World War I ended 100 years ago on Sunday, but 42,000 acres in northeast France serve as a living memorial to the human and environmental costs of war. The battle of Verdun was the longest continuous conflict in the Great War, and it so devastated the land it took place on that, after the war, […]
By Daisy Dunne The UK could cut its emissions to “net-zero” within the next three decades by stepping up investment into technologies that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere, a report finds. However, such methods, which are known collectively as “negative emissions technologies” (NETs), would only be effective if paired with drastic efforts to cut […]
By Courtney Lindwall A megamerger between two of the world’s biggest agricultural corporations looms on the horizon. The seed and pesticide giant Monsanto is inching closer to uniting with the German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer—a consolidation that could spell disaster for farmers, pollinators, and affordable, healthy food. Here’s why the Monsanto-Bayer merger is a […]
One of the biggest things we can do to revolutionize regenerative farming is to focus on perennials! A plant being perennial means it lives for multiple years and can be harvested each year. Compare this to a plant that seeds and dies every year, and needs to replanted and retilled each year. Perennials are able […]
By Robert McSweeney Emissions of CO2 and methane from wetlands and thawing permafrost as the climate warms could cut the “carbon budget” for the Paris agreement temperature limits by around five years, a new study says. These natural processes are “positive feedbacks”—so called because they release more greenhouse gases as global temperatures rise, thus reinforcing […]
By Brian Barth Urban soils are particularly prone to contamination. Fifty years ago, your yard could have belonged to a farmer, who, perhaps not knowing any better, disposed of old bottles of anti-freeze or contaminated diesel in a hole out behind the tractor garage. Or perhaps the remains of a fallen down outbuilding, long ago […]
By Alison Kelly New oil development has no place in sensitive wetland habitats in the Florida Everglades. The Burnett Oil Company, based in Texas, claimed it could explore for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve with no significant, long-term impacts to sensitive wetlands. But these claims have been refuted, as Burnett Oil has caused […]
As the only government-administered label that addresses farming practices, the organic emblem is vitally important. There literally is no other badge that carries as much weight. USDA certified organic-food sales topped $43 billion in 2016—emphasis on “USDA certified.” Ask around at your local farmers market and you’re likely to run into a few “all-but-certified” farms […]
Many people believe that if you just focus on soil health, everything else will follow. This principal is prominently featured in a recent New York Times Magazine article, “Can Dirt Save the Earth?” which examines the practicality of regenerative agriculture. Moises Velasquez-Manoof begins his lengthy piece with John Wick and his wife, Peggy Rathmann, two […]