article thumbnail

Changing How We Farm Might Protect Wild Mammals—and Fight Climate Change

Civil Eats

land, with cropland expanding by 1 million acres per year, fueling habitat loss for wildlife and mammals. For instance, agriculture can destroy forest habitats that certain bat species, like the endangered Indiana bat or northern long-eared bat , use for roosting and foraging. Agriculture already takes up over half of U.S.

Farming 95
article thumbnail

Fifty years of nurturing nature

Sustainable Food Trust

SFT CEO Patrick Holden and his wife Becky Holden farm 300 acres in West Wales and produce a raw milk cheddar called Hafod with the milk from their herd of Ayrshire cows. The diversity that the cows graze and eat as forage and the cereals in the parlour, is the ‘blas y tir’ or ‘terroir’ that makes their milk taste sweet and our cheese unique.

Farming 52
article thumbnail

How Crop Insurance Prevents Some Farmers From Adapting to Climate Change

Civil Eats

Just over a decade ago, he began converting his 11,000-acre farm to perennial native grassland to rebuild the health of his soil. He planted wheat and other grains directly into the meadows and relied solely on rainfall for much of his acreage. I just seed the minimal level of 10 pounds [of flax] an acre with my peas.

Crop 116