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The Powerful Potential Of Tiny Conservation Plots
by JOANNA THOMPSON 27/8/24 NOEMA
For a few seconds, it’s like a scene from a movie: A gentle breeze rustles rows of garlic and carrot plants, tickling my shins. Early summer sun streams through the canopy overhead, leaves throw shade across the nearby squash.
Eleven children worked on Iowa pork plant’s ‘kill floor’, US labor officials say
by Jessica Glenza 3/12/24 The Guardian
Nearly a dozen children were working shifts cleaning meat processing equipment used at an Iowa pork plant’s so-called kill floor over a four-year period, the US Department of Labor announced.
Organic farming is rarely enough
by Natasha Gilbert 25/4/12 nature
Conventional agriculture gives higher yields under most conditions.
Farming with Alternative Pollinators benefits pollinators, natural enemies, and yields, and offers transformative change to agriculture
by Stefanie Christmann 14/9/21 scientific reports
Low- and middle-income countries cannot afford reward-based land sparing for wildflower strips to combat pollinator decline. Two small-grant projects assessed, if an opportunity-cost saving land-sharing approach, Farming with Alternative Pollinators, can provide a method-inherent incentive to motivate farmers to protect pollinators without external rewards.
Aquaculture Critical for Feeding the World in a Changing Climate
by Robert Jones 25/1/22 The Conservancy
The planet has never been under more pressure to increase food production. And this pressure is only set to grow—by as much as 60 percent over the next few decades. At the same time, climate change is threatening food systems around the world, with major questions about future food supply and security, livelihoods, and human nutrition.
America is losing farmland at a rate of about 2,000 acres per day, much of it to housing sprawl and industrial growth. As the demand for renewable energy grows, solar companies are increasingly eyeing these same lands for large-scale projects. While solar development raises fears about displacement of food production and ecological harm, the Georgia example shows that clean energy and agriculture don’t have to be at odds. Integrating solar with sheep grazing or pollinator habitats offers a hybrid approach to land use. But this model depends on local policies, utility incentives, and how landowners value long-term income versus short-term gains.
Nearly half of the world is suitable for diversified farming for sustainable intensification
by Hannah Kamau 29/11/23 communications earth & environment
Sustainable intensification, defined as increasing production per unit without harming the environment, has potential to transform agricultural systems. While questions persist about which practices and conditions lead to sustainable intensification, diversification has gained prominence as a proposed solution. Here we apply niche modelling using maximum entropy modelling approach to predict the global spatial distribution of profitable diversified farming systems under different socio-economic conditions.
How Crop Insurance Prevents Some Farmers From Adapting to Climate Change
by Grey Moran 20/9/23 CIVIL EATS
The Federal Crop Insurance Program helps steer the direction of U.S. agriculture. But advocates and farmers say its policies have often failed to benefit the most climate-adaptive farms—and penalizes farmers for adopting some climate-friendly strategies.
Pioneering landowners in Norfolk, England are building a more sustainable future for their farms, communities and the planet.
by Lucy Carrigan 12/9/23 The Nature Conservancy
Fennel grows wild in a field, dappled sky behind it, while in front lush verges with wildflowers in abundance. A meadow as the sun sets, dragonflies flit from one plant to another, bees hum in amongst the long grasses immersed in their evening ritual of gathering pollen. Bursts of blues, yellows, purples and reds sway across a bucolic landscape, buffeted by a light evening breeze.
Farming feeds the world. We desperately need to know how to do it better
by Adriana Adie 15/11/22 nature
The honest answer to these questions is that we can’t yet be sure. That’s partly because of a lack of evidence — the needs of small-scale farmers are under-researched, as a project called Ceres2030 reported in 2020 (see go.nature.com/3o5hgl7). What’s more, the rules for evidence in policy for agriculture, food systems and climate adaptation are not as systematic as they are in policy for health and medicine.
American Farmers and the USDA Had Finally Embraced Their Role in the Climate Crisis. Then Came the Federal Funding Freeze
by Georgina Gustin 4/4/25 Inside Climate News
Critics say the Trump administration’s halt to billions in conservation spending could cause long-term damage and slow hard-won progress.
