Posts Categorized: Agroecology

More corn into our fuel tanks in the middle of a war?

cartoon of car eating corn cobs Our politicians are worried about high gas prices and inflation. Fine. But diverting arable land into biofuels as we face food crises around the globe is short-sighted and can cost many lives. Michael Grunwald, in his April 19 article titled, “Biofuels are accelerating the food crisis — and the climate crisis, too” highlights the absurdity…. Read more »

Celebrating Agroecology on the International Day of Biological Diversity!

Farmers weeding in NY “We’re part of the solution!” … is the slogan for this year’s UN International Day of Biological Diversity, which the world has celebrated on May 22, since 1993. The International Day for Biological Diversity bolsters the Sustainable Development Goals and highlights the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity, a multilateral treaty signed by all the… Read more »

Bursting the Bubble on Food Alarmism: Why Bill Gates is Dead Wrong

protest at Gates Foundation No doubt you’ve seen ads about the need to feed the world. The claim is made that by 2050 we’ll need to increase food production by 50%. These ads come from agribusiness corporations such as ADM, Cargill and Bayer-Monsanto, and then they are parroted by the media and academics, despite the fact that there is… Read more »

PHP and Growing Hope Globally Grow Impact

Boys harvesting rice The Presbyterian Church (USA)—through the Presbyterian Hunger Program and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance as well as local congregations—has had a decades-long partnership with Growing Hope Globally, an organization that connects U.S. farmers, churches and communities to subsistence farmers around the world in order to help address hunger. The Presbyterian Hunger Program is at work around the world and specifically has been… Read more »

2021 UN Food Systems Summit sounds like a good thing, but…

Drawing of plant growing with the cogs of industrial food system The description on the United Nations website sounds wonderful! In 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will convene a Food Systems Summit as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies… Read more »

Dreaming Another World as this One Heats

Heat, a Common Denominator Out of control fires. Hottest decade on record. Hot oceans spawning super storms. Polarized politics. Heated debates. COVID fever. The discomfort is now hitting the middle class and even upper classes feel the encroaching heat. The unrelenting  suffering from racism, hunger, poverty and injustice has spread from the invisibilized margins into… Read more »

Down-to-earth spiritual farming on the rise!

CA farm couple Judging by the 900 people at last year’s Biodynamics Conference in Portland and the 700+ assembled in upstate New York this year, biodynamic farming is swelling! Given the high yields of healthy produce, grains and protein and resilience to climate change, the timing of this popularity couldn’t be better. Our minds and hearts have opened,… Read more »

How to Cool the Planet?

Urban Tilth photo Agroecology is One Answer! By Andrew Kang Bartlett In a world where giant corporations largely shape our food choices and perpetuate a form of agriculture which depends on fossil fuels, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and workers making poverty wages, family farmers and eaters alike are eager to shift towards a more equitable and eco-friendly food-farm… Read more »

Revival of natural farming in Puerto Rico

This is the second part of a two-part series on Puerto Rico, Climate Change and Food. Part one can be found here. “Back to the Land” and Agroecology Jesús Vázquez Negron and I visited Ian Pagán Roig at Finca (farm) Josco Bravo in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, which is one of the three sites at… Read more »

Puerto Rico, Climate Change & Food

Overview In December, I participated in a delegation comprised of staff from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), Presbyterian Self-Development of People (SDOP), and Special Offerings, and we invited local pastors and mid-council staff to join us for the visits to Fideicomiso de la Tierra, a decimated family farm in Lares, and Presbyterian Camp Guacio over the course of… Read more »