The need for climate resilience in agriculture…
#Farming Friday 12: “Farmers Helping Fish”
The current drought in California poses a problem for salmon in their breeding season. Here is a wonderful story of how farmers helped the fish in need!
Posted in Climate Change, Farmers view, Green, Living
Tagged climate change, Farmers voice, Green, Living
Guest Post: Why I’m Through with Organic Farming
Think you know what organic farming is all about? You are actually going to learn a lot from this organic farmer!
Following on from my last guest post, The Insanity of Biotech by biochemist Paul Little, Mike Bendzela is the author of this guest post. These guest posts have been tangentially exploring similar subjects I have in my book, but in different directions; and this post explores organic farming. In S3: Science, Statistics and Skepticism, I lightheartedly tackle the naturalistic fallacy and use some bad (and funny) statistics that purposefully confuse correlation with causation, intending to teach a lesson. As I was writing the book, Mike Bendzela reached out to me with his organic story that sprouts off from that Correlation chapter, and it is a supremely informative read. (A bit long, well worth it, and you’re used to long articles from me anyway.)
Why I’m Through with Organic Farming
by Mike Bendzela of Dow Farm Enterprise
“It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you;
you are defiled by…
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Technology On the Farm
Often we tend to think of technology as being too expensive/difficult to employ except on a large scale. But one project in Ethiopia found that loading e-readers for extension workers made a big difference as they had access to a lot of material but none of the hassle of carrying around a load of stuff.
In Sudan, a simple SMS can alert farmers to rainfall forecasts enabling better preparedness for floods or, letting them know how much water would be optimal for their crops at a given time. Small steps with big results.
#Farming Friday 11: Farming in a War Zone
Farming in truly hostile conditions, with polluted water and with access to markets blocked, images from the lives of Palestinian farmers.
The Conservation Question
Going through all the postings/ articles shared on the occasion of Earth Day, it is encouraging to note the concern for preserving the environment. But, along with that, comes the realization that preservation/conservation really means different things to different people. As one writer notes, the idea of pristine nature, left to itself; without humans going in and wrecking it is somewhat of an artificial construct. Delinking people and their surroundings is a distortion. Over centuries, people have lived in harmony with their surroundings but this relationship has become fractured in recent times. The need is to restore it, rather than banish people from these spaces.
In rural areas, the poorest sections of the population often depend on their surrounding environment for food, fuel, fodder,even medicine and shutting them out to “preserve” nature makes the rural poor more vulnerable to economic hardship. Even the practice of eco-tourism as a means of balancing conservation and economic priorities can actually have a negative impact on those who depend on the land for survival.This would become worse as climate change poses a challenge to the food system and way of life of many communities causing them to become food insecure and displaced from their homelands.
There is a need to emphasize that tackling climate change is not solely a matter of desertification, rising oceans or vanishing habitats for plants and animals. Climate change is impacting the livelihoods of people, specially the rural poor. So any plan of action should, ideally, take the whole picture into account: how can people and the environment coexist in a time of climate change? The answer can be found partly in the technology that is available to us today and also in the knowledge that indigenous communities possess that enabled them to prosper in their environment in the past.
(Image Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net)
Posted in Climate Change, Earth, Farmers view, Green, Living, Uncategorized
Tagged climate change, Farmers voice, Green, Living
Coptic Easter and A Feast in Rural Egypt – Recipes Included
This is a fascinating post on food and culture which I enjoyed and wanted to share:
Villages and hamlets in Egypt have traditionally been compactly built of mud brick, with crop leavings and fuel wood (such as cotton branches) being stored on the roofs, as here. In the absence of both space and rain, this is a good policy. In this picture, a woman is bringing her expectant donkey a serving of barsiim or other succulent greens from her fields. Source – Impresions de Egipto
During the years that I spent a good deal of my time working and living in Upper [southern] Egypt while conducting doctoral research, I was invited by friends in a nearby izba [small, extended family-based village, or hamlet] to join them at their church for Easter celebrations. Not having been to a Coptic Easter, I gladly accepted.
[19/04/2014 – On reflection, I am not happy with some of the pictures or some of recipes, and will be revising over the next…View original post 2,635 more words
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Earth Day Poetry: “First Morel”
American Life in Poetry shared a lovely poem by Amy Fleury, a poet from Lousiana , to celebrate spring. I thought it was particularly appropriate for Earth Day. When we talk about cherishing and preserving our planet, let us think of all that lives on it: not just the cute polar bears but also the sometimes scary (for me!) bats, not only the redwoods but also the mushrooms below, not only the monarch butterflies that dazzle but also the milkweed that sustains them.
First Morel
Up from wood rot,
wrinkling up from duff
and homely damps,
spore-born and cauled
like a meager seer,
it pushes aside earth
to make a small place
from decay. Bashful,
it brings honeycombed
news from below
of the coming plenty
and everything rising.
Image Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net (yes, I know those are not morel mushrooms in the picture, that image was not available, but it does underline the main theme, everything is worth cherishing!)
Has modern agriculture cleaned up its dirty runoff act?
This is an interesting read on conservation efforts. What was interesting is that farm practices change depending on corn prices with higher price years focusing on increased production pressure on the land. But it was also an interesting insight into how conservation can be an integral part of farming and the two are not separate.
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#Farming Friday 11: Debt Main Cause of Indian Farmer Suicides
I have grown weary of reading the “Bt Cotton causes farmer suicides in India” story and attempting to refute it. However, refuting it is essential because it is not just untrue, but also used as a trump card in the anti-GMO narrative. There are several studies which have examined this question and determined that there is no causal relationship between the use of biotechnology and farmer suicides. The adoption of Bt Cotton in India has actually resulted in gains. And the issue of farmer suicides is a growing concern in many parts of the world, including the USA.
The Indian farmer has always had to deal with an overwhelming burden of debt because the debt passed on down the generations of farmer families. Long before biotechnology arrived on the field, this narrative could be found in academic texts and popular literature. Here is the study from the Lancet which again upholds the result that small holder farmers, faced with crushing debt sometimes can only see suicide as an option. When the next government takes over, will this change? We can only hope so.
Image Courtesy:freedigitalphotos.net
Posted in Farmers view, Hunger, India
Tagged Farmers voice, Food Justice, Hunger, India
Thought + Food 