Avocado demand is driven not just by their supposed health benefits, but by their newness, exclusivity and symbolic, aspirational value to a burgeoning middle class.
Ethical codes on animal experimentation lay down strict rules about the treatment of lab animals. Animals headed to the slaughter house are not so lucky.
When species are pushed to the top of the mountain, where else is left to go?
Tero Mustonen
From luxuries like champagne to the very livelihoods of fishing communities in the developing world – the climate-driven shifts in species will affect us all.
Bowen’s market gardens supply some 13% of Australia’s perishable vegetables.
Sydney, Melbourne and many other areas can expect to pay more for veg from next month, after widespread crop losses in Bowen, a major source of winter vegetables such as tomatoes, beans and capsicum.
Planting a diverse blend of crops and cover crops, and not tilling, helps promote soil health.
Catherine Ulitsky, USDA/Flickr
Conventional wisdom says we need industrial agriculture to feed the world. Not so, says geologist David Montgomery: Practices that focus on creating healthy soil can transform agriculture.
Free range, sow stall free - you’ll find a number of different types of ham on the market this Christmas. But what do they mean?
A farm worker tends to a tobacco crop in Beatrice, Zimbabwe. The county has struggled to deliver land reform that benefits landless communities.
REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo
South Africa’s government makes much of its efforts of putting more land in the hands of the previously disenfranchised black majority. Yet, many beneficiaries continue to wallow in poverty.
Our food system depends on nitrogen fertilisers.
Nitrogen image from www.shutterstock.com
Ee Ling Ng, The University of Melbourne; Deli Chen, The University of Melbourne, and Robert Edis, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
Somehow we need to grow more food to feed an expanding population while minimising the problems associated with nitrogen fertiliser use.
Was Barnaby Joyce’s international comparison correct?
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said backpackers would be better off working in Australia with a 19% tax than in New Zealand, England and Canada. Is that true? And what would a 15% or 10.5% tax mean?
Drought tolerant beans in Malawi. Africa needs improved agricultural practices to be implemented by smallholder farmers.
Neil Palmer/CGIAR Research Program/ Flickr