Climate Crisis Will Shift Tropical Rain Belt and Create Food Insecurity for Billions, Study Finds
19 January
Climate
Madagascar has been experiencing ongoing droughts and food insecurity since 2016. arturbo / Getty Images
Nearly 1.6 million people in the southern part of Madagascar have faced food insecurity since 2016, experiencing one drought after another, the United Nations World Food Program reported.
<p>A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00963-x" target="_blank">study</a> published Monday found billions more could face food insecurity as Earth's tropical rain belt shifts in response to climate change, causing increased drought stress and intensified flooding.</p>
<p>"Our work shows that climate change will cause the position of Earth's tropical rain belt to move in opposite directions in two longitudinal sectors that cover almost two thirds of the globe, a process that will have cascading effects on water availability and food production around the world," lead author Antonios Mamalakis, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, told <a href="https://news.uci.edu/2021/01/18/uci-researchers-climate-change-will-alter-the-position-of-the-earths-tropical-rain-belt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UCI News</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions analyzed how the tropical rain belt would respond to a future where greenhouse gas emission continued to rise through 2100, UCI News reported. Their <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00963-x#Abs1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">findings</a>, published in Nature Climate Change, revealed the rain belt will shift northward over the Eastern Hemisphere, impacting countries in southeastern Africa. </p>
<p>In Madagascar, these impacts are already being felt. </p>
<p>"We only had one day of rain in December in the whole region. And the thunderstorms have been blasting… and destroying and burying the crops that were there," Lola Castro, the United Nations World Food Program regional director for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean States, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/01/1081892" target="_blank">told UN News</a>. "The result is famine-like conditions."</p><p>Madagascar's vulnerability to the climate crisis, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has left people with little to eat, Castro said. "Cactus mixed with mud, roots, whatever they can find, leaves, seeds, whatever is available."</p><p>The rain belt is projected to shift toward a warming atmosphere, co-author James Randerson, UCI's Ralph J. & Carol M. Cicerone Chair in Earth System Science, explained. "In Asia, projected reductions in aerosol emissions, glacier melting in the Himalayas and loss of snow cover in northern areas brought on by climate change will cause the atmosphere to heat up faster than in other regions," he told UCI News. </p><p>Since 2000, glaciers in the Himalayas are losing more than a vertical foot and half of ice every year, <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/06/19/melting-himalayan-glaciers-doubled/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Columbia University's Earth Insititute</a> reported, double the amount from 1975 to 2000. </p>
<p>"We know that the rain belt shifts toward this heating, and that its northward movement in the Eastern Hemisphere is consistent with these expected impacts of climate change," Randerson told UCI News.</p>
<p>In the Western Hemisphere, the rain belt is expected to move in the opposite direction by shifting southward, the study found. This will cause greater drought stress to Central America, a region which is experiencing more than five years of recurring drought, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-central-america-drought-migration/hunger-driving-migration-in-drought-hit-central-america-u-n-idUSKCN1V423J" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>By combining an engineering approach to both climate science and data analytics, the team of researchers found previously unknown consequences associated with global warming. They also saw how much more there is to learn.</p>
<p>"The complexity of the Earth system is daunting, with dependencies and feedback loops across many processes and scales," author Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, UCI Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, told UCI News.</p><p>Determining how these changes will impact flooding, droughts, infrastructure and ecosystems can inform adaptation strategies and policies, Foufoula-Georgiou told UCI News. But time may be running out. </p>
<p>"What we are saying here is that the situation we're facing in southern Madagascar is not normal," Lola Castro told UN News, regarding the humanitarian crisis. "It's very different to any normal year of crisis and that we really need to act immediately." </p>
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Food organizations help redistribute quality food to those in need. Candle Photo / Getty Images
By Amy Martin
One-third of the world's food is wasted, according to the United Nations (UN). That number jumps to 40 percent in the United States—enough to feed 2 billion people.
<p>Uneaten food has dire consequences for the planet: decomposing waste <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/fight-climate-change-by-preventing-food-waste#:~:text=Today%2C%20an%20estimated%20one%2Dthird,the%20world%20goes%20to%20waste.&text=And%20if%20food%20goes%20to,if%20we%20stop%20wasting%20food." target="_blank">releases methane</a>, a potent greenhouse gas. According to the UN, if food waste was its own country, it would be the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-bb144e.pdf" target="_blank">third-largest</a> emitter of greenhouse gas in the world, after the United States and China.</p><p>And yet, a recent Census Bureau survey finds that <a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2020/demo/hhp/hhp20.html" target="_blank">1 in 8</a> Americans is struggling to secure reliable, nutritious food.</p><p>"There's no shortage of food," Regina Anderson, Executive Director of the Food Recovery Network, <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/03/regina-anderson-talks-food-recovery-network-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tells Food Tank</a>. That has never been the case in America—we have so much food. We can throw most of it—almost all of it—away, and still have enough food to feed everybody. It's just a distribution issue."</p><p>Fortunately, innovative organizations are finding ways to recover and redistribute food to people in need. Food Tank highlights 17 of these groups below.</p><p>And to learn more about organizations fighting food waste in your neighborhood, follow the link to Sustainable America's<a href="https://foodrescuelocator.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> food rescue directory</a>.</p>
<p>1. <a href="https://alohaharvest.org/" target="_blank">Aloha Harvest</a>, Hawai'i, United States</p><p>One in 5 Hawai'ians relies on food pantries for assistance—yet 237,000 tons of quality food is wasted each year. Aloha Harvest—the state's largest food waste nonprofit—aims to bridge that gap by picking up excess food from donors and delivering it to food relief organizations across O'ahu. Since 1999, the group has rescued and distributed nearly 11 million kilograms (24 million pounds) of food.</p><p>2. <a href="https://www.cityharvest.org/" target="_blank">City Harvest</a>, New York, United States</p><p>Each day, City Harvest deploys 26 refrigerated trucks to pick up food from nearly 2,500 farms, restaurants, grocery stores, and manufacturers, then delivers that food to hundreds of soup kitchens, food pantries, and community food programs. The organization rescues nearly 136,000 kilograms (300,000 pounds) of food every day and has delivered more than 385 million kilograms (850 million pounds) to food-insecure New Yorkers since 1982.</p><p>3. <a href="https://dreamingoutloud.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dreaming Out Loud</a>, District of Columbia, United States</p><p>Dreaming Out Loud (DOL) aims to improve food access and create economic opportunities for at-risk District residents by distributing food from local farms. This summer, DOL offered a weekly CSA called the Black Farm Bag, composed entirely of produce sourced from Black farmers. The organization has coordinated, produced, and distributed more than 300,000 meals and thousands of kilograms of groceries across DC to date.</p><p>4. <a href="https://foodforward.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Food Forward</a>, California, United States</p><p>Food Forward was conceived when founder Rick Nahmias stumbled upon wasted fruit on the sidewalk. The nonprofit now rescues over 226,000 kilograms (500,000 pounds) of surplus fruits and vegetables each week fresh from trees, farmers markets, and the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. Food Forward donates 100 percent of its harvest to more than 1,800 hunger relief groups throughout Southern California. Over the last 11 years, the organization has rescued more than 400 million servings of fresh produce.</p>
<p>5. <a href="https://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/" target="_blank">Food Recovery Network</a>, United States</p><p>The student-led Food Recovery Network unites volunteers to collect surplus food from college campuses and deliver it directly to local soup kitchens and shelters. Food Recovery Network has launched 230 chapters since 2011, donated 3.2 million meals, and prevented nearly 3.4 million kilograms (7.4 million pounds) of carbon emissions.</p><p>6. <a href="https://www.forgottenharvest.org/" target="_blank">Forgotten Harvest</a>, Michigan, United States</p><p>Five days a week, Forgotten Harvest delivers more than 62,500 kilograms (138,000 pounds) of surplus food to charities in greater Detroit. So far this year, Forgotten Harvest volunteers have fulfilled more than 54,000 hours of service, and the group has redistributed roughly 21 million kilograms (46 million pounds) of food. Forgotten Harvest also grows fresh produce for those in need at its own <a href="https://www.forgottenharvest.org/farm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Forgotten Harvest Farms</a>.</p><p>7. <a href="https://handsforhunger.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hands for Hunger</a>, Nassau, The Bahamas</p><p>Hands for Hunger was founded by Bahamian students in 2008. The organization collects excess perishable and prepared foods from hospitality industry businesses, farms, and individuals, and redistributes it to soup kitchens, youth programs, rehabilitation centers, and shelters. The group also offers "Hunger Huddle" classes to teach students about advocacy, food-raising, and fundraising.</p><p>8. <a href="https://www.ozharvest.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OzHarvest</a>, Australia</p><p>Founder Ronni Kahn AO started OzHarvest with a single van in 2004, when she delivered 4,000 meals in the first month. Today, OzHarvest rescues more than 180 tons of food each week from more than 3,500 commercial donors across the country. The organization recently opened the country's first rescued food supermarket in Sydney, which operates by a "take what you need, give if you can" philosophy.</p>
