By Zachary Shahan •
October 28, 2009
There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about biofuels and whether or not they are actually green, especially when produced on a large, global level.
A new study led by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) senior scientist Jerry Melillo says no, they aren’t green (when it comes to climate change). However, there are still many important factors to keep in mind before claiming this is the end of a long and complicated discussion.
By Zachary Shahan •
October 5, 2009
Turkey farmers growing greenhouse tomatoes have been using this technology since 2005. California is going to get it before the end of this year.
LA-based ClimateMinder now completely owns the Turkish company Kodalfa and it is eager to bring some of its technology to the US. This company’s “new” climate-monitoring and control system helps greenhouse farmers to monitor their crops and adjust the conditions of their greenhouses with wireless technology. This helps farmers and consumers in numerous and significant ways.
By Kay Sexton •
September 21, 2009
El Nino is blamed for changing rainfall patterns, and that, combined with inadequate harvests and increasing conflict has led to a drop in cereal production already affecting Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. This could increase the number of people relying on food aid.
There is a growing movement to assess the value–in dollar terms–of “ecosystem services” such as storm protection (from salt marshes), pollination of crops (from bee colonies and insects), natural predation of harmful insects and parasites (by birds, bats and other animals), fertilizer from animal feces, fish in the oceans, clean water and air, and cooling/greenhouse gas-controlling forests, etc.
This movement has been gaining steam–especially with the recent [...]
It’s in the papers and on TV. It spreads across the Internet (including this very post), and it is finding its way into the classroom. Global climate change is nothing new. And it certainly isn’t going away. Not yet, anyway.
By Kay Sexton •
April 28, 2009
Around Matabeleland elephants have broken into the crop fields and eaten the crops being grown by villagers. As well as elephant, wild pigs and baboons from Hwange National Park have begun to roam into agricultural land, causing havoc wherever crops are grown.
By Kay Sexton •
April 3, 2009
We’ve got used to roller-coaster oil prices, although it doesn’t stop panic buying at the pumps when gas prices are projected to rise, but roller-coaster food prices are something that hasn’t been seen in most of the developed world for many decades.
By Kay Sexton •
March 31, 2009
The recent fall in grain prices across the developed world may have given the impression that food security isn’t a problem – but it is. There are more people not getting enough to eat than there were a decade ago.
By Alex Felsinger •
March 28, 2009
In a huge break for the United States’ anti-GMO movement, a federal judge ruled that the US Fish & Wildlife Service should not have allowed genetically modified crops to be planted within a Prime Hook, a national wildlife refuge in Delaware.
The suit, filed by the Center for Food Safety, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and the Audubon Society in Delaware, challenged that the US Fish & Wildlife Service knowingly put habitat at risk when it allowed farmers to plant GMO’s inside the 10,000-acre wildlife refuge. The results were better than anyone expected.
By Amy Bell •
March 15, 2009
According to research published in The Journal of HortScience, produce now lacks not only the taste, but also the amount of nutrients it had just 50 years ago.
Vegetables today are larger, but contain more “dry matter” which dilutes the concentrations of minerals. This results in 5% to 40% less magnesium, iron, calcium, and zinc.
Selective breeding to increase crop yields has let to genetic dilution, which has also in turn caused declines in protein and amino acid levels in produce.
Because of the increased use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, crops are now harvested so quickly that the plant has less time to absorb nutrients either from synthesis or the soil.
By Kay Sexton •
March 13, 2009
Global warming forces natural resources into unnatural conditions, and the people who rely on them are similarly forced into unnatural positions
