation and reduced deforestation as additional carbon sinks. The first Biennial Transparency Reports for NDCs submitted in 2015 are due in 2022 for developed countries to 2024 for developing countries. ...

Farms with diverse crops can help protect wildlife and buffer against climate change, researchers report.

The researchers found that farms with diverse crops planted together provide more secure, stable habitats for wildlife, and are more resilient to climate change than the single-crop standard that dominates today’s agriculture industry.

Our Growing Food Demands Will Lead to More Corona-like Viruses

As panicked consumers flock to grocery stores, emptying shelves in preparation for homebound quarantines that could last for weeks, the coronavirus pandemic is revealing an alarming longer-term concern about the world's growing appetites and the stresses they impose on a warming planet.

Can we plant our way to carbon neutrality by 2030?

Several local authorities have included major tree planting initiatives as part of their climate declarations – but can we plant our way to carbon neutrality by 2030? 1st Vice President of the Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) and Chair of the Local Adaptation Advi ...

Farmers urged to go online to have their say on biodiversity certification

Online consultations have begun this week for the National Farmers Federation’s Australian Farm Biodiversity Certification Scheme Trial.

Small ecological farms to regenerate rural areas

An ageing population of farmers, huge barriers to land ownership and an unprecedented environmental crisis sparks renewed investment in small, ecological farms.

Should we abandon ‘monoculture’ farming to protect biodiversity and slow climate change?

How we farm can guard against climate change and protect critical wildlife — but only if we leave single-crop farms in the dust, according to a new Stanford study.

All the reasons why organic food doesn’t deserve such bad press

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.

Backing up crop biodiversity collections

The International Potato Center (CIP) recently joined 34 other organizations across the globe in depositing more than 60,000 seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a biodiversity bunker in a mountainside of an Arctic island in Norway.