Agriculture

Robbing the soil, 1: Commons and classes before capitalism

08/08/21

Author:

Ian Angus

Link:

Climate and Capitalism

August 1, 2021

“All progress in capitalist agriculture is a progress in the art, not only of robbing the worker, but of robbing the soil.” (Karl Marx)

Robbing the Soil is a new series of articles on capitalist agriculture, part of my continuing project on metabolic rifts. Your constructive comments, suggestions, and corrections will help me get it right. -IA

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Category:

Solutions to reach net-zero emissions farming

05/08/21

Author:

Claire Asher

Link:

Mongabay

Banner image: A shepherd with grazing sheep. Image via Pixabay (Public domain).

30 July 2021

Agriculture and food account for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, making these sectors critical in efforts to address our current overshoot of the climate planetary boundary. They are also having profound impacts on freshwater, biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles.

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Category:

Agriculture

Climate Change

Social

California Insurers Abandon Farmers in Face of Wildfire Risk

30/07/21

Author:

The Energy Mix

Link:

The Energy Mix

fields on fire - Daria Devyatkina/Flickr

July 29, 2021

In yet another sign that our current systems are poorly equipped for the demands of climate change, California farmers are being left unprotected as insurance companies raise premiums and drop renewals to compensate for the increasing risk of wildfires.

“Nobody knows for sure how many farm owners have lost coverage, but what’s clear is that the trend has sent shock waves through California’s agricultural regions,” writes Grist.

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‘We’re not animals, we’re human beings’: US farm workers labor in deadly heat with few protections

22/07/21

Author:

Michael Sainato

Link:

The Guardian

A farmworker in St Paul, Oregon, where a worker died of heat exposure last month Photograph: Nathan Howard/AP

16 Jul 2021

Advocates want Osha to issue federal heat standards, requiring water, shade and rest breaks

The climate crisis is endangering farm workers around the US who work outside in excessive heat throughout the year without any federal protections from heat exposure in the workplace.

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Category:

Creating an enabling policy environment for farmers

16/07/21

Author:

Sustainable Food Trust Staff, originally published by Sustainable Food Trust

Link:

Resilience

July 15, 2021

As it stands, there is no common way to measure the sustainability of food and farming systems across the world. Not only does this make it hard for farmers and land managers to know the impact of their practices or how they can improve, but it allows the costs of food and farming systems to remain hidden and displaced, as those that pollute or have poor environmental practices are not held financially accountable for the damage caused.

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Category:

Agriculture

Climate Change

Social

Verification at Issue in U.S. Funding of Soil Carbon Capture

12/07/21

Author:

The Energy Mix

Link:

The Energy Mix

July 11, 2021

With the United States moving swiftly to fund credits for farmers who store carbon in their soil, there’s growing concern that the program may pay for carbon storage that is already happening—and give fossil companies and other major emitters a free pass to keep polluting.

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Drought Indicators in Western U.S. Flash Warnings of the ‘Big One’ (Is BC Far Behind?)

29/06/21

Author:

Brian K Sullivan and Elizabeth Elkin

Link:

Bloomberg

June 24, 2021

Summer in the U.S. begins with widespread drought already at historic levels across 11 states. Experts warn of worsening conditions once wildfires start.

Sarah Brunner opened the irrigation spigots on her farm in March, three months early. The rain should have still been falling in California. Now that summer is taking hold, she and her husband are considering shifting their meager water supplies into pastures so their animals will have enough to eat.

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Indigenous Forest Gardens Thrive 150 Years Later

24/06/21

Author:

Laura Brehaut

Link:

National Post

The Ts'msyen forest garden in northwestern B.C. is part of a groundbreaking new study by Simon Fraser University. PHOTO BY STORM CARROLL

May 04, 2021

A first-of-its-kind study by SFU finds that Indigenous forest gardens filled with fruit and nut trees are still thriving, at least 150 years later

Along Canada’s northwest coast, ancient Indigenous forest gardens — untended for more than 150 years — continue to thrive. Ts’msyen and Coast Salish peoples once planted and cared for plots of native fruit and nut trees, shrubs, and medicinal plants and roots along the north and south Pacific coast, a new Simon Fraser University study finds.

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Guelph Pilots "Circuar Food System" Initiative

18/06/21

Author:

Sarah Tranum

Link:

Resilience

Grain hulls left over after being used for brewing

June 17, 2021

There are many hard lessons learned from the pandemic. One is that our food system needs a serious reboot. Luckily, we need only look to nature’s cycles for clues on how to fix it.

In a circular food economy, food waste becomes valuable, affordable healthy food becomes accessible to everyone and innovation uses a regenerative approach to how food is produced, distributed and consumed.

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Food Production are Far Greater Than Previous Estimates Suggest

13/06/21

Author:

Georgina Gustin

Link:

Inside Climate News

Farmers harvest watermelons in a field on March 26, 2021 in Wanning, Hainan Province of China. Credit: Yuan Chen/VCG via Getty Images

June 10, 2021

A new study finds that if all parts of the food system are included, food production is responsible for as much as 40 percent of global emissions.

Emissions from food production, already considered one of the biggest contributors to climate change, have been underestimated for decades, potentially skewing the pledges that countries have made under the Paris climate agreement to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research.

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Category:

Agriculture

“All progress in capitalist agriculture is a progress in the art, not only of robbing the worker, but of robbing the soil.” (Karl Marx)

Advocates want Osha to issue federal heat standards, requiring water, shade and rest breaks

Summer in the U.S. begins with widespread drought already at historic levels across 11 states. Experts warn of worsening conditions once wildfires start.

A first-of-its-kind study by SFU finds that Indigenous forest gardens filled with fruit and nut trees are still thriving, at least 150 years later

A new study finds that if all parts of the food system are included, food production is responsible for as much as 40 percent of global emissions.

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