National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

DECEMBER 15, 2023

For example, at Eckert’s Farm in Belleville, MO, Chris Eckert has seen extreme freezes killing off parts of his peach orchard. They were lucky enough to have crop insurance to cover their losses, but many farmers are not so lucky. Other means of managing weather risk are, like crop insurance premiums, funded by the federal government.

Pasture 117

Pasture Crop Orchard Farming 117

Modern Farmer

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Crop plants growth is stunted from compacted soil. To build sustainable soil structure with plenty of bacteria, fungi and protozoa, we made compost by processing kitchen scraps in a tumbler. When the compost is mature, we mix it with dirt when planting. However, practicing is different from preaching.

Meadow 112

Meadow Greenhouse Compost Soil Compaction 112

Civil Eats

JANUARY 8, 2024

As California has lost much of its grain to higher value crops, small flour mills and grain cleaning businesses have disappeared, too. Next, they purchased a no-drill seeder together, and it allowed them to plant rows of grain directly into orchards and pastures without tilling, a practice known to benefit the soil. What is that?

Grain 118

Grain Farming Farming Orchard 118

Caff

MAY 1, 2023

(Photo by Nolan Kirby) The Community Alliance with Family Farms (CAFF) held a Biologically Integrated Orchard System (BIOS) field day at Chinchiolo Farms on April 20th. After a very wet winter, attendees enjoyed the nice weather as they gathered in the orchard to discuss a novel mower prototype, pruning, and nematode management.

Orchard 52

Orchard Farming Farming Ecology 52

Modern Farmer

MARCH 29, 2024

Combined with copious sunlight and compostable waste, this system creates a “goldmine of opportunity” that Chevallier believes Homegrown can leverage to transform the area into a hub of local food production. It looks like a forest.”

Food 130

Food Distribution Harvesting Harvest 130

Food Tank

OCTOBER 11, 2023

This threatens native crops and wild species. The company composts all fruit scraps, tea, herbs, cultures, and paper towels while also saving over 1,100 gallons of water per day through their recapture system. The certified B-Corp brewery composts all organic waste and is working to reclaim runoff for crop irrigation.

Beverage 121

Beverage Ecology Compost Cultivation 121

Modern Farmer

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Agroforestry—the integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems—has been used since ancient times to produce fruits, nuts, coffee, cocoa and medicinal herbs. A small sheep herd that was on the property from when her parents farmed the land was integrated into organic crop rotation. They were a rough crew of sheep!”

Acre 102

Acre Farming Farming Pasture 102

Caff

OCTOBER 22, 2024

When they purchased the farm over 30 years ago it was an unproductive almond orchard and since then they have pulled the almonds out and utilized the sloped landscape to construct swales, establish a vineyard, and plant a wide variety of fruit trees which provide shelter while their flock of ducks grazes.

Orchard 52

Orchard Farming Farming Construction 52

CalCAN

JUNE 21, 2023

Their neighbors’ operations include vineyards, orchards, grain and vegetables. The collective currently shares two mid-sized combine harvesters, one mini-combine harvester, a compost spreader, two seed cleaners, a berm flamer, a no-till drill, and a foliar spray trailer. Now, every farmer in the collective uses compost.

Compost 52

Compost Grain Harvesting Harvest 52

Modern Farmer

JULY 14, 2023

For Paddock, maximizing “ crop per drop ”—getting the most yield with the least amount of water—is important. It’a not just because it’s cheaper and not just because Capay Hills Orchard , his farm just north of Sacramento, is in an area of California that is increasingly drought-prone. Almonds are notorious for being a thirsty crop.

Orchard 71

Orchard Crop Family Farming Farming 71

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 10, 2024

In a county that was intentionally poisonedand a world suffering from a changing climatehe is reviving the soil under his feet by transitioning away from pesticide-dependent row crops like tobacco to industrial hemp, which is known to sequester carbon and remediate soil, and using earth-friendly organic and regenerative methods.

Plantation 141

Plantation Farming Farming Acre 141

Food Tank

APRIL 2, 2024

Food Well Alliance Food Well Alliance brings together leaders of the local food movement to support more than 300 community gardens, urban farms, and orchards in metro Atlanta. They support 10 farm, community garden and orchard sites in DeKalb and Rockdale Counties, helping communities grow fresh, culturally familiar crops.

Cultivation 88

Cultivation Food Marketing Distribution 88

Caff

JANUARY 26, 2022

CLIMATE SMART FARMER OF THE YEAR: SIERRA ORCHARDS When a small film crew arrived at Sierra Orchards last year for a video shoot on integrated crop livestock systems, the interviewer asked farmer Sean McNamara about his seed mix.

Farming 52

Farming Farming Orchard Food 52

Modern Farmer

JULY 10, 2023

Today, the four counties sitting in the lake bed account for more than $25 billion in food and crop production, with Tulare County ranking number one in the nation for milk and oranges. Despite competing for land and water, the region’s orchards and milk farms have developed an unlikely partnership, says Sumner.

Farming 78

Farming Farming Manure Agriculture 78

CalCAN

AUGUST 10, 2023

Christine Gemperle, almond farmer and CalCAN advisor recently drove to Sacramento from her orchard in Ceres to testify in support of equipment sharing and sustainable agriculture investments alongside CalCAN staff. Anna Larson, Christine Gemperle and legislative director Mike Sharif.

Orchard 52

Orchard Farming Farming Agriculture 52

Civil Eats

MARCH 5, 2024

The San Joaquin Valley is the largest agricultural producing area in the nation; it produced crops, livestock, and agricultural commodities worth $36.5 Mountain ranges trap emissions from highway traffic, locomotives, municipal composting facilities, tractors, and burning. billion in 2022. The practice reduces PM2.5

Farming 95

Farming Farming Tractor Agriculture 95

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 11, 2023

On a sunny afternoon in September 2021, Michael Langford was moving compost with his compact John Deere. Most of the rollovers in Washington occurred on crop farms, including the state’s signature apple orchards. Suddenly, the 53-year-old felt a tire slip under him. “I I felt the tractor tilting over,” Langford recalls.

Tractor 97

Tractor Farming Farming Acre 97

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Even monarch butterflies have lost habitat due to the prevalence of monocrop avocado orchards, along the once lush, biodiverse hillsides of Michoacán in Mexico. “Choose one from Chile and you might be furthering the extraction of much-needed fresh water.” Yet Eldridge is far from calling for an avocado boycott.

Food 135

Food Farming Farming Seeding 135

Sustainable Food Trust

MAY 1, 2024

Before 7 th October 2023 , farms and orchards covered almost half of Gaza’s total land area and more than 7,500 greenhouses contributed to an agricultural sector normally worth over $575m a year. Gazans had been encouraged over the years to produce cash crops for export using extractive methods, as has been widespread across the world.

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Farming Farming Livestock Food 127