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The world is increasingly recognizing the value of sustainable food systems, and organic agriculture plays a vital role in this movement. This translates to healthier food and a healthier environment and reduces reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. For the FY25 budget, NIFA is suggested a $3.5
On an unseasonably sunny day in March, at a community garden in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick, Dan Gross and Shaq Benn moved piles of wood chips and hosed down shoulder-high windrows of compost. Tucked underneath elevated train tracks, Know Waste Lands is the home base of the compost-hauling nonprofit BK Rot.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced budget cuts that include the elimination of funding for community composting programs. The New York City Compost Project is a partnership between the City of New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and community organizations. In 2022 alone, the organization diverted almost 2.7
The soil food web that will point the way to many orchard answers quite generously includes us humans within this symbiosis of place. Keep in mind at this time, I already knew about mycorrhizal fungi and had already been an organic and ecological grower for about 4-5 years.
Across the city of Atlanta, Georgia, many organizations are working to build a food system that centers community wellbeing with the health of the planet. On April 14, Food Tank is heading to Atlanta to partner with Spelman College and Emory University for the Summit “ Empowering Eaters: Access, Affordability, and Healthy Choices.”
This video explores on-farm composting, including a brief overview of California’s new best management practices mandate for on-farm composting as well as the food safety and organic requirements. Hear from two different farmers, including a on-site video of the Frog Hollow Farm composting operation.
On April 10th, Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) hosted a field day at Heartwood Farms in Linden, CA with farmers Franz Eilers and Emma Wade to discuss all things compost and pest management on their biologically-integrated walnut and cherry orchards. The compost created from ground-up walnut prunings and cover crop mowings.
To help you find a winemaker, distiller, or brewer to support, Food Tank is highlighting 20 producers and programs bringing sustainable sips to glasses around the world. 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 International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) is a Nairobi-based research institute that elevates the role insects play in the creation of environmentally and socially sustainable food systems across Africa. Founded in 1970, icipe aims to understand how insects can best be introduced across the food system.
Here, they educated other local farmers on how to farm with more regenerative practices such as cutting down on tillage, growing cover crops, and integrating compost. In November 2019, Igoe applied for a climate justice grant to pilot the idea of a cooperative food distribution company. Ellee Igoe and Hernan Cavazos.
His basic thesis in the piece is that the current war on real food and the ascendency of fake and manufactured food-like substances create a deep soul-level mentality that we are not dependent on food. Seen in that light, the assault on real food is an assault on real spiritual life. We need thousands like him.
It’s surprising but many snack foods leave behind many different by-products. Behind the shelves of the supermarket lies a less-discussed aspect of food production: its by-products. These secondary products are generated during food processing and manufacturing and are often discarded—or underutilized.
We are back for another special today that is near and dear to our hearts at the Gleaning Project: Stop Food Waste Day! Here are some stats that can help you understand how Food Waste impacts you and your family as well as the globe and why it’s so important to take steps towards minimizing and eventually eliminating it!
The Wall Street Journal over the weekend ran a big story on the number of start-ups getting into the food waste business, trying to keep it out of landfills. What does a person living in an urban condo do with food scraps? Obviously, the dehydrating makes everything lighter for shipping, but is this really an ecological process?
“ “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.
“Since 1977, we have been pioneers in sustainable development, promoting organic and biodynamic farming as a key solution to global challenges including food security and climate change. A development where political development, economic development, cultural development and ecological development go hand in hand.
In 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published a major report on plastic use in farming. Find it on our podcast page along with more conversations with leading figures from the world of sustainable food and farming. appeared first on Sustainable Food Trust. The post How immense is farming’s problem with plastic?
Click Here to buy Bird Feeders to attract Birds to your lawns Chemical Control: Pros and Cons Chemical control measures for worms in lawns do exist, but they should be used with caution due to potential environmental and ecological impacts. Chemical pesticides may harm beneficial earthworm populations and other non-target organisms.
As a researcher of urban agriculture, I was shocked to see a recent news article bearing the headline “ Food from urban agriculture has a carbon footprint six times larger than conventional produce, study shows.” with the Berkeley Food Institute, and this conclusion seemed to fly in the face of all that I’d read.
Today, new generations of innovative farmers see agroforestry as a solution to not just producing nutrient-dense food and specialty crops but to also mitigate the intensity of climate change-induced weather events. The Joia Food & Fiber Farm farmstead pictured with sheep, sheepdogs, and cattle grazing. Johnson laughs.
One of the most common questions people ask me is “I live in an apartment; is there anything I can do to change the food system, to change the ecology, practically, to change nutrition and livestock abuse?” If the bedding is kept moist—and it should be so it’ll compost—it won’t have much dust. No shipping. No buying eggs.
This Earth Day, CAFF is proud to endorse this bill on behalf of our members as part of the solution to the climate crisis, recognizing the invaluable role that ecologically-focused farmers and ranchers can play. 100 million a year would be available for compost infrastructure.
