Food Tank: Polyfaces

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Author: Lani Furbank

The Australian-based nonprofit Regrarians recently released a documentary about Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm, titled “Polyfaces.” The film showcases the unique and sustainable farming style pioneered by the Salatin family in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It examines how these holistic practices regenerate landscapes, communities, local economies, human health, and soil.

Regrarians works with farmers, communities, and government organizations internationally to teach and implement regenerative agriculture.

The film was produced over four years by Lisa Heenan, Isabella Doherty, and Darren Doherty, a family from Australia who was inspired by Polyface Farm and wanted to share the farm’s work with the world.

Polyfaces premiered in New York and Los Angeles earlier this year and qualified for the Academy Awards. It also won several awards, including Best Documentary at the Silver Springs International Film Festival in Florida, the Minister of Agriculture Award at the Life Sciences Film Festival in Prague, a Gold Remi at the WorldFest Film Festival in Houston, and the Festival Spirit Award at Weyauwega International Film Festival in Wisconsin.

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Lakota Lead Native Americans, Ranchers and Farmers in Fight Against Dakota Access Pipeline

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Author: Jason Coppola

Amidst the cries of “protect our water, protect our land, protect our peoples,” Native Americans, ranchers and farmers are standing their ground along a highway in North Dakota. They are blocking the crews of Energy Transfer Partners — a Dallas-based company whose workers are protected by both police and armed, private security personnel — from accessing the site of the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The roughly 1,200-mile-long pipeline would transfer about a half million barrels of oil a day from North Dakota to Illinois. Opponents of its construction worry that a leak or rupture would spell disaster for not only the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, but for all communities along the Missouri River that depend on it for drinking and agriculture.

At least 10 arrests have been made. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier told the Bismarck Tribune that those arrested “were not staying within bounds set by law enforcement and getting in the way of surveyors working on the pipeline.” The arrests included a pediatrician and a grandmother who allegedly crossed the highway to check on a buffalo pasture.

As reported by Truthout in May of this year, Lakota youth, protesting the proposed construction of the pipeline, began a relay race from their Spirit Camp in Cannonball, North Dakota, to the office of the Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Nebraska, to deliver a petition against the pipeline. The Corps later decided to grant the necessary permits and green light the pipeline’s construction.

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The Next Agriculture Revolution Is Under Our Feet

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Author: Justin Adams

At the core of agriculture is innovation. Advancements in agricultural technology throughout the past century have allowed farmers to feed a population that has grown from less than 2 billion people to more than 7 billion today.

But, as demand for food continues to grow, our lands are stretched to their limits and crop yields struggle to keep up the pace, the world will need farmers to make another leap. By just 2050, global agricultural production must increase by 60 percent, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Some previous agricultural breakthroughs, though, have come with serious environmental costs to both people and nature. With a changing climate exacerbating today’s challenges, it is clear the next agriculture revolution will require solutions that not only increase food production, but also sustain the health of our communities, our land and water, and our climate.

The next revolution

One such solution lies with the soil under our feet. About 70 percent of fresh water worldwide is used to produce food, and 95 percent of food is produced on land. Although historically there has been insufficient attention to the value of healthy soils, the data and case examples are clear: healthy soil is critical for long-term agricultural production.

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Four Important Lessons from Cuba’s Urban Food Survival Strategy

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Author: Aurel Keller

Cuba has come a long way since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the loss of imports crucial for the island nation’s industrial agriculture system—such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers—left Cuba with a severe food crisis in the 1990s. Today, Cuba has become a regional leader in sustainable agricultural research. Within its practices and institutions lies a model for localized and small-scale urban agriculture.

With the loss of the Soviet market, which had imported sugar at subsidized prices, and the fall of global sugar prices in the late 1980s, sugar monoculture production in Cuba collapsed. Out of necessity, Cuba underwent a social, scientific, and economic push toward self-sufficiency. This shift required radical change for the authoritarian communist state as desperation and cooperation drove innovation in sustainable agriculture and urban farming. Although Cuba’s successes relied on country-specific policy adoptions and favorable geographic conditions, the country’s scientific frameworks and practices are widely applicable in other regions.

