Famine Prevention News and Research

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.

ACTION ALERT! Ag, hunger, enviro groups seek food-policy transformation

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:35:22 -0500

A new coalition of groups with extensive experience in farming and food issues says it’s time for a transformation in food policy.

GMOs: Bush’s enduring legacy

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:33:02 -0500

Aside from the loss of biodiversity and endangered species, gene escape and contamination may be one of the most lasting environmental effects of the Bush administration’s policies. The past eight years have seen a significant weakening of oversight on GMO crops. The possibility looms of contamination from crops bred to produce pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals.

Destruction in Darfur

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:31:25 -0500

War in Darfur has wreaked havoc on the environment as displaced farmers and other refugees turn to one of the only sources of income to be found: timber. The war-fueled construction industry and the valuable wood to be harvested and sold have contributed to such a desolate and deforested landscape that locals often have to travel 50 miles from their camps to find firewood. Farmland and forest are high stakes in the conflict.

Syngenta petitions for deregulation of GMO ethanol corn (comments wanted!)

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:59:36 -0500

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) requests comment on a petition from Syngenta Seeds, Inc. for the deregulation of corn that has been genetically engineered to produce an enzyme that facilitates ethanol production. If deregulation is approved, the “product could then freely be moved and planted without the requirement of permits or other regulatory oversight by APHIS.” The nonregulated status will depend on whether APHIS concludes that the “organism does not pose a plant pest risk.”

“Export-oriented” farm policy may have spelled demise of the family farm

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:57:32 -0500

Pricing food at its fair value supports the family farm and may begin the economic healing process from the ground up, argues Jay Greathouse of Commondreams.org. The last president to care about and support the family farm was Franklin Roosevelt, who enacted farm parity laws. Such laws set farm price floors so that prices for agricultural products kept pace with prices elsewhere in the economy and with farm costs.

Feeding the world sustainably demands new approach to farming and food

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:09:53 -0500

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

By Greg Bowman

Food production revives beauty and bounty in San Francisco’s backyards

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:26:13 -0500

It doesn’t take much land to grow enough food for one family, as even San Francisco city-dwellers are discovering, with a little help from local enterprise MyFarm. Owner Trevor Paque calls the cluster of backyards key to the production of MyFarm’s local and organic food a “decentralized urban farm.” Even a 4’ x 4’ backyard can yield enough food for one family, he finds, with extra space going to produce food for his CSA.

Flagging ethanol market raises new questions about the fate of corn

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:23:26 -0500

Squeezed between high corn prices left over from flooded Midwestern fields, falling fuel prices and the credit crunch, the ethanol industry shows signs of anemia. Share prices fall, companies file for bankruptcy protection, and plans for new plants are shelved. Many industry executives see major consolidation in the forecast. As ethanol’s fate is sealed by corn prices, its decline may help to lower costs in a highly competitive market.

Monsanto – friend or foe to the hungry?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:21:14 -0500

In the middle of a global food crisis, Monsanto invests in Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, and projects record profits for 2008. Is the mammoth company exploiting the crisis to sell more biotech seeds, claiming that, despite evidence to the contrary and of the ultimate constraints of natural systems, new technology can always win higher yields to meet an ever-growing demand curve?