Civil Eats

MAY 1, 2024

When Jeff Broberg and his wife, Erica, moved to their 170-acre bean and grain farm in Winona, Minnesota in 1986, their well water measured at 8.6 These nitrogen-based compounds, common in agricultural runoff, are linked to multiple cancers and health issues for those exposed. ppm for nitrates. coli poisoning in their water. “I

Fertilizer 145

Fertilizer Farming Farming Acre 145

Modern Farmer

APRIL 24, 2024

Nearly four decades ago, Ron Mardesen and his wife Denise stopped using antibiotics on their hog farm, A-Frame Acres, in Elliot, Iowa. As the owner of a multi-generational farm, Mardesen has seen industrial agriculture and factory farming take increasing control over meat production in the last few decades.

Cattle 130

Cattle Food Acre Livestock 130

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 10, 2024

Patrick Brown, who was named North Carolinas Small Farmer of the Year by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University this year, grows almost 200 acres of industrial hemp for both oil and fiber, and 11 acres and several greenhouses of vegetablesbeets, kale, radishes, peppers, okra, and bok choy.

Plantation 144

Plantation Farming Farming Acre 144

The Equation

MAY 15, 2023

And the agriculture industry, which uses an outsize amount of California’s water and has literally changed the state’s landscape, needs to change and adapt, fast. Agriculture is the largest user of water in the western states. What can farmers do to avoid weather “whiplash”?

Industrial Agriculture 77

Industrial Agriculture Crop Agriculture Agriculture 77

Modern Farmer

JULY 10, 2023

After a winter of record snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a sudden warm spell melted the lower reaches, unleashing nearly 40,000 acre-feet of water —a volume equal to more than a tenth of Las Vegas’ annual supply—in 48 hours. His 580-acre farm grows enough forage to supply the herd, so “I’m good with where I’m at,” he adds.

Farming 87

Farming Farming Manure Agriculture 87

Civil Eats

MARCH 13, 2024

And for good reason: Cattle is the top-ranked agricultural commodity in the U.S. Photo credit: David Thoreson) Chris Jones, a retired University of Iowa research engineer and the author of The Swine Republic , explains that because of this difference in the soil, the region has never been well suited for large-scale industrial agriculture.

Manure 145

Manure Cattle Construction Farming 145

Sustainable Harvest International

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

“ “My philosophy has always been that the health of soil, plants, animals, people, and the environment is one.” ” — Rattan Lal, professor of soil science + 2020 World Food Prize Laureate Conventional, or industrial, agriculture uses chemicals to defend crops from weeds, certain insect species, and diseases.

Compost 59

Compost Fertilizer Crop Food 59

Sustainable Food Trust

AUGUST 6, 2024

He believes that there is much to be learnt from how Wales was once farmed and that by using the right animals in the right places, increasing tree cover and farming in harmony with nature, agriculture can be an effective, culturally sensitive and socially just means of managing and restoring the Welsh landscape.

Food 98

Food Farming Farming Processing 98

Food Environment and Reporting Network

OCTOBER 24, 2024

In the years between pitches, Plantix had begun a journey toward becoming one of the world’s most successful digital tools for agriculture, serving more than 30 million farmers who upload some 50,000 images to the platform a day. A farmer uses the Plantix app to diagnose crop pests and disease. Photo courtesy of Plantix.

Pesticide 74

Pesticide Crop Agriculture Agriculture 74

World Agri-Tech

JANUARY 3, 2024

Mark Brooks, FMC VENTURES Mark Brooks, Managing Director, FMC VENTURES: “My supervillain is ScorchedFarm, who exposes the vulnerabilities of modern agriculture in the face of climate change. The last 10 years have also shown that, despite being a 15,000 year-old industry, agriculture is still vulnerable to fads and fashion.

Technology 59

Technology Marketing Finance Production 59

Civil Eats

APRIL 8, 2024

When farmer Joshua Manske heard about the acquisition of an Iowa fertilizer plant by Koch Industries in December, he saw it as a “microcosm of what’s going on nationally.” Because corn requires nitrogen fertilizer to grow, Manske is concerned that further consolidation of the fertilizer industry will drive his input prices up more.

Fertilizer 145

Fertilizer Acre Farming Farming 145

Food Environment and Reporting Network

JULY 13, 2023

Department of Agriculture (USDA) program, this amalgam of farming methods aims to keep the American agricultural juggernaut steaming ahead while slashing the sector’s immense greenhouse gas footprint. billion to hundreds of agriculture organizations, corporations, universities, and nonprofits for climate-smart projects.

Agriculture 70

Agriculture Agriculture Greenhouse Manure 70

Modern Farmer

AUGUST 15, 2023

But just like industrial agriculture on land, such operations can harm the environment – and given the role kelp forests play in sequestering carbon, the climate. Now, they’re managing a 5-acre sea farm in Englishman Bay and cultivating thousands of pounds of kelp in the process. supply of edible seaweed. Since most U.S.

Cultivation 85

Cultivation Harvest Harvesting Harvester 85

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 3, 2024

Our editors, staff writers, and freelance contributors have a wide selection of food and agriculture books to recommend, both for gift-giving purposes and for the quiet moments you carve out for yourself. We hope our Holiday Book Guide can help create a calm harbor of sorts during this often-harried end-of-year season.

