Sweet Child of Mine?

After forcing a mining operation to leave town in 1997, the 46 families of Junin, a remote village in northern Ecuador, decided to have a go at ecotourism to protect the rainforest around them — and to earn a living. But now a growing number of the residents are questioning that choice. The paradise of […]

Jews for Cheeses

Seven ultra-Orthodox Jewish families have signed on to create what is likely the world’s first organic, kosher, communal farm. Following the tenets of the Torah and Talmud, the farmers will not pick fruit from their orchards for the first three years; they will let their land lie fallow every seventh year and will only plant […]

Jonna Higgins-Freese reviews The Farm as Natural Habitat by Dana and Laura Jackson

You'll have to forgive the staid title: Right from the start, The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems is thoroughly Midwestern in tone -- reserved, practical, and down-to-earth. Edited by long-time sustainable-agriculture advocates Dana and Laura Jackson, a mother-daughter team, the essays collected here describe farming practices that mimic and protect natural systems. But if the voice is mild, the message is urgent: Environmentalists must build ties with farmers if we are to grow food without destroying topsoil, poisoning our air and water, and killing wildlife.

Pop Mart

What do butter, meat loaf, cantaloupe, peanuts, and popcorn have in common? Persistent organic pollutants. Banned in the U.S. since the 1970s, POPs such as the pesticides DDT and deldrin still contaminate 20 percent of the food we eat, according to a report by the San Francisco-based Pesticide Action Network. Based on an analysis of […]

Carb(on) Loading

Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could increase production of crops but reduce their nutritional value, according to scientists at Ohio State University. Peter Curtis, a professor of evolution, ecology, and biology, worked with researchers to analyze the effects of climate change on plant reproduction and collated data from 159 studies conducted over […]

Altering the market to promote sustainable farming

The Aug. 16 issue of Science magazine features an ominous headline: “Dead Zone Grows.” To the right of the headline is a map of the Gulf of Mexico with an irregular green stripe hugging the shoreline. This is the Dead Zone, an area of the gulf where oxygen levels are so low that most marine […]

Running Knows

Climate change is caused by human activities — and maybe by more of them than previously thought. That was the conclusion of a report released today by NASA, which found that land-use changes such as farming, irrigation, and urban sprawl contribute as much if not more to climate change than does the burning of fossil […]

Sea, Sea, My Playmate

More than 200 small grocers, restaurants, and seafood distributors in 40 U.S. states have announced that they will not buy, sell, or serve genetically altered fish. Among those joining the biotech boycott are such celebrity chefs as Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Michael Schenk at Oceana in New York City. Whole Foods […]

Greener Pastures

Sign of the Thames

New water-quality targets being established by the European Union could radically change the face of farming in Europe, forcing farmers to scale back or even abandon their practices in some traditionally agricultural areas. The Water Framework Directive will require all rivers, lakes, and canals to be restored to “good ecological quality” within 15 years — […]