Organic Agriculture News
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World Water Council and FAO step up their partnership
The World Water Council (WWC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have agreed to intensify their collaboration in a bid to strengthen global water and food security. Long-time partners, the two organizations will expand their joint work on a number of fronts, including: knowledge and technology development to enhance water productivity; the education of water ...
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Focus on Gender: The dangers of digitising land data
At its 2014 Land and Poverty Conference in March, the World Bank highlighted the efficacy of producing computerised land-related data using satellites, drones, databases and other sources such as traditional surveys. This makes it easier and quicker to register land and generate title deeds, and — being digital — it means poor smallholder farmers can access deeds from local land ...
By SciDev.Net
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Battle over genetically modified foods in Oregon
Unable to find a good solution to protecting their certified organic seed crops from potential contamination from genetically engineered crops, small organic farmers in this Oregon valley are appealing to a higher power: voters. They wanted to protect their crops from being cross-pollinated by genetically modified ones, and asked voters in two counties to ban the cultivation of GMOs - a move ...
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Crisis-hit farmers receive seeds and tools in Central African Republic
A major operation to distribute seeds and tools has been launched in the Central African Republic to support crisis-hit farming families. This is the largest ever intervention in the country led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its humanitarian partners. Some 16 international and national non-governmental organizations are working with FAO to overcome the challenges of ...
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NRDC and Berkeley Food Institute Announce Winners of the 2014 Growing Green Awards
Today, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Berkeley Food Institute (BFI) celebrate four remarkable leaders who are advancing sustainable food and agriculture at the sixth annual Growing Green Awards. Chosen from hundreds of nominations submitted across the country by a renowned panel of judges, the 2014 winners are changing the way America eats and farms. They have helped ...
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A third of South Sudanese now severely food insecure due to ongoing conflict
The latest IPC food security analysis carried out in South Sudan indicates that, as a result of conflict, displacement, destroyed markets and disrupted livelihoods, food security has deteriorated at an alarming rate since the outbreak of conflict in December 2013. There is a high likelihood of further worsening through the second half of 2014, with a risk of famine, the UN's Food and Agriculture ...
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AgGateway tests precision ag conversion toolbox
AgGateway will begin initial testing next week of its Standardized Precision Ag Data Exchange (SPADE) Conversion Toolbox. The test will take place in Lincoln, Neb., at PlugFest, an agricultural machinery compatibility testing event organized by the Agricultural Electronics Manufacturers Foundation (AEF) and hosted by the National Tractor Testing Lab. The SPADE team expects to release the ...
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Position paper Climate-smart agriculture
Climate change fundamentally shifts the agricultural development agenda. Changing temperature and precipitation, sea level rise, and the rising frequency of extreme climate events will significantly reduce global food production in this century unless action is taken. Major investments, private and public, will be needed. Adapting agriculture to climate change is necessary to achieve food ...
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FAO urges countries to step up action against destructive banana disease
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is warning countries to step up monitoring, reporting and prevention of one of the world’s most destructive banana diseases, Fusarium wilt, which recently spread from Asia to Africa and the Middle East, and which has the potential to affect countries in Latin America. The TR4 race of the disease, which is also known as ...
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China association joins Agrievolution Alliance as equipment manufacturers` group broadens global scope
The Agrievolution Alliance global coalition of agricultural equipment manufacturing organizations welcomes China Agricultural Machinery Distribution Association (CAMDA) as its newest member. The alliance fosters collaborative action on industry issues, data exchange and public policy outreach. The Agrievolution Alliance growth broadens its scope in key world regions, and it strengthens the ...
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American farmers confront `big data` revolution
Farmers from across the nation gathered in Washington this month for what has become an annual trek to seek action on the most important matters in American agriculture, such as immigration reform and water regulations. But this time, a new, more shadowy issue also emerged: growing unease about how the largest seed companies are gathering vast amount of data from sensors on tractors, combines ...
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Organics: Commission proposal for more and better
The European Commission has published new proposals for a new Regulation on organic production and the labelling of organic products. Consumer and producer concerns are at the heart of this new proposal, which seeks to address shortcomings of the current system. The EU organic market has quadrupled in size over the last 10 years and rules need to be updated and adjusted so that the sector can ...
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Crop pests ‘vastly underestimated’ warns study
The number of different pests plaguing crops in the developing world may be vastly underestimated, contributing to severely reduced harvests in some of the world’s most important food-producing nations, say researchers. About 200 pests and pathogens per country fly under the radar of researchers and policymakers in the developing world due to a lack of technical capacity to detect them, ...
By SciDev.Net
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FAO and EU help Zimbabwe’s farmers expand productivity and commercialization
The European Union (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Zimbabwe have launched a major programme to assist poor smallholder farmers to boost production, productivity and engage in commercial agriculture through integrated farming approaches. The 4-year US$19 million (13.78 Million Euro) programme will be managed by FAO and will focus on ...
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New initiative enables Somali farmers to produce food assistance
For the first time, Somali farmers are turning themselves into suppliers of high-quality food assistance for their fellow Somali people. A new initiative backed by the European Union (EU), the government of Austria and two United Nations food security agencies has helped Somali farmers achieve this major agricultural breakthrough in a region of the country that was gripped by famine less than ...
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Fish farms to produce nearly two thirds of global food fish supply by 2030
Aquaculture — or fish farming — will provide close to two thirds of global food fish consumption by 2030 as catches from wild capture fisheries level off and demand from an emerging global middle class, especially in China, substantially increases. These are among the key findings of "Fish to 2030: Prospects for Fisheries and Aquaculture," a collaboration between the World Bank, Food ...
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Louise O. Fresco new President of Wageningen UR
Prof. dr. Louise O. Fresco is appointed President of the Executive Board of Wageningen UR and will start in her new job on July 1, 2014. She currently works as University Professor at the University of Amsterdam and she is an honorary professor at Wageningen University. She will succeed Aalt Dijkhuizen, who will step down as chairman of the Wageningen UR board on March 1 after 12 years of ...
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Harper Government Advances Agricultural Trade in Europe
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz represented the interests of Canadian farmers and met with key trading partners attending the 6th Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Summit at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture during International Green Week. In addressing the Summit, Minister Ritz called for a science-based approach to regulation to secure access to food, increase rural incomes, and ...
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Google Earth enables remote tracking of fish catches
Persian Gulf governments could use Google’s free global satellite imaging program to better monitor and control fishing in their waters, say experts. Their comments follow a study that used Google Earth to uncover huge discrepancies between reported and observed fish catches in the region. The study, which tracked fishing from space, found that actual catches taken from Persian Gulf ...
By SciDev.Net
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Rome-based UN agencies join forces on food losses
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a joint project to tackle the global problem of food losses. Around one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted each year, amounting to 1.3 billion tonnes - or enough food to feed 2 billion people. The three UN ...
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