We see Walmart or shitty food or HelloFresh as competition—not each other.” To get [your mulch or compost] spread in a timely manner was really quite impossible,” said Gonzales-Siemens. Over at Tool Legit, the farmers share similar goals of farming ecologically and productively at a human scale, which lends to knowledge-sharing, too.
To make it as a small farm and to affect real, lasting change in our food system, it requires unwavering determination, hard work, ingenuity, and a deeply rooted sense of purpose with a view extending a thousand growing seasons. But with heart a’plenty, that’s exactly what the the Mendo-Lake Food Hub is doing.
Where are we in the ecological succession? Trees exist in a different ecological succession stage than pioneering stage plants, also known as weeds. Ecological succession is the process by which plant communities change over time, eventually yielding a climax community. I did my graduate work in cotton.
Hans Herren, Barbara Gemmill-Herren and their daughter Gis è le Herren spoke about how they utilize their combined studies and experiences in ecology, biological control, entomology, and nematology to guide the operation of their small farm. They’ve also experimented in fertigating with microbial brews and compost tea.
We’ll offer havens of protection and nourishment to lead our culture into stable families, fertile soil, nourishing food, working faith, and overall health. Industrial agriculture is killing authentic farming and land stewardship as much as food processors and bureaucrats. Many families have already taken the plunge. That’s okay.
Boxwoods, with their timeless charm, often serve as a delightful backdrop, but have you ever wondered what to plant in front of boxwoods to enhance their beauty and ecological impact? This, in turn, provides a food source for birds and other wildlife. Soil Preparation: Before planting, enrich the soil with organic matter like compost.
Are you interested in implementing cover crops, compost, mulch, hedgerows and other Healthy Soils practices on your farm? The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is offering 3 year grants to farmers to implement Healthy Soils Practices and we can help you apply! Nosotros podemos ayudarle a aplicar!
public, across party lines, is concerned about the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food production. First of its kind, the act addresses climate change throughout much of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) programming–not only that which affects farmers, but elements that shape the larger food system, as well.
What I do is visit farms and look for cutting edge practical ecological solutions. A collection tray (concrete) at the bottom of the tower sent the water into a holding tank where it was used as fertigation in a permaculture food forest. Couple that with anti-ecology and you have a recipe for dysfunction. Who needs knick-knacks?
Click Here to buy Bird Feeders to attract Birds to your lawns Chemical Control: Pros and Cons Chemical control measures for worms in lawns do exist, but they should be used with caution due to potential environmental and ecological impacts. Chemical pesticides may harm beneficial earthworm populations and other non-target organisms.
Diversity of food crops and flowering annuals. Until then, it seems to me a comprehensive, ecological approach is what’s needed. For this, we need the courage and imagination to live within our limits, just like ecology has been trying to teach us. Legume and grass covers. Rotations according to families. Reference Kim, N.,
Click Here to buy Bird Feeders to attract Birds to your lawns Chemical Control: Pros and Cons Chemical control measures for worms in lawns do exist, but they should be used with caution due to potential environmental and ecological impacts. Chemical pesticides may harm beneficial earthworm populations and other non-target organisms.
Contributing authors: Abigail Buta ,and Jessica Levy , and Elena Seeley The momentum to transform food and agriculture systems has never been more urgentor more inspiring. It connects expertise across disciplines to enhance food security, improve distribution, and position Canada as a leader in agricultural innovation.
The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology estimates that “One teaspoonful of topsoil contains around 1 billion microscopic cells and around 10,000 different species.” The post More things in Heaven and Earth: Mycorrhizal fungi, ploughing, no-till and glyphosate first appeared on Sustainable Food Trust.
At Civil Eats, we immerse ourselves in food and agriculture books throughout the year to deepen our knowledge, stay up to date, and produce robust coverage of the books making an impact in the food and ag space. Become a member today and you’ll get the next issue in your inbox, as well as a number of other benefits.
NSAC welcomed the pragmatic Senate bill, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of 2024 (RPFSA) , as an important step toward completing a bipartisan farm bill reauthorization this year. Throughout the RPFSA, numerous provisions take consequential steps toward a more equitable food and farm system.
The food and farming sector goal switched from efficiency to resiliency. But instead it shackled us, enslaved us to nefarious scientists bringing us fertilizer and menus from laboratories instead of from God’s ecological womb. CHEAP FOOD VERSUS PRECIOUS FOOD. You cannot have freedom without participation.
That systemic shift is responsible for weather patterns, such as periods of intense drought or rain, imperiling all aspects of life, particularly our food supply. She’s an award-winning professor of New Media at SUNY Purchase where she teaches Dark Ecology, a class closely aligned with her work in the ecological art space.
I see myriad varieties of vegetable crops one after the other in planned succession–seedlings and vegetative and fruiting–and I can smell the musty earthiness of the compost pile in the center of the field plots. How does the act of growing food and eating become transactional? She speaks of work that begins the night before in dreams.
Editor’s Note: This post is the fifth post in a multi-part series exploring some of the key sustainable agriculture and food systems challenges that the farm bill can address. USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) administers most of the funds for extramural research funded by USDA.
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