Though it may look like a normal hothouse that grows vegetables, the Savéol experimental greenhouse in Brittany boasts a very different kind of crop — insects. The goal? To breed plant-friendly invertebrates that can enable farmers to produce pesticide-free tomatoes. From bumblebees to wasps Read More...
Avoiding the catastrophic effects of climate change that the scientific community has been warning us about isn’t just a matter of cutting the number of emissions that humans produce. If we want to save our planet, then we must also recapture the existing emissions that hang in our atmosphere. Read More...
Of the hundred-million-plus tons of fertilizer sprayed onto farm fields each year, much of it eventually ends up polluting the air or flowing into water, where it can cause toxic algae blooms like the green slime seen in Florida. One startup is helping farmers begin to replace standard chemical Read More...
With recent research revealing a steep decline in global insect populations, the need to phase bug-killing pesticides out of agriculture is at an all-time high. The common belief in the world of farming, however, is that we need pesticides if we want to grow enough food to feed a growing Read More...
The environmental and health benefits of organic agriculture are plentiful, but the problem is that farmers seeking to tap into the organic market often face prohibitive costs when transitioning their conventional production methods to organic ones. In order to spur more organic farming in America, Read More...
How organic agriculture can feed the world. July/August Issue 2012 | Greg Nichols "The green desert.” Flying over Paraguay, I can see how the nickname makes perfect sense. Paraguay, about the size of California, is the world’s fourth largest exporter of soybeans. Starting in the 1970s, when Read More...
Made famous by The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Polyface Farm is the destination of choice for discerning tourists with a passion for great food—and sustainable agriculture. Diane Daniel |April/May 2010 issue “I’m from a long line of out-of-the-box thinkers, and we’ve been on this lunatic train Read More...
Erica Wetter | April/May 2010 issue For most apartment dwellers, planting a vegetable garden is out of the question. That is, unless you use your window, like artists Rebecca Bray and Britta Riley, who hope to start an international “windowfarming craze” with the Windowfarms Project. Bray and Read More...