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How to feed nine billion people, and feed them well
We need more, but more of what? Perhaps not this.David Giles/PAResource-intensive agriculture, despite its productivity, nevertheless has failed to feed the world’s current population, never mind the...
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Deforestation and the rise of industrial-scale farming in Africa could lie...
Peril from the forests.EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, CC BY-SAThe growing Ebola virus outbreak not only highlights the tragedy enveloping the areas most affected but also offers a commentary...
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Buen Vivir: South America's rethinking of the future we want
Drawing inspiration from Buen Vivir, this mural is by the famous Brigada Ramona Parra, a political street art collective in Chile.Alternautus, CC BY-NC-SATwo years ago heads of state and government and...
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How low-tech farming innovations can make African farmers climate-resilient
Community education is a vital part of the Malawi Farmer to Farmer Agroecology project.Carmen Bezner Kerr, Author providedScientists, politicians and the Pope are not the only ones calling for action...
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A win for air quality in Paris summit, but climate-smart agriculture still lags
Aided by expanded farming in Asia, there's been a global increase in greenhouse gases from farming. asiandevelopmentbank/flickr, CC BY-NC-NDEnvironmental problems are usually multifaceted and complex....
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Disease may wipe out world's bananas – but here's how we might just save them
Vanatchanan / shutterstockCatastrophe is looming for the banana industry. A new strain has emerged of a soil-borne fungus known as “Panama disease” which can wipe out entire plantations – and it is...
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If the world's soils keep drying out that's bad news for microbes (and people)
The world's driest areas are tipped to get even drier, with potentially worrying implications for soil productivity.Author providedDeep beneath our feet, out of sight and out of mind, millions of tiny...
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Parasitic flies, zombified ants, predator beetles – insect drama on Mexican...
Azteca ants, unsung heroes of coffee pest control.Kate Mathis, CC BY-NDAnts are voracious predators and often very good at defending plants from herbivores. People have taken advantage of this quirk...
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We know how food production needs to change if crisis is to be avoided – so...
Mariano Villafane/Shutterstock.comAs the world races toward a projected 9 billion inhabitants, the failings of dominant food systems are impossible to deny. Current food production methods are severely...
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Why developing countries should boost the ways of small-scale farming
A diversity of seeds on sale in Nanyuki market, Kenya. K Dekeyser Industrial agriculture– farming that involves the intensive production of livestock, poultry, fish and crops – is one of the most...
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The future of food is ready for harvest
In this July 2011 photo, an Inuit fisherman pulls in a fish on a sea filled with floating ice.(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)For more than 20 years, a movement has been building that recognizes the vital...
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The battle for the future of farming: what you need to know
Kletr/Shutterstock.comIt is widely agreed that today’s global agriculture system is a social and environmental failure. Business as usual is no longer an option: biodiversity loss and nitrogen...
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How urban agriculture can improve food security in US cities
City Farm is a working sustainable farm that has operated in Chicago for over 30 years.Linda from Chicago/Wikimedia, CC BYDuring the partial federal shutdown in December 2018 and January 2019, news...
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Pasha 16: Small-scale farming and agroecology
The intensive production of livestock, poultry, fish and crops, is environmentally damaging. This is because industrial farming can affect the soil, water and climate. The answer lies in promoting less...
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Eight ways to halt a global food crisis
Stockr/Shutterstock.comThere are serious challenges to global food supply everywhere we look. Intensive use of fertilisers in the US Midwest is causing nutrients to run off into rivers and streams,...
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Food that feeds the world and heals it too – Imagine newsletter #6
The future of farming is ours to decide.Raggedstone/ShutterstockAccording to experts, today’s global agriculture system faces a crisis. Intensive farming with heavy ploughing machinery is causing soil...
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Taking back the hills: a tale of women rights and lands in the Catalan Pyrenees
Montse Barado, casa Armengol (Sorpe). In summer, once a week, cattle ranchers and shepherds climb to the communal lands to have a look at the animals and give them some salt. David Tarrasón i Cerdá, ,...
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Three ways farms of the future can feed the planet and heal it too
Nature and technology can combine to help farms of the future nourish the earth and its inhabitants.SimplyDay/ShutterstockIntensive agriculture may be nourishing most of the Earth’s inhabitants, but...
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Cuba's clean rivers show the benefits of reducing nutrient pollution
Aniel Arruebarenna, a team member from the Centro de Estudios Ambientales de Cienfuegos, prepares to collect flow measurements.Joshua Brown/University of Vermont, CC BY-NDFor most of the past 60 years,...
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Why the humble legume could be the answer to Europe's fertiliser addiction
An assortment of legumes.Morinka/ShutterstockPeas, lentils, chickpeas, beans and peanuts: if it comes in a pod then chances are it’s a legume. These unassuming food crops have a special ability that...
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Four ways to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises simultaneously
A landmark report by the world’s most senior climate and biodiversity scientists argues that the world will have to tackle the climate crisis and the species extinction crisis simultaneously, or not at...
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No perfect solution: Africa's smallholder farmers must use both traditional...
Farmers test new practices to cope with climate impacts in Kenya. Cecilia Schubert/Climate Smart Kenya/CCAFS/FlickrAs an agricultural and environmental scientist, I’ve worked for decades exploring the...
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'Regenerative agriculture' is all the rage – but it's not going to fix our...
ShutterstockDecades of industrial agriculture have caused environmental and social damage across the globe. Soils have deteriorated and plant and animal species are disappearing. Landscapes are...
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Africa now emits as much carbon as it stores: landmark new study
Cattle emit a lot of methane, but they also provide livelihoods and environmental services.Getty ImagesA landmark new study has found that, in the last decade, the African continent has started...
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How agroecology can be part of a ‘just transition’ for Canada’s food system
Problems in Canada’s food system are being felt from field to fork — and they are increasingly hard to swallow. After a year of skyrocketing food costs, Canada’s Food Price Report 2024 predicts a...
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