Modern Farmer

OCTOBER 28, 2024

That first student-led audit at Lovin Elementary provided the school with different resolutions it has now implemented, including serving food differently to reduce packaging waste, eliminating straws and breakfast cutlery, and using biodegradable trays. Tending to the compost. Photography courtesy of Gwinnett County Public Schools.

Food 90

Food Compost Straw Fertilizer 90

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

More Soil Protected With Conservation Tillage Conservation tillage and no-till methods protect soil health and reduce soil erosion, increase crop resilience, reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and save labor costs.

Agriculture 105

Agriculture Agriculture Pasture Acre 105

Civil Eats

APRIL 29, 2024

It helps increase yields and the nutrient content of crops, reduce synthetic fertilizer use, and improve soil health and water retention, among other benefits. The USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) currently requires compost to be derived from plant and animal materials, such as manure, food scraps, leaves, and straw.

Compost 107

Compost Manufacturing Food Production 107

Sustainable Food Trust

JUNE 28, 2023

We reseed with herbal leys in our arable rotation, which is a seven-year rotation moving around about half of our fields: combinable cereals for two years, then a year of oats/peas/barley cut as an arable silage in July and undersown with an herbal ley, which will be fertility building for the next five to six years.

Farming 52

Farming Farming Meadow Straw 52

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 4, 2023

Black polyethylene “mulch film” gets tucked snugly around crop rows, clear plastic sheeting covers hoop houses, and most farmers use plastic seed trays, irrigation tubes, and fertilizer bags. These synthetic polymer products have often been used to help boost yields up to 60 percent and make water and pesticide use more efficient.

Agriculture 129

Agriculture Agriculture Supply Chain Production 129

Civil Eats

MARCH 11, 2024

It is always covered with straw, leaf mold, or wood chips,” says Leah Penniman, the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York. “We Those are nitrogen-rich plants, and nobody’s applying fertilizer,” he says. Even if not measured with a microscope, there are signs of fungi at work—like dark, spongious soil.

Farming 130

Farming Farming Crop Agriculture 130

Sustainable Harvest International

APRIL 22, 2024

However, these chemical fertilizers disrupt the delicate fungal networks within the soil, gradually degrading the soil’s health. Opting for reusable alternatives such as tote bags, metal water bottles, and reusable metal straws makes a difference. You can also reduce your use of plastic by reusing items you already have.

Supply Chain 52

Supply Chain Food Production Textiles 52

Modern Farmer

MARCH 1, 2024

In addition, most natural fibers are grown conventionally, which often means heavy use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and genetically modified or treated seeds. Cotton growing at Viriditas Farm, where rotational crops like heirloom Sonora wheat bolster root material and straw to build soil organic matter with each crop year.

Textiles 98

Textiles Manufacturing Production Processing 98

Civil Eats

JULY 17, 2023

If the emissions aren’t from the shoreline, no amount of straw bales is going to improve the air quality,” says John Gillies, an atmospheric physicist at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada. the Salton Sea is also suffering from eutrophication, or loss of oxygen, due largely to algae blooms fueled, in part, by fertilizer runoff.

Pesticide 92

Pesticide Acre Agriculture Agriculture 92

Modern Farmer

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

Much of the wool was saturated with organic matter such as manure, straw and leaves. The solution didn’t appear until some time later, when another member of the wool industry gave her an idea: Turn the wool into pellet fertilizer. Bags of this “waste wool” sat around for a long time, with Maksymiuk unsure what to do with it.

Processing 124

Processing Fertilizer Nutrient Pollution Ranching 124

Modern Farmer

MAY 23, 2024

Lessons From Mushers and Others Composting is the controlled breakdown of organic matter into humus, a rich soil amendment many prefer over chemical fertilizers. Mississauga, Ontario, which in 2019 began processing dog poop at waste-to-energy facilities, turns some into fertilizer.

Compost 119

Compost Manure Processing Fertilizer 119

Sustainable Food Trust

JUNE 14, 2023

In 1951, pioneering organic farmer, Frank Newman Turner, took up the theme in his book, Fertility Farming , referring to mycorrhizal associations he writes (p.50), ” By ‘short-circuit’ feeding, he means the use of artificial fertilisers.

Ploughing 52

Ploughing Crop Yield Farming 52