Independent family farming used to be much more common [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. But continued enclosures and increased centralization throughout the food markets have made it more difficult for farmers to survive without growing big. “Get big or get out,” said Earl Butz, Richard Nixon’s Secretary of Agriculture in 1973.

Climate-smart and regenerative food systems can lead the race to achieve net zero, nature positive results by 2030.

fertiliser, the challenge is more real, but there is still an important and obvious first step – eat less meat. A large part of the world’s agricultural system is dedicated to growing crops and vegetables to feed animals, which we then eat. Reduce the last part of this equation (i.e. eat less meat), and the huge inefficiencies in the system mean far less fertiliser is required.

it really all does 00:06:53 trace back to the start of our what we call civilization our civilization meaning Agriculture and then settlements and cities so prior to that we lived in approximate equilibrium with ecosystems

The population of Egypt grew from nomads who settled along the fertile Nile banks and transformed Egypt into a sedentary, agricultural society by 4795 B.C. Farmers sowed and harvested crops during seasons around the flooding.

Oil, by the way, is a key ingredient in food. This is something a lot of people don't understand. There's this thing called the haber bosh process, which basically creates all of the nitrogen and all of the fertilizer that is used to grow food.

Yet there were still many traps along the way. In what is now Iraq, the Sumerian civilization (one of the world’s first) withered and died as the irrigation systems it invented turned the fields into salty desert. Some two thousand years later, in the Mediterranean basin, chronic soil erosion steadily undermined the Classical World: first the Greeks, then the Romans at the height of their power. And a few centuries after Rome’s fall, the Classic Maya, one of only two high civilizations to thrive in tropical rainforest (the other being the Khmer), eventually wore out nature’s welcome at the heart of Central America.

Most survivors of that progress trap became farmers — a largely unconscious revolution during which all the staple foods we eat today were developed from wild roots and seeds (yes, all: no new staples have been produced from scratch since prehistoric times). Farming brought dense human populations and centralized control, the defining ingredients of full-blown civilization for the last five thousand years.

The first trap was hunting, the main way of life for about two million years in Palaeolithic times. As Stone Age people perfected the art of hunting, they began to kill the game more quickly than it could breed. They lived high for a while, then starved.

Dr. Ben-Dor: "Our findings enable us to propose a fascinating hypothesis on the development of humankind: humans always preferred to hunt the largest animals available in their environment, until these became very rare or extinct, forcing the prehistoric hunters to seek the next in size. As a result, to obtain the same amount of food, every human species appearing in the Southern Levant was compelled to hunt smaller animals than its predecessor, and consequently had to develop more advanced and effective technologies. Thus, for example, while spears were sufficient for Homo erectus to kill elephants at close range, modern humans developed the bow and arrow to kill fast-running gazelles from a distance." Prof. Barkai concludes: "We believe that our model is relevant to human cultures everywhere. Moreover, for the first time, we argue that the driving force behind the constant improvement in human technology is the continual decline in the size of game. Ultimately, it may well be that 10,000 years ago in the Southern Levant, animals became too small or too rare to provide humans with sufficient food, and this could be related to the advent of agriculture. In addition, we confirmed the hypothesis that the extinction of large animals was caused by humans -- who time and time again destroyed their own livelihood through overhunting. We may therefore conclude that humans have always ravaged their environment but were usually clever enough to find solutions for the problems they had created -- from the bow and arrow to the agricultural revolution. The environment, however, always paid a devastating price."

In this way, according to the researchers, early humans repeatedly overhunted large animals to extinction (or until they became so rare that they disappeared from the archaeological record) and then went on to the next in size -- improving their hunting technologies to meet the new challenge. The researchers also claim that about 10,000 years ago, when animals larger than deer became extinct, humans began to domesticate plants and animals to supply their needs, and this may be why the agricultural revolution began in the Levant at precisely that time.

High-paying jobs don’t grow as easily as the milo.

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Possibility of linking (Verweisungsmöglichkeiten). Since all papers have fixed numbers, you can add as many references to them as you may want. Central concepts can have many links which show on which other contexts we can find materials relevant for them.

