Buying The Farm: Dean Kuipers
This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, author Dean Kuipers, explores how farms get the money they need to grow the food we eat.
agriculture
Solar Desalination Could be a Game Changer for California Farms
Let’s be clear from the outset: I’m no fan of conventional desalination.
Agroecology Can Help Fix Our Broken Food System. Here’s How.
“Agroecology applies the principles of ecology to the design and management of sustainable food systems.”
Your Money or Your Life: Can We Afford to Work for Peanuts?
The old cliché of a mugger’s threat sums up well the choice before us in these times: "Your money or your life".
How Agriculture Grew on us
In other words, agriculture turned destructive not because of some intrinsic flaw within larger-scale, more sophisticated cultivation. It turned destructive for the same reason mining, conflict, grazing, or governance turned destructive.
India’s Food Security Threatened by Groundwater Depletion
Without serious efforts to stem the mining of groundwater, food production will decline.
A Year Without the Colorado River, as Seen by Economists
Imagine if each tap that delivered water from the Colorado River – whether to a farm, a factory, or a home – suddenly went dry for a year. What would happen to the West’s economy?
Strips of Native Prairie Protect Farm Soil
A new conservation practice reduces cropland erosion to sustainable levels even on moderately sloping land: contoured strips within corn and bean fields, planted to native prairie grasses. The deep rooted grasses slow runoff, trapping suspended soil and nutrients. They also provide habitat for insects and wildlife.
Biochar! The verdict is in: it works. And you should do it.
We know enough right now to start doing biochar: making it, getting it into the soil, and getting it into the hands of “regular farmers”. We’ll improve as we go along, but just using what is now known, the farmers, soil, crops, and atmosphere will all benefit.
Recommended Reading for the UN International Year of Soils 2015
If you never thought ‘dirt’ could be interesting or ultra important, UNU’s Robert Blasiak recommends a fascinating book demonstrating how soil management has impacted the rise and fall of civilizations.
Along the Rio Grande, An Innovative Water Market Restores Riverside Habitat
With water so tight in this part of the country, success depended on a remarkable degree of cooperation among an unlikely group of partners.
Waste Not
Hear about an online sharing system where no currency changes hands, and no new materials are used to make more stuff.
