The key to unlocking the benefits of new agricultural technologies is to develop food systems where the waste products from one step become valuable inputs in another.
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The world is facing one of the century’s biggest challenges: How to nutritiously feed the growing population, address climate change and not destroy the ecosystems on which we all depend for life.
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We asked six experts to nominate books that might help us avert environmental catastrophe. Here’s what they said.
Campaigners are calling for the right to grow fruit and veg in the UK’s unused public spaces.
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A ‘right to grow’ law encouraging more locally-grown food could boost health, community pride and food supply resilience.
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Whether a combine harvester or a Diplodocus is the cause, compacted soils are a big problem.
Land ownership in South Africa remains skewed towards white farmers.
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Land reform had not been held back by the constitution but by capacity constraints and a lack of political will.
Harvesting soybeans in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Brazil exports soybeans and uses them domestically to make animal feed and biodiesel.
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A new study finds that by 2030, less than one-third of the world’s major crop harvests will go directly to feed people.
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Millets have been around for thousands of years – and are back in fashion.
Nigeria is intent on increasing local manufacturing.
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As long as industrial policies in Nigeria are introduced only as a crisis response, import restrictions will continue to be their focus.
Phone surveys were used to gather data in Ethiopia.
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Our work highlights the potential of phone surveys to monitor active and large-scale conflicts.
Paludiculture in action. Chain-drive equipped tractors are a prerequisite for agricultural activities on rewetted peat soils.
(Tobias Dahms)
Drained peatlands contribute five per cent of global carbon emissions. Paludiculture, or agriculture on wet peatlands, protects peatlands and allows farmers to maintain their livelihoods.
Most maize production relies on natural rainfall, making it vulnerable to changing rainfall patterns.
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Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may be a boon for maize crops in tropical growing regions like those found in much of Africa.
Farmer-herder conflicts in some parts of the continent are in part driven by environmental degradation.
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Under certain conditions, climate can amplify security risks, with implications for lasting peace.
The constitutional right to food puts food systems and agricultural development firmly on the national development agenda.
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South Africa needs a more holistic approach to farming systems.
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A new ‘protein roadmap’ produced by CSIRO reveals foods set to fill fridges by 2030 as health, environmental and ethical concerns push consumers away from meat.
A plate of fufu, a meal common in West Africa.
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The preparation of ancient meals in prehistoric West Africa combined vegetables, pulses, tubers and, possibly, herbs and spices.
The farmers’ predicament can’t be viewed in isolation and must be understood within the context of global processes beyond their control.
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The state controls and regulates small farmers’ environmental practices without addressing what forces them to follow these practices.
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The sourcing of wheat has factored into the political and strategic decisions and security of many countries.
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Ukraine and Russia account for around 12% of the global market in food calories.
Native grasses, long overlooked, have been shown to benefit cattle and diverse native animals.
Patrick Keyser
Growing native grasses as cattle forage is an example of working lands conservation – balancing human use of the land with conservation goals.
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A scheme devised by the Morrison government to protect biodiversity and create new income for farmers may fail in its aims.