<p>9. <a href="https://trjfp.com/" target="_blank">The Real Junk Food Project York</a>, United Kingdom</p><p>The Real Junk Food Project (TRJFP) intercepts surplus food from supermarkets, restaurants, wholesalers, food banks, and food photographers, and redistributes it to schools, organizations, and individuals in need. TRJFP also redistributes food through its catering service and "pay-as-you-feel" Sharehouse Supermarkets. Since 2013, the program has rescued the equivalent of 14.3 million meals.</p><p>10. <a href="https://www.refed.com/?sort=economic-value-per-ton" target="_blank">ReFED</a>, United States</p><p>ReFED is a network of business, nonprofit, and government leaders using data to discover new ways to fight food waste. ReFED has identified 27 points of the food chain where waste can be reduced: first through prevention—like standardizing date labeling and educating consumers—then recovery—like redistributing food to people in need—then recycling—such as converting would-be wasted food into energy and animal feed. By implementing these solutions, the team projects that 20 percent of food waste can be reduced over the next decade.</p><p>11. <a href="https://www.rescuingleftovercuisine.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rescuing Leftover Cuisine</a>, United States</p><p>Rescuing Leftover Cuisine picks up excess food from businesses and drives it to homeless shelters and soup kitchens across 16 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, and New York. The organization has served more than 3.6 million meals so far. A US$5 donation to Rescuing Leftover Cuisine can save 22 kilograms (50 pounds) of food.</p><p>12. <a href="https://www.rethinkfood.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rethink Food</a>, New York, United States</p><p>Rethink Food partners with restaurants and chefs to feed food insecure communities in New York City. More than 35 "Rethink certified" restaurants have committed to incorporating surplus food into their meals. The organization also operates Rethink Café, a donation-based restaurant that invites "anyone and everyone" to enjoy nutritious, dignified meals for a suggested US$5 donation. Rethink has invested more than US$10 million in local communities and provided more than 2 million nutritious meals.</p>
<p>13. <a href="https://secondharvest.ca/" target="_blank">Second Harvest</a>, Canada</p><p>Second Harvest is Canada's largest food rescue organization. The group recovers unsold food from farms and restaurants, and redistributes it to more than 1,000 social service organizations. Second Harvest rescues enough food to provide 43,000 meals each day. Since 1985, it has rescued more than 70 million kilograms (155 million pounds) of unsold food.</p><p>14. <a href="https://www.sesc.com.br/portal/site/mesa+brasil+en" target="_blank">Sesc Mesa Brasil</a>, Brazil</p><p>Sesc Mesa Brasil is a national network of food banks that collect surplus food from rural producers, retailers, food companies, and more, then distribute it to institutions serving Brazilians afflicted by hunger, addiction, and homelessness. Mesa Brasil also mobilizes to serve those affected by humanitarian crises. The organization brings together professionals, volunteers, and beneficiaries for conversations on nutrition and social care.</p><p>15. <a href="https://thefelixproject.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Felix Project</a>, London, England</p><p>The Felix Project collects fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods, meat, and fish from more than 450 supermarkets, wholesalers, farms, and restaurants. The organization's workers then sort and deliver foods to more than 400 charities, schools, and holiday programs. The Felix Project has provided food for 14 million meals since 2016.</p><p>16. <a href="https://www.tua.jo/ar" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tkiyet Um Ali</a>, Jordan</p><p>Tkiyet Um Ali manages multiple hunger-fighting initiatives across Jordan. Through the organization's "Aber Sabeel" program in Amman, volunteers serve hot, calorically-dense lunches to 400 people each day. Tkiyet Um Ali also delivers food parcels to more than 18,000 families each month. Since 2003, the organization has distributed more than 2 million food parcels, provided more than 2.6 million lunches, and performed more than 237,000 animal sacrifices for Jordanians in need.</p><p>17. <a href="https://www.whiteponyexpress.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">White Pony Express</a>, California, United States</p><p>The San Francisco-based White Pony Express recovers an estimated 6,800 kilograms (15,000 pounds) of high-quality food per day, 364 days a year. The group lets donors pre-schedule donations, which are then picked up by volunteers and brought to more than 70 local charities. White Pony Express hopes their volunteer-based "circle of giving" will serve as a model for other communities.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/12/organizations-diverting-food-waste-to-provide-meals-for-people-in-need/" target="_blank">Food Tank</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Like many other plant-based foods and products, CBD oil is one dietary supplement where "organic" labels are very important to consumers. However, there are little to no regulations within the hemp industry when it comes to deeming a product as organic, which makes it increasingly difficult for shoppers to find the best CBD oil products available on the market.
<p>Here you can learn about the importance of organic hemp oil, why it's better for the environment, and which CBD companies actually make trustworthy products with sustainable farming processes. origins which weigh heavily on many consumers who want to buy a product that's produced in the best way possible for not only themselves to ingest, but for the environment as well through sustainable farming methods. </p><h2>What Is CBD Oil?</h2><p>First things first, CBD stands for cannabidiol, and it's a cannabinoid found within cannabis sativa plants. This plant compound is believed to have many potential benefits, and it is primarily derived from hemp plants via a CO2 extraction process. </p><p>Since CBD is extracted from industrial hemp, which contains only trace amounts of THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis plants), this means that CBD won't make you feel high like marijuana, which has much higher levels of THC that causes psychoactive effects. Instead, the effects of CBD are much more subtle and promote a general sense of calm and relaxation in most users.</p><h2>What Makes a CBD Oil Organic?</h2><p>In terms of organic labels, perhaps the most important (and prominent) certification comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This government organization has been labeling foods as "organic" for many years, but what exactly does this certification entail? Essentially, a label indicating that a product is "USDA Organic" or "Certified Organic" means that at least 95% of the ingredients are obtained from organic sources.</p><p>For a crop to be considered organic by the USDA, it must be grown without the use of industrial solvents, irradiation, genetic engineering (GMOs), synthetic pesticides, or chemical fertilizer. Instead, farmers rely on natural substances and <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mechanical, physical, or biologically based farming</a> techniques to cultivate healthy and organic crops.</p><p>Before the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, no hemp-derived products could be dubbed as "certified organic" since the hemp plant and its extracts were still categorized as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. However, it's still difficult for CBD companies to obtain a USDA certified organic label for their products due to the legal grey area that still surrounds CBD extracts. </p><p>Because of these challenges, and due to the fact that industrial hemp has only recently become an agricultural crop, very few CBD oils are USDA certified organic. Rather, many CBD products contain hemp extracts from plants that were grown in organic conditions but may not be federally certified.</p><h2>What are the Best Organic CBD Oil Brands?</h2><p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p><em><br></em>
<h2>Why Organic Hemp Oil Matters</h2><p>Hemp is a unique plant, not only for its rich cannabinoid content, but also for its ability to absorb a wide variety of components in soil. But this trait poses great risks when it comes to the creation of CBD products derived from hemp.</p><p>Because hemp has a high capacity for compound uptake, this means that the plants can retain <a href="https://www.remedyreview.com/industry/lab-test-results/" target="_blank">harmful chemicals like pesticides</a>, heavy metals, and other residual solvents. This is especially true when it comes to synthetic chemicals that are more toxic to humans, and difficult to remove once they have been absorbed by the hemp plant.</p><p>Organic farming practices help reduce the risk of hemp crops absorbing harsh chemicals that may later end up in CBD oil after extraction. When you're taking CBD as a wellness supplement to help alleviate your symptoms or improve your overall well-being, the last thing you want is to ingest compounds that might negatively outweigh the benefits of CBD. This is an important reason to look for third party lab test results when shopping for CBD products since these certificates of analysis can show the full cannabinoid and terpene profile of a hemp extract, as well as test results that search for the presence of any residual solvents.</p><p>In addition to creating a better end product, organic farming practices are also better for the environment. Sustainable and organic farming methods may <a href="https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/organic-foods.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reduce pollution, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy</a>. The use of natural pest deterrents as opposed to chemical pesticides is also better for nearby animal populations and ecosystems.