Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The bioregion defined by the Willamette River watershed in Oregon is one of the most bountiful in the United States. The agricultural picture of the Willamette Valley, however, has been turned inside out in the last 25 years. Nearly everything we eat comes from some place else. (Case study)
Recent debates around the future of agriculture on the far side of Hubbert’s peak, wrestling with questions of the reversibility of the rise of industrial agriculture, have missed two crucial points. First, systemic change in complex systems rarely follows linear patterns; second, economic trends already in place may well favor the emergence of a viable postpetroleum agriculture.
Australian PM: Farmers to adapt for climate change
USA grain exports – Where to, how much?
In highland Peru, a culture confronts blight
NGOs wary of doomsday seed vault
The year is 1970 and as the scene opens in the Blue Room Cafe, known locally as Blue Room University, a group of farmers are discussing the pros and cons of growing corn the usual way and the new-fangled organic way. [Fiction, based on a historical events]
Agriculture’s new ‘golden age’
King of soya: environmental vandal or saviour of the world’s poor?
My forbidden fruits (and vegetables)
South Africa electricity crisis – and farmers
Okla. fight over poultry waste escalates
NYT on food: Priced out of the market
In hungry Zimbabwe, pet food as a priority
IEA’s Fatih Birol: We can’t cling to crude
Ken Livingstone – Peak oil “opportunity” for London Mayor
Nansen G. Saleri: The world has plenty of oil
Fears of a commodity crash grow (oil too?)
Bread and oil: rising food prices and the Middle East
The novel presents a fictional world that is at once idyllic and post-apocalyptic, reassuring and frightening.
China’s massive but dwindling aquifers would be on track to run virtually dry if over-pumping continued, said Lester Brown, prominent US environmental policy advocate. At that point, grain production would dive, exacerbating food price increases. (Interview with Lester Brown)
Biofuels: Driving in the wrong direction?
The ethanol bust
Cuba to produce ethanol without sacrificing food
A relocalized society and economy is a pragmatic way to prepare for, to survive from, or to rebuild after whatever comes down — to counteract the rising price of energy and to help diminish carbon emissions. (In-depth interview with writer and activist Dan Armstrong, part 2)
“The bottom line is that China and the world are accelerating in the fog toward a precipice.” (Interview of ecologist Paul Ehrlich.)
The day China runs dry (Lester Brown interview)
FAO expects global fertilizer supply to outstrip demand
The world’s growing food-price crisis
