agroecology News | Agriculture XPRT

Agroecology a `spectacular` success, says UN expert

Agroecology, a science-based, ecological approach to agriculture, has been underestimated by policymakers even though it could play a vital role in boosting crop yields and advancing economic development, says a UN report. The approach relies on the natural environment to boost soil productivity and protect crops against pests, instead of using external inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. ...

Mar. 25, 2011

By SciDev.Net

Europe can go organic

Europe could be farmed entirely through agroecological approaches such as organic and still feed a growing population, a new scientific paper released yesterday shows. Published a week after research revealed a steep decline in global insect populations linked to pesticide use, the ‘Ten Years for Agroecology’ study from European think tank IDDRi shows that pesticides can be phased ...

Feb. 21, 2019

By The Ecologist

Agrosciences on line : launch of the Agreenium-IAVFF Online University

With learning strategies including ever more digital content, the first course from the Agreenium-Institut Agronomique Vétérinaire et Forestier de France (IAVFF, France's Agricultural, Veterinary and Forestry Institute) Online University is now open for subscriptions. Officially launched by three Ministers on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at the Paris International Agricultural Show ...

Mar. 9, 2015

By INRA - French National Institute of Agronomical Research

From Data to Diets, the Future of Farming is Diversification

Diversity is just as important in food production as it is for healthy, nutritional diets, farmers from around the world told this year’s Committee on World Food Security meeting. From dairy to aquaculture, farmers from across the sector said access to the full range of tools, technologies and systems could help meet the challenge of feeding a rising population in ever-changing conditions. ...

Oct. 17, 2019

By Farming First

A new generation of Indian farmers rejects industrial food production

Supported by the Amrita Bhoomi Agroecology Centre, young farmers are experimenting with natural farming methods, while saving money and lives in the process. India may be famous for its food, but the way in which it grows its ingredients is notoriously bad. Stories of the nation’s chemical spills, soil contamination, groundwater depletion, and lost biodiversity are depressing, not to ...

Jun. 12, 2018

By GreenScience Technologies Inc.

Farming and knowledge monocultures are misconceived

Food needs can be met with a new vision for agriculture and science, say Brian Wynne and Georgina Catacora-Vargas. In mainstream policy and corporate thinking, scientific knowledge and global markets are considered key for food security. This has resulted in the industrialisation and laboratory research-led intensification of agricultural systems, inputs and food-supply chains. But intensified ...

Sep. 3, 2013

By SciDev.Net

Launching Covid-19 recovery plan for UK food, farming and land use

This week, Boris Johnson is expected to give more details on the UK Government’s ten-point green recovery plan. Ahead of this, we are launching our “Grow Back Better” manifesto, a ten-point plan for a post-Covid-19 recovery. Our Grow Back Better manifesto is a new route-map setting out how recovery efforts post Covid-19 must invest in areas focus on the interconnected nature of ...

Nov. 10, 2020

By Soil Association

World population day: Agriculture offers huge opportunities for a planet of 7 billion

Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planetteamhighlights sustainable ways to feed a growing population while also providing economic opportunities and enhancing the environment.. As the global population increases, so does the number of mouths to feed. The good news is that in addition to providing food, innovations in sustainable agriculture can provide a solution to many of the challenges that a ...

Jul. 6, 2011

By Worldwatch Institute

Pest ants help to improve Indonesian cocoa yields

Native ants living in cacao trees in Indonesia that are often seen as pests in fact seem to boost their yields, a study suggests. Scientists from Germany, Indonesia and Sweden studying how ant communities affect cocoa yields in Sulawesi found that trees with abundant native ants (Dolichoderus sp.) produced the best yields. In contrast, the yields of cacao trees where ants were excluded were 27 ...

Dec. 17, 2013

By SciDev.Net

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 ...

Sep. 5, 2013

By European Commission, Environment DG

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Present 2012 Scholarships and Fellowships

The American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) announce the following 2012 Scholarships and Fellowships. These awards will be formally presented during their Annual Meetings, Oct. 21-24, 2012 in Cincinnati, OH. American Society of Agronomy Scholarships: The Hank Beachell Future Leader Scholarship, funded through the ...

Aug. 29, 2012

By Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

Increasing food production without damaging the environment

To achieve sustainable development we must transform current agriculture and food systems, including by supporting smallholders and family farmers, reducing pesticide and chemical use, and improving land conservation practices, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today addressing European lawmakers. "Massive agriculture intensification is contributing to increased ...

May 30, 2017

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

FAO will cooperate with La Via Campesina, the largest movement of small food producers in the world

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and General Coordinator of La Via Campesina Elizabeth Mpofu today formalized an institutional framework for the relationship between the two organizations and defined proposals of collaboration in areas of common interest. The agreement marks a milestone in the relationship between FAO and civil society organizations, as La Via Campesina is the ...

Oct. 4, 2013

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Easing organic agricultural trade

Organic farmers in developing countries will have greater access to world markets, thanks to two practical tools launched this week that seek to ease trade in organic agricultural products. The new tools, which are the outcome of six years of collaborative work by FAO, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), ...

Oct. 10, 2008

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Shallots in Indonesia: Searching for suitable cropland

Shallots, an onion variety, is the second major horticultural crop after hot peppers in Indonesia. But Indonesia is not self-sufficient in shallot production resulting in imports from countries like India, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Government of Indonesia aims to increase the shallot production to meet the increasing domestic demand and to reduce imports. True shallot seed system Due to the ...

Jun. 8, 2017

By Wageningen University and Research Centre

Indian Ocean islands link up via agriculture web portal

As part of a new project to improve biodiversity and agriculture science reporting within the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), a group of 11 press officers were trained last month (24–25 May) in Mauritius. The press officers come from the agriculture ministries of the IOC islands — Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles — as well as Zanzibar. The ...

Jun. 8, 2012

By SciDev.Net

France to collaborate on FAO strategic objectives

FAO and French research institutions will step up cooperation in key research areas and coordinate their actions within the global framework of FAO’s renewed strategy. Two agreements signed today cover a broad spectrum of joint activities, including agro-ecology, biodiversity, animal health, food loss, agrarian reforms and genetic resources, which will contribute to FAO’s Strategic ...

Feb. 3, 2014

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Burundi set to embrace hybrid maize seeds

Farmers in Burundi are set to benefit from new high-yielding, fast-maturing hybrid maize seeds that are also resistant to maize streak virus. The varieties are being tested by the Burundi Institute of Agronomic Sciences (ISABU) and should be available to farmers in September. Two seed companies, Pannar and Naseco, based in Kenya and Uganda respectively, have developed the seeds. "These ...

Apr. 9, 2013

By SciDev.Net

Agro-ecology methods are key to food security

Agro-ecological farming methods, not industrial-scale agriculture will be needed to ensure food security and protect food supplies from the impacts of climate change, argues Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He challenges the widely held view that food production needs to be scaled up to feed a growing population, saying that such a strategy overlooks climate ...

Dec. 20, 2011

By SciDev.Net

FAO and WHO Publish Guidelines on Highly Hazardous Pesticides

On May 10, 2016, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines on highly hazardous pesticides (HHP) (Guidelines) as part of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management (Code of Conduct). HHPs are defined in the Guidelines as “pesticides that are acknowledged to present particularly high levels of ...

Jun. 6, 2016

By Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

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