</p><h3>Organic vs. Natural</h3><p>While there are only a select few companies offering certified organic ingredients in their products, almost every brand in the CBD market creates "natural" products. The term "all-natural" or "plant-based" does not mean that a product is organic, and since hemp oil is a natural derivative of hemp plants, these products are often referred to as all-natural. However, there are some synthetic CBD oils that should be avoided because they are chemically constructed and may produce unwanted side effects that are not caused by naturally derived CBD extracts.</p><h2>What are the Benefits of Organic CBD Oil?</h2><p>There's a long list of potential CBD oil health benefits, and some of the most common wellness advantages include:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503660/" target="_blank">Chronic pain relief</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604171/" target="_blank">Anti-anxiety effects</a></li><li>Better sleep</li><li><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201901/cbd-oil-mental-health-should-you-take-it-too" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Improvements in mood</a></li><li>Internal balance and regulation</li></ul><p>When dealing with pain, inflammation, sleep issues, and mental health struggles, it can be hard to find sufficient treatment options. The use of certain prescriptions can cause unwanted side effects, yet they are often the only solution for patients with these medical conditions. In search of other therapies, people have started to flock towards CBD oil as an alternative remedy for a variety of conditions. However, it should be noted that CBD products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and you should seek your doctor's advice before using CBD if you have a serious medical condition.</p><h2>Look at the Labels Before You Buy CBD Oil</h2><p>When you go online to buy CBD oil, you'll quickly realize there is an overwhelming number of brands that are saturating the market. It can be difficult to determine which products are truly as good as they make themselves out to be. Always look for up-to-date third-party lab tests so you know you are getting a great product, and don't hesitate to contact the brand if you have any additional questions. And if you're intent on purchasing 100% organic CBD oil, it's best to look for certified products or brands that are held to strict regulatory standards.</p><p><strong>Melena Gurganus </strong>is the Reviews Editor at EcoWatch. She is passionate health and wellness and her writing aims to help others find products they can trust. Her work has been featured in publications such as Health, Shape, Huffington Post, Cannabis Business Times, and Bustle.<br></p>
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NuLeaf Naturals
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Charlotte's Web
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A horticulturist examines a plant at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, which collects and stores plant species to support conservation and biodiversity, near Haywards Heath, Sussex, England. Oli Scarff / Getty Images
By Kenny Stancil
A growing number of people around the world are calling for the public ownership of seeds, which they say is essential for a more democratic and ecologically sound food system, as the coronavirus-driven spike in empty supermarket shelves and the continued loss of biodiversity this year sparked a rise in the popularity of saving and swapping seeds and shed more light on the negative consequences of allowing a handful of agrochemical corporations to dominate the global seed trade.
<p><br/></p>
<p>In the United Kingdom, the seed saving movement had been "quietly growing" for a while, but "from March onwards, when the pandemic hit the UK, seed producers and seed banks across the country were overwhelmed with demand," with multiple organizations experiencing a "sharp surge in orders, 600% in some cases," Alexandra Genova <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/28/seed-saving-movement-calls-for-seeds-to-be-publicly-owned" target="_blank">reported</a> Monday in The Guardian<em>.</em></p><p>"People crave connection," David Price, managing director of the Seed Cooperative, told The Guardian. "They want connection with other people and connection with the planet, and growing and saving seed is a way of getting both."</p><p>Genova noted that while "many British consumers feel disconnected from the processes of food production ... seed saving allows everyone to be involved in the food system." Moreover, advocates say seed saving can contribute to reversing the dramatic decline in the availability of plant varieties that are "richly diverse, well adapted to the soil and local climate, and more resilient to climate change."</p><p>The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/v1430e/V1430E04.htm" target="_blank">estimated</a> that since the beginning of the 20th century, roughly 75% of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops and 93% of unique seed varieties have disappeared. This biodiversity loss has been attributed to industrialized agriculture and what Genova called "the big boom in agrochemicals."</p><p>As the FAO has <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/v1430e/V1430E04.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">explained</a>, the increasingly commercialized nature of plant breeding has permitted transnational seed and agrochemical corporations — which enjoy so-called plant breeders' rights that give "patent-like protection to breeders with limited monopoly rights over the production, marketing, and sale of their varieties" — to privatize access to genetic resources taken from countries in the global south.</p>
<div id="5ea46" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c1433ec6ff485b0da0eb378e9c4741c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1343495124815327232" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Seed saving movement calls for seeds to be publicly owned. Empty shelves during the pandemic made clear, allowing h… https://t.co/rsxXUloXdC</div> — B.E.A.T. (@B.E.A.T.)<a href="https://twitter.com/TheBEATNews/statuses/1343495124815327232">1609149173.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Scholar-activist Pat Mooney of the ETC Group coined the term "biopiracy" to describe how genetic material originally nurtured by impoverished farmers is turned into patented seeds that now generate huge profits primarily for BASF, Bayer/Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, and Corteva Agriscience.</p><p>In a 2018 <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/sites/www.etcgroup.org/files/files/blockingthechain_english_web.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> on industrial food chain concentration, Mooney explained that these "four companies have gained oligopolistic control over more than two-thirds of commercial seed and pesticide sales, while decimating the innovative contribution of public sector researchers and threatening the 12,000-year-old right of peasants to breed, save, and exchange their seeds."</p><p>The blossoming of what researchers Karine Peschard and Shalini Randeria call "<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2020.1753705" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">seed activism</a>" is "largely in response to the intensification of corporate seed enclosures and to the loss of agrobiodiversity," Genova reported. "Many seed savers are motivated by this idea of dismantling the increasing privatization of seeds ... by drawing attention to the negative impact of such high levels of concentration." She continued:</p><blockquote><a href="http://open-pollinated-seeds.org.uk/open-pollinated-seeds-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Less than 50 years ago,</a> most of the world enjoyed food that came from entirely open-pollinated seed varieties, which could be saved for future crops. Much of the seed sold now by the large companies are, in contrast, GM or F1 hybrid seeds. These cannot be saved for use in following years because they are genetically unstable and are protected by seed and patent laws, meaning most farmers are tied to chains of dependency.</blockquote><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/28/seed-saving-movement-calls-for-seeds-to-be-publicly-owned" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">According to</a> Helene Schulze, who works on the Seed Sovereignty Program of the UK and Ireland and co-directs the London Freedom Seedbank, "Covid made people really understand how our food system is dominated by a few large corporations, and this has put a focus on seed sovereignty," which Genova defined as "a grower's right to breed and exchange diverse, open source seeds, which can be saved and are not patented, genetically modified, or owned by one of the four agrochemical companies that control more than 60% of the global seed trade."</p><p>Campaigners at Open Source Seeds, the Campaign for Seed Sovereignty, and elsewhere are pushing for seeds to be brought back into public ownership, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/28/seed-saving-movement-calls-for-seeds-to-be-publicly-owned" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">arguing</a> that "something as universal as food crops should belong to everyone, not a small group of agrochemical companies."</p>
<div id="1d593" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3a768171be57dad3206e45d7bbe1cc3c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1343557320249401355" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"This land was made a treasury for everyone to share" Seeds should not be private property https://t.co/4l7G1yFNMK</div> — Global Justice Manchester (@Global Justice Manchester)<a href="https://twitter.com/GlobalJustManc/statuses/1343557320249401355">1609164001.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"If you own the seeds you own the food system," Schulze <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/28/seed-saving-movement-calls-for-seeds-to-be-publicly-owned" target="_blank">told</a> The Guardian. "Access to open-pollinated seeds is the cornerstone of food citizenship because it creates non-market access to growing."</p><p>"I want all local communities or regions to have their own seed bank," she added, "so everyone knows exactly where to get free seed."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/28/if-you-own-seeds-you-own-food-system-campaigners-demand-public-ownership-counter-big" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
Just 1% of Farms Control 70% of Global Farmland: Study Finds 'Shocking State of Land Inequality'
25 November 2020
Food
Sprinklers irrigate a field of onions near a Castilian village in Spain. According to a new study, the average farm size in the EU has almost doubled since the 1960s. miguelangelortega / Moment / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
A new report released Tuesday details the "shocking" state of global land equality, saying the problem is worse than thought, rising, and "cannot be ignored."
