Sustainable Agriculture & Food Policy

Fellow Story

Niles awarded Gund award to lead comprehensive study of nitrogen

Five interdisciplinary teams will receive Gund Catalyst Awards between $35,000 and $50,000 to establish new research projects seeking real-world solutions to critical environmental issues. The inaugural Catalyst Awards will accelerate new efforts on global climate modelling, renewable biofuels, climate impacts on mountain communities, nitrogen ‘trouble zones’ and sustainable agriculture.
March 25, 2018
Fellow Story

De Bremond named 2018 Breakthrough Senior Fellow

The Breakthrough Institute is proud to announce Steven Pinker, Ariane de Bremond, Sarah Evanega, and Julio Friedmann as our 2018 Senior Fellows. This is the tenth year that Breakthrough has conferred Senior Fellowships to leading scholars who have shaped our research and vision. This class of Senior Fellows will join the ranks of the 45 prominent experts who have joined our network of global thought leaders committed to building a future that is good for both humans and nature. We are grateful to be able to count upon their expertise, counsel, and inspiration.
March 12, 2018
Fellow Story

Hall quoted in article on work of turning Appalachia's mountaintop coal mines into farms

On a surface-mine-turned-farm in Mingo County, West Virginia, former coal miner Wilburn Jude plunks down three objects on the bed of his work truck: a piece of coal, a sponge, and a peach. He’s been tasked with bringing in items that represent his life’s past, present, and future. “This is my heritage right here,” he says, picking up the coal. Since the time of his Irish immigrant great-grandfathers, all the males in his family have been miners.
February 20, 2018
Fellow Story

Wironen quoted on Vermont governor's manure-to-money scheme

Vermont has a problem. The state is $1.2 billion short of the funding it will need to meet federal targets for reducing pollution in state waterways. To solve that problem, Gov. Phil Scott suggested a creative solution last week in his budget address: Turning the pollutant into a commodity and selling it out of state. The pollutant is phosphorus, a primary ingredient of fertilizer, which is widely used in farming. ...
February 14, 2018
Fellow Story

Beal asks "is there really a food movement underway?" at Maine Live event

At last September's Maine Live Amanda Beal of Maine Farmland Trust discussed the importance of food policy and begged the question "is there really a food movement underway?" See the original video
February 12, 2018
Fellow Story

Stoll publishes on uneven adaptive capacity among Gulf of Maine fishers

Increasing environmental uncertainty coupled with rapidly changing market conditions in the Gulf of Maine raise important questions about the ability of Maine’s commercial fishermen to adapt. How resilient is the industry to these shifting waters? Who is best positioned to adapt and who is most vulnerable?
October 13, 2017
Fellow Story

Holden quoted on nanoscale agricultural experiment in Connecticut

The sun is strong, the sky Hollywood-set blue, but the wind is brutal. This is confounding the work of Wade Elmer, chief scientist for the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. At the CAES farm in Hamden, he and a small contingent of grad students, lab assistants, and other researchers are busy transplanting eggplant seedlings and chasing empty seed containers across the blustery, one-tenth of an acre that Elmer likes to call the “death bed.”
September 4, 2017
Fellow Story

Shade presents to UN's Forum on Sustainable Agricultural Development

The Organic Center was part of a group of agricultural experts, researchers and academics that participated in the United Nation’s Forum on Sustainable Agriculture Development. Jessica Shade, director of science programs for the center, focused on sustainability solutions at the July 6 event in New York, with a presentation titled “Organic: Innovations in Sustainability.” Read more
August 17, 2017
Fellow Story

Dlott on Food Foresight panel, says consumer demand could drive sustainability

Donald Trump has made no secret about desires to rollback a wide range of regulations. While the extent to which he can be successful long term is still to be determined, there are important questions to consider as the regulatory reins are loosened.
August 16, 2017
Fellow Story

Know the facts about organic agriculture... then form your perceptions

The U.S. agricultural system is highly productive, yet many current practices are associated with degradation to water, air, soil and biodiversity. This can change. Studies show that organic farming practices can reduce negative environmental impacts and also can be applied within conventional operations to improve sustainability. Let’s be aware of the facts and use that knowledge to work together to produce food in a way that does not stress our environment, but that nourishes and fosters the health of our world and of our world’s population, writes Fellow Jessica Shade.
August 14, 2017