Farmers Should Choose What They Grow
The majority of the food produced in the world is grown through ecological farming methods. More than two billion small farmers produce 70 percent of the food we eat. By preserving ecological farming methods and food sovereignty, farmers can maintain direct relationships with the community to determine what to grow and eat.
How a Kansas town became one of the nation’s first majority-Black farming communities
Fred de Sam Lazaro by 7/2/22 PBS NEWS
The wave of migration across the U.S. in the mid-1800's included people looking to live in open spaces, with land to grow crops and the opportunity to have a better life. After the Civil War, that included freed slaves and their families. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on one Kansas town that was established as a result as part of our Black History Month coverage and ongoing series, "Race Matters."
Iraq: Islamic State’s destructive legacy decimates Yezidi farming
by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 13/10/18
As part of its brutal campaign against northern Iraq’s Yezidi minority, the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when it sabotaged irrigation wells and destroyed other farming infrastructure, Amnesty International said in a new report today.
How rural communities are tackling a suicide and depression crisis among farmers
by Megan Thompson 14/1/24 PBS NEWS
More than 50,000 Americans took their own lives in 2023, the nation’s highest yearly rate of suicide on record. Farmers are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population, according to the National Rural Health Association. Special correspondent Megan Thompson reports from Wisconsin on the burden farmers often deal with and what’s being done to help them.
Amid Severe Drought, Arizona Turns to Sustainable Farming
In Arizona, temperatures can soar to a staggering 115º F at the height of the summer. Many crops wither under extreme heat, and farmers are facing a dilemma surrounding an increasingly scarce ingredient: water.
Mixed messages on immigration raids from Washington fuel farm workers’ fears
After a weekend of national protests over his immigration policy, President Trump says he wants a greater crackdown in some of the nation’s biggest cities. At the same time, the president is pulling back on ICE raids in some major…
Indiana’s small, Black farmers struggle to keep their farms running
by Brock E.W. Turner 8/9/21 PBS NEWS
Indiana’s agricultural tradition is well documented. From Indy 500 winners drinking milk to county fair midways and local 4-H animal exhibits, farming is always celebrated. But the national conversation around race is largely absent in many rural Indiana communities. From Indiana Public Media, Brock Turner has the story.
Farmers not feeling the love as federal program cuts, tariffs threaten income
by Dwayne Fatherree 11/4/25 SPLC
Rafael Guerrero and his four brothers had worked as agricultural harvesters their whole lives. But as the world was coming out of its COVID-19 bubble in 2023, they started their own family farm. Guerrero’s parents, wife and three daughters are all part of the enterprise along with his brothers.
Organic Farming Flourishes in Cuba, But Can It Survive Entry of U.S. Agribusiness?
by Catherine Murphy 2/6/15 DEMOCRACY NOW
Over the past 25 years, Cuba has built a largely organic farming system out of necessity. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba lost its main supplier of fertilizers and pesticides. What will the changing U.S.-Cuban relationship mean for Cuban farmers?
Agrarian roots? Think again. Debunking the myth of summer vacation’s origins
by Saskia de Melker 7/9/14 PBS NEWS
It’s an image that many remember of America’s agrarian past: Kids toiling away on family farms during the long, hot summer break between school years.
This Michigan project celebrates the rich history of community farmers and gardeners
by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang 28/2/25 PBS NEWS
Correction: Captions for images in this story used the incorrect name for Lisa Bashert, and misspelled the name of photographer Nick Azzaro. The names have been corrected. We regret the errors.
Refugees in New Hampshire turn to farming for income, taste of home
by Nick Perry 19/9/24 PBS NEWS
Farmers balance large crates laden with vegetables on their heads while chatting in Somali and other languages. As the sun burns away the early morning mist, the farmers pick American staples like corn and tomatoes as well as crops they grew up with, like okra and sorrel. Many of the women wear vibrant orange, red and blue fabrics.
Farmers are abandoning their land. Is that good for nature?
A century ago, a thousand people lived in this village. Today, there are only about 200. People left for jobs in Bulgaria's cities, or abroad. Their heirs may still own land around the village where crops once grew, or sheep grazed, but much of that land now sits unused. Shrubs and small trees are taking over.
How Black North Carolinians pay the price for the world’s cheap bacon
The meat industry’s environmental racism problem, explained.
You buy fish from Alaska. Soon you might get your vegetables from there, too
Climate change is affecting our food, and our food is affecting the climate. NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about the search for solutions.
