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 98

Farming Farming Manure Agriculture 98

Daily Yonder

JUNE 28, 2024

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. Can you start by telling me who you are – where are you from, what do you do? And are those things related? Those large-scale structural issues have certainly not fundamentally changed since 2014.

Crop 79

Crop Ruralism Agriculture Agriculture 79

Daily Yonder

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Today, the aquifer supports 20% of the nation’s wheat, corn, cotton and cattle production and represents 30% of all water used for irrigation in the United States. Shannon said the city, industry and agricultural producers must work together. “We We know farmers are going to have to produce ag products.

Agriculture 98

Agriculture Agriculture Farming Farming 98

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

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. Back at the barn, companies that sell their products at The Mill had set up folding tables to talk to farmers and hand out swag. First, the farmers embarked on a wagon tour. they yelled.

Pesticide 145

Pesticide Marketing Seeding Crop 145

The Equation

MAY 9, 2024

of US gross domestic product (GDP) and employing more than 22 million people. Tracing Big Ag control from seed to supermarket We can trace corporate power through every stage of food production and distribution, identifying some of the largest and most problematic corporate actors—think of them as the Monsantos of today—along the way.

Farmland 142

Farmland Food Seeding Fertilizer 142

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

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

Food Environment and Reporting Network

JULY 13, 2023

billion to hundreds of agriculture organizations, corporations, universities, and nonprofits for climate-smart projects. More importantly, the agency aims to catalyze new, premium markets for products such as climate-smart corn, soybeans, and beef, which it hopes will spur farmers to continue these practices far into the future.

Agriculture 88

Agriculture Agriculture Greenhouse Manure 88

Modern Farmer

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Venture capitalists have poured $3 billion into the lab-grown meat industry, yet the resulting products have to be bulked up with plant protein, and are still far from palatable. In self-defense, teach yourself about the economy and technology of food production and how industry adds to and alters food.

Food 143

Food Pasture Livestock Agriculture 143

Modern Farmer

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

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. has the world’s largest fed-cattle industry and livestock make up half or more of some states’ ag exports , what if your state isn’t big into pork or beef?

Cattle 113

Cattle Family Farming Farming Farming 113

Sustainable Food Trust

MAY 31, 2023

Foroohar grew up in the Midwest heartland of Indiana where the industrial food system was born. She explores the transformation of farming, especially in this region which is dominated by corn, soy and wheat production, and how smaller-scale farmers have been pushed out as large corporations take increasing control over the land.

Food 52

Food Farming Farming Ranching 52

Sustainable Food Trust

AUGUST 6, 2024

Graves suggests ten actions that could be applied at landscape-scale across Wales to enable farming to protect and enhance the environment – from rewarding nature-friendly farming practices, to investing in farmer education, rewetting peatland and increasing vegetable production to enable self-sufficiency.

Food 98

Food Farming Farming Processing 98

World Agri-Tech

JANUARY 3, 2024

The heroes are new cover crops, nitrogen producing microbes for crops and gene editing to produce never-been-possible-before products and traits.” The past 10 years have demonstrated that practical, user-facing tech on the production side can make a difference in what consumers (e.g. anyone who eats!) Crops take time to grow.

Technology 59

Technology Marketing Finance Production 59

Civil Eats

MARCH 13, 2024

Although the state is known for hog production— hogs outnumber people 7:1 —the number of cattle in Iowa feedlots is increasing, too. And for good reason: Cattle is the top-ranked agricultural commodity in the U.S. Each year, animals in CAFOs produce twice as much waste as the entire U.S. population.

Manure 145

Manure Cattle Construction Farming 145

Food Environment and Reporting Network

OCTOBER 24, 2024

Initially imagining its product as a tool for smallholders in low-income countries, PEAT offered it for free. There was no blueprint for our business model,” which sought to change the world by improving the lives of hundreds of millions of growers who work just a few acres. At the time, Penas was the only plant pathologist on staff.

Pesticide 92

Pesticide Crop Agriculture Agriculture 92

The Equation

MARCH 4, 2024

Over the next 15 years, California will have to repurpose about 1 million acres of cropland, most of it out of the 5.5 million irrigated acres in the San Joaquin Valley. Farms that use extractive agriculture usually are outside the official community line, and therefore they pay no taxes to the communities they pollute.

Agriculture 122

Agriculture Agriculture Pesticide Ruralism 122

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 3, 2024

Prioritizing ecological integrity and community health over yield, these farmers stay profitable by diversifying their crops, producing value-added products like jams and sauces, and building community support and social capital. In the end, From the Ground Up paints a hopeful picture of how agricultural practices could evolve for the better.

Food 137

Food Farming Farming Agriculture 137

Food Environment and Reporting Network

MAY 28, 2024

We are challenging an entire model of production that threatens not just Mexico, but the world.” What stops significant traces of the insecticidal toxins from entering US and Canadian food supplies is the dominance of highly processed corn oils and cereals, the production of which breaks them down.

Maize 144

Maize Science Crop Food 144

Civil Eats

JUNE 20, 2024

Learning how food is produced is a significant step, but it’s not easy: “Opacity insulates consumers from the worst practices of food production,” the authors write. That changed, however, after Moyer and her partner established an organic farm on 10 acres in the Sierra foothills of California.

Food 145

Food Farming Farming Forage 145

Civil Eats

APRIL 22, 2025

In the San Luis Valley as a whole, 130 gravity-flow ditches irrigated 30,000 acres of farmland and 10,000 acres of wetlands. This is an incredibly productive, resilient, and sustainable system, said Pea, founder of The Acequia Institute , a nonprofit that supports environmental and food justice in southern Colorado.

Ecology 134

Ecology Water Rights Acre Crop 134

Civil Eats

MARCH 31, 2025

Theyll end at the UFW union hall at 40 Acres, where grape growers gathered in 1970 to sign their first UFW contracts. Compared to other industries, agriculture had one of the lowest rates of all, at 1.4 Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that about half of farmworkers lack legal authorization to work in the U.S,

Orchard 139

Orchard Farming Farming Harvest 139

The Equation

MAY 14, 2024

The inequities we see today—a dying Black farmer population , riskier operations and inaccessible resources for BIPOC farmers, longstanding racism at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and health disparities from unequal food access —are direct products of ongoing systemic racism and systematic exclusion.

Food 103

Food Plantation Sharecropping Farming 103

Civil Eats

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

The viruss impacts on the poultry industryand, to a lesser extent, on dairy production may well be the biggest interruption to the U.S. Such shocks to the food system are evidence of some of the inherent weaknesses of an industrialized and highly concentrated agriculture sector. Eggs from backyard hens.

Poultry 142

Poultry Pasture Food Farming 142

The Equation

DECEMBER 12, 2023

EN: Before we get to the issue of agriculture sector pollution, I wanted to ask you about the recent US Supreme Court decision that severely curtailed the EPA’s authority to protect millions of acres of wetlands. That makes the fertilizer industry a double threat to the climate.

Fertilizer 129

Fertilizer Pesticide Agriculture Agriculture 129

Food Environment and Reporting Network

DECEMBER 31, 2024

Each year, these plantations generate about $50 million in revenue for the Ocho Sur group, whose palm oil has ended up in products ranging from Cheetos to Colgate toothpaste. He marveled at the efficiency of the African oil palm, which can produce five times as much edible oil per acre as corn or soy.

Plantation 126

Plantation Acre Cultivation Crop 126