It is impossible to think without writing; at least it is impossible in any sophisticated or networked (anschlußfähig) fashion.

most people trained in our subjects are aware of is the 00:28:22 phenomenon of slavery among non farming populations and actually the classic example is precisely that of the the indigenous societies of the Northwest Coast who are known to have kept slaves 00:28:36 who were actually hereditary slaves in their households which were organized on these highly stratified aristocratic sort of lines what nobody seems to have 00:28:48 been interested up to now is why this practice of keeping slaves seems to sort of fizzle out and stop as you head south into what is now broadly speaking the 00:29:00 area of coastal California

For Diamond and Fukuyama, as for Rousseau some centuriesearlier, what put an end to that equality – everywhere and forever –

OK, maybe the road was longer and more tortuous than the traditional narrative suggests, but didn’t all humans end up embracing agriculture, and a form of social life characterised by hierarchy and inequality with it, eventually?

This post is mainly about the book’s attempt to dismantle the myth of “agriculture as the source of social inequality.” The next post will be about Graeber’s and Wengrow’s startling claim that European Enlightenment can be seen, to a large extent, as the result of a conversation with Indigenous, non-western intellectuals and societies – indeed, as inspired by them.

e.g. Idea from Yuval Harari’s Sapiens that Europe and Asia developed better civilisation than Americas because Americas span vertically lot of climates making it harder to share agriculture progress between different climates.

Shiva exposes the 1%’s model of philanthrocapitalism, which is about deploying unaccountable money to bypass democratic structures, derail diversity, and impose totalitarian ideas based on One Science, One Agriculture, and One History.

Holistic Management of grasslands can result in the regeneration of soils, increased productivity and biological diversity, as well as economic and social well-being.

The Brooksdale Environmental Centre is a place of transformation.

Don’t Mow, Grow!

Earthwise Society is a not-for-profit, charitable organization cultivating sustainable communities through environmental education and stewardship.

Anne: What did your dad do when he was working in Utah?Juan: From what my dad told me is, initially, he worked in a farm… I think it was strawberries, something to do with fruit. He would pick them out, but I think he was there for a year, a year and a half, he saw that he wasn't making much money so he started to get into the construction industry. That's where he was able to save up money so we can go with him, and after that, he's always been in the construction industry.

The Vertical Field setup retains many of the advantages of hydroponic vertical farms, but instead of the plants growing in a nutrient-packed liquid medium, the container-based pods treat their crops to real soil, supplemented by a proprietary mix of minerals and nutrients. The company says that it opted for geoponic production "because we found that it has far richer flavor, color, and quality."

el Distrito tiene identificadas 432 huertas urbanas en la ciudad, que en patios, terrazas, jardines, balcones y el espacio público han tenido cabida, tras procesos comunitarios, y se han fortalecido a tal punto que su producción es comercializable.

Agriculture, forestry, and other types of land use account for 23 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, according to the IPCC.

Kalau pembangunan ekonomi Bali dilaksanakan melalui pembangunan sektor sekunder, maka ‘’kaki’’ ekonomi Bali akan lebih kokoh. Maka, kalau sektor tersier (pariwisata) di Bali kolaps, pengaruhnya akan dapat ditopang oleh sektor primer dan sektor sekunder dengan sepadan.

Selain itu, menurut Windia, pertanian yang perlu dilakukan tidak berhenti hanya menghasilkan produk untuk dijual mentah. Hasil pertanian mestinya diolah melalui proses produksi melalui industi pascapanen. Ini berarti Bali harus mengembangkan sektor sekunder berupa industri pengolahan.

Normalnya, ekonomi bergerak dari sektor primer yakni pertanian ke sektor sekunder (industri pengolahan) baru ke sektor tersier (jasa, dalam konteks Bali adalah pariwisata). Pariwisata itu, kata Windia, sangat rapuh (fragile).