California’s Relentless Droughts Strain Farming Towns
by Liza Gross 17/5/21 Inside Climate News
Gov. Newsom has placed most of the state under a drought emergency, which could leave communities struggling with agricultural pollution without drinking water.
They spoke up about factory farming. Now, they’re being threatened by their neighbors.
How Big Meat silences its critics.
Study: Organic Farming Is More Profitable Than Conventional
After years of steady growth in demand, organic food now accounts for 5 percent of US food sales. Yet organically managed land makes up just 1 percent of US farmland. Why hasn’t the craze for organics moved from the supermarket to the countryside? The problem isn’t a lack of profitability, a new paper (abstract; press release) from Washington State University researchers David Crowdera and John Reganold finds.
Farmers strongly back Trump. A new trade war could test their loyalty
Travis Zook grows corn, raises cattle and owns a seed dealership and farm service business in northeast Indiana. He exemplifies some of the mixed emotions that many farmers have when it comes to President Trump.
The myths we tell ourselves about American farming
“Agricultural exceptionalism,” explained.
This researcher seeks farming solutions that are easier on the land and more profitable
by Bella Isaacs-Thomas 5/11/21 PBS NEWS
Agricultural practices generated 10 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2019. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus — standard soil nutrients found in manure or chemical fertilizers — can leak from croplands into nearby waterways and eat up the oxygen in aquatic ecosystems, sometimes killing the creatures that call them home, and even making humans sick.
Ditching factory farming can help prevent another pandemic
by Jonathan Safran Foer 7/8/24 Vox
The neglected environmental and health benefits of fighting Big Meat — for humans.
At the height of the Second World War, the British government built eight huge shelters deep under London. They protected Londoners from bombs, and now one of these bunkers has found a role in a new battle – the fight against climate change.
Imagine a long black shipping container, packed with living animals. You tip in some human food waste and walk away. AI does the rest, controlling feeding and growth ‘so the farmer does not have to’, as the company blurb puts it. What are these animals inside – your animals? It’s not important.
This WW2 bunker is growing sustainable salad leaves deep underground. Here’s how
by Douglas Broom 22/4/21 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
At the height of the Second World War, the British government built eight huge shelters deep under London. They protected Londoners from bombs, and now one of these bunkers has found a role in a new battle – the fight against climate change.
India’s farming protests resonate with U.S. agriculture communities
by Scott McFetridge 1/2/21 PBS NEWS
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Images of thousands of farmers streaming into India’s capital on tractors and carrying banners to decry potentially devastating changes in agricultural policy can seem a world away, but the protests in New Delhi raise issues that resonate in the United States and have led to dramatic change in rural America.
What struggling U.S. farmers want even more than federal aid
by Judy Woodruff 23/5/19 PBS NEWS
American farmers have been among the hardest hit by the U.S. trade war with China. With no deal between the world’s two largest economies in sight, the Trump administration unveiled a second emergency aid plan Thursday to help offset agricultural losses. William Brangham talks to Iowa Public Television's Delaney Howell about farmers' support for President Trump and what they want more than aid.
by Rina Chandran 9/4/20 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Coronavirus lockdowns are pushing more city dwellers to grow fruit and vegetables in their homes, providing a potentially lasting boost to urban farming, architects and food experts said on Tuesday.
A Proud California Dairy Farmer Battles for Survival in Wildly Uncertain Times
by Evelyn Nieves 22/6/20 Inside Climate News
Scott Magneson keeps on farming, despite the economic fallout from a pandemic and the extreme weather—floods, drought, wildfires—linked to climate change
A Grass-Roots Movement For Healthy Soil Spreads Among Farmers
In American farm country, a grass-roots movement is spreading, a movement to keep more roots in the soil. (Not just grass roots, of course; roots of all kinds.) Its goal: Promoting healthy soil that's full of life.
Sri Lanka’s organic farming disaster, explained
A shift to better farming practices is possible, but Sri Lanka’s abrupt switch to organics offers a bitter lesson in how to change food systems in a sustainable way.
How industrial farming techniques can breed superbugs
by Miles O'Brien 9/8/17 PBS NEWS
As high-density, industrial-scale livestock farms have become fertile breeding grounds for disease, they’ve also become a major source of drug-resistant superbugs. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien and economics correspondent Paul Solman team up to report on how scientists are studying how superbugs can get into the food supply.