Reforms Propelled by the Government

Cuba’s success hinged on the adoption of Article 27 of the constitution in 1992, which recognized the state’s innate duty to ensure the sustainable use of resources and to protect the nation’s environment and people. The Cuban state and the Ministry of Agriculture instituted austerity measures, re-adjusting priorities and resources into support roles. State companies in many sectors became employee-owned co-ops, and small-farm distribution programs were greatly expanded. Realizing the need to meet the population’s basic food needs with limited resources, funding for agricultural research infrastructure was expanded to optimize low-input, small-scale farming. The government stepped back from direct management and worked with grassroots organizations and co-ops to provide support through extensive research partnerships to optimize and spread beneficial practices.

Grassroots Organizations and Co-ops Were Key

Grassroots organizations—representing small-scale farmers, animal producers, and agricultural and forest technicians—became essential in forming cooperatives and spreading services and education in Cuba. The small farmer organization, ANAP, has been active since the 1980s, working with farmers and the government to teach beneficial practices and create farmer’s cooperatives—groups of farmers who combine their resources and create employee-owned businesses that provide production, credit, and service assistance. Initially slow, the spread of farm co-ops grew once President Fidel Castro recognized their benefits, with official support commencing in 1987, and picked up speed as land-distribution and support programs expanded. Working with agricultural research outposts and universities, ANAP was instrumental in facilitating the extensive spread of research extension programs through its network, as well as propagating resulting improvements. Many peasant farmers were members of ANAP and participated in co-ops, successful to the point of producing 60 percent of produce on 25 percent of worked land in 2003.

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Revirtiendo el Calentamiento Global, Hambruna y Pobreza: Fortaleciendo los Movimientos Sociales Globales

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Por Ronnie Cummins, Common Dreams | 5 de diciembre de 2014
Traducción de Mariana Escalante, Vía Orgánica AC

“Podemos revertir (no sólo mitigar) el calentamiento global,” escribe Cummins. “Y mientras estamos en eso, también podemos restaurar la fertilidad del suelo, eliminar la pobreza rural y la hambruna.”

“Es fácil olvidar que alguna vez toda la agricultura fue orgánica, los animales se alimentaban con pasto y era regenerativa. Guardar semillas, hacer composta, fertilizar con estiércol, la policultura sin labrar y la cría de ganado vivo – todo lo que asociamos hoy con la producción de alimentos sustentables – fue la norma en los ‘viejos días’ de hace casi un siglo, no la excepción como es ahora. De alguna forma, antes éramos capaces de alimentarnos y hacerlo de forma que siguiera el modelo natural de la regeneración.

“Todos sabemos lo que pasó después; la barredora, el tractor, combustibles fósiles, monocultivos, fertilizante de nitrógeno, pesticidas, herbicidas, fungicidas, criaderos, subproductos animales, e. coli, los OAAC (Operaciones de alimentación de animales concentrados), OGMs, erosión, desesperanza – prácticas y condiciones que la mayoría de los estadounidenses hoy piensan que es ‘normal,’ cuando piensan en la agricultura.

“Afortunadamente, un movimiento para redescubrir e implementar prácticas ‘viejas’ de días pasados ha aumentado rápidamente, acompañado de innovaciones en la tecnología, descubrimientos en el conocimiento científico y toneladas de resolución de problemas antiguas y realísticas.” Courtney White, el peregrino del carbono, 16 de noviembre del 2014.

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Realidades y Retos de la Alimentación Orgánica

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Por Mercedes López Martínez, El Universal en Línea |  Fecha: 9 de agosto de 2016

La comida orgánica ha cobrado importancia en los últimos años, ante la demanda creciente de un grupo consumidor informado y conciente sobre sus derechos, la procedencia, contenidos y procesos de producción de sus alimentos, así como sus efectos para la salud, el medioambiente y la tierra.

En el mundo, según IFOAM[1], 172 países producen orgánicamente en 43.7 millones de hectáreas, aportando ala mercado mundial un valor de 80 mil millones de dólares.

México ocupa el cuarto lugar a nivel latinoamericano en la producción orgánica. Datos de 2012 indicaban que 169,570 personas producían orgánicos, en una superficie de 512,246 hectáreas, generando 245,000 empleos y entre 500 y 600 millones de dólares. La mayor parte de productores son pequeños, 88% de ellos indígenas y 32% mujeres[2].

