Archive for the ‘Without category’ Category
Why is Trump slashing the USDA’s independent research arm? Look at its findings
Saturday, September 1st, 2018Last Tuesday, staffers at the Economic Research Service (ERS), the research arm of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), were called to a town hall meeting, where departmental leadership gave further details on what had been announced the week prior: The office was losing its independent status in the agriculture department, and being moved [...]
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Animal Waste Converted into Protein Feed Source in Finland
Sunday, November 27th, 2016FINLAND – The Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) has developed a solution for converting even small sources of methane-rich biogas into raw materials for animal feed or bioplastic on farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants.
Methane-rich biogas is generated on farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants in anaerobic digestion of biological material. Until now, the [...]Leia mais
Don’t bypass Brazil’s environmental protections
Tuesday, November 15th, 2016Brazil has had its ups and downs when it comes to protecting the environment, but on paper, at least, many of the country’s policies are admirably green. The right to an “ecologically balanced environment” is even enshrined in the Brazilian constitution. Now, however, a loose-knit coalition of agricultural and industrial interests is working to undermine [...]
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How food affects political regimes
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016Apparently, a richer diet is associated with an increase in the middle class, which tends towards economic and political independence and democracy-fostering values.
Andrey Shcherbak, Senior Research Fellow, Laboratory for Comparative Social Research of the Higher School of Economics, has found, based on a cross-country comparative study using data on 157 countries, that a change in [...]Leia mais
Reducing the spread of antimicrobial resistance on our farms and in our food
Sunday, September 18th, 2016FAO today pledged to help countries develop strategies for tackling the spread of antimicrobial resistance in their food supply chains, as governments prepare to debate the emerging challenge posed by medicine-resistant “superbugs” next week at the UN General Assembly.The increased use – and abuse – of antimicrobial medicines in both human and animal healthcare has contributed to an increase [...]
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New approaches needed to meet sustainable development challenges
Monday, April 4th, 2016The international community needs to find new and innovative ways of working together if it is to meet the goals laid out in the UN’s new Sustainable Development Agenda — and eradicate hunger and poverty, in particular — FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said at the Forum for the Future of Agriculture in Brussels [...]
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Smithfield Foods tops table in water management report
Thursday, May 14th, 2015Not-for profit organisation Ceres awarded Smithfield 33 out of a possible 100 points in four categories – governance andmanagement, direct operations, manufacturing supply chain, and agriculture supply chain – with the next meat industrycompetitor, JBS, gaining only 12 points. Hormel Foods Corp (3rd) scored 11, Perdue Farms Inc (4th) achieved nine points,Tyson Foods (5th) scored [...]
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The food systems of the future need to be smarter, more efficient
Wednesday, January 21st, 2015Increasing competition for natural resource and emerging resource bottlenecks mean that global agriculture can no longer operate using a “business as usual” approach – the input-intensive agricultural development model used for the past 40 years is no longer sustainable, and a “paradigm shift” in food production is needed.
This was the key message of a speech [...]Leia mais
EPA tracking its own carbon footprint
Wednesday, November 12th, 2014The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for climate change impacts such as flooding, sea level rise, severe weather and temperature extremes. The initiative includes a Climate Change Adaptation Plan and a Sustainability Plan.
According to a news release, the EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan identifies priority actions the Agency [...]Leia mais
Deforestation increases water treatment costs 100-fold
Tuesday, June 17th, 2014Agência FAPESP – In addition to altering the rainfall cycle, compromising the replenishment of underground aquifers and consequently reducing the water resources available to humans, deforestation of watershed vegetation is having a huge impact on the quality of the water itself, making the treatment required to turn it into potable water 100 times more expensive.
This [...]Leia mais