Irrigation For Farming Could Leave Many Of The World's Streams And Rivers Dry
Something odd is happening to streams and rivers on the high plains of Kansas and Colorado. Some have disappeared.
Vox Launches In-Depth Exploration of Factory Farming
by Vox Communications 7/8/24 Vox
An in-depth exploration of the movement against factory farmings struggles to change our culture, politics, and palates
These two start-ups are making farming more sustainable. Here’s how
by Stefan Ellerbeck 22/9/22 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
As the global population rapidly approaches 8 billion, more pressure than ever is on the agriculture industry to increase production. With climate change also posing a growing threat to the planet, feeding more people more sustainably has become more important than ever.
War veterans find sustenance–and solace–in farming
by Mike Cerre 16/10/18 PBS NEWS
After Congress failed to pass a farm bill ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, a Department of Agriculture program that helps veterans transition into farming faces an uncertain future. For soldiers returning from war, farming can offer a new occupation, reintegration into civilian life and even therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Special correspondent Mike Cerre reports.
Organic Farming Has A Plastic Problem. One Solution Is Controversial
by Lisa Elaine Held 7/6/19 npr
Plastic is under attack these days for the environmental problems it causes. But sustainability-minded shoppers might not be aware that many organic farmers — like their conventional farming neighbors — also rely on plastic. It's spread over the ground as a form of mulch to suppress weeds, conserve water and aid plant growth.
Icelandic farmers' secret ingredient? Volcanoes
by Thin Lei Win 3/12/18 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Yet the heat and light in his greenhouses allow Olafsson to grow his juicy tomatoes and cucumbers even in the depths of winter - thanks largely to the geothermal energy that gives his tiny North Atlantic nation its title, the Land of Fire and Ice.
The Failures of Farming and the Necessity of Wildtending
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/12/the-failures-of-farming-and-the-necessity-of-wildtending/ by Nick Pemberton 12/4/19 COUNTERPUNCH}
Kollibri terre Sonnenblume came through Saint Paul late last year and I will never forget his eye contact. It was steady and intimate. He was unafraid of what judgements lay on the other side.
Why small farms are key to the future of food - and how we can support them
by Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo 20/12/20 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
In the 25 years since Clayton Christensen coined the term “disruptive innovation,” much has been written about the benefits of shaking up established business practices. Even before the current pandemic, there was a growing recognition that our food systems, too, needed to be reimagined.
U.S. Taxpayers on the Hook for Insuring Farmers Against Growing Climate Risks
by Georgina Gustin 31/12/18 Inside Climate News
Peckumn is a progressive, conservation-minded farmer who’s deeply concerned about the impact of the changing climate on his farm. He knows nature isn’t controllable and the weather is getting more erratic. So, like hundreds of thousands of American farmers, he relies on federal crop insurance.
Is a State Program to Foster Sustainable Farming Leaving Out Small-Scale Growers and Farmers of Color?
by Anne Marshall-Chalmers 4/1/22 Inside Climate News
Small farm advocates say the state’s Healthy Soils Program is pitched toward Big Ag and makes it hard for smaller, diverse farmers to access or make use of it.
Farming Without a Net
by Liza Gross 7/9/21 Inside Climate News
The bustle of birds and insect pollinators is the first thing you notice at Full Belly Farm in Guinda, about 100 miles northeast of San Francisco in the Capay Valley, where Judith Redmond and her partners started farming four decades ago.
How circular farming can build food security in arid lands
by Zulfiqar Hamadani 25/6/25 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Desert agriculture rarely takes centre stage in global conversations around climate change and sustainability.
Modern farming is harming the planet. Tech-driven permaculture could heal it
by Viktor Weber 28/2/19 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Healthy soil leads to healthy humans. Sir Albert Howard, one of the forethinkers of organic agriculture and composting, explored this link in the early 20th century. Sir Albert recognized soil as a living organism, not just as an exploitable commodity, as we do nowadays.
Window Farming: A Do-It-Yourself Veggie Venture
If you have a green thumb, a window and a serious Do-It-Yourself ethic, you too, can be a farmer ... even in your downtown apartment building. Spring is here, and for urban dwellers with no access to soil, hydroponic gardening is a way to grow fresh veggies indoors.
