We are back on Brindusa’s farm in Romania as she reflects on what worked in 2018 and what she will work on in the coming year. Not to be underestimated: the importance of steady, reliable relationships to consumers keen for larger quantities. […]
The rules imposed on conventional agriculture, in some significant cases, make organic and conventional more alike. However organic is also spawning more radical alternatives, alternatives like biological or regenerative farming, which seem to have all the movement momentum, while eschewing certification – throwing out the biodynamic baby with the bureaucratic bathwater? […]
In part 2 of this short series on the Kingdom of Bhutan Hannes Lorenzen talks with Kesang Choedon,who has created an innovative organic and heritage food enterprise near Thimphu, the Bhutanese capital. The enterprise includes processing of nearly 150 different organic food ingredients from a wide range of local products. Kesang is also a leading light in the countrie’s shift to total organic production. […]
Our agtech series – agtechtakeback – saw a troubling story of corporate takeover and of disempowered, indebted farmers. But we also encountered empowering and inspiring examples of farmers embracing the best, most appropriate, of technologies to grow agroecologically. […]
We are back in Greece on Mazi Farm with Tash Foote who talks us through the thinking behind the farm design. […]
Stuart Meikle takes us back to the future, to the poorly named green revolution aka the origins of industrial farming, to the humus farming of just before that, and up to today with the huge challenges farming faces. Agtechtakeback: Tech Revolutions, Retro-Innovations and Humus Farming. […]
With the cold season setting in, we are back on Chiara Garini’s agroecolgical farm in Italy to talk mushrooms and sustainable forest management. Introducing Gunter Pauli’s Blue Economy concept, Chiara discusses the pros and cons of shiitake cultivation and how she has approached it on the farm. […]
Swiss farmer Ernst Götsch has developed a variant of agroforestry called syntropic farming. So what is it – what’s different about it – and can it be part of the regenerative agriculture movement? Julia Ruff attended a workshop in Spain with Götsch and tells us about it. […]
Now in soggy Autumn, we return to Sinéad’s farm in West Ireland to hear about the impact of a hot, dry summer, talk mob grazing and learn about the need to farm within natural limitations. What makes her way of farming different from conventional practices? Why does she do it? Here’s an update straight from the farm. […]
New technological advances in digital agriculture are poised to further transform the business and science of growing crops. But technology comes at a cost, and it is worth considering the impact of farm debt on farmers’ ability to innovate and to transition towards agroecological practices.With Laura Skove in Paris. […]
Cancer is an emotive topic, so when a team of French researchers say a higher frequency of organic food consumption was associated with a reduced risk of cancer people will inevitably take note – and try to take apart the study. Meanwhile, Roundup, a tool of conventional farming and land management is in the dock – and loosing – over it relationship with cancer. Oliver Moore reports, adding some broader and historical context. […]
The starkness of the IPCC’s most recent climate change warnings – of 12 year window before runaway impacts – has focused the minds of many. What role – if any – for livestock in this brave new herd? […]
Welcome indeed to Mazi Farm, a regenerative agroforestry farm run by a team brought together by a common goal – to restore degraded farmland in the Mediterranean. Natasha Foote introduces our next letter from an agroecological farm. […]
A farm hack movement has emerged to really take the power back on the land in rural areas. In France this is especially developed, with L’Atelier Paysan empower farmers, using participatory methods, to devleop appropriate, affordable open sourced tools of the trade, machines and even buildings. Plus they throw great parties. Julien Reynier tells us more. […]
Meet Brindusa Birhala and Anselm Opdebeeck who live in the west of rural Romania. For four years, the pair have been slowly turning a small patch in the village of Stancoiva into an agroecological holding. Brindusa introduces the story, from strawbales to horticultural sales… […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention