Vertical farming - growing plants without soil in huge controlled environments - has huge potential to support traditional agriculture but won’t ever replace it.
There are 100,000 fewer farms in France than in 2010.
Pxhere
The handing down of family farms is not only essential to ensure the long-term future of Europe’s agricultural sector, but also to steer it toward more sustainable practices.
Some farmers are bewildered and anxious about changes to the way they work.
Adding water to the mash vat as part of the brewing process: from left to right, Adrian Warrell (historic brewer), Charlie Taverner (postdoctoral researcher) and Marc Meltonville (head brewer) and Jamie Comer from Storylab at Anglia Ruskin University.
Susan Flavin
In the lead-up to the 2024 federal budget, there was hope for investments in water management and water-related infrastructure. Those hopes were misplaced.
Farm workers in South Africa will face difficulty working through heatwaves if global warming continues.
Klaus Vedfeldt/Getty Images
The University of Cape Town’s new report on the impacts of climate change in South Africa found that heatwaves and water stress will affect jobs, deepen inequality, and increase gender-based violence.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith delivers a speech prior to a fireside chat during a Canada Strong and Free Network event in Ottawa, on April 12, 2024. The Alberta Conservative party has long prioritized the interests of fossil fuels.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
Ghana is experiencing record high temperatures and rainfall patterns have become inconsistent.
Lesotho’s Katse Dam, which forms part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, with underground tunnels carrying this water to South Africa.
Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images
The tunnel bringing millions of litres of water from dams in Lesotho to South Africa is to undergo a six-month repair. This could leave residents of Gauteng in South Africa short of water.
Pumpjacks draw oil out of the ground as a deer stands in a canola field near Olds, Alta., in July 2020. Standard agricultural systems in Canada and around the world achieve high yields, but at times at great ecological costs. Agroecology aims to address these issues.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Natural variability in Australian rainfall can produce “mega-droughts” lasting 20 years or more. Add in human-caused climate change, and future droughts may be far worse than imagined.
Dig into soil and you’ll find rock dust but also thousands of living species.
ChristinLola/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Rock dust is only part of the story of soil. Living creatures, many of them too tiny to see, keep that soil healthy for growing everything from food to forests.
NZ’s sheep industry could be one of the biggest losers with the rise of alternative proteins. Once profitable industries will need to be ready to pivot away from animal-based products.
The US Department of Agriculture has updated its plant hardiness zone map, which shows where various plants will grow across the country. Gardeners should take note.
Managing Director, Triple Helix Consulting; Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, ANU Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University