Sustainable Agriculture & Food Policy

New research by IIED's Seth Cook, which features in the journal World Development, uses the agri-food sector in Ethiopia and Ghana to show how the role of Chinese migrants in Africa is poorly researched and understood. Read more

Daniel Mountjoy, director of Resource Stewardship at Sustainable Conservation and a UC Davis alumnus, is this year’s recipient of Eric Bradford and Charlie Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award, presented by the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UCD. Mountjoy is being honored for his leadership in promoting practices and approaches that enable farmers and ranchers to steward the environment. ...

Watching the world food system race towards a moment when it can’t possibly produce enough food to nourish the world’s population, the World Wildlife Fund launched last week a Markets Institute to Advance Sustainable Food Production with the help of some big food companies. Mars, Kellogg, Unilever and others are involved. Their mission is to quickly scale market-based solutions across the industry to change how food is grown, procured, shipped and distribute so that natural resource will be sustained to grow food for future generations, too. ...

Like rainwater harvesters and solar panels, biodigesters generate power by reinvesting natural resources back into their own ecosystems. Because of their potential to reduce both waste and operating costs, it seems like every family farm should have one on hand. Fellow Alexander Eaton's company, Sistema Biobolsa, is working to create a base of users that leads to a tipping point.

Theoretically, weather-index insurance is an effective risk reduction option for small-scale farmers in low income countries. Renewed policy and donor emphasis on bridging gender gaps in development also emphasizes the potential social safety net benefits that weather-index insurance could bring to women farmers who are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change risk and have low adaptive capacity.

“We need to convert more crop production to organic and ecological,” says Kendra Klein, staff scientist and agro-ecology expert at Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization. “And really the most important thing is reducing meat consumption.” Read more

Friends of the Earth is celebrating Women’s History Month by recognizing the contributions and careers of several women on Friends of the Earth’s staff. We discussed their inspirations, interests, the importance of women in the environmental movement and each shared advice for the next generation looking to be a part of the movement.

Driven by concerns about food safety and illegal fishing, major seafood companies are working to improve how they trace fish through the industry’s complex supply chains. But in many parts of the world, fish are caught by artisanal fishers, not by massive trawlers. For these small-scale fishers, existing tracing technologies are often too cumbersome, complex, or expensive to use. This means they are often ineligible for sustainability certification (and the economic benefits that entails), because they can’t prove where, when, and how their fish were taken.

A regional collaboration of resource agencies learned today that it will receive an $8 million grant to protect agricultural lands and ecosystems for drought and climate resiliency.