Bali mulai dimanjakan oleh pariwisata, karena transformasi ekonomi Bali yang terlalu kencang. “Tiba-tiba saja melompat dari sektor primer ke sektor tersier. Sumbangannya pada PDRB Bali tiba-tiba saja melompat menjadi lebih dari 70 persen, dalam 25-30 tahun terakhir,”

Guru Besar Fakultas Pertanian Unud Prof. Dr. I Wayan Windia mengatakan, Bali sangat mungkin tetap tangguh tanpa pariwisata karena sebelumnya sangat kuat pertaniannya. “Tiga puluh tahun lalu, 70 persen ekonomi Bali dipengaruhi oleh pertanian,”

It can be easier to apply for farm subsidies than it is to get SNAP benefits, said Joel Berg, a former official with the Department of Agriculture, the agency that administers both programs.

incipallyagriculturaltools,asanequivalent.Theypreferringprovisions,Mt_EgavethemaBarrelofFlourandsomethinginadditio

hefollowingarethereasonsforcontinuingFond.duLa

ncreoeverhereare5familiessettledbyuschemwe5333helpinagricultur

hysicalAspectofthegounu'y.Thisplace&theimmediateVicinityoffersveryfewinducementtoAgriculralists.Smallspotsofexcellentalluviallandaretobefoundhere,butnotsufnienttolocateanynumberoffamilies.Thereisgoodlandalso—a[t]variousdistncesintheVicinity.ASIhavetraveledverylittleinthesurroundingcountry,it'11notbeexpectedofmetoattemptadescriptio

theywerenotunderthenecessityoftakingtheirfamilieswiththemtosubsistupontheChaseastheyfor-merlyhaddon

Perhaps we ultimately need to be prepared to accept less standardised and slightly more expensive food in order to accommodate less intense and more diverse agriculture. You might never be quite sure what to expect when you peeled a banana, but the result could be a more robust and sustainable food system without a major crisis every few decades.

heythereforelookedtotheirfarmertoplowforthem&nngnishseedatotheheaohertheylookedtoinstructtheirohildxen;ThisisthepresentpositionofthingsatPokegana—-peacezgragrtheyassuxedustheywoulddome,fortifythamselvea&plantm

OneweaidedinputtingupaloghousethisFall.Anotheriscommenced,andtwoorthreeotherswishtobuildassoonaswecanaidthe

hiscircumstancehastendedtoremovethemfromthetimebeingfromourintercourse&innuenc

twillbeimpossible,atleastsofarasIcansee,tosustainasmallschooleven,withoutfeediecthechil.tosomeextent.IftheInds.zenhe‘nduoedbyexample&otherhelps,suchasEecd&preparingtheground,tocultivutcmorelargely,theyyould,Ihavenodoubtfurnishprovisionsfortheirohil.inp

sdesirousofaschoolatornearhisgoat,&lof£er§<$odéVall,inhispowertoaidinoaae.apersonissenthere

lielandimmediatelyaboutthePostisforthemootpartlge,butofathemouthofaconsiderableetreamtogoodquality.Thecorn,peaspotatoeslook~wel3&squgheoalllook3e11,altoasmallyardoftobacco

dqrh.ismostlyobtainedatRedLakefromthelads.whotherecultivateittoconsiderableextent.

HehasIamtolnrising[1}30headofhornedcattle,threehorses&15swine.Hehasfrom15to80acresoflandenclosed&underiprovement.Hecultivatespotatoesbarley&posse.Iamtoldheraised6or700buuhelaofpotatoeslastseason.Hisfieldsnotpromiseagoodcroporpotatoes.Hisgroundwhichhesowedwithpasse&barleyarenotflooded&thecrapmostlydestroyed.Hedependswhollyuponwildheyforhisstockinthewinter,&whichhemayetherhereinalmostanyquantit

he.principalpartofthebandarenotabsent,someattheirfishingeothersattheirhuntinggroun

hispost133oncetheheadquartersof.hatiscalledthe“onduLac;opurtment.MrMorisonthanconotedtheInd,trdointhisDepartment&madethisplaoohishomeforsomeyearsprevioustohisleavingtheind.country.Thebuildingsarenewinamiserablestutu,consistoftwodwollinghouses,onefortheclerk&theotherforthomen,a-zmlllstable,&alargestorehouaeforgoodq&furs.Allrrubuiltoflogs&coveredwithcedarbark.‘r‘orisonenclosedaboutisor30auraswhichheimproved,inraisingcorn,potatoes&othervegetables.The3011larioh%easyofcultivation.11dhayinanyquantitynaybeobtainedfromtheprairiebanksofthet.Louis.Kr.H.Iamtoldkeptalargestockofcattle.HrCote,aFrenchman,13thenrosontclerk.

