Little Insects, Big Impact
Parthiban is not the only one to recognize the high value of pollinators in improving the crop production, which in turn improves the quality of life, nutrition and well-being of the Indian people.
Food & Water
Kansas Town Faces Big Bill to Clean Drinking Water
Pretty Prairie, home to 650 people on the southern Kansas plains, is a one-well town. And that well is giving the town fits. The 30-meter-deep (100-foot) borehole draws water from a slice of the Equus Beds aquifer that has shown increasing levels of nitrate, a chemical that can be deadly for infants.
Do we Really Value Grass? Grass is just Grass isn’t it?
It doesn’t really matter what we decide to call it – mob grazing, rotational grazing or paddock grazing – they all essentially mean very similar things.
Left Agrarian Populism: a Programme
What I mostly want to do on this site over the next few months is resume exploring the alternative world of my Peasant’s Republic of Wessex. But there’s a case for taking a step back, putting that exercise into a wider context, and laying out something of a programme for the year – especially in the light of some comments I’ve recently received. So that’s what I’m going to do here.
How “Open Source” Seed Producers from the US to Indian are Changing Global Food Production
Frank Morton has been breeding lettuce since the 1980s. His company offers 114 varieties, among them Outredgeous, which last year became the first plant that NASA astronauts grew and ate in space.
Movie Un-Review: Wendell Berry, the Not-Quite Rock Star Seer
To me, that’s the big question when it comes to film. Is such a thing possible, or does making a film – even one about Berry – not have a net effect of legitimizing film even more, spurring the making and watching of even more films (eco-type films in this case), rather than inspiring viewers and filmmakers themselves to “turn the television [and camera] off and go outside”?
Reducing Consumption and Local Exchange Better than “Sustainable Consumption”
While it is clear that global trade play a major role as a driver of destruction of biodiversity there is no way “consumers” in the US or other developed economies can be expected to take responsibility for the effect on biodiversity of their consumption.
Milk: The Sustainability Issue
The most recent turn in the UK dairy crisis is the rejection of milk by young people, replaced by alternatives such as soya or almond milk. David Dobbin, the chief executive of United Dairy Farmers has described this as a “demographic time bomb”.
Afghan Beekeepers Demonstrate the Power of Co-ops to Transform Lives
We recently came across an inspiring video report by Agence France-Presse about a honey cooperative run by women in Afghanistan. It offers a glimpse into the life of an Afghan mother of seven who runs a beekeeping enterprise. She is just one of an estimated 200 women in the Bamiyan province working in honey production jobs.
Farmland LP: Investing In Sustainable Farmland
Over the past few years, we’ve tracked the success of Farmland LP, a family of funds created to increase the economic yield of farmland through sustainable farming practices.
Forging Permaculture Hand Tools, Part 2
The use of hand tools is one of the definitive characteristics of our species. We even go so far as to define our preindustrial past by ages of hand tool technology: stone, bronze and iron.
The 2016 Garden: What the Rabbits Taught
Once again, it’s time to look at the lessons that the garden and its residents taught me during the past year. You can check this post for basic information on how I listen to what the garden tells me and how to conduct a dialogue with your own garden.