<p>Among the key findings is that the largest 1% of the world's farms operate 70% of farmland and "form the core of production for the corporate food system." What's more, "given the trends in the agriculture and food systems, land consolidation will inevitably increase further."</p><p>The warning is laid out in "<a href="https://www.landcoalition.org/en/uneven-ground/" target="_blank"><em>Uneven Ground: land inequality at the heart of unequal societies</em></a>." Released by the International Land Coalition in collaboration with Oxfam, the publication synthesizes new research and existing data and shows how land inequality is linked with other issues including poverty, intergenerational justice and migration, environmental degradation, and the climate crisis.</p><p>"These findings radically alter our understanding of the extent and far reaching consequences land inequality has, proving that not only is it a bigger problem than we thought but it's undermining the stability and development of sustainable societies," said Ward Anseeuw, a co-author of the report.</p>
<div id="79f64" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bd50807364597fe98806eb08bea91ecb"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331254927746883593" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The shocking reality of #LandInequality
Read more about rising land inequality 📈 on:
💻 https://t.co/uRxTpE4fm7… https://t.co/Q3OyiJ4hCV</div> — Land Coalition (@Land Coalition)<a href="https://twitter.com/landcoalition/statuses/1331254927746883593">1606230882.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>According to the analysis, the issue of land inequality should encompass a broader range of dimensions than typically used to capture not only differences in land ownership but other factors such as the size and quality of land and the ability to have real decision-making power over how the land is used.</p><p>The report lays out the scope of the issue:</p><blockquote>Land is a common good, providing water, food, and natural resources that sustain all life. It is the guarantor of biodiversity, health, resilience, and equitable and sustainable livelihoods. It is immovable, non-renewable, and inextricably connected to people and societies. How we manage and control land has shaped our economies, political structures, communities, cultures, and beliefs for thousands of years.</blockquote>
<p><br>Who gets that control is not decided by accident, says Giulia Baldinelli of ILC and co-author of the report.</p><p>"What we're seeing is that land inequality is fundamentally a product of elite control, corporate interests, and political choices. And although the importance of land inequality is widely accepted, the tools to address it remain weakly implemented and vested interests in existing land distribution patterns, hard to shift," Baldinelli <a href="https://www.landcoalition.org/en/newsroom/new-report-reveals-land-inequality-worse-we-thought-and-fueling-other-inequalities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>The impacts of the imbalance are far-reaching, with links stretching to the coronavirus pandemic. From the report:</p><blockquote>Covid-19 is the latest zoonotic disease to emerge from a combination of unsanitary animal farming and pressure on wildlife populations. While its main impact has been on urban populations, Covid-19 has further exposed inequalities faced by land-disadvantaged groups, such as indigenous peoples, lower castes, the elderly, women, youth, and migrants, as well as casual workers (common in agribusiness) and landless tenants (UNDP, 2020; FAO, 2020; ILC, 2020). Land inequality diminishes resilience to disease shocks and, at a household level, may lead to loss of shelter and lack of access to infrastructure and services, traditional community networks, and institutions of social reciprocity. Women's resilience and coping strategies are limited by weaker land rights, which puts them at even greater disadvantage in these situations, with a knock-on effect on children and youth in their households (FAO, 2020; FAO, IFAD and UNIDO, 2016). Land grabbing and forced evictions have been documented in the context of Covid-19 (ILC, 2020), exacerbating land and land rights inequalities, particularly in societies that are heavily policed.</blockquote>
<p>"As we move towards a post-Covid world, we will see increased pressure for fast economic gain at the expense of people and nature," warned Mike Taylor, director of the International Land Coalition Secretariat He added that "there is always, however, a more inclusive path to rebuilding our economies, that emphasizes sustainable use of natural resources, respects human rights, and addresses systemic causes of inequality."</p><p>While low-income countries have seen an "increasing number of mega-farms, each taking up thousands, even tens of thousands, of hectares," the issue of land inequality stretches globally. "After 1980, in all regions, land concentration has either been increasing significantly (North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific) or a decreasing trend is being reversed (Africa and Latin America)," the report finds.</p><p>In North America, for example, the report points to the decades between 1960 and 1990 when there was a "drastic increase in land and agricultural concentration" and the number of farms plummeted by 1.6 million, dropping to 2.1 million. The same time period also saw the average farm size swell from 122.6 hectares to 187 hectares.</p>
<p>Although there has been a more recent stabilization in the number of farms in North America, that doesn't capture the whole story:</p><blockquote>What the figures on farm size do not reveal, however, are the even more substantial increases in the concentration of large-scale production on a shrinking number of farms. Almost 1 million farms (980,000) in the USA have less than $5,000 in sales per annum, while the largest 7% of farms account for 80% of production value (MacDonald, 2016). This leaves a situation where some 1.3 million, or 60%, of the farms in the USA produce only 6.6% of the total production value (Gollin, 2019). These include farms of below five hectares, many of which are known as "retirement farms" or "off-farm occupation farms," with owners who do not depend on agricultural production for their livelihoods."</blockquote><p>So what is to be done?</p><p>The report outlines a number of possible steps: democratize land governance; strengthen land-related regulation; invest in well-functioning land registries; strengthen transparency and monitoring of land holdings; legally enforce responsible corporate practice; Protect common and customary rights; recognize and protect women's land rights; respect and strengthen civil society institutions and capacities; and build more sustainable and equitable production models and food systems.</p><p>"A transformative agenda of this magnitude is not optional," the report concludes. "It is urgent and is in the interests of all humanity, for more resilient, sustainable, and equitable societies."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/24/just-1-farms-controlling-70-global-farmland-study-reveals-shocking-level-land" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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One report in spring 2020 found that 38% of students at four-year universities were food-insecure. Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images
By Matthew J. Landry and Heather Eicher-Miller
When university presidents were surveyed in spring of 2020 about what they felt were the most pressing concerns of COVID-19, college students going hungry didn't rank very high.
