By John R. Platt It starts with the whiff of death. High above the Argentinian plains, an Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) — one of the world’s largest flying bird species — catches the distinctive aroma of decaying flesh on the wind. It’s quickly joined by other condors, perhaps a dozen or more, who start circling […]
By Alejandro Pérez, translated by Romina Castagnino Fifteen years ago, Martha Valencia relied on the nearby river for water and for food. But then oil palm crops arrived in the area and polluted the river, say Martha and her neighbors. The community took the oil palm grower to court, which ultimately resulted in a ruling […]
By Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner A major but largely glossed over report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental and public health nonprofit based in Washington, DC, shows that thousands of untested chemicals (an estimated 2,000, to be exact) are found in conventional packaged foods purchasable in U.S. supermarkets. And yes, all of them are […]
The last 50 years have been brutal for wildlife. Animals have lost their habitats and seen their numbers plummet. Now a new report from a British conservation group warns that habitat destruction and increased pesticide use has on a trajectory for an “insect apocalypse,” which will have dire consequences for humans and all life on […]
By Paul Brown When countries run short of food, they need to find solutions fast, and one answer can be urban farming. That was the remedy Cuba seized with both hands 30 years ago when it was confronted with the dilemma of an end to its vital food imports. And what worked then for Cuba […]
Scientists announced today that pesticide use on rice fields led to the collapse of a nearby fishery in Lake Shinji, Japan, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The long-term study seems to have borne out the prophecy of Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book Silent Spring, in which the author describes the […]
By Carey Gillam Last month the Food & Drug Administration published its latest annual analysis of the levels of pesticide residues that contaminate the fruits and veggies and other foods we Americans routinely put on our dinner plates. The fresh data adds to growing consumer concern and scientific debate over how pesticide residues in food […]
By Kerstin Palme Creepy-crawlies are among the oldest life forms on this planet. Before dinosaurs ever walked the earth, insects were certainly already there. Some estimates date their origins to 400 million years ago. They’re also extremely successful. Of the 7 to 8 million species documented on Earth, around three quarters are likely bugs. But […]
By Lisa Schulte Moore Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses bring the state a lot of political attention during presidential election cycles. But in my view, even though some candidates have outlined positions on food and farming, agriculture rarely gets the attention it deserves. As a scientist at Iowa’s land-grant university, I believe our state is at the […]
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