Health-Care Mess Makes Farming Even Riskier
by Deena Shanker 28/6/17 Bloomberg
In a recent survey led by the University of Vermont, three out of four U.S. farmers and ranchers said health insurance was an important or very important risk management strategy for their businesses. The vast majority—92 percent—said they had health insurance in 2016. That’s about the same as the general population, at 91 percent. But insurance plays a special role in farming, one of the most dangerous industries in the country, and one that plays a vital, if often distant, role in every American’s life.
Organic farming 'benefits biodiversity'
Organic farms act as a refuge for wild plants, offsetting the loss of biodiversity on conventional farms, a study suggests.
Even Mega-Farms Are Mostly Family Owned
by Maggie Koerth 22/11/16 FiveThirtyEight
Farms are getting bigger and the smallest farms aren’t real farms — that’s what I told you last week in a story about how the official definition of “farm” in the national Agricultural Census obscures the consolidation that the farming industry has experienced over the past 30 years. But there’s another important part to this story: Consolidation isn’t the same thing as the loss of family farms. Ninety-seven percent of U.S. farms are family-owned, according to the most recent Agricultural Census.1
Meet the California farmers awash in Colorado River water, even in a drought
EL CENTRO, Calif. — A few hundred farms in the southern tip of California, along the Mexican border, may hold the key to saving the drought-plagued Colorado River from collapse.
The real value of urban farming. (Hint: It’s not always the food.)
Farming could empower millions of women across South Asia - here's how
by M Niaz Asadullah 2/7/20 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
South Asia’s record on gender equality is weak, to say the least. The region has the world’s highest rate of child marriage, and domestic violence against women is pervasive. Women are over-represented in unpaid work, and under-represented in the labor force, even in countries like Sri Lanka, which has invested heavily in girls’ schooling. Yet there is one sector where women are taking over: agriculture. This is an opportunity for women’s economic empowerment that should not be missed.
Column: When industrial-scale farming is the sustainable path
by Miriam Horn 6/9/16 PBS NEWS
Justin Knopf farms 4,500 acres in central Kansas, producing wheat, soy, sorghum and alfalfa for national and global markets, using synthetic pesticides, fertilizer and GMOs. In some quarters, those facts would suffice to condemn him as a villain of “Big Ag.” But Justin is a conservation hero, showing the way to restore soils and biodiversity, protect clean water and the atmosphere and feed a growing global population without giving over still more of the planet to agriculture — which already covers half of Earth’s ice-free land, uses 70 percent of all fresh water and has greater impacts on biodiversity than any other human enterprise.
9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize
by Marina Bolotnikova 26/2/24 Vox
Factory farms are now so big that we need a new word for them.
Biden could do a lot to fight factory farming even without Congress
Whole farm planning raises profit despite burgeoning climate crisis
by Albert Muleke 13/10/22 scientific reports
The climate crisis challenges farmer livelihoods as increasingly frequent extreme weather events impact the quantum and consistency of crop production. Here, we develop a novel paradigm to raise whole farm profit by optimising manifold variables that drive the profitability of irrigated grain farms.
Understanding smallholder farmers’ perceptions of agroecology
by Mary Ann A. Batas 17/3/25 npj
In Indonesia, smallholder farmers play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity and cultural practices closely tied to food security. However, they face numerous sustainability challenges.
Farmer typology and drivers of agricultural mechanization use in Haiti
by Bénédique Paul 25/5/24 scienific reports
Agricultural mechanization is recognized as an important technology to increase agricultural productivity, face labor shortages, and reduce post-harvest loss. However, variations among farms’ characteristics and agricultural production systems suggest adopting a targeted strategy in mechanization programs for farmers.
Why the food system is the next frontier in climate action
by Daniel J. O’Brien 20/4/23 Climate Connections
While recent federal bills have advanced climate solutions through the lenses of infrastructure, electricity production, and transportation, policymakers are now turning their attention to another major source of planet-heating emissions: the food system. In its March 2023 report on U.S. biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovation, the White House emphasized a coming focus on climate-centric agriculture.
Wisconsin Farmers Leading on Conservation
One of the best things about living in Wisconsin is the food—from summer sweet corn to the delicious cheese made by Wisconsin cheesemakers using milk produced by Wisconsin dairy cows.