<p>Just <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/Research-Insights/Pages/Senior-Leaders/College-and-University-Presidents-Respond-to-COVID-19-April-2020.aspx" target="_blank">14% of the presidents</a> listed food or housing insecurity among their top five concerns.</p><p>Granted, these academic leaders had plenty of other things to worry about. Some 86% said they were worried about fall enrollment – a concern that has shown itself to be a legitimate one, especially in light of the fact that low-income students have been dropping out of college at what one headline described as "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/16/college-enrollment-down/" target="_blank">alarming rates</a>."</p><p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=AfhawtoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">researchers who specialize</a> in the study of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=2ujk8c8AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food insecurity</a>, we see the dropout rate as being related to a host of underlying issues. And not having enough to eat is one of them.</p><p>Data support this view. The signs of this growing problem - known as <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food insecurity</a> – began to emerge when the COVID-19 epidemic was beginning to take its toll.</p><p><a href="https://hope4college.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Hopecenter_RealCollegeDuringthePandemic.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">One spring 2020 report</a> found that 38% of students at four-year universities were food-insecure in the previous 30 days. That was up 5 percentage points from <a href="https://hope4college.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">33% in the fall of 2019</a>.</p><p>College students, clearly, warrant special attention as a group. These rates of food insecurity are more than three times the rate of that in all U.S. households, which was <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=99281" target="_blank">estimated to be 10.5%</a> in 2019.</p><p>Historically, estimates of food insecurity among college students have ranged from 10% to 75%, according to 50 studies from U.S. academic institutions carried out from 2009 to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz111" target="_blank">before the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.</p>
Why It Matters
<p>This is not just a matter of growling stomachs. This is a straight-up education and health issue.</p><p>When students don't really know if they'll be able to get enough to eat, it can lead to a series of problems that make it harder to stay in school. For instance, it can affect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1359105318783028" target="_blank">academic performance</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6943-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sleep quality</a>. It can also lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318783028" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">poor mental and physical health</a> outcomes for college students.</p><p>Food insecurity can also result in disrupted eating patterns if there is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6627945/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">not enough food or the variety</a> or <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6943-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">quality of what someone eats</a> is low.</p>Campus Food Pantries
<p>Previous strategies by <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696254.pdf" target="_blank">colleges and universities</a> to fight hunger in their student bodies have varied widely. They include campus food pantries, emergency cash assistance and nutrition education through noncredit classes or workshopse.</p><p>These strategies were put to the test during the spring 2020 semester, when nearly <a href="https://hope4college.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Hopecenter_RealCollegeDuringthePandemic.pdf" target="_blank">three in five students</a> said they had trouble meeting their own basic needs during the pandemic.</p><p>College food pantries saw <a href="https://www.utrgv.edu/newsroom/2020/05/01-utrgv-student-food-pantry-seeing-recent-increase-in-demand-during-covid-19.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">big increases</a> in demand. Others said they <a href="https://www.theprospectordaily.com/2020/09/22/uteps-food-pantry-is-running-out-of-food/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">were getting less donated food</a>. This made it even harder to meet the rising food needs of students.</p><p>Campus food pantries largely rely on local or regional food banks, which have been dealing with <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/2020/10/04/indiana-food-banks-call-more-food-stamps-meet-publics-need/3523683001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">greater demand</a> than they are able to meet during the pandemic.</p><p>The many students who are attending college remotely will, of course, have less access to campus resources like food pantries.</p>Federal Help
<p>Other potential ways to get more food are government programs like the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility" target="_blank">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, known as SNAP. Yet the majority of able-bodied students are not eligible. Long-standing restrictions, like the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/students" target="_blank">college SNAP rule</a>, prevent full-time students from receiving these benefits.</p><p>Such regulatory hurdles were created under the assumption that most students can rely on their parents to get enough to eat. However, college students have vastly different levels of financial support. Some students can rely on their parents for everything and others cannot rely on their parents for anything.</p><p>Decreased reliance on parental financial support is <a href="https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jsfa/vol47/iss3/5/" target="_blank">especially common</a> for first-generation students and students of color, who now make up <a href="https://1xfsu31b52d33idlp13twtos-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Race-and-Ethnicity-in-Higher-Education.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">45% of enrolled college students</a>.</p><p>Under normal circumstances, many college students might rely on part-time jobs to pay for their food.</p><p>Two-thirds of the students who were employed before the pandemic said that job insecurity was a problem for them, according to the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice <a href="https://hope4college.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/HOPE_realcollege_National_report_digital.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">#RealCollege survey</a>. As the number of <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/youth.nr0.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">jobless young Americans</a> remains elevated, unemployment and underemployment remain a problem.</p><p>Jobless students face a potential double threat of less money for food and unemployment benefits cutting off their access to SNAP because the program <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/students" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">requires most students to work</a> at least part time.</p><p>Attempts have been made at both the federal and state levels to meet the basic food needs of college students. Lawmakers have focused on temporarily suspending eligibility requirements or expanding the criteria for participating in nutrition assistance programs.</p><p><a href="https://www.jneb.org/article/S1499-4046(20)30511-X/fulltext#seccesectitle0005" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Seventeen bills</a> aiming to address food insecurity among college students were introduced to Congress during the 2019-2020 legislative session. However, these proposals failed to gain momentum, and the four COVID-19 stimulus bills to date have not addressed the hunger needs of college students. Notably, some students were ineligible to personally receive a <a href="https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus-tax-relief-and-economic-impact-payments" target="_blank">CARES Act stimulus relief payment</a> because they were claimed as dependents by their parents.</p>
Short-Term Solutions
<p>Universities and colleges can make it a priority to ensure students are aware of all available campus resources and services. They can also potentially help students apply for federal assistance benefits.</p><p>Campus food pantries are not a fully effective and efficacious solution for the scale of college food insecurity, but they can be a good interim solution to increase access to food for students.</p><p>Campuses without food pantries can start one, making use of resources the <a href="https://cufba.org/resources/" target="_blank">College and University Food Bank Alliance</a> provides. Schools with food pantries can try to get them to <a href="https://www.swipehunger.org/5campuspantry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reach more students</a>.</p><p>Universities and colleges can also lean on one another for support. The <a href="http://wp.auburn.edu/endchildhungeral/alabama-campus-coalition-for-basic-needs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alabama Campus Coalition for Basic Needs</a> is a great example of this. It brings together 10 universities across the state of Alabama collectively working to address student food insecurity.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A federal judge in Washington, D.C. struck down the Trump administration's proposed changes to the SNAP benefits program. Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
By Julia Conley
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. late Sunday struck down the Trump administration's proposed changes to the SNAP benefits program, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of people from losing badly needed federal food assistance.
<p>U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-food-stamp-cuts/2020/10/18/7c124612-117a-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html" target="_blank"> issued</a> a scathing ruling, denouncing President Donald Trump and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who she said have been "icily silent about how many [adults] would have been denied SNAP benefits had the changes sought ... been in effect while the pandemic rapidly spread across the country."</p><p>New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was among more than a dozen state attorneys general who joined the District of Columbia in suing the administration over the changes, called Howell's ruling "a major victory for common sense and basic human decency in our nation."</p>
<div id="e8d44" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="be49aabc36a5465eed30ca54f88f6b2d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318171686232096772" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A judge has ruled in our favor and blocked the Trump administration’s unlawful changes to SNAP. This decision is… https://t.co/5zeTafxMLm</div> — NY AG James (@NY AG James)<a href="https://twitter.com/NewYorkStateAG/statuses/1318171686232096772">1603111595.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The USDA proposed the changes months before the coronavirus pandemic began. They were initially set to go into effect in April, but Howell issued an injunction in March, as the president declared a state of emergency, ordering the administration to delay the changes. Perdue later appealed Howell's order, potentially allowing the new rules to go into effect despite a pandemic<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf" target="_blank"> that has left millions unemployed.</a></p><p>Under existing SNAP benefits rules, states are able to waive work requirements for SNAP benefits for areas with unemployment rates as low as 2.5%. Perdue and Trump moved to tighten the criteria for waiving the requirements by raising the minimum rate to 6%.</p><p>The change could have left nearly 700,000 people without the benefit, the <em>Washington Post</em><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-food-stamp-cuts/2020/10/18/7c124612-117a-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> reported </a>Sunday.</p><p>Tamar Haspel, a <em>Post</em> food policy columnist, tweeted that the proposal, and the administration's attempt to ensure it could go into effect during the public health and economic crisis, was in the running for Trump's "Vilest Policy Ever."</p>
<div id="f47ab" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="381daa45528adda7398d5628d047294f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318175677724676096" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">There's a lot of competition for Vilest Policy Ever, but slashing food stamps during a pandemic that's causing mass… https://t.co/EYvb0C8Q3m</div> — Tamar Haspel (@Tamar Haspel)<a href="https://twitter.com/TamarHaspel/statuses/1318175677724676096">1603112546.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The pandemic, Howell said in her ruling, exposed how unworkable the administration's proposed changes were, with the number of Americans relying on SNAP benefits <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-food-stamp-cuts/2020/10/18/7c124612-117a-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html" target="_blank">growing</a> by 17%, or six million enrollees, and unemployment rates quadrupling.</p><p>Perdue and Trump displayed an "utter failure to address the issue" of how millions would be affected by new work requirements during the crisis, Howell said, rendering their changes "arbitrary and capricious."</p><p>With the ruling handed down two weeks before Nov. 3, the last day Americans can vote in the presidential election, journalist Matt Taibbi wrote that it may serve as a reminder of the president's priorities.</p>
<div id="946d8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3cff2dc2643fc55ab21d2a73881c7de8"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318168614541950976" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump: yes to Space Force, no to Food Stamps. Another equation that might be remembered in a few weeks. https://t.co/9IEDBaMy2o</div> — Matt Taibbi (@Matt Taibbi)<a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/statuses/1318168614541950976">1603110862.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Trump: yes to Space Force, no to Food Stamps," Taibbi tweeted.</p>
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Action Against Hunger USA / YouTube
By Dr. Charles Owubah
Today is World Food Day, a time to reflect on the foundational role that food plays in our lives, communities, and cultures. We cannot live without food.