El 85.7% de productos orgánicos se destinan a la exportación: aguacate, frutillas, café, frutas, hortalizas, jugo de naranja, hierbas y miel. A nivel interno, los alimentos se venden en tianguis y mercados orgánicos, tiendas naturistas, cafeterías y supermercados[3].

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Four Important Lessons from Cuba’s Urban Food Survival Strategy

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Author: Aurel Keller

Cuba has come a long way since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the loss of imports crucial for the island nation’s industrial agriculture system—such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers—left Cuba with a severe food crisis in the 1990s. Today, Cuba has become a regional leader in sustainable agricultural research. Within its practices and institutions lies a model for localized and small-scale urban agriculture.

With the loss of the Soviet market, which had imported sugar at subsidized prices, and the fall of global sugar prices in the late 1980s, sugar monoculture production in Cuba collapsed. Out of necessity, Cuba underwent a social, scientific, and economic push toward self-sufficiency. This shift required radical change for the authoritarian communist state as desperation and cooperation drove innovation in sustainable agriculture and urban farming. Although Cuba’s successes relied on country-specific policy adoptions and favorable geographic conditions, the country’s scientific frameworks and practices are widely applicable in other regions.

Reforms Propelled by the Government

Cuba’s success hinged on the adoption of Article 27 of the constitution in 1992, which recognized the state’s innate duty to ensure the sustainable use of resources and to protect the nation’s environment and people. The Cuban state and the Ministry of Agriculture instituted austerity measures, re-adjusting priorities and resources into support roles. State companies in many sectors became employee-owned co-ops, and small-farm distribution programs were greatly expanded. Realizing the need to meet the population’s basic food needs with limited resources, funding for agricultural research infrastructure was expanded to optimize low-input, small-scale farming. The government stepped back from direct management and worked with grassroots organizations and co-ops to provide support through extensive research partnerships to optimize and spread beneficial practices.

Grassroots Organizations and Co-ops Were Key

Grassroots organizations—representing small-scale farmers, animal producers, and agricultural and forest technicians—became essential in forming cooperatives and spreading services and education in Cuba. The small farmer organization, ANAP, has been active since the 1980s, working with farmers and the government to teach beneficial practices and create farmer’s cooperatives—groups of farmers who combine their resources and create employee-owned businesses that provide production, credit, and service assistance. Initially slow, the spread of farm co-ops grew once President Fidel Castro recognized their benefits, with official support commencing in 1987, and picked up speed as land-distribution and support programs expanded. Working with agricultural research outposts and universities, ANAP was instrumental in facilitating the extensive spread of research extension programs through its network, as well as propagating resulting improvements. Many peasant farmers were members of ANAP and participated in co-ops, successful to the point of producing 60 percent of produce on 25 percent of worked land in 2003.

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Wildfires Are Getting Worse: Time to Rehydrate Our Landscapes

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Author: Judith Schwartz

The west is still in the thick of wildfire season and 2016 is already one to leave Smoky the Bear in tears. California is seeing a 20 percent uptick in fires compared to 2015—itself a rough fire year—while a fast-moving blaze has virtually destroyed the California town of Lower Lake. A story in today’s Washington Post grimly begins: “California is burning.”

While fire is always part of nature, many attribute its increased frequency and intensity to climate change. Certainly, that makes sense: longer stretches of warm weather and earlier snowmelt create a fire-friendly scenario. But what does this connection do for us, beyond providing another reason to rue the continued assaults on our climate? For the terms “climate change” and “global warming” elide the dynamics that create the constellation of factors that, collectively, we call climate. However, by zeroing in on the ecology of fire-prone regions, we can find ways to minimize the risk and severity of the fires that threaten homes and wilderness areas—not to mention the lives of firefighters.

