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Policymakers, donors, and investors are seeing the wisdom of investing in soil restoration, agroecology, agroforestry, and biodiversity, among other regenerative actions. Not only are these markets a good fit for smallholder farmers who practice agroecology , but they are also more equitable and accessible for women and youth.
From the perspective of Veronica Villas Arias of the ETC Group shared during an Agroecology Fund webinar, “when new technologies are introduced into societies who are already facing injustice and inequality, they’re just going to widen and increase those injustices and inequalities.”
” The Role of Crop, Livestock, and Farmed Aquatic Intraspecific Diversity in Maintaining Ecosystem Services. Towards an agroecological approach to crop health: reducing pest incidence through synergies between plant diversity and soil microbial ecology. The main gap seem to be in the area of “payment for services.”
Afro-Indigenous harvests: Cultivating participatory agroecologies in Guerrero, Mexico. Interdisciplinary insights into the cultural and chronological context of chili pepper ( Capsicum annuum var. domestication in Mexico. About the only thing that’s missing here is traditional knowledge.
We need to rethink our food systems and transition to diversified agroecological systems that can ensure we address this twin challenge, and to provide nutritious diets to a growing population without destroying the planet. Many farmers, for example, farmers are now producing drought-resistant nopal cacti to feed their livestock.
As countries negotiate and announce their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), or environmental action plans, they must meaningfully uplift agroecological and regenerative approaches, not just pay lip service. We need to integrate soil health into international negotiations like the ones being discussed here at COP29. Register HERE.
A Bigger Conversation’s Director, Pat Thomas, shares insights from the ‘Agroecological Intelligence’ project, which spoke with agroecological farmers and growers to establish a criteria for adopting new technologies. But not everyone buys in to this narrative.
This method of production also enables us to raise livestock on an industrial scale: Artificially cheap fossil fuel makes it economically feasible to grow vast monocultures of feed, primarily corn and soybeans , needed for Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).
For sustainable livestock farming and local meat production to be viable, we need a network of abattoirs and butchers. For sustainable livestock farming and local meat production to be viable, we need a network of abattoirs and butchers. Further, there is now only one training provider in the whole of the UK for smaller abattoirs.
Sign the petition #EndIt” Learn more about global efforts: via Global Alliance for the Future of Food — “Food systems account for at least 15% of global fossil fuel use each year To tackle the climate, biodiversity, & health crises, we need to transition away from industrial #FoodSystems to agroecology and regenerative agriculture.
The need for greater access to land, so that younger generations can have a role in equitable and accessible food production – most particularly in agroecological food production – is critical and demands that we find new pathways beyond ownership to invite their participation.
For example, increasing aridity in the Southwest and increasingly wet conditions throughout the northeast regions of the country–from the Midwest through New England–are likely to challenge crop and livestock production. In response, the chapter centers agroecological solutions like enhanced soil health and diversified landscapes.
While many of these priorities – such as agricultural climate adaptation and mitigation, MMRV of greenhouse gas emissions, and public cultivar development – are important additions to improve AFRI’s focus on agroecological research, without increased funding, AFRI will be limited in its ability to address these new priority areas.
The environmental and financial problems of the hill farming sector have been written about exhaustively, so I won’t expand on them here – other than to say that while hill farming has a central role to play in socially and ecologically vibrant landscapes, a major shift towards agroecological practices is needed to realise this.
Agroecological Practices Agroforestry and windbreaks : Integrating trees and shrubs into agricultural landscapes provides numerous benefits, including wind protection, erosion control, enhanced biodiversity, and potential additional income from timber or fruits.
US agriculture is not just a victim, but a contributor The raising of crops and livestock is the largest emitter of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane in the US food system. This creates instability in the cultivation and overall supply and distribution of food, which affects human and environmental health.
As we increasingly experience the damage inflicted by well over half a century of industrial agriculture – including devastating impacts upon public health, soil fertility and biodiversity – what is desperately needed is a cohesive and actionable long-term plan for agriculture, grounded in an agroecological approach.
But Sonoma has a less genteel side: The area is also home to approximately 3 million head of livestock held in concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. In November, county residents will have the unique opportunity to ban CAFOs with a ballot initiative that would completely prohibit industrial livestock operations.
So, with sessions on a holistic approach, agroecology and food systems transformation, it really makes sense to be here and see what is happening in the sessions within Wales, and in the broader UK and global context as well. I’ve looked at the way that we farm, and I think that we do come under ‘agroecological’, in a sense.
And beyond the diversification associated with cropping fields, adding livestock diversity into a system can reduce challenges like pests and diseases while allowing for nutrient cycling from livestock to soil and back to crop or forage species. Silvopasture, or mixed trees and livestock, is one form of agroforestry.
This gives a blueprint of the situation and provides an opportunity to consider mitigation strategies such as changing the rotation of livestock, cleaning up the water, or trying a different crop.” “First and foremost, we are on the ground doing scientific analysis of the source of the PFAS with comprehensive testing that we pay for.
We also saw a robust discussion at the Sustainable Agriculture of the Americas Pavilion, by IICA, on the climate influence of livestock production and cattle farming. Yesterday, someone I deeply admire, Million Belay , said something that stuck with me. He’s the General Coordinator for the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.
