Water is scarce in the American West. Where’s in going? You’re eating it. It’s not long showers, swimming pools, lawn watering, at-home car washes, irrigating golf courses hotel fountains in Las Vegas. It’s agriculture.
_________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-Cj6
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Permaculture may help produce food without destroying the planet. A Deutsche Welle video by Kiyo Dörrer.
_________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xM9
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
“More than 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in a US health study contained a weedkilling chemical linked to cancer, a finding scientists have called ‘disturbing’ and ‘concerning.’
The report by a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that out of 2,310 urine samples, taken from a group of Americans intended to be representative of the US population, 1,885 were laced with detectable traces of glyphosate. This is the active ingredient in herbicides sold around the world, including the widely used Roundup brand. Almost a third of the participants were children ranging from six to 18.”
— “‘Disturbing’: weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples,” Carey Gillam, The Guardian
A previous study found the herbicide 2,4-D in a third of US blood samples. If the science won’t convince Red State farmers to cool it with these chemicals, maybe Susan Werner‘s song (above) will give them pause.
________________________
Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-zvw
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Agriculture accounts for 17 percent of worldwide CO2 emissions, but permaculture – growing vegetables in a circular, self-sustaining system — without artificial pesticides or fertilizer, could cut that. a DW video reported by Kiyo Dörrer.
_________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xD8
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
After a week-long pause, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allowed imports of Mexican avocados to resume on Saturday, replenishing US guacamole reserves exhausted by Super Bowl parties. Imports ceased after a Mexico-based avocado inspector from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) was threatened by crime cartels anxious to pass off Jalisco ‘cados as Michoacán-grown, the only ones currently allowed into the States.
With $3 billion in annual avocado exports, Mexican crime cartels have targeted another US drug of choice, guacamole. Mexico’s avocado growers face cartel extortion and hijackings. The boom crop is also responsible for drought, deforestation, and violence.
While the US has agreed to begin importing avocados from additional Mexican states as their crops are declared pest-free, those harvests will never be crime free.
More:
“United States lifts Mexican avocado ban — averting what could have been a costly crisis,” By María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post
“How the Avocado Became Key to Mexican Drug Cartel Turf War,” Khaleda Rahman, Newsweek
_____________________
Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-yOa
Image (“There Goes the Neighborhood”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
100 billion cranberries are harvested in 6 weeks. Here’s how. A Business Insider video.
_____________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xwr
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Wheat is consumed by billions of people worldwide. A virulent crop fungus now threatens their food supply. From Undark Magazine.
_____________
Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xjy
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Coffee is grown by nearly 125 million farmers, from Latin America to Africa to Asia. As man-made climate change warms the atmosphere in places like Colombia, experts estimate the amount of land that can sustain coffee will fall 50 percent by 2050. It’s a crisis for consumers and cultivators alike. A Vox video.
_____________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-vn8
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
By 2050 there’ll be nearly 10 billion people on our planet. Agricultural demand is predicted to rise by 70 per cent. An Oxford Sparks video.
______________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-tvs
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine
“Humans gobble so many chickens that the birds now count for 23 billion of the 30 billion land animals living on farms.”
A video by The Economist
_____________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-t0M
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine
NotionsCapital 