Agriculture featured prominently at the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Co-operation, but the reality has yet to catch up to the hype about China’s involvement in African agriculture.
Cuban farming is a model of agroecology – growing food without heavy use of fossil fuel or chemicals. But closer relations with the U.S. could push Cuba back toward large-scale industrial farming.
Eating meat means greenhouse emissions. But the emissions from growing crops may have been underestimated, meaning that a climate-friendly diet isn’t as straightforward as simply going vegetarian.
Using historical records, researchers determine that wine harvests are happening earlier in France and that the changing climate could make it harder to grow in today’s wine regions.
Modern agriculture is synonymous with monoculture. That lack of diversity is bad news for plants’ natural immune defenses. Researchers are figuring out how to help plants fend off microbes – without pesticides.
Climate change means the number of overweight and obese people will fall by 2050, but these benefits will be massively outdone by a rise in underweight and malnourished people.
Agriculture can only contribute to rural growth and development to the benefit of all if it links with an inclusive and diverse rural non-farm economy.
In its first environmental case post-Scalia, the Supreme Court rebuffs farm and ranching interests that opposed the EPA’s multistate plan to restore Chesapeake Bay using the Clean Water Act.
Astrid R.N. Haas, London School of Economics and Political Science
To achieve its ambition of becoming a middle income country, Uganda must accelerate the movement of workers from agriculture and the informal sector into modern industries.
More than 90% of Africa’ small-scale famers get their seeds from informal systems. Governments and donors should shift their attention from the formal and invest more in the informal sector.
One of the many intriguing ideas of the Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, was this: the limits of my language means the limits of my world. Does this explain the failure to see the gathering gloom…
The concerns about genetically modified foods are well known. But when we look at population and climate projections, what happens if we don’t use them to increase our food supply?
Biodiversity is known to suffer in human-altered agricultural areas. But the Verreaux Eagle is an exception and has seen its numbers increase in agricultural land..
It’s full steam ahead for bringing vast increases in farming to northern Australia. In fact, probably too fast to adequately consider the environmental impacts.
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