Sustainable Agriculture & Food Policy

Kendra Klein is joining Friends of the Earth in January as the new Staff Scientist on Agroecology & Environmental Health. See Kendra's LinkedIn profile

How can agricultural research organizations rapidly and effectively reach large numbers of farmers with messages on how to improve crop productivity in a sustainable way?

By the mid-2000s, reality was hitting hard: The commercial seafood supply and distribution chain was all but broken. Overfishing had depleted fish stocks and, in turn, marine biodiversity. By and large, fish had become a commodity caught in one place, trucked to a processor in another and then sold to stores and restaurants.

With conventional centrifugal (CEN) pumps, less than 50% of southern Bangladesh's farmers invest in irrigation, partly due to high diesel energy costs. New policies are prioritizing sustainable crop intensification in Bangladesh's delta. This objective is unlikely to be achieved without fundamental changes in the energetics and economics of irrigation. Where surface water is available, axial flow pumps (AFPs) may comprise part of the solution to this problem.

In South Asia, wheat is typically grown in favorable environments, although policies promoting intensification in Bangladesh's stress-prone coastal zone have resulted in expanded cultivation in this non-traditional area. Relatively little is known about how to best manage wheat in these unique environments.

Seafood distribution systems are often viewed as exogenous from fisheries and marine resource management. However, these systems are closely coupled. The transportation and transformation of fish out of water (i.e., distribution and processing) is affected by and affects the resource and those that exploit and manage it. Despite this linkage, the feedback between harvesting and post-harvesting activities has been largely unstudied, reinforcing an artificial disconnect.

Like the pioneers of the organic farming movement, a growing cadre of doctors, nurses and dietitians understand that healthy food begins with healthy soils.

DOCKS TO DELTA: LISTENING TO THE LANDSCAPE ALONG THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR TRAIN LINECalifornia Institute for Rural Studies, DavisProject Director: Idli Carlisle-Cummins