Category: Agro-Ecology

Development Aid Programs Target Small Scale Farmers to Ramp up Production in Food Insecure Liberia

Before Liberia’s civil war, Augustine Tamba’s farm had a water pump, a sprinkler system, and a reliable well. Neighbors worked for Tamba to grow rice, cassava, corn and vegetables in the lowland farm outside of the town of Johnsonville in Montserrado County, Liberia. Tamba had market outlets in Paynesville—20 kilometers away—as well as Monrovia, the country’s capital. Before starting the farm in 1982, Tamba worked as a bank manager in a small town nearby. After a brief stint, he returned to agriculture, “the soil is Liberia’s only bank…the bank of life,” as he explains. During the war, Tamba’s farm laborers either migrated to other countries or became entangled in the bloody conflict. In addition, the market for Tamaba’s produce disappeared when Liberia’s entire economic and social system came to a halt.

Africa: Separating Honest Helpers from Carpetbaggers

It’s clear we are now having a serious problem identifying honest players among aid givers in the 3rd World. Africa is a prime example. So how do we differentiate; how do we separate the honest helpers from the “carpetbaggers?” The trouble is, industrializing nations like China and India, and already industrialized nations like the US and Russia are going full out after the last big reservoir of remaining resources and indigenous peoples already made poor by exploitation (the Green Revolution, etc.) have no defense.

Biology Defies the Nature of Patents

What began in 1930 as a restrained attempt to reward horticultural inventors like Luther Burbank (the self-educated, self-styled, plant genius of his day), has become a kind of free-for-none piñata hunt entrancing corporations and university IP offices for a decade. Everyone with an IP portfolio is blindly swinging over their heads, hoping they will get their reward when the prizes come raining down.

The Ecology of Agroecosystems by John Vandermeer

Agroecology is the science of applying ecological concepts and principles to the design, development, and management of sustainable agricultural systems. The Ecology of Agroecosystems highlights a collection of alternative agricultural methodologies and philosophies and provides an interdisciplinary approach that bridges the sociopolitical and historical context of agriculture.

Plant Patents on Common Vegetables – What We Are Up Against

A small group of corporations control the largest portion of the world’s utility patents on plants, and there are big misunderstandings between these players and the public about exactly what these patents cover, and to what extent the bewildering flurry of claims are overreaching rather than legitimate.

A Community of Collaboration

On rural Whidbey Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound, fourth generation family farmers, as well as a new breed of greenhorns, are recapturing the island’s farming heritage, creating a fresh food culture supported by diverse crops, seed research, market demand, delivery systems and agritourism.

Justice Begins with Seeds

The theme of the conference reflects part of a global social movement response to the enclosure of the biological heritage of humanity by the biotechnology industry – the “Gene Giants” like Monsanto, Dow, and Syngenta – which seeks to privatize ownership of seeds and make all living things patentable.

Washington State University: Big Ideas for Food

The Washington State University, Pullman WA, has been teaching and practicing organic agriculture for more than 30 years. WSU-Pullman was one of the first universities to do research in organic and sustainable agriculture. More and more young people are interested in organic food production, and staff and students from WSU describe their “Big Ideas for Food” in this video.