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The Urban Ecologist at Moonwater Farm, California

Kathleen Blakistone first became interested in gardening when her son was in third grade at McKinley Elementary School in Santa Monica. She joined a group of parent volunteers, known as the “Gardening Angels,” under the tutelage of Bonnie Freeman. Freeman led the Santa Monica School Garden Project, which created...

Young Americans are Leaving Desk Jobs to Farm

Two years ago, the 32-year-old Liz Whitehurst - who graduated from a liberal arts college and grew up in the Chicago suburbs - abandoned Washington for this three-acre farm in Upper Marlboro, Md. She joined a growing movement of highly educated, ex-urban, first-time farmers who are capitalizing on booming...

Vertical Farming As A Solution To Urbanisation

A New York-based sustainability strategist, Henry Gordon-Smith, said more and more young people were attracted to vertical farming. Vertical farming is producing food on vertically stacked layers, or in high rise buildings, rooftops, glasshouses, warehouses, or shipping containers. He said it was becoming increasingly popular in countries such as the United...

Africa Needs Its Version Of Vertical Farms To Feed Growing Cities

Vertical farms use high tech lighting and climate controlled buildings to grow crops like leafy greens or herbs indoors while using less water and soil. Because it's a closed growing system, with controlled evaporation from plants, this farms use 95% less water than traditional farms. At the same time, most vertical...

The Variety of Our Food Crops is Declining

Potatoes are native to the Andes, and over 4,000 varieties are grown there now. They come in numerous shapes, sizes and colors – red, yellow, purple, striped and spotted. This wide array of types is an example of agrobiodiversity – a genetic legacy created by natural selection interacting with cultural...

Farmers in India’s First 100% Organic State Need Support

Sikkim was declared as India's first 100% organic state in 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised the move towards traditional farming and urged other states to emulate Sikkim's organic agriculture model. Launched as an ambitious programme through a resolution passed by the Sikkim Legislative Assembly in 2003, and gradually implemented...

From Railway Engineer to Organic Farmer

In the eastern Indian state of Odisha, a small bunch of engineers have created a new company to promote organic agriculture called Organic Soch. Railway engineer Atul Choudhury learnt about all the problems of inorganic agriculture, farmer indebtedness, diseases among farming communities. He decided that organic farming was the only...

Exploring an Alternative Dairy Farming Model in New Zealand

Earlier the farmer owner could make an income without having to milk cows every day and the young farmer could make a good income and save the surplus. After about 10 years, the sharemilker was in a position to buy a small farm. Today, just to get onto the sharemilking...

The Man Who Saved The Lives of 4 Million Farmers

"In our country people think farmers are from another planet; the way farmers are discussed, as if farmers are not like other human beings," says 65-year-old Subhas Palekar. "For example," says Palekar, "Prices increase for everything and everyone accepts price rise for everything from toys to petrol, but somehow the...

Urban Farming In Singapore Has Moved Into A New, High-Tech Phase

Urban farms have always been popular with gardeners in Singapore, especially those who volunteer at neighbourhood community gardens. Urban farming has become more high-tech and, well, urban. Urban farmers have started growing food in restaurants and taken over unused rooftop carpark spaces to set up garden plots. The gardening enthusiasts in the...