Food Studies: Old-world innovation
by Kathryn Tomajan 29/11/11 Grist
Le Biancane geothermal park.Photo: Yvone De ZeeuwFood Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here.
Feeding the World and Protecting Nature
by The Nature Conservancy 24/4/22
In Minnesota alone, our farmers support a $17 billion agriculture industry—ranking fifth for food production in the nation.
Opinion: Why Cities Are the Future for Farming
by Caleb Harper 14/10/16 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Humanity’s impact on the environment has become undeniable and will continue to manifest itself in ways already familiar to us, except on a grander scale. In a warmer world, heavier floods, more intense droughts, and unpredictable, violent, and increasingly frequent storms could become a new normal.
Climate change skepticism of European farmers and implications for effective policy actions
by Lea Kröner 21/5/25 communications earth & environment
European farmers struggle with mitigating global emissions of greenhouse gases effectively and to cope with climate change. European regulators and national governments encounter obstacles in implementing environmental policies, feeding frustration amongst farmers. We hypothesize that these issues relate to climate change skepticism within the farming community and dissensus with non-farmers and between countries.
Sustainable Agriculture
by The Nature Conservancy 2/6/25
There are 95,000 farms in Missouri, second most in the United States—and that makes agriculture one of our greatest opportunities for conservation.
3 big food system problems begging for innovation
by Nathanael Johnson 9/3/15 Grist
When individuals want to help the world feed itself equitably, healthily, and sustainably, what should they do?
Small Wetlands, Big Benefit: How to Harness Nature to Filter Agriculture Runoff
by The Nature Conservancy 15/4/24
John Franklin’s farm has been in his family for 170 years. “That’s why I’m into conservation, that long history,” he explains. “We want to keep it going for the next generation.” Along with his brother and other family members, Franklin grows corn and soybeans on his property in Lexington, Illinois, bordering the Mackinaw River.
Review of research and innovation on novel fertilizers for crop nutrition
by Tai McClellan Maaz 10/5/25 npj
Responsible plant nutrition requires innovation to improve nutrient use efficiency across diverse agricultural systems. This review highlights nanofertilizers, biofertilizers, and next-generation enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, examining nutrient-release mechanisms, yield impacts, environmental outcomes, and commercialization challenges.
Precision Agriculture: Potential and Limits
by David Cleary 29/3/17 The Nature Conservancy
Working on the interface between agriculture and conservation is usually an incremental thing: diligent and patient work over the long-term—gradually bending the curve in the right direction. But precision agriculture may in fact be different.
Farmers don’t try new things because it’s too risky. This could change that
by Nathanael Johnson 3/3/16 Grist
If you peruse news sites like Grist regularly, you’ve read about some amazing new gizmo that promises to make farming sustainable forever more. And, a few years later, you may have remembered that story and wondered why that innovation failed to transform agriculture. The answer is that farmers just didn’t buy it.
Agriculture: Engage farmers in research
by Tom MacMillan 30/4/14 nature
A new wave of small-scale agricultural innovation will boost yields and protect the planet, contend Tom MacMillan and Tim G. Benton.
Responsible development of autonomous robotics in agriculture
by David Christian Rose 20/5/21 nature food
Despite the potential contributions of autonomous robots to agricultural sustainability, social, legal and ethical issues threaten adoption. We discuss how responsible innovation principles can be embedded into the user-centred design of autonomous robots and identify areas for further empirical research.
Dairy Industry Aims for GHG Neutrality
by The Nature Conservancy 26/7/24
The agriculture and food industries are increasingly recognizing the inherent connection between a secure food supply chain, biodiversity, and a stable climate. The U.S. dairy industry is leading by example with an ambitious commitment to environmental sustainability.
Innovative Greenhouses Help Farmers Adapt to Climate Change
by Janice Cantieri 11/4/18 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
In 2015 and 2016, water shortages threatened his crops. And when the rains came, they were often so heavy that they damaged even the hardier plants, causing disease or infestation.
A Movement Grows to Help Farmers Reduce Pollution and Turn a Profit
by Janet Marinelli 12/3/20 YaleEnvironment360
In Chester County, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Beaver Run carves a triangular piece of bottomland as it turns east to join French Creek. A gnarled old American sycamore grows in the narrow fringe of native forest bordering the stream. On a cold, gray winter’s day, agroforester Austin Unruh pulls on a woolen beanie and points out the variety of saplings poking through the straw-colored carpet of dormant grasses beyond the thin band of forest.