<p>While safe and nutritious food is an essential right, sadly, <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html#chapter-1_1" target="_blank">two billion people go without</a>. After decades of progress, world hunger is on the rise again. From 2018 to 2019, <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html" target="_blank">10 million more people</a> became undernourished because of climate change and conflict, and COVID-19 is further exacerbating this crisis. The UN's World Food Program says <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-grave-dangers-economic-impact-coronavirus-millions-are-pushed-further-hunger" target="_blank">more people may die from hunger</a> due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 than from the virus itself.</p><p>On the bright side, new innovations for dealing with hunger offer hope in these ominous times. At Action Against Hunger, we are working on innovations that never-before could have been imagined, such as artificial intelligence to help herders in the Sahel find food for livestock and real-time data on global hunger. These and other programs will enable the planet's poorest communities to more easily predict and prevent hunger and are a needed source of progress toward the UN's Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.</p>
<h3>Artificial Intelligence to Help Herders Feed Livestock</h3><p>With support from The World Bank, we are using AI and tele-detection technology to help herders in West Africa find food and water for their goats, sheep and other livestock. Across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2020/09/29/these-west-african-herders-are-using-ai-to-find-food-for-livestock/#512aadcf7b4e" target="_blank">Pastoral Early Warning System (PEWS)</a> lets herders know — via local radio, SMS, and bulletins in local languages — where to find fodder for their herds, as well as market prices and animal disease trends. In many of these nations, livestock farming accounts for 40% of the agricultural GDP, making it a lynchpin of the economy and culture. The information, which they receive every 10 days, helps them navigate droughts, heatwaves, bushfires, and even closures due to COVID-19, reaching approximately 100,000 people.</p>
<h3>First Real-Time View of Global Hunger</h3><p>Right now, most of the world's malnutrition data lives in spreadsheets and reams of paper. We're in the middle of creating a new app and database to provide the first real-time view of world hunger. Currently in development, "SMART+" will be an all-in-one digital tool to log data when children are screened for malnutrition and provide an aggregate view, down to the "postal code" level. The goal is to detect food emergencies earlier and improve coordination among governments and agencies so that aid can get to people quicker.</p>
<h3>Treating Life-Threatening Hunger at Home</h3><p>COVID-19 has prevented many families from traveling to faraway hospitals for treatment of malnutrition. We have been able to fill in this critical need for urgent care by training health workers and volunteers to treat malnourished children at home. This is not only more convenient and less expensive for families, but also eases the burden on clinics, which are already stretched thin in the midst of a global pandemic.</p><p>Even better, it's more effective. Research shows that <a href="https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1186/s12913-018-2987-z?author_access_token=sEM77f4NL6OVUxdibMBYl2_BpE1tBhCbnbw3BuzI2ROcqaRsdkQtin8Sw9l7_SdYsd0krVlNAyuV2YlFU8bgIAueZEQFx0_IiG-Xqjng2wY-WshE652zBUE82BftMJjh9FAQTKa3BCZ51A8qAT0KSQ%3D%3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">95% of malnourished children treated locally by community health workers recovered</a> from malnutrition, compared with 88% of those who were treated in health centers. These findings prompted the country of Mali to change its entire national health system to reflect this new approach, and now several other countries are following their lead.</p>
<h3>Growing Plants Without Soil<br></h3><p>In Ethiopia's Waghimra region, which borders the Sahel, climate change is exacerbating unpredictable rainfall and recurring droughts. More than 90% of families depend on farming or herding, and they now face historically large livestock losses and rising levels of malnutrition. In response, we introduced hydroponics, an innovative way to grow plants without soil. Grass sprouts from a simple raised bed built with wood and plastic and is watered with a nutrient-rich mineral solution that produces richer fodder. This feed nourishes livestock that become healthier, expanding herds and milk production. In turn, farmers can better feed their families and have more to sell, earning income and strengthening local markets. Compared to traditional, soil-based methods, hydroponics uses less water and can produce higher yields in as little as seven days, rather than months.</p><p>Every day thousands of children still die from hunger. In fact, when a child younger than five dies, nearly half the time, hunger is to blame. This isn't inevitable. Innovations abound — both high- and low-tech — that continue to offer hope.</p><p>This World Food Day, let's pause to remember that hunger is predictable and preventable, and we all can take action. Solutions exist, and we must continue to support the world's most vulnerable until everyone has food to eat.</p>
<p><em>Dr. Charles Owubah, is the CEO of<a href="https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Action Against Hunger</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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A Yemeni boy receives humanitarian aid from the World Food Program in Taez, Yemen, on October 10, 2020. Ahmad Al-Basha / AFP / Getty Images
The UN World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday that will need to raise $6.8 billion over the next six months to avert famine triggered by the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
<p>"We've got a lot more money to raise to make certain we avert famine," David Beasley, executive director of the WFP, said at a conference organized by the U.N's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).</p><p>Beasley said 7 million people had died from hunger this year, even as the COVID-19 pandemic claimed a further 1 million lives worldwide. But he warned that the pandemic would make things worse in the long term. </p><p>"If we don't sort out COVID, (the) hunger death rate could be 3, 4, 5 times that," said Beasley. </p><p>World hunger was on the decline for several decades, but is it now on the rise again since 2016, driven by both conflict and climate change.</p>
<p>"If you think about the wealth on Earth today we shouldn't see one single child (go) hungry or die from starvation," said Beasley.<br></p><p>The organization was awarded the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/world-food-programme-wins-nobel-peace-prize/a-55213281" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize</a> last week for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.</p><p>German Chancellor <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/merkel-urges-renewed-fight-against-world-hunger/a-55228708" target="_blank">Angela Merkel praised the organization</a> and called on world nations to join in a renewed fight against hunger.</p><p>"The award ceremony is a recognition of the commitment to international responsibility and international solidarity," Merkel said of the WFP.</p>
Over 1 Billion Raised
<p>The UN food agency is the world's largest humanitarian organization and it is entirely funded by donations. In 2019, the money it raised funded school meals for 17.3 million children globally and delivered 4.2 million tonnes of food to regions or countries.</p><p>Beasley is now urging donors, including governments and institutions, but also the more than 2,000 billionaires in the world - who hold a combined net worth of $8 trillion - to donate to the WFP.</p><p>The organization has so far raised $1.6 billion, far below the target needed this year. </p><p>Beasley has warned that COVID-19 shutdowns are not only hindering the delivery of food but worsening other<br>problems, such as disrupting vaccinations and treatments for other illnesses. </p><p>"There is a grave danger that many more people will die from the broader economic and social consequences of COVID-19 than from the virus itself, especially in Africa," Beasley has said.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/un-world-food-programme-seeks-funds-to-avert-covid-19-famine/a-55258444?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2648204256#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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The United Nations World Food Programme Headquarters on Oct. 9, 2020 at Parco De'3 Medici in Rome, Italy. Franco Origlia / Getty Images
This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) for its "efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict," the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday.
<p>The win draws attention to the organization at a time when the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> have increased the number of people at risk from starvation worldwide. At the same time, UN organizations including the WFP have experienced a dip in funding in recent years as countries, including the U.S., reduce the money they give to international bodies, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/09/world/nobel-peace-prize-winner-2020-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>"With this year's award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger," committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said when she announced the prize.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="694ba95bda8f367fa08156d22f65d7bf"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FpP4iUzNyVc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>The WFP was founded in 1961, according to CNN. In 2019, it <a href="https://www.wfp.org/overview" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">provided food</a> assistance to 97 million people in 88 countries, the most since 2012. It is also the primary UN body in charge of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating world hunger, the Nobel Committee pointed out, but that goal has gotten harder than ever to reach in recent years.</p><p>Stockholm International Peace Research Institute director Dan Smith told CNN that the number of people experiencing hunger had begun to increase in the last four years after decades of decline, largely because of climate change.</p><p>The situation has gotten even worse because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Nobel Committee noted. In countries like Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the pandemic has combined with armed conflicts to put significantly more people at risk from starvation.</p>
<p>WFP head David Beasley <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/09/922054491/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-to-world-food-programme" target="_blank">told NPR</a> earlier this year that 135 million people had been at risk for starvation in 2020 before the emergence of COVID-19. After its spread, that number had shot up to almost a quarter of a billion.</p><p>"In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts," the committee said. "As the organisation itself has stated, 'Until the day we have a medical vaccine, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> is the best vaccine against chaos.'"</p><p>Beasley said he was "speechless" in the face of the award and credited the organization's staff for the win.</p><p>"It's because of the WFP family," Beasley said in a video shared on Twitter. "They're out there in the most difficult, complex places in the world. Whether it's war, conflict, climate extremes — it doesn't matter. They're out there, and they deserve this award."</p>
<div id="94507" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="74acf53b08203b1d117c66b16694f299"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1314508264378454016" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are deeply humbled to receive the #NobelPeacePrize. This is an incredible recognition of the dedication of the… https://t.co/bBFP4RGKJV</div> — David Beasley (@David Beasley)<a href="https://twitter.com/WFPChief/statuses/1314508264378454016">1602238167.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The prize was announced in Oslo and comes with an award of 10 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.14 million), <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/09/uns-world-food-programme-wins-nobel-peace-prize?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1hz81T_Btj-_3JqBvJAOdJYQbFeK3q_L_3jtOxr8TKE2bBFWsrvdnAojs#Echobox=1602234318" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. This year, there were 318 nominees for the prize, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>.</p><p>When announcing the award, the committee praised the WFP for its role in "multilateral cooperation."</p><p>"The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more conspicuous than ever," the committee said in the opening line of the announcement.</p><p>Smith told CNN that he thought the committee had intentionally chosen an international organization over an individual at this time to highlight the importance of collaboration.</p><p>"Donald Trump is the embodiment of the spirit of anti-cooperation and by contrast the World Food Programme is the embodiment of the spirit of cooperation," Smith said. "And I think that the Nobel Peace Prize started its announcement with a reference to solidarity and multilateralism as a kind of gentle rebuke to the leaders of the great powers, including Donald Trump, obviously Putin and President Xi as well."</p>
<p>In her remarks to the press after the award, Reiss-Andersen also criticized the rise of populilst nationalism.</p><p>"When you follow international debate and discourse, it's definitely a tendency that international institutions seem to be discredited more than, let's say, 20 years ago," she said, as CNN reported. "It is part of populism that it has nationalistic flavor ... everybody, every nation, supporting their own interests."</p>
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54 Million People in the U.S. May Go Hungry During the Pandemic — Can Urban Farms Help?
