Crops are in across the U.S. farm belt, with record harvests filling farmers’ silos with grain and their hearts with pride. Yet persistent and punishingly low prices for those crops leave them no better off for their efforts. Net farm income this year is about half what it was in 2013.
U.S. farmers are not alone. The world is experiencing what Reuters called a “global grain glut,” with many staple food crops filling silos from Brazil to the Ukraine. Crop prices have fallen dramatically, with serious repercussions for farmers, particularly poor farmers in developing countries.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/12/10/wto-summit-ignore-price-crisis-agricultural-dumping-0
Oh, Ben and Jerry; a staple of life. From breakups to movie nights, childhood memories to sweet-tooth binges, the good old Ben and Jerry tubs have escorted us through life’s pitfalls and triumphs. It takes a lot to make a lasting relationship work; whether it be a marriage or the connection between consumer and frozen treats. It takes smart decisions, the willingness to accept and correct mistakes, and a constant ability to grow and rebrand.
That’s Ben and Jerry’s niche, and they are at it again with the removal of Glyphosate. What do I mean “again” …? And, Glypho-what?
Ben and Jerry’s vs. Glyphosate: Moving on from the Toxic Relationship
“Oh, that’s like me,” Underhill says, reaching for it. “That’s my kind of plant.”
The Botanical Garden’s therapeutic horticulture program has grown in popularity in recent years, offering connections with nature to those enduring serious illness, developmental disabilities, or physical or mental trauma. It includes sessions at the garden, in a part known as the Sensory Garden, as well as outreach at area treatment centres such as Siteman.
“We believe that connection to nature provides healing,” Carbone said. “I can bring this to people who are probably in the worst situation they’re ever going to be in.”
https://www.thespec.com/living-story/7981624-working-and-playing-with-plants-helps-cope-with-illness-disabilities/
Consumers can take satisfaction in the fact that they’ve played a role in what some say is the diminishing power of the GMA over Washington policy.https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/12/05/big-foods-lobbying-arm-brink-extinction
The earth possesses five major pools of carbon. Of those pools, the atmosphere is already overloaded with the stuff; the oceans are turning acidic as they become saturated with it; the forests are diminishing; and underground fossil fuel reserves are being emptied. That leaves soil as the most likely repository for immense quantities of carbon.
Now scientists are documenting how sequestering carbon in soil can produce a double dividend: It reduces climate change by extracting carbon from the atmosphere, and it restores the health of degraded soil and increases agricultural yields. Many scientists and farmers believe the emerging understanding of soil’s role in climate stability and agricultural productivity will prompt a paradigm shift in agriculture, triggering the abandonment of conventional practices like tillage, crop residue removal, mono-cropping, excessive grazing and blanket use of chemical fertilizer and pesticide. Even cattle, usually considered climate change culprits because they belch at least 25 gallons of methane a day, are being studied as a potential part of the climate change solution because of their role in naturally fertilizing soil and cycling nutrients.
You can do your part to reduce single-use plastics by using a refillable water bottle made from long-lasting food grade stainless steel.
If your diet includes seafood it could mean you’re swallowing up to 11,000 pieces of plastic a year, scientists have warned – and it’s going to get worse.
Researchers found that the average portion of mussels contains around 90 plastic particles, while six oysters contain around 50 particles.
This means someone eating the equivalent of two portions of mussels a week would swallow up to 11,000 plastic fibres in a year.
A new cereal grain more than 40 years in the making is finding its way into the marketplace in several forms, including a new product from food giant General Mills. Some believe it carries the promise of a whole new type of staple crop — one that requires minimal plowing, fertilizers or pesticides — that also could become a weapon in the battle against climate change.
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/could-perennial-grains-be-next-climate-saving-superstars
