India’s Food Security Threatened by Groundwater Depletion
Without serious efforts to stem the mining of groundwater, food production will decline.
agriculture
A Year Without the Colorado River, as Seen by Economists
Imagine if each tap that delivered water from the Colorado River – whether to a farm, a factory, or a home – suddenly went dry for a year. What would happen to the West’s economy?
Strips of Native Prairie Protect Farm Soil
A new conservation practice reduces cropland erosion to sustainable levels even on moderately sloping land: contoured strips within corn and bean fields, planted to native prairie grasses. The deep rooted grasses slow runoff, trapping suspended soil and nutrients. They also provide habitat for insects and wildlife.
Biochar! The verdict is in: it works. And you should do it.
We know enough right now to start doing biochar: making it, getting it into the soil, and getting it into the hands of “regular farmers”. We’ll improve as we go along, but just using what is now known, the farmers, soil, crops, and atmosphere will all benefit.
Recommended Reading for the UN International Year of Soils 2015
If you never thought ‘dirt’ could be interesting or ultra important, UNU’s Robert Blasiak recommends a fascinating book demonstrating how soil management has impacted the rise and fall of civilizations.
Along the Rio Grande, An Innovative Water Market Restores Riverside Habitat
With water so tight in this part of the country, success depended on a remarkable degree of cooperation among an unlikely group of partners.
Waste Not
Hear about an online sharing system where no currency changes hands, and no new materials are used to make more stuff.
Soil To The Rescue
Could the answer to our environmental problems be under our feet? Interview with Kristin Ohlson, author of The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet
Study: 2ºC Warming Is Enough To Seriously Hurt Crop Yields
As farmers sow this year’s crops, they may be distracted by the fact that by the 2030s — just over 15 years from now — crop yields in temperate and tropical regions will suffer significantly due to climate change.
California Drought: Is this the big one?
Rainstorms finally arrived in California…but the big reservoirs are still pitifully low, and snow pack is less than a quarter of normal. Hundreds of thousands of acres will not be planted, and food bills will likely go up in North America, and possibly around the world.
Rube Goldberg Nature
The more I learn about it, the more Nature looks like a Rube Goldberg machine: energy and materials flow through convoluted paths to accomplish something seemingly simple.
Agriculture in a Changing World
"Agriculture is the oldest environmental problem," the Land Institute’s Wes Jackson tells us early in this 27-minute video.