Agriculture Land News
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South American and Caribbean countries agree on hunger and poverty eradication plan
A group of South American and Caribbean countries have adopted a common plan of action to eradicate hunger and poverty, designed with FAO support. The agreement was announced during the Second Extraordinary Summit of the Petrocaribe oil bloc and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), which concluded here yesterday. The plan aims to ...
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Abandoned farmland widespread in central and eastern Europe
A new study suggests that abandoned farmland is widespread in Europe and that not all land that has been abandoned is unsuitable for farming. Understanding how abandoned farmland is distributed may be important for making land management decisions – for instance, recultivation versus reversion to forest. To meet the future demands of a growing population, it may be necessary to increase ...
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Surge in diseases of animal origin necessitates new approach to health - report
Population growth, agricultural expansion, and the rise of globe-spanning food supply chains have dramatically altered how diseases emerge, jump species boundaries, and spread, according to an FAO report released today. A new, more holistic approach to managing disease threats at the animal-human-environment interface is needed, it argues. Seventy percent of the new diseases that have emerged in ...
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Greater focus on soil health needed to feed a hungry planet
More attention to the health and management of the planet's soils will be needed to meet the challenge of feeding a growing world population while coping with climate change and increased scarcity of natural resources, FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo today told a group of leading soil scientists and research organizations gathered at the UN agency's Rome headquarters to mark World ...
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New Report Offers Menu of Solutions to Close the Global Food Gap
New research presents solutions to meet the world’s growing food needs, while advancing economic development and environmental sustainability. The analysis finds that the world will need 70 percent more food, as measured by calories, in order to feed a global population of 9.6 billion people in 2050. It is possible to close the food gap, while creating a more productive and healthy ...
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FAO warns of the risk of a double tragedy in the Philippines
Immediate assistance from the international community for Philippine farmers is critical to avoid a double tragedy befalling rural survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, FAO announced today. FAO is calling on the donor community to urgently step forward and provide more than $11 million to get money to rural people to help clean and clear agricultural land and de-silt irrigation canals in the aftermath of ...
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China to test farmers` right to transfer plots
An eastern Chinese region is experimenting with letting farmers mortgage or transfer control of their publicly owned land, in what could help spread prosperity to the impoverished countryside and become one of China's most pivotal rural land reforms in 35 years. There is no private land ownership in China, with all urban land under state ownership and rural land under collective ownership ...
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Indonesia forests still dwindle despite reforms
At home and abroad, Indonesia is highlighting its progress in curbing the environmental destruction that has depleted forests and made the Southeast Asian nation a leading source of greenhouse gases. But environmentalists are unconvinced. They say pulp and palm oil plantations are still expanding at an alarming rate in Sumatran forests, despite efforts by the government and industry. That ...
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How to stop the sand in the Inner Niger Delta
Sobé and other villages in the Mali Inner Niger Delta are threatened by the desert's sand. Communities are forced to rebuild their homes every two years to avoid burial by sand dunes, which are moving as a result of degradation of the Savannah. The sand is also blowing into Debo Lake, a major resource for fresh water, fish and other wetlands products for the communities surrounding the ...
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High-yield crops have curbed agricultural land expansion, but care needed to avoid negative biodiversity effects
The widespread use of higher-yielding improved varieties of crops as part of the Green Revolution’ has averted the conversion of between 18 to 27 million hectares of forests, woodlands and pastures in the period 1965 to 2004, according to a recent study. However, its authors caution that the relationship between these crops and land use change is complex, and good governance is needed to ...
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Record-breaking $17.3 billion in crop losses last year; significant portion potentially avoidable
Report shows county-by-county analysis of impacts in the ten states with highest crop insurance losses due to extreme weather: Extreme weather forced the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) to pay out a record-breaking $17.3 billion in crop losses last year, much of which could have been prevented using water-smart strategies, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Payments made ...
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Environment Agency teams rescue thousands of fish distressed by the heatwave
Environment Agency teams across the country have been rescuing thousands of fish in distress as a result of the recent weather. Hot weather combined with low rainfall can make fatal conditions for fish, while heavy intense rain also leads to an increase in diffuse pollution as result of pollutants washed off roads, sewerage systems and from agricultural land. Rapid changes in water conditions ...
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Populations of grassland butterflies decline almost 50 % over two decades
Grassland butterflies have declined dramatically between 1990 and 2011. This has been caused by intensifying agriculture and a failure to properly manage grassland ecosystems, according to a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). The fall in grassland butterfly numbers is particularly worrying, according to the report, because these butterflies are considered to be representative ...
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OECD-FAO expect slower global agricultural production growth
Global agricultural production is expected to grow 1.5 percent a year on average over the coming decade, compared with annual growth of 2.1 percent between 2003 and 2012, according to a new report published by the OECD and FAO today. Limited expansion of agricultural land, rising production costs, growing resource constraints and increasing environmental pressures are the main factors behind the ...
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OECD-FAO expect slower global agricultural production growth
Global agricultural production is expected to grow 1.5 percent a year on average over the coming decade, compared with annual growth of 2.1 percent between 2003 and 2012, according to a new report published by the OECD and FAO today. Limited expansion of agricultural land, rising production costs, growing resource constraints and increasing environmental pressures are the main factors behind the ...
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New Book Release Designing Urban Agriculture: A Complete Guide to the Planning, Design, Construction, Maintenance and Management of Edible Landscape
In the past quarter century, food production has been pushed to the periphery of the city. Today the trend is to connect it back to the heart of the city and grow food in urban centers. This resurgence is in response to concerns about rising food prices, food miles, and the environment. Wiley today announced the publication of Designing Urban Agriculture: A Complete Guide to the Planning, ...
By Wiley
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Farm Services Cooperative, of Shelby, Iowa, to Pay $21,450 Civil Penalty for Sale of Restricted Use Pesticides
Farm Services Cooperative, of Shelby, Iowa, has agreed to pay a $21,450 civil penalty to the United States for the unauthorized sales of restricted use pesticides. According to an administrative consent agreement filed by EPA Region 7 in Lenexa, Kan., Farm Services Cooperative on three occasions sold restricted use pesticides to an individual that was not certified to apply such pesticides, ...
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Study finds that residential lawns release more carbon dioxide than corn fields
More carbon dioxide is released from residential lawns than corn fields according to a new study. And much of the difference can likely be attributed to soil temperature. The data, from researchers at Elizabethtown College, suggest that urban heat islands may be working at smaller scales than previously thought. These findings provide a better understanding of the changes that occur when ...
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EPA and American Rivers Announce Preservation of 135 Acres of Forestland in Adams County, Pa
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and American Rivers today announced that the Land Conservancy of Adams County will permanently preserve 135 acres of forest through a conservation easement on lands owned by Boyer Nurseries and Orchards in Biglersville, Pa. This land preservation was made possible through a $250,000 EPA grant with matching funds coming from the Adams County Green Space ...
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NRDC announces winners of the 2013 Growing Green Awards
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) today celebrates four remarkable food vanguards for their pioneering efforts to create healthier and more sustainable food systems at the fifth annual Growing Green Awards. The winners, who are leaders in tackling antibiotic resistance on farms, infusing urban areas with fresh produce in corner stores, championing business innovation in organic ...
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