Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
During the upcoming CAP negotiations, the future of 38 per cent of the European budget will be decided. Public money must be spent for public goods. It is not a matter of what kind of technology we want to support for our agriculture; it is a matter of who will benefit from his technology, farmers or private companies.
In our era of challenge and tumultuous transition, agroecology is a leading idea: a stabilizing set of principles and practices for clean, just, and sustainable farms and food.
On July 3, the High Level Panel of Experts of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its much-anticipated report on agroecology in Rome. The report signals the continuing shift in emphasis in the UN agency’s approach to agricultural development.
No matter where Sherman speaks and teaches, he advocates the importance of preparing native plants and animals in order to live sustainably. “There should be no such word as food desert because deserts are ripe with food if you know how to look for it,” he says.
The joy of being immersed in a meadow – surrounded by the fluttering of butterflies, the chirping of crickets and the buzz of bees – is increasingly rare. Without urgent action to tackle dwindling biodiversity, these memories will disappear.
The Democratic primary debate on 27th June was probably the first time that soil management — as climate policy — was ever mentioned at a primetime Presidential campaign event. It was also one of the first tangible mentions of farm policy in two nights of debates.
There are good, and frightening, reasons to closely follow the changes in the nitrogen cycle. We should not be surprised if the effects and costs of disturbing it turn out to be as dramatic as those for the carbon cycle.
As farmer and Christian writer Wendell Berry made it clear in ‘The Pleasures of Eating’, most of us eat in great ignorance today. Faith and food have become, literally, like water and oil.
People want to know more about where their food comes from – that’s well-evidenced now. They want connection, identity and trust. They want to know the names of the cows, the diet they eat and how the calves are treated.
The efforts made by the environmental offices of the municipalities or departments to remedy a situation which in some places verges on the catastrophic can clearly be noticed. The fact remains that a lot of work remains to be done and the internationalist Commune of Rojava is aware that it will have to explore many more fields of activity.
Agroecology is a transformative approach that can galvanize a just transition away from a destructive conventional agriculture and food system to one that builds agricultural resilience, rebuilds ecosystems, supports localized, fair food systems and strengthens local communities.
Van Noordwijk is one of the foremost researchers when it comes to investigating the interplay between climate change and human movements, oftentimes through the lens of agroforestry.
