Farmers talk labor, climate, change, and new agricultural ideas from young people in the 2018 San Diego Food Tank Summit “Farming for a Better Food System” panel.
Farmers
Through Regenerative Agriculture, Dr. Bronner’s Is Setting a New Example
“We want to make sure that everyone who is involved in the production of our raw materials… that those lives are being respected and that labor is not being exploited,” says David Bronner on Food Talk.
The Growing Case for Returning to Cover Crops and Small Grains in the Midwest
While baby steps such as cover cropping are getting the Midwest closer to protecting their water and soil, more needs to be done to revive soil and water health.
A Woman’s Place: Voices from the Field
When the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) surveyed more than 3,500 farmers under 40 in 2017, 60 percent of the farmer respondents were women. And in 2012, the USDA Census of Agriculture found that 14 percent of principal farm operators were women, a nearly 300 percent increase since 1978, when it began counting women as farmers.
“Food Has to Be Really Good For Everyone Involved in the Food Chain”
On Food Talk, Sara Brito talks about what better food means for the food system: “to be really good, food has to be really good for everyone involved in the food chain.”
The Fate of a USDA Program That Helps Small Farms Survive Is Uncertain
A USDA study found businesses that received VAPG grants were significantly more likely to succeed compared to similar businesses that did not, and created more jobs. As U.S. farmers face unique economic challenges, the VAPG program may be discontinued.
Helping Farmers Means Working With Them Against Poverty
CORAF’s Research Program on Priority Agricultural Sectors deploys new varieties of maize to producers to prepare them for climate change, strengthen value chains, and lift communities out of poverty.
“Know That We’re Interconnected” In Fighting Farmer Poverty, Says Theyer
On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Executive Director of Fairtrade America Hans Theyer talks about what it takes to support the faces behind the world’s food.
“Our Motivation Wasn’t Just Organic: It Was Saving Family Farms”
On Food Talk, George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, talks about what drives the co-op: an exciting mission, love for organic, and care for farmers and their communities.
Can Measuring Evaporation Help Farmers Save Water?
Farmers often rely on rainfall estimates from radar stations to effectively manage their crops. But what if those estimates are wrong? Scientists from the University of Missouri are developing new weather models that account for evaporation in order to improve rainfall measurements.
Creating a Data Democracy in Agricultural Research
Could making agricultural data open and accessible to everyone open the door to greater impact and better food system solutions?
Seeds of Resistance, Harvests of Hope: Farmers Halt a Land Grab in Mozambique
“If the associations are registered and the farmers have collective rights to some land, maybe the land grabbing can stop,” Zunguze told me. Association leaders planned to visit neighboring National Farmers Union cooperatives to learn how agro-ecology could help them grow more food for their families and communities.
Controlling Food: An Excerpt from Nourished Planet
The control over food often signifies power over others. While women make up the majority of the agricultural labor force worldwide, they retain little control over their lives. With more resources, female farmers have the potential to regain this control while bringing millions out of hunger.
New Report Analyzes Success of Agricultural Policies for Development
Over 45 years, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) tracked indicators in 117 countries to understand which policies benefitted agriculture and development. Now, their groundbreaking report has found that successful agricultural transformation in a country depends on the quantity and quality of land available, existing demographic pressures, and implementation of a mix of appropriate policies.
Oxfam America: “Hunger Is About Power”
Food Tank had the opportunity to talk with Abby Maxman, President of Oxfam America about the right to food and lasting solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as climate change and gender inequality.
Who Will Feed the Future?
These farmers, photographed by world-renowned photographers, upend the dominant story that industrial agriculture—dependent on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides, and drug cocktails in animal operations—is key to feeding a growing world population.
Opinion | Foraging in the Wake of #MeToo
While #MeToo unveils a history of sexual assault and misconduct in restaurants, female foragers feel varying effects in their workplaces: outside, in the woods.
Rethinking the Meat We Eat: An Excerpt from Nourish Planet
Meat is one of the largest social aggregators in society. From health to the environment to culture and religion, the role that meat should play in daily life is highly debated.
Agricultural Intelligence: What AI Can Do for Smallholder Farmers
Farmers have always been natural data scientists, conducting experiments and collecting data in their fields. Now, with the advent of Big Data, there are new opportunities to create information systems like the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture that can make farming more efficient, profitable, and sustainable.
If Farmers of Color Don’t Own Land, “We Don’t Have a Voice in the Food System”
On Food Talk, Leah Penniman, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, talks about what justice should look like for farmers and people of color, whose ancestors faced massive injustices in the past.