Onabluffaf’vyard;:3ourr1ht19asmallplatofroundwhichtheInds.h&v6plunntiwithpobtbosawhichaiojuqtmakingnheirappearancefromtherrmmd

The value of organic imports during Jan.-Aug. was up 25 percent compared to the same period in 2016, the trade data showed, while the value of organic exports during the first eight months was up 14 percent. Last year, the U.S. organic products trade deficit hit nearly $1.2 billion, its highest level ever, with U.S. organic imports reaching $1.7 billion, while U.S. organic exports came in at $547.6 million. Check out the Top 10 U.S. organic imported and exported commodities for 2016.

Demand for high quality, differentiated farm products appears to be outpacing supply (Kirchenmann, 2006; Yee, 2006)

, demand for organic food is growing so fast that consumer demand is outstripping some domestic supplies. Once a net exporter of organic products, the United States now spends more than $1 billion a year to import organic food, according to the USDA, and the ratio of imported to exported products is now about 8-to-1.

heoats,barloypeas&potatoeslookwell&ffordtheromioef1goodcrop.Earthofi£:§;e§r.hasplantedasmallpieceofcornforanexperiment.Idoubtzhother-it,illcometomuch.Thegroundwasnotwellprepared.Ithinkhoweverthesoil,which131mixtureofrodclayesand,ifwellmanurcd,canbemadetoproducecorn.Thegrazeiszuffoxingmuchfortherentofr.in.thinduatry&econ—omyIamsatixfiedthatmost,ifnot111,ofthevegetablesnecessaryforthesupportofafamily,canberaisedhere

isonthisrivarabout3ms.fromthemouthofwhichtththeInds.tolongin‘toth.LaPointband,maketheirgarden

PlacedbytheGovernmentasanAgenttothispeople,theiradvancementinthescaleofmoral&accountablebeings,istome,anobjectofhighimportance.AndIknownotwhatcouldhavesodirectaninnuenceinraisingthemtothedignityoflife,astheintroductionofChristianity[sic].Iamquitesatisnedthattheirpolitical,mustresultfromtheirmoralmelioration.Andthatallourattemptsinthewayofagriculture,schooling&themechanicarts,areliabletomiscarry&producenopermanentgood,unlesstheIndianmindcanbepurinedbygospeltruth,andcleansedfromthebesettingsinofabeliefinmagic,&fromidolatry&spirit-worship

David Dudenhoefer is a Lima-based freelance journalist and communications consultant who specializes in agriculture, forests, indigenous issues and the environment.

millions of the country’s smallholders have missed out on that prosperity

the same 15 crops that accounted for 85 percent of total harvested area in 1994 continued to account for approximately the same share of total harvested area in 2012

some disparities in productivity and profitability between the coast and the Andean and jungle regions have posed a challenge for successive governments.

muscovado

blight

hoe uproot

well-rotted manure

well-manur’d

hop-grounds

seed, or vegetable production

Augaean

nectar

seeds

cow-itch

cow-itch

seeds

knotted grass

From foul pollution, and unseemly rot

vermin

manure

soil

roots

marshy soils

Indian crops

sugar-groves

channel’d spouts

collaterial mold

Capouces

dung nor fallowing

plough

coppers

thy hoes The deep trough sink, and ridge alternate raise: If this from washes guard thy gemmy tops; [260] And that arrest the moisture these require.

steel-cas’d cylinders

mules crook-harnest

broad-wheel’d wane

Cut into junks a yard in length