By Maja Eline Petersen, MSc student of Agrobiology at Aarhus University | The seed system has changed a lot over the past decades with the control over the seeds lying more and more in the hands of a few large companies and less in the hands of the farmers. This has affected the genetic diversity as well as the farmers’ rights. Nepal is a country with a high plant diversity…
The agroecological imagination: Introduction
In June of 2015, 49 academics, students, government and NGO representatives, and farmers gathered together for a four-day conference on The Agroecological Imagination: A FrancoAmerican Exchange. This paper introduces the special commentary section of four position papers based on discussion at the conference..
An agroecological vision of perennial agriculture
Not all agriculture based on perennial plants is ecologically sound or socially just. But an agroecological concept of perennial agriculture must be. We suggest three key elements of an agroecological vision for perennial agriculture. First, perennial agriculture must…
The Arkansas traveler’s paradox: COVID‑19 and the rural sociology of stupidity
By Michael M. Bell | A traveler from the city, wending his Model T through the hills of Arkansas, learned some rural wisdom we would do well to recall in these plagued times. Or so tells a classic bit of American folklore, which goes something like this..
Regenerative Agriculture: Identifying the impact; enabling the potential
Report for SYSTEMIQ – School of Water, Energy and Environment. The current degradation of biodiversity and soil fertility has led to increasing calls internationally to “reverse the direction of travel” of global agriculture from degenerative to regenerative approaches..
Environmental apartheid: Eco-health and rural marginalization in South African
South Africa’s infamous apartheid policies were not based on social, political, and economic injustice alone. They were also instituted environmentally with consequences that continue to scar the land and its people today…
Outrage as regulators let pesticides from factory pollute US town for years
For years, the people of Mead, Nebraska, have worried about the ethanol plant that moved into their small rural community a little over a decade ago. They feared the terrible smells and odd illnesses in the area might be connected to the plant and its use of pesticide-coated seed corn in its biofuel production process.
Environment now
The Earth is changing faster than at any point in human memory as a result of human-caused global heating.Since the mid-1800s, when we began burning fossil fuels at an industrial scale, we have been modifying our atmosphere and causing the globe to heat up. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, which causes hotter temperatures, rises in sea level, disruption to ecosystems and more extreme weather.
Pesticides explained: the toxic chemicals in up to 70% of produce
Studies have linked long-term health issues, while regulators insist breaches of safe limits are rare. What are pesticides?The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines pesticides as any chemical substance used to regulate, prevent or destroy plants or pests – usually insects, rodents or microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria – or that acts as a nitrogen stabilizer in soil.
Toxic America
The Guardian Series | From weedkillers in your breakfast cereal to microplastics in your salt, The Guardian is seeking contributions for a major series to investigate the risks of contamination in our food, water, and cosmetics.