Food 137

Food Farming Farming Agriculture 137

Daily Yonder

JUNE 28, 2024

Shane Hamilton is a historian of American agriculture and agribusiness who teaches at the University of York in the United Kingdom. I was born and raised in rural southwest Wisconsin, where I attended a high school located in the middle of a 30,000 acre seedcorn field. And are those things related?

Crop 79

Crop Ruralism Agriculture Agriculture 79

Sustainable Food Trust

MAY 31, 2023

Industrial agriculture may produce higher yields, but the quality and nutrition levels of our food, as well as nature, animals and the state of our planet, have suffered as a result of these intensive practices. To Which We Belong Director: Pamela Tanner Boll Where to watch: Rent from £1.49 on Amazon Prime/Apple TV/iTunes.

Food 52

Food Farming Farming Ranching 52

The Equation

MAY 9, 2024

And therein lies a big part of the Big Ag problem: mergers and acquisitions across the food and agriculture industry have enabled big companies that touch every corner of our food system to keep getting bigger and more powerful. Big=bad when it comes to corporate power over food Big isn’t always bad. Does any of that sound familiar?

Farmland 136

Farmland Food Seeding Fertilizer 136

Food Environment and Reporting Network

MAY 28, 2024

Can they make laws to safeguard domestic agriculture, public health, the environment, and the genetic integrity of the national diet? More than a quarter-century later, there are still no rigorous animal studies and human trials required for agricultural biotech, as there are for new pharmaceuticals. million monthly web readers.

Maize 141

Maize Science Food Crop 141

Civil Eats

JUNE 20, 2024

—Matthew Wheeland Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land: A Social Movement Ethnography By David Gilbert Along the slopes of a volcano in Indonesia, a group of Minangkabau Indigenous agricultural workers began quietly reclaiming their land in 1993, growing cinnamon trees, chilies, eggplants, and other foods on the edges of plantations.

Food 145

Food Farming Farming Forage 145

Civil Eats

JULY 8, 2024

Just blocks from the traffic-clogged bustle of Rio’s boulevards, the Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro is a remaining 130-acre patch of the rainforest from which the city was carved three centuries ago. Locals and tourists alike go there to enjoy the bounty of Brazil’s legendary abundance of plant and animal life. A stevia plant.

Seeding 143

Seeding Food Production Technology 143

Civil Eats

JULY 9, 2024

It was the annual field day at The Mill , a popular Mid-Atlantic retailer of agricultural products including seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides. ” Land O’Lakes’ Truterra is unique in some ways, but it also fits the mold of what agricultural carbon markets have come to look like across the country over the last few years.

Pesticide 145

Pesticide Marketing Seeding Crop 145

Civil Eats

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Such shocks to the food system are evidence of some of the inherent weaknesses of an industrialized and highly concentrated agriculture sector. To some people , such concentration is an asset, proof of the impressive productivity of modern agriculture. My small flock represents one additional node in the food production network.

Poultry 134

Poultry Pasture Food Farming 134

Civil Eats

NOVEMBER 18, 2024

By then, there were already 10 CAFOs within a 3-mile radius of their 760-acre farm, so they knew the stench the facility would bring. For example, she describes how the agricultural industry backed state Right to Farm laws that limit residents’ ability to file nuisance actions against CAFOs once they’re up and running.

Ruralism 140

Ruralism Construction Farming Farming 140

The Equation

DECEMBER 12, 2023

But those laws primarily focused on the industrial sector, leaving agriculture largely alone. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has been ringing the alarm bell about agricultural pollution for years. That was—and still is—a major oversight. Big Ag is a major polluter. EN: First, welcome to UCS.

Fertilizer 110

Fertilizer Pesticide Agriculture Agriculture 110

Daily Yonder

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Now, the disappearing water is threatening more than just agriculture. Across the Ogallala, small towns and cities built around agriculture are facing a twisted threat: The very industry that made their communities might just eradicate them. Shannon said the city, industry and agricultural producers must work together. “We

Agriculture 98

Agriculture Agriculture Farming Farming 98

The Equation

JANUARY 3, 2024

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stripping federal protections from countless wetlands and leaving these critical ecosystems exposed to devastating pollution and other damage from agriculture and other industries. million acres of wetlands. What are wetlands and why do they matter? 1251(a) ).

Industrial Agriculture 95

Industrial Agriculture Acre Agriculture Agriculture 95

Modern Farmer

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Department of Agriculture denied Albert Johnson Sr.’s In an age of mechanized and industrialized agriculture, they face many challenges in operating a sustainable cattle farm—and there’s federal assistance to help with that. When the U.S. billion federal settlement between Black farmers and the USDA.

Cattle 93

Cattle Family Farming Farming Farming 93

Food Environment and Reporting Network

DECEMBER 31, 2024

The $160 million that the company’s backers, primarily US venture capitalists and private equity funds, have spent on its operations represents the largest foreign investment in agriculture in the history of the Peruvian Amazon. ” But the creation of the plantations came at a steep price.

Plantation 120

Plantation Acre Cultivation Crop 120

The Equation

MAY 14, 2024

He foresaw then what we know now: Our food and farming system was never designed to support Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) workers and small farmers who toil to produce our agricultural goods. In federal food and agricultural policy, the best vehicle to achieve this change is the food and farm bill.

Food 80

Food Plantation Farming Farming 80