Agriculture in the Midwest
by Larry Clemens The Nature conservancy
The Midwest is known for its bountiful and diverse agricultural production. Its fertile lands and waters provide ideal conditions for corn, soybeans and wheat crops, as well as 15% of the country’s dairy products. Between the production of crops and livestock, the region produces $14.5 billion in annual agricultural sales.
Investigating the impact of the internet on managing green financial innovation and improving agricultural conditions in water-scarce Asian regions using ANN modeling
by Xiaohan Sheng 27/9/24 Scientific reports
This research focuses on the importance of management strategies, green innovation, and sustainable practices in the agricultural sector. These factors are crucial for job creation, food security, and environmental conservation.
Genetic breeding for indoor vertical farming
by Zhi Wei Norman Teo 2/8/24 npj
Indoor vertical farming emerges as a sustainable paradigm, enabling crop cultivation in vertically layered ecosystems under precisely controlled environmental parameters. This innovative approach not only bolsters climate resilience but also minimizes the strain on precious arable land and water resources, aligning with sustainable principles. While posited as a transformative solution to global food security challenges and the limitations of traditional agriculture, a pivotal facet within indoor farming necessitates sustainable optimization: the crops cultivated within.
Beyond precision: why smarter agriculture needs systems thinking
by nature custom medias nature portfolio
Agriculture is more high-tech than ever, with real-time moisture sensors, automated sprayers, and satellite imagery helping farmers use water, fertilizers, and pesticides efficiently. But even the best technology won’t drive sustainability if farmers can’t tailor new methods to their land or afford the investment.
In Farming, a Constant Drive For Technology
A cross Midwestern farms, if Girish Chowdhary has his way, farmers will someday release beagle-sized robots into their fields like a pack of hounds flushing pheasant. The robots, he says, will scurry in the cool shade beneath a wide diversity of plants, pulling weeds, planting cover crops, diagnosing plant infections, and gathering data to help farmers optimize their farms.
North America Agriculture
by Kris Johnson The Nature Conservancy
Feeding a growing world while reducing the environmental impact of food production is one of humanity's greatest challenges today. Fortunately, solutions are within reach. Science tells us that shifting to a regenerative agriculture system can produce food in ways that work in harmony with nature, while delivering enduring benefits for people and the planet.
How technology is helping farmers grow more food with less chemicals
Jon Walz’s century-old farm in Stapleton, Nebraska, has 300 head of cattle, corn fields, and other crops, including oats and rye. On a recent morning in April, the whole farm seemed to need his attention after temperatures abruptly swung from frigid winter lows to sweltering summer highs.
Europe's illegal pesticide trade surges as farmers cut costs
by Karolina Tagaris 10/7/25 Reuters
THESSALY, Greece, July 10 (Reuters) - As the cost of spraying crops with pesticides becomes increasingly expensive, farmers in Greece's agricultural heartland have turned to a cheaper alternative: liquids in unlabeled plastic bottles smuggled over land and sea.
Solar grazing undergoing rapid growth, census finds
by Rachel Metea 18/5/25 PV magazine
The scale of livestock grazing in agrivoltaic installations is much larger than previously understood, found the first solar grazing census by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the American Solar Grazing Association.
‘This way of farming is really sexy’: the rise of regenerative agriculture
by Alexandra Topping 14/8/23 The Guardian
Hollie Fallick looks over Brading on the Isle of Wight, at a patchwork of fields bordered by ancient oaks, which stretches to the Solent. “We still have to pinch ourselves every day,” says the 30-year-old, as she surveys the 50 hectares (125 acres) she farms with her best friend, Francesca Cooper, 34.
Regen agriculture outperforms conventional farming across key metrics
The European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture has released the results of new study which reveals that regenerative farming systems across Europe are not only environmentally superior but bring higher returns for farmers and are more resilient than conventional models.
What the farmers say
In my experience, it is rare to hear farmers from the Global South discussing their challenges and aspirations, and what might be useful support to receive from successful restaurateurs and resort owners. That’s why I’m delighted to release a short film that brings you the voices of organic and regenerative farmers in dialogue with others in the food business sector in Bali, Indonesia.