For example, since arid conditions beckon fire, we can ask how healthy environments maintain moisture. Plentiful rain is one obvious answer, but equally important is what happens to rain once it falls. Enter “green water”, or water held in soils. We generally think of freshwater in terms of lakes and rivers, but two-thirds of rainfall becomes green water. When rain falls on living soil that’s rich in organic matter, it stays in the system and sustains plant and microbial life. Rain that falls on soil depleted by tillage or chemicals streams away, as does all the rainwater that strikes concrete or asphalt. Dry, degraded soil (read: dirt) doesn’t absorb water, thirsty though it may be. For every one percent increase in soil organic matter, soil stores 20,000 gallons of water per acre.

Historically, our western landscapes were kept hydrated in part by beavers. According to Brock Dolman of The WATER Institute’s Bring Back the Beaver Campaign, the winsome rodents act as “water engineers”. By building dams they harvest water and direct its flow, and the moist soil that surrounds the pools yields lush vegetation. Beavers, he says, serve as ecological “shock absorbers” so that land is less susceptible to drought and fire. Beavers are native to much of California, and were numerous prior to the early nineteenth century, when they were mostly wiped out. (Water-wise, California’s “fur rush” was a bigger deal than the Gold Rush.) Nationwide, today beavers number around 10 million, down from an estimated 200 million when Europeans arrived on our shores.

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Can we feed 10 billion people on organic farming alone?

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Author: John Reganold

In 1971, then US Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz uttered these unsympathetic words: “Before we go back to organic agriculture in this country, somebody must decide which 50 million Americans we are going to let starve or go hungry.” Since then, critics have continued to argue that organic agriculture is inefficient, requiring more land than conventional agriculture to yield the same amount of food. Proponents have countered that increasing research could reduce the yield gap, and organic agriculture generates environmental, health and socioeconomic benefits that can’t be found with conventional farming.

Organic agriculture occupies only 1% of global agricultural land, making it a relatively untapped resource for one of the greatest challenges facing humanity: producing enough food for a population that could reach 10 billion by 2050, without the extensive deforestation and harm to the wider environment.

That’s the conclusion my doctoral student Jonathan Wachter and I reached in reviewing 40 years of science and hundreds of scientific studies comparing the long term prospects of organic and conventional farming. The study, Organic Agriculture in the 21st Century, published in Nature Plants, is the first to compare organic and conventional agriculture across the four main metrics of sustainability identified by the US National Academy of Sciences: be productive, economically profitable, environmentally sound and socially just. Like a chair, for a farm to be sustainable, it needs to be stable, with all four legs being managed so they are in balance.

We found that although organic farming systems produce yields that average 10-20% less than conventional agriculture, they are more profitable and environmentally friendly. Historically, conventional agriculture has focused on increasing yields at the expense of the other three sustainability metrics.

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Agricultura Orgánica Regenerativa Sembrando Salud, Sustentabilidad y Estabilidad Climática.

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Por Rachel Kastner

Ya es hora de que reconozcamos los terribles efectos que los sistemas agrícolas de tipo industrial tienen sobre nuestra salud y el medio ambiente. Las prácticas destructivas de la agricultura industrial generan: contaminación, la presencia de residuos químicos en nuestros alimentos, la explotación del agua y la erosión de suelo, la destrucción de los ecosistemas locales y una lista infinita de efectos. La producción agrícola se ha convertido en una de las industrias más destructivas para el medio ambiente, pero no tiene por qué ser de esta manera. La agricultura puede curar a aquellos ecosistemas que han sido erosionados, producir alimentos saludables y apoyar a las economías locales.

El estado de Guanajuato es uno de los mayores estados agrícolas de México y es por ello que ya comenzamos a ver los efectos de la agricultura industrial a nivel local. Ochenta y cinco por ciento del agua de capas subterráneas en el estado de Guanajuato se usa para regar cultivos; es por ello que el nivel de los acuíferos disminuye año a año. Se estima que un cuarenta y ocho por ciento del territorio total de Guanajuato es utilizado para cultivos agrícolas. Los agricultores de subsistencia de San Miguel han sido testigos de la disminución en la producción de cultivos tradicionales en los últimos años. Debido a muchos factores, vemos un agotamiento del suelo y del agua, lo que resulta en menores cosechas y zonas de pastoreo menos productivas. En lugar de buscar la solución en fertilizantes químicos, pesticidas y semillas genéticamente modificadas, los agricultores tienen otra opción.

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