RESEARCH REVIEW: Famine Solution….through an Organic Green Revolution

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Organic farming, if given even a modest portion of the support that chemical-based agriculture has received during the past 50 years, can address famine in a much more sustainable way. Research reviewed in this paper shows that organic farming can address food security—having enough of the right kind of food for everyone—as it improves human and ecological health. Read how the organic green revolution can succeed while slashing the need for fossil-fuel derived inputs.

Feeding the world sustainably demands new approach to farming and food

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:09:53 -0500

Calls mount for shift from commodity outlook to organic, community orientation.

By Greg Bowman

Helping developing nations improve their food security requires humility, focus

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:20:44 -0500

By Daryll E. Ray
Much of the time this column focuses on current issues in US agricultural policy: food safety rules, farm program payments, crop insurance, ethanol, and CAFOs, among others. But one of the things that we try to keep at the forefront of our analysis is that policies that are good for US farmers must not come at the expense of farmers elsewhere in the world.

“Carbon fertilization” a mirage; only sustainable systems, structure can feed world and fight climate change

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:27:18 -0400

“Carbon fertilization” a mirage; only sustainable systems, structural changes, can feed world and fight climate change

Climate change is already crippling food production in some parts of the world. Commodity agriculture production and trade is contributing to the problem, whereas a biologically based mix of techniques and changes in what’s produced could yield more food and cut climate change.

GM sweet-potato trial failure shows need for better approach

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:19:44 -0400

An international coalition favoring sustainable development questions the Obama Administration’s continued funding of genetically modified (GM) research with the stated aim of increasing food production in Africa.

The looming food crisis?

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:56:49 -0400

By Daryll E. Ray

We tend to cringe when we hear someone argue that food production is not keeping up with demand. We heard Earl Butz make that argument when he began to dismantle farm programs, telling farmers that they needed to plant fencerow to fencerow. They did, and the price soon headed south.

San Francisco enacts new sustainable food policy

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:52:58 -0400

In an effort to raise awareness of local food and sustainable methods of food production, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has erected a new food policy for the city. In it, the mayor outlines several objectives, including audits of vacant land for gardening, new health requirements for food vendors, and law requiring all city-purchased produce to be locally grown.

The policy is the result of Urban-Rural Roundtable meetings held by the city in 2008, which shed light on hunger and nutrition deficieny.

Philippine university rice experiment identifies organic advantages

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:56:35 -0400

A new study conducted by the University of the Philippines at Los Banos has given the country new insight into the benefits of organic farming. The experiment compared the economic response and yield of three systems of rice production, and concluded that organic methods were not only more profitable, but more fruitful.

The results boosts the government’s go-organic program to convince farmers to veer away from the excessive use of harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Brazilian city one step ahead in hunger fight

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:49:49 -0400

Ten years ago, impoverished Brazilian city Belo Horizonte was given new hope when local government enacted a food-as-a-right policy and a city agency was formed to design a new food system. As a result, the policy ensures each citizen has access to low-priced, quality food, and allots local farmers well-populated areas to sell their produce to city-dwellers. The program has also produced community and school gardens as well as increased nutrition education.

China fears food shortage, halts reforestation project

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:51:41 -0400

The Chinese government has ceased plans to reforest cultivatable land in light of food shortage concerns, say government officials. The reforestation project procured farmland in order to combat desertification and water shortages.

Famine Prevention News and Research