07 September 2020
Insights + Opinion
An example of urban farming is seen on this Chicago rooftop. Linda / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 2.0
By Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner
When I call Chef Q. Ibraheem to discuss urban farming in her own cooking career, she's in the middle of placing an order for microgreens from a small farm in Lake Forest, a ritzy suburb just north of downtown Chicago. Now's a great time for her to chat, actually, because the Chicago-based chef is immersed in what she loves, sourcing ingredients as locally as possible.
<p>"It's really important we know where our food is coming from," she says. "I know my farmers by name. I can go to the farms, see how they are growing everything, see it in the soil. It's always nice to have something within reach and know your produce." Chef Q runs supper clubs and chef camps throughout Chicagoland, sustaining the local economy by purchasing ingredients from urban gardens and farms within miles of her pop-up experiences.</p><p>"As a chef, you realize you have a responsibility to your guests," she says, and for her, that responsibility means being transparent about ingredients, and even educating diners about what's on their plates. Growing up spending summers on a farm in Georgia, Chef Q has an innate curiosity about where and how her food is grown, and she recognizes the importance of farms in both urban and rural areas.</p><p>Commercial urban agriculture is <a href="https://bedfordandbowery.com/2020/07/as-the-pandemic-continues-urban-gardening-is-growing-on-new-yorkers/" target="_blank">on the rise</a>, with small-scale farms in <a href="https://ny.curbed.com/maps/new-york-urban-gardening-city-farmers-brooklyn" target="_blank">New York City</a> like <a href="https://www.gothamgreens.com/" target="_blank">Gotham Greens</a>, which reduces the amount of energy, land use and food waste in tight, underutilized spaces to produce herbs and roughage for the masses. In Austin, Texas, <a href="https://austinot.com/urban-farms-austin" target="_blank">backyard farms and urban gardens</a> sell ingredients to restaurants and markets throughout the region, as do <a href="https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2019-10-10/avenue33-urban-farm-grows-in-los-angeles" target="_blank">similar projects in Los Angeles</a>. In fact, innovations allowing farmers to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-urban-farmers-are-learning-to-grow-food-without-soil-or-natural-light-88720" target="_blank">grow without soil or natural light</a> expand the potential for food sourcing in urban areas. Urban farming has increased by over <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/urban-agriculture-food-security-2628852711.html" target="_self">30 percent in the past 30 years</a>, with no indication of slowing down. Urban land could grow fruit and vegetables for 15 percent of the population, <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-03/uos-ulc031720.php" target="_blank">research shows</a>.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/grow-your-own-urban-farming-flourishes-in-coronavirus-lockdowns/" target="_blank">COVID-19 lockdowns have inspired a burst of urban farming</a> as people have been starting to grow their own fruits and vegetables at home, a renewed interest in culinary arts, plus a nostalgia for simpler times in many fast-paced big cities — just look at all the mid-century-era diners <a href="https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/why-so-many-restaurants-opened-as-modern-diners-in-2019" target="_blank">popping up</a> in Manhattan right before the pandemic — may be accountable for the steady rise in urban farms. More consciousness about the environment, too, may lead small growers to want to reduce transportation emissions and take charge of the use of pesticides and fertilizers in their foods, but there's another great reason for urban farms to continue growing: feeding the masses. And with 68 percent of the world's population <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html" target="_blank">expected to live in urban areas by 2050</a>, it's time to take urban farming seriously as a viable, primary food source.</p><p>Despite being the wealthiest nation in the world, the United States had more than <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america" target="_blank">37 million people</a> struggling with hunger in 2018. Since the pandemic, that number is expected to rise to up to <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/Brief_Impact%20of%20Covid%20on%20Food%20Insecurity%204.22%20%28002%29.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">54 million people</a>. And while systemic changes may one day be able to greatly reduce this number, a planting cycle is quicker than an election cycle. Bureaucracy may not immediately solve fair wages, but vegetable seeds may help communities when times are tough.</p>
Urban Farming as a Social Practice
<p>In her work, Chef Q has helped turn empty lots and abandoned buildings into urban farms, which allows neighbors to "take ownership in their communities" and also become educated consumers. In neighborhoods where the fancy grocery store is referred to as "<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/04/01/whole-foods-prices-amazon-announces-cuts-and-more-prime-benefits/3335214002/" target="_blank">Whole Paycheck</a>," Chef Q has seen seed exchanges help folks start growing new produce, and regain agency over their food budgets and eating habits. Programs like the <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/15th-annual-chicago-food-policy-summit-registration-89317576275" target="_blank">Chicago Food Policy Summit</a>, a free annual event on Chicago's South Side, help popularize urban farming and education and help provide Chicagoans with grants to start growing their own food. Though <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/dining/urban-farming-kids-healthy-food-new-york-city.html" target="_blank">gentrification may bring relief</a> to previously dubbed <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/how-do-people-living-in-a-food-desert-feed-themselves-amid-a-pandemic/" target="_blank">food deserts</a> — neighborhoods without a nearby source of fresh food — the slew of problems attached to gentrification, including higher costs of living, can easily make these new, more nutritious food options completely unaffordable to residents of the neighborhood.</p><p>As seen in smaller cities, urban farming may be the key for cities to be less reliant on rural areas, and also help <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-urban-agriculture-can-improve-food-security-in-us-cities-106435" target="_blank">achieve food security</a>. As Dr. Miguel Altieri, professor of agroecology at the University of California, Berkeley, has shown, diversified gardens in urban areas can yield a large range of produce and efficiently feed nearby residents.</p><p>Of course, land in cities is often at a premium, with many people living in little space. Shifting public land use to incorporate food growth and getting creative with rooftops, basements and unused buildings can seriously change the way cities consume fresh ingredients.</p><p>In fact, renewed efforts by the conservation organization <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Wildlife Fund</a> to <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90505222/why-the-world-wildlife-fund-is-trying-to-spark-an-indoor-farming-revolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">boost indoor farming</a> may revolutionize some sources of produce, particularly in cities. Repurposing unused indoor space, such as warehouses, can create direct sources of ingredients for restaurants or community-supported agriculture for neighbors. Indoor farming, while potentially more expensive, also allows urbanites from all walks of life to connect to the food system, repurpose food waste into compost and expand knowledge on growing food. <a href="https://www.gothamgreens.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Greenhouses like Gotham Greens</a>' rooftop spaces can supplement indoor and outdoor spaces, adding even more potential healthy food to local ecosystems.</p>Urban Gardening With Neighbors in Mind
<p>When she's not hosting pop-up dinners with culinarily curious Chicagoans, Chef Q volunteers with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fosterstreetgarden/" target="_blank">Foster Street Urban Agriculture</a>, a nonprofit garden that aims to help end food insecurity in Evanston, the Chicago suburb home to Northwestern University. In the garden, Chef Q teaches kids how to water, plant, weed and grow produce. She'll notice a multigenerational interest: "Once kids taste zucchini, it's over," she jokes, of little ones bringing in parents and grandparents to learn to cook with more fresh produce. "They'll start [the program] eating hot Cheetos, and they're eating something green and leafy and won't go back."</p><p>Kids also just love being able to eat something that comes out of the ground and will take their passion back home, growing tomatoes in their windowsills or trying other small gardening projects in spaces available to them near home. Harvests from Foster Street are donated to food pantries and also sold at a local farmers market, where kids learn community-based entrepreneurial skills.</p><p>"Everyone eats, it's a common denominator," she says. "When food is on the table, people will have conversations."</p><p>Now, in the wake of COVID-19, urban farms have become more essential than ever. Chef Q has partnered with farms that would otherwise throw away produce without their major restaurant and hotel clients, to redistribute food to Chicagoans in need. She's noticed a spike in the price of fresh food, thanks in part to the expensive early May crops — peas, leeks and spinach. "It's been imperative," she says, of feeding the community with a local bounty of eggplant, microgreens, cheese and more farm-to-fork provisions.</p><p>Chef Q emphasizes that urban gardens still have to grow food to feed communities. Across the nation, we've seen victory gardens pop up in yards of homebound upper-middle-class Americans, planted with hope, thriftiness and a creative outlet in mind. But for those who don't have yards or ample space, shared urban gardens can still serve a local population. When people don't have money, growing food is a solution to provide nutrition, and perhaps even income. And it starts with advocacy, volunteers and outreach. "Plant something in the windowsill," Chef Q suggests, as an entryway into small-scale gardening. "It's essential. We can't stop."</p>
<p class=""><em>Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner is a writer based in New York. She is a writing fellow at <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Earth | Food | Life</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute. She's written for the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Glamour, AlterNet, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Architectural Digest, Them and other publications. She holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing from Columbia University and is also at work on a novel. Follow her on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/melissabethk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@melissabethk</a>.</em></p><p class=""><em>This article was produced by </em><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Earth | Food | Life</em></a><em>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Finding fresh produce can be more challenging in the dead of winter, especially in cold regions. Pixnio / CCO
It's harvest time, and by eating what's in season locally, people can reduce the carbon pollution caused by trucking food long distances.
