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Part 3 | Ireland, Food Security & Feed(ing the World) – Is Ireland Feeding Food?

A common criticism of ‘animal agriculture’ is that it uses human-grade food as a feedstock. It is also heard in Ireland, a country with a significant livestock population by European standards.  To what extent is it true that animal agriculture uses human-grade food? Stuart Meikle with part 3 of his series on Ireland, Food Security and Feeding the World. […]

Latest from EU Member States

Part 2 | Ireland, Food Security & Feed(ing the World) – Ireland and the Archipelago

Part two of four from Stuart Meikle on Ireland, food security and feed(ing) the world delves into the relationship Britain and Ireland have with each other  – the two main islands of the archipelago referred to in the article’s title. Part one (see below) focused on Ireland, food security and nitrogen supply. Here, trade, animal feed, meats, durable forms of diary all feature.   […]

Main stories

Ireland, Food Security & Feed(ing the World) – part 1

In these challenging times ‘food security’ has returned to the agenda in what was assumed to be the well-fed countries of the World. That includes in Ireland, even though it is ranked first in the Economist’s Global Food Security Index. To inform this debate ARC2020 will present an article series  – an extended op-ed – from Stuart Meikle.   […]

Main stories

A Food, Feed and Fertilizer Crises | Ukraine

The agri-food system is very exposed  – and was even before the war in Ukraine and its implications. Nitrogen fertilizer has been the bedrock of how farming happens, and its availability has led to a very specific type of food production to flourish. Decisions must be made – about feeding people, about feeding pigs, about how a grass-based system can really function sustainably. Op-Ed from Stuart Meikle.   […]

Latest from the ARC network

Time To Rethink ‘Plant-Based’ – Part 2

The mere fact that a product is ‘plant-based’ is no guarantee of sustainability. Whether our food comes from plants or animals, in terms of sustainability our choices would be better informed by nutrient cycles. Much of our agriculture depends on monoculture crops which are unable to feed themselves as, in the absence of plant biodiversity, they are starved of nature’s bounty of nutrients. Second in a two-part series by Stuart Meikle. […]

Latest from the ARC network

Time To Rethink ‘Plant-Based’ – Part 1

‘Plant-based’ is the new ‘sustainable’. Marketed as the remedy to many of our crises, on closer inspection the label means little. And worse, rather than helping us to respect planetary boundaries, it embeds a belief that we can continue to consume because plants are a forever-giving source of food, fibre and fuel. In the first of a two-part series, Stuart Meikle debunks the reductionist virtues of ‘plant-based’ products. […]

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Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 3

It’s tempting to blame burping cows for methane emissions. But while nature cannot distinguish between naturally occurring methane and methane derived from fossil fuels and anthropological activity, humans can – and should. Methane has a role to play in sustainable farming. We cannot let the debate around methane emissions cloud the broader benefits of farming with ruminants, argues Stuart Meikle in part three of this series. […]

Latest from the ARC network

Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 2

Despite the climate change mitigation emphasis on carbon sequestration, building soil carbon is first about food security, second about atmospheric carbon drawdown. By working with nature’s natural cycles to provide nutritious food with a low environmental footprint, Regenerative Agriculture will provide the transition from fossil-fuelled agro-chemistry to utilizing the farm’s natural resources, argues Stuart Meikle in the second part of this series. […]

Latest from the ARC network

Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 1

Few people realize how their food comfort zone is shrinking. Where we are now is the starting point for an ecologically and biologically-based agricultural revolution. And it starts with the soil. We must adopt an ecosystem approach to identify sustainable food systems that can exist within our planet’s boundaries, argues Stuart Meikle in the first of a four-part series.  […]

Latest from the ARC network

Carbon Starvation – A Crisis Of Our Time?

Are we beginning to see carbon – the fundamental building block of all life – as a pollutant? Instead of demonising carbon as a cause of climate breakdown, we need to restore balance in the natural carbon cycle that has been disrupted by the use of artificial fertilisers. In advance of his upcoming series on farming within planetary boundaries, Stuart Meikle offers a primer on the complex role of carbon in our soils.  […]