Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Crop To Cuisine discusses the life and accomplishments of Dr. Norman Borlaug. We also take a look at a new documentary exposing the inside of the beer industry. And we take hear from Catherine Friend about what it means to be a compassionate carnivore. All that and more.
-Moore decries buying up third world for food security
-How to Feed the World in 2050
-Climate change: Impact on agriculture and costs of adaptation
-Crying Wolf: Climate Change Will Cost Farmers Far More Than a Climate Bill
-The First Review of ‘Local Food’
-Eat Locally Grown Food All Year
-Rethinking the Front Yard: Cities Make Room For Urban Farms
-Growing a Revolution
-Smaller cities seen leading the way in urban agriculture
-Planting The Seeds For Sustainability
-UK researchers aim to prove farm climate cure
-His dark materials: The man behind Green & Black’s chocolate wants to save the planet – with charcoal
-The Biochar debate
Lester Brown released a new book this week called Plan B 4.0, Mobilization to Save Civilization. The book is for sale, but it can also be downloaded free as a PDF.
I participated in a conference call with Lester Brown, in which he talked about the book, and several of us asked questions. In this post, I will give you at least a brief introduction to the book.
-UN sees rise in ‘land grab’ for food security
-The Coalfield Uprising
-Jumpin’ Jack Verdi, It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas
As global energy availability begins to decline over the next several decades, energy-intensive industrial methods of food production will have to be transitioned to regenerative practices that 1) sponsor their own energy, 2) build soils and 3) produce in abundance.
One of the things I’ve been saying for a long time is that we’re going to need to address zoning questions early in the process of adaptation. In an increasing number of rural areas, “Right-to-Farm” laws are in effect – that is, there are laws that protect farmers who are engaged in the normal practice of agriculture, when suburbanization or urbanization enters the picture. The assumption is that if it is part of the normal practice of agriculture, the neighbors can’t complain.
The human role in extinction of species and degradation of ecosystems is well documented. Since European settlement in North America, and especially after the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, we have witnessed a substantial decline in biological diversity of native taxa and profound changes in assemblages of the remaining species…We have, to the maximum possible extent allowed by our intellect and never-ending desire, consumed the planet.
This episode features Martin Gunst is an active cyclist in Vancouver…who went on to launch Grocer Gunst – a bicycle delivery service for freshly harvested biodynamic produce from three Demeter certified farms in the Lower Mainland and the Okanagan…and Tom Stearns, of Hardwick Vermont’s, High Mowing Organic Seeds who joined Deconstructing Dinner’s Jon Steinman and shared the history of Hardwick and the future of food security work both there and throughout North American communities.
It is no surprise that gardening and farming inspire art. The partnership between nature and humans in the act of producing food can’t help but produce beauty too. A shelf full of home-canned vegetables means food security, but the real reason we delight in them is that the food just looks so pretty sitting there in rows in the cellar. The act of laying by food is its own reward even before we eat the stuff.
-Will investors show an appetite for local food?
-Can farmland be saved without the farmer?
-USDA grant program benefits farmers market producers
-Grass-finished beef market sees exponential growth
-County to hear local food plan
