Cornucopia’s Take: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition notes in the article below, “reforms to conservation, research and the farm safety net present an enormous opportunity to improve the health of our soils.” Cornucopia agrees that changes to the 2018 Farm Bill could go a long way toward healing agricultural lands, now some of the biggest… Read more »
Search Results for: regenerative agriculture
Agriculture Reborn in Puerto Rico
Cornucopia’s Take: While financial uncertainty hangs over Puerto Rico, small farms are popping up, providing jobs and food. The Puerto Rican government is supporting agriculture of all types. With GMO trial fields in place since 2011, Bayer has announced intentions to open two large biotech facilities there. Puerto Rico finds unexpected source of growth in… Read more »
Faith in Farming
Finding a Way of Life on Windy Acres Farm [This article was previously published in the winter issue of The Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter.] by Jason Cole, Research Associate at The Cornucopia Institute Photo courtesy of Windy Acres Farm What is the meaning and purpose of work? Is it simply a means of making a… Read more »
Organic Farming Can Cool the World that Chemical Farming Overheated
SustainableBusiness.com A report from GRAIN discusses how agriculture can put back much of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into the soil. Soils contain enormous amounts of carbon, mostly in the form of organic matter. The report shows that industrial agriculture, and thus the global food system, has spewed large amounts of this carbon… Read more »
A Win for Authentic Organic Dairy
Long overdue rule underscores the cost and care of raising organic calves [This article was previously published in the summer issue of the Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter. Donate today to protect organic integrity and receive our fall issue in print.] For years after they purchased their land, and before they even welcomed their first calf,… Read more »
Farming Locally, Thinking Globally
by Tahlia Honea Anne Schwartz is a self-described rabble-rouser. The 66-year-old blueberry and raspberry farmer has dedicated her life to growing organic food, fighting all the way to the international level for organic food standards and better farming practices. Against the backdrop of Sauk Mountain, plump, perfect blueberries hang from rows of blueberry bushes she… Read more »
Lady Moon Farms
Anaïs Beddard grew up at Lady Moon Farms playing in farm fields, working in the old oak grove packing shed, and cultivating genuine friendships with farm employees and their families. Each employee is part of the family at Lady Moon Farms. With a team of nearly 300 workers, the Beddard family can’t fit them all… Read more »
Monsanto on Trial for Crimes Against Nature and Humanity
The Ecologist by Pavlos Georgiadis Monsanto was accused of ‘crimes against humanity and the environment’ at COP21 in Paris this week, writes Pavlos Georgiadis. And now the evidence against it is being gathered for presentation at a ‘Monsanto Tribunal’ taking place next October in The Hague. Civil society groups are putting Monsanto on trial for… Read more »
Is 53 Square Miles of Organic Wheat Really Organic?
Cornucopia’s Take: While Cornucopia is as happy as anyone that this large tract of land will be spared the spraying harmful pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, we do have to wonder how mono-cropping on this scale is truly organic. Biodiversity in the field prevents the spread of disease and the proliferation of pests. Monocropping creates an environment… Read more »
Plants with Plans?
Cornucopia’s Take: Scientists have determined that some plants attract ants with nectar, but only to the outskirts of the flowers. Ants are thought to deter herbivores. Meanwhile, the flowers do not seem to attract ants, but remain prime territory for pollinators. Whatever the plants’ plans, recognizing the complicated relationships of plants and insects is an… Read more »
