Farming | Grist

A Farmer Speaks

The new wave of urban farming (and fresh food from small spaces!) 1
Posted 1 week, 3 days ago In Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting, author R. J. Ruppenthal makes sense of this seemingly counter-intuitive idea -- that farming has to be done outside, with a red barn and rolling fields of wheat. Because, it doesn't! It is possible to grow your own food indoors, in cramped spaces, and without access to land.
The must-read solutions book by Al Gore 1
Posted 2 weeks, 6 days ago Al Gore’s new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, is not just a broad overview of the key strategies for preserving a livable climate -- it's also a truly beautiful book, replete with lush photos and simple but powerful charts. It's the anti-SuperFreakonomics, and it's sure to be widely attacked by the climate deniers and delayers.
A FARMER SPEAKS

Bee here, now: organic apiary in a chemical world 6
Posted 1 month ago Beekeeping is rising in popularity--from urban rooftops to backyard hives, the world is abuzz with interest in homegrown honey. Pioneering beekeeper Ross Conrad delivers the bitter and the sweet news about organic honey. His words might just give you hives.
Cooking oil

Can you taste the fuels in your food? 5
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago To see fossil fuels in action on a farm, Amanda Little paid a visit to a Kansas corn grower and hitched a ride in his high-tech tractor. This is the fourth installment in a series of exclusive excerpts from Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells -- Our Ride to the Renewable Future.
A FARMER SPEAKS

Richard Wiswall on the business of organic farming 0
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago Contrary to popular belief, organic farmers can make a living. Makenna Goodman talks to organic farmer Richard Wiswall, whose new manifesto The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff -- and Making a Profit, is a road map for both farming, and financial success.
The pen is mightier than agri-business

Why are (some) farmers afraid of Michael Pollan? 26
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago Author Michael Pollan is no stranger to controversy. He has broadened the discussion of what we eat, where and how it is grown, big vs. small, organic farming vs. conventional. When he speaks some in the audience will love him, some will not.
Morocco’s unique vulnerability to climate change 1
Posted 2 months ago
With most of its economic activity near the coast, no legislation preventing building in the coastal zone and the government reportedly selling coastal land to developers at notional prices, climate change is a real threat to Morocco.
The Agrichemical Revolutionary

Thoughts on the legacy of Norman Borlaug 14
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
One of the most ironic things about the obituaries celebrating Norman Borlaug is the idea that his agricultural innovations made countries like Mexico and India "self-sufficient" in food production. Actually, these nations became perilously dependent on foreign input suppliers for their food security.
'TIME' for Change

Sustainable ag meets the MSM—and wins! 14
Posted 3 months ago
TIME Magazine's current cover story wants you to know that our fossil-fueled, chemically intensive industrial food system is destined to fail. The second part of that sentence isn't news to Grist readers. But the first part of that sentence is news, but I wouldn't have expected to read such a strong critique of Big Ag in a bastion of the MSM.
Prison Farms and the Future

Canada set to close important asset: its prison farms 0
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
In February 2009, Canada's Public Safety Minister and the country's Correctional Service announced a planned closure of all six of the prison rehabiliation farms because "prison farms are training people in skills that are 50 years behind the times."
Politics Gone Hog Wild

Boss Hog’s attempted regulatory coup in North Carolina 1
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
For the past two years, the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission has been crafting new rules to require water monitoring at factory hog farms, a significant source of pollution in the state. But last week, even with concerns growing over the environmental impacts of hog farms, the North Carolina Senate unanimously passed a bill that puts the rules process on hold until 2011 -- a display of the mighty political power Boss Hog holds in the state.
Is hindsight 20/20?

Learning from past civilizations 2
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
To understand our current environmental dilemma, it helps to look at earlier civilizations that also got into environmental trouble. Our early 21st century civilization is not the first to face the prospect of environmentally induced economic decline. The question is how we will respond.
All they can eat

Big Ag not content with concessions in House climate bill 5
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
The American Farm Bureau Federation, not content with the major concessions for agriculture that its congressional allies secured during the House climate debate, is now lobbying the Senate for a better deal.
HAVEN'T GONE COUNTRY

Farm City author cuts the foodie-elite snobbery from urban farming 4
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Food writer and urban farmer Novella Carpenter is everything the elitist, foodie stereotype is not: she squat-farms near downtown Oakland, Cali., dumpster-dives to feed her rabbits, and offers to show anyone who still thinks otherwise exactly "what urban farming smells like." See what else she spilled during her visit to the Grist office.
all you can eat

Rethinking food production for a world of 8 billion 2
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
While hunger has been disappearing in China, it has been spreading throughout much of the developing world, notably sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the Indian subcontinent.
Short Answer: Yes

Quiz: Should I see the critically acclaimed documentary ‘Food, Inc.’? 5
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago
Food, Inc. is a riveting documentary. Fast-paced and chock full of detail, the film does not shy from shocking, rarely-seen footage. But should YOU, dear reader, go see it? Take our quiz to find out.
Go deep, organic!

Coleman’s elegant year-round vegetable production blueprint 1
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago
One of the original American organic farmers lays out his system for producing vegetables year-round, even in northern climes, using super-sustainable "deep organic" methods.