Small farms should stop trying to compete and start changing the food system
Small farms rarely make a decent living in commodity markets. It’s time to stop chasing scale and start building resilient, relationship-based food systems instead.
agriculture
The architect making America’s food system legible
Architect and farmer Caitlin Taylor says communities need regional infrastructure for food security. As global agribusiness corporations contribute to ecological degradation and threaten the viability of local farms, she’s working to build a different system.
How preserving local seeds is key to sustaining rural life
In the remote Tughgoz village in Tajikistan, agriculture is the foundation of daily life. Local seed varieties that once thrived have become rare, so residents launched a community-supported seed initiative to preserve and share traditional seeds before they disappear.
Agroecology has a PR problem. Here’s how we can solve it
Good Food For All!, a European Citizens’ Initiative supported by a coalition of more than 300 civil society organisations across Europe, including ARC2020, is making important strides in amplifying the messages of the food sovereignty and agroecology movements. But the battle for hearts, minds and policies is still far from won.
Why ‘regenerative’ agriculture is more than a new name for ‘sustainable’ farming
More than a farming method, regenerative agriculture was conceived as an ethic of care for land and life. Focusing on a “one-size-fits-all” standard for regenerative agriculture and marketing it for profits has left the concept a hollowed version of itself.
Forest gardening for resilience: Growing regenerative food systems in New Zealand
In New Zealand, forest gardening is being reshaped to fit local climates, ecosystems and cultural contexts. Drawing on years of research and practice, this work shows how place-based adaptation can support more resilient, regenerative food systems.
Revolt, reform or rebuild: Building resilient food systems from the ground up
The global food system is both essential and unsustainable, locked into patterns that resist meaningful reform. Real change, the author argues, lies in rebuilding local, regenerative food systems that can gradually replace what no longer works.
Understanding how plants pause and restart growth can help develop climate‑resilient crops
New research shows that plants can temporarily halt root growth under stresses like cold and drought, then rapidly restart it once conditions improve. By identifying the genes behind this “pause and push” response, scientists hope to develop crops that recover more quickly from extreme weather, strengthening food security in a changing climate.
Across Africa, farmers are adopting regenerative agricultural practices that support food sovereignty amid global instability
As geopolitical tensions drive up resource costs and disrupt supply, fertilizer prices may soar, endangering farming systems dependent on imports. Regenerative solutions, like green manure and community finance, are expanding across African countries, restoring local control over food systems.
Biofortification: The latest technical fix for depleted soils
In the tradition of filtering air that we’ve polluted and treating water that we’ve sullied, we now have replacing minerals in soil that we’ve depleted because of industrial agriculture.
Silage and the silence of the corncrake
Dublin, Ireland. We are seeing the first good days here, leading up to the golden days of mid-summer, and I’ve been talking to elderly friends here in the Irish countryside about what they used to do when the sun shone. The answer, of course, was that they made hay. When farmers heard the cry of … Read more
The Straight Story on Farming
As it was in the beginning… farmers need protection from those who have taken privileges, not protection by the military might of those privileged marauders. The least we could do is get the story straight.