Before RiCharde and his wife, Anna, took over Good Wheel Farm outside of Asheville in 2019, he managed the livestock operations for another farm in Western North Carolina. He’s still in the livestock business—cows, chickens, and goats all graze across Good Wheel’s 42 acres.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the same farmers struggling with the effects of climate change, like drought, are revolting against stricter regulations on pollution from livestock manure. In a world where we need to feed a lot more people, meat…will still be demanded and exacerbating climate change and deforestation,” Muzi said.
The FFNSA maintains the existing carveout that ensures livestock producers will receive 50% of total EQIP funding during the life of the farm bill. This long standing setaside has led to significant portions of EQIP spending going towards infrastructure practices of questionable environmental value.
More than just an explicit set of production practices, this way of farming is known as “agroecology”, and refers to working with, rather than against, nature. This preserves the agricultural character of the area’s rural communities while also allowing each party to reap certain benefits.
A growing area of the Ecological Farming program, as well as CAFF, is to increase access to Ecological Farming among communities that have historically been left out of research, extension and technical assistance efforts, with particular focus on Latinx farming communities.
USDA funding should be directed toward building an understanding of the ecological aspects of our food and farm systems and integrating the diverse knowledge and practices of agroecological farmers and farm workers, rather than continuing to explore and promote the narrow constraints of industrial-scale monoculture. (
Twenty-five leading philanthropies issued a joint call for a step-change in funding for regenerative and agroecological approaches, which currently receive just $44bn of the $250-430bn they need. The launch of the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health , which again represents the first time this topic has formally been on the agenda.
His first book A Small Farm Future argues for the importance of locally self-reliant, agrarian communities and agroecological food production. Chris Smaje is a social scientist and small-scale farmer and grower who writes widely about what he calls ‘low-energy localism’.
Here, Bill tells us how their low-input approach is delivering positive outcomes for livestock and wildlife and why he considers this to be fundamental to a more sustainable food and farming system. Most of this land is managed as nature reserves by conservation bodies.
Just how far regenerative agriculture can cut emissions from livestock farming remains moot. He argues agroecological systems are “networks of relationships, not collections of practices. By the end of last year, 19.7% of farms supplying the company with “priority ingredients” had started the transition to regenerative agriculture.
This bill defines precision agriculture as: “managing, tracking, or reducing crop or livestock production inputs, including seed, feed, fertilizer, chemicals, water, and time, at a heightened level of spatial and temporal granularity to improve efficiencies, reduce waste, and maintain environmental quality.” 7125, 7204, 7208, 7305, 7503).
This month we had the amazing opportunity to learn more about Sherperdess Land & Livestock Co. About Shepherdess Our team is composed of next-generation graziers, folks new to agriculture coming from backgrounds traditionally atypical for someone who works with livestock and the land. Why did you become a CAFF member?
Removing livestock for even 10 years from this land can cause an ecological disaster in grassland communities.” Grassland foliage relies on the grazing and trampling of livestock to keep the soil aerated and the plant community growing. Fencing, for example, may be needed to protect water systems from livestock.
This is because productive arable farmland, that could be used for growing food to be fed directly to people, is used for growing lower grade livestock cereals, from which only 17-30% of calories are returned for human consumption as meat or milk. Examples of good practice are already flourishing in organic and agroecological enterprises.
To reverse the US farm and ranch system’s climate-warming impact, the way we produce field crops and livestock must change dramatically. A UCS analysis found that the government has invested less than 25 cents out of every thousand dollars in federal research funding in this critical area.
xxxiii] This is largely due to ammonia emissions from heavy fertiliser use and intensive livestock farming. For example, modelling studies suggest the adoption of silvopasture (integration of trees and livestock) on 10% of the UK’s grassland area could sequester 5.477 to 13.39 25 and 60% of the UK’s total current livestock emissions).
Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension’s project team conducted 11 semi-structured interviews and conversations across Virginia to learn and better understand farmers’ and ranchers’ agroecological motivations and overall values related to the protection and conservation of water resources. In this video, Brent shares who (i.e.,
Drop a pin anywhere in Cornwall, England and you are likely to find a higgledy-piggledy arrangement of small green fields separated by wiggly lines of dark green hedgerows, hinting at the pastureland for the livestock-based agriculture which predominates there.
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) , Africa AFSA is a coalition of civil society organizations advocating for food sovereignty and agroecology across the continent. Focusing on womens empowerment and sustainable agriculture, Heifer aims to foster lasting change from the ground up.
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) , Africa AFSA is an alliance uniting civil societies dedicated to promoting agroecology and food sovereignty across Africa. The Alliance is rooted in values for fair and inclusive development, harmonious coexistence with nature, and the empowerment of local communities.
Brazil’s national requirement that 30 percent of school food ingredients be sourced from local and regional family farms helps empower and fund women agroecological producers. Meanwhile, in the U.S., This scholarship is a work of trust, even capturing the eco-political movement’s emotional undercurrents. “We We no longer trembled with fear.
This is the second part of an articles series based on based on conversations held during COP16 (Cali) and COP29 (Baku) side events by leading food system actors, who explored solutions provided by agroecology. Called Resilient food futures: agroecology and climate finance for ambitious NDCs 3.0, Read part one.
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