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<p>That's easy to do when farmers markets are open. But it can be more challenging in the dead of winter, especially in cold regions.</p><p>So Brooke Knisley of <a target="_blank" href="http://alternativerootsfarm.blogspot.com/p/about-us.html">Alternative Roots Farm</a> in Minnesota encourages her customers to do what their ancestors did: preserve food now to enjoy later.</p><p>"Items like berries, peppers, are super easy to freeze," she says.</p><p>And root vegetables can be kept in a cool pantry.</p>
<p>"We installed a new large walk-in cooler system where we can store our apples and other winter storage crops – squash, onions, garlic – late into the winter," Knisley says.<br></p><p>She provides those items to her customers, along with canned foods and greens that she grows in a passive solar greenhouse.</p><p>She says local farmers may offer more in winter than you realize. And talking to a farmer is also a chance to learn about their growing methods.</p><p>"Don't be afraid to connect with your farmers in a deeper way or reach out to them at a point in the season to find out what they might have," Knisley says. "So just rethinking what eating in season means and how you can integrate that into your life."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/08/how-preserving-produce-can-help-you-eat-more-local-food/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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How Carbon-Smart Farming Can Feed Us and Fight Climate Change at the Same Time
12 August 2020
Science
A resident works in the vegetable garden of the Favela Nova Esperanca – a "green favela" which reuses everything and is subject to the ethics of permaculture – in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Feb. 14, 2020. NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP via Getty Images
Farmers are the stewards of our planet's precious soil, one of the least understood and untapped defenses against climate change. Because of its massive potential to store carbon and foundational role in growing our food supply, soil makes farming a solution for both climate change and food security.
<h3>The Threat to Food Security</h3><p>Farming is capital-intensive and farmers are at the mercy of volatile global commodity markets, trade disputes, regulatory changes, weather, pests and disease. Factor in climate change and you can include droughts, floods and temperature shifts.</p><p>We need to change how we grow our food because:</p><ul><li>climate change will increasingly impact farm yields</li><li>how we farm can help mitigate climate change</li><li>helping our farmers unlock the full potential of soil will help them meet growing food demands while remaining profitable</li><li>restoring the carbon-holding potential of our soil combats climate change.</li></ul>
<h3>Soil and Climate Change</h3><p>The last few years have been among the hottest on <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/1148/global-climate-change/" target="_blank">record</a>. As of May 2020, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere has been the highest it's been in human<a href="https://www.conservation.org/stories/11-climate-change-facts-you-need-to-know" target="_blank"> history</a>.</p><p>Studies show that soil removes about <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/02/21/can-soil-help-combat-climate-change/" target="_blank">25% </a>of the world's fossil-fuel emissions each year. This is done through carbon sequestration, a natural way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere through the soil with fewer impacts on land and water, less need for energy, and lower costs.</p><p>Soil can take in more CO2 from the atmosphere than it releases, making it a carbon sink. The carbon sink <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/304/5677/1623" target="_blank">capacity </a>of the world's agricultural and degraded soils is 50 to 66% of what it has been historically. This means our soil can hold 42 to 78 gigatonnes more carbon. Increasing the amount of carbon in soil also makes it more productive for farmers.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU1NDA2NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzQ1MDM3Nn0.iOtj5yyGSYAolZLt_qNlyAogrmplnXt80n6X29_FAtc/img.png?width=980" id="21e06" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ce0c4641f16e22ee3ed042d4906a7683" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1536" data-height="864" />
Soil can act as a natural "carbon sink." Climate Central, 2019
<p>Soil is also a method for water retention and purification, and returns oxygen to the atmosphere through plants. A single tablespoon of soil contains billions of microorganisms. In other words, the soil is alive. If we care for the soil on our farms it will greatly return the favor by providing us with the fibre, fuel and food we need, all while removing CO2 from the atmosphere.</p><h3>Farming With Attention to the Soil<br></h3><ul> <li>Carbon-smart farming: The amount of carbon sequestered in our soils can be increased by adopting the right management practices. Reducing tillage, planting cover crops and using organic matter amendments such as compost have been shown to increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. Soil carbon also performs double duty as a resource in ensuring food security. Farmers can harness the power of carbon stored as soil organic matter, which is the fraction of soil composed of anything that once lived, such as decomposed plant and animal matter. Soil organic matter makes farmland more productive, reduces erosion and improves soil structure, which improves the quality of groundwater and surface waters. All of this reduces the negative impact of climate change across the entire ecosystem.<br></li><li>Reducing food waste at the farm level: <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/food-waste">Food waste</a> is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 8% of total global emissions and at least 2.6% of all U.S. emissions. Specifically, a total of one-third of edible produce, or 33.7%, remains unharvested in fields only to get buried under. Furthermore, a significant amount of food waste is attributed to loss in crop production due to diseases – a loss of $U.S.200 billion globally per year.</li></ul><ul><li>Where Science & Technology can help: Our lack of understanding of our soil is hurting us. We need help from cutting-edge science and technology to measure and interpret the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil, which is collectively referred to as soil intelligence. Soil intelligence uncovers information such as which pathogens are lurking. It quantifies beneficial nutrients and determines the carbon-holding potential of soil. This information allows farmers to diagnose the health of the soil prior to planting their crops, enabling cost-saving decisions about what types of compost, fertilizers, pesticides, or other treatments to put in their soil, how to irrigate, or whether or not to switch crops entirely and prevent waste.<br></li><p>Every farm is unique and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. There is more biodiversity below ground than above ground. Carbon-smart farming yields comprehensive soil intelligence, which can help farmers and farm advisors "read their soil," make the right decisions for maximizing profits, and reduce waste. This information can help us better understand what the soil needs to feed our planet while continuing to sequester carbon.</p><p>Agriculture can significantly decrease humanity's carbon footprint. We must aid, nurture and care for our soil so that it can play this pivotal role in our fight against <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200707140929.htm" target="_blank">climate change</a>. An investment in our soil now is an investment in the livelihood and health of generations to come.</p></ul><div></div>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/08/how-carbon-smart-farming-tackles-climate-change/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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