Common farm fungicide may be contributing to 'insect apocalypse'
by Fran Molloy 1/7/25 PHYS ORG
A widely-used agricultural chemical sprayed on fruits and vegetables to prevent fungal disease is also killing beneficial insects that play a critical role in pollination and wider ecosystems.
Great Plains farmers consider switching crops as aquifer runs out of water
The aquifer that makes agriculture in the Great Plains possible is running out of water, primarily from overirrigation. That has farmers considering different crops. Calen Moore of the Kansas News Service reports.
Researchers make stunning discovery after examining farmland treated only with organic fertilizers for decades: '[Will] help us to move forward'
by Juliana Marino 13/10/24 TCD
Researchers at Kansas State University have been studying how different farming practices impact the amount of carbon stored in the soil. After comparing their results, the researchers concluded that soil treated with manure or compost fertilizer stores more carbon than soil treated with chemical fertilizers or no fertilizer.
Cancer is just everywhere’: could farming be behind Iowa’s unfolding health crisis?
by Carey Gillam 18/7/25 The Guardian
Six months ago, Alex Hammer was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 37. Dianne Chambers endured surgery, chemotherapy and dozens of rounds of radiation to fight aggressive breast cancer, and Janan Haugen spends most days helping care for her 16-year-old grandson, who is still being treated for brain cancer he developed at the age of seven.
|The Powerful Potential Of Tiny Conservation Plots
Urban agriculture — that is, growing crops in a city setting — is becoming a popular alternative to industrial farming for eco-conscious city dwellers. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, members of the community garden movement transformed myriad abandoned lots into green spaces in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Seattle.]]]
Regen agriculture outperforms conventional farming across key metrics
The European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture has released the results of new study which reveals that regenerative farming systems across Europe are not only environmentally superior but bring higher returns for farmers and are more resilient than conventional models.
Climate Brief: Declining world birth rates mean immigration is now indispensable part 1
The latest UN population projections reveal a world on the cusp of a stunning demographic transformation. The global baby bust continues to deepen, countries almost everywhere are aging, and a growing number face long-term demographic decline. In this Vantage Point, we discuss the coming global demographic transformation, as well as the daunting social, economic, and geopolitical challenges it poses group
Seeds and beyond: Native Americans embrace ‘food sovereignty’
Christian Science Monitor Richard Mertens 2/22/21
For many Native Americans, the return to traditional foods is part of a wider effort to “decolonize” their people, a way to repair the economic and cultural damage inflicted by European Americans who drove them from their lands, confined them to reservations, sent them to boarding schools, and tried to sever them from their old ways. It means not just planting old seeds but reviving the economic and cultural life, the ceremonies, the customs and beliefs, around food and food production.
New Evidence Shows Fertile Soil Gone From Midwestern Farms
Thaler's team then expanded their study to fields of corn, soybeans, and other crops within a large area of the upper Midwest that includes much of Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa. They calculated that about a third of the crops were growing on erosion-prone hills. This produced their estimate that a third of all cropland in that region had lost its topsoil.
Officials are using the word 'disaster' to describe the widespread crop failures happening all over America
<embed>https://www.sott.net/article/423731-Officials-are-using-the-word-disaster-to-describe-the-widespread-crop-failures-happening-all-over-America</embed> SOTT 11/11/19
The endless rain and horrific flooding during the early months of this year resulted in tremendous delays in getting crops planted in many areas, and now snow and bitterly cold temperatures are turning harvest season into a complete and utter nightmare all over the country. I am going to share with you a whole bunch of examples below, but first I wanted to mention the snow and bitterly cold air that are rolling through the middle of the nation right now..
The Meat Mogul’s Case For Lab-Grown Beef
<embed>https://newrepublic.com/article/154269/meat-moguls-case-lab-grown-beef</embed> The New Republic 7/03/2019
He emphasized that the entire “cell-to-fork” process for growing and harvesting lab meats is two to six weeks—a blink of an eye compared with the two and a half years it typically takes to grow cattle from conception to maturity. That represents huge cost and energy savings. Hayes also pointed out that cultured meats eliminate concerns about E. coli and other pathogens that can contaminate animal meat during processing.
