Skip to content

Food and Agriculture

The Real Cowboys Of Alberta Battle Zombie Coal Mine

June 18, 2024 Mitch Anderson, DeSmog. , , , , , , ,
Ranchers in southwest Alberta are contending with one of the worst droughts on record and a dwindling mountain snowpack. However, the latest threat to critical rivers near the Crowsnest Pass is being served up not by climate change but their own provincial government — in the form of a zombie coal mine proposal on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains that simply refuses to die. The Grassy Mountain open pit mine proposal from Australian-based Northback Holdings, formerly known as Benga Resources, was rejected by both provincial and federal regulators in 2021 because the impacts from water contamination were judged to outweigh the limited benefits.

Big Food, Big Profits, Big Lies

June 11, 2024 Veronica Riccobene, Portside. , , ,
As food costs have skyrocketed for Americans, some of the country’s biggest chains and grocery brands, including General Mills, PepsiCo, and Tyson, have blamed the price hikes on supply chain issues and economywide inflation. But behind the scenes, these companies have expanded profits and quietly authorized billions of dollars in lucrative stock buyback programs and dividend payouts to shareholders.

US Jury Finds Chiquita Guilty Of Financing Paramilitary Death Squads

June 11, 2024 The Canary. , , , , , ,
In a historic first, an American jury has held a major US corporation liable for complicity in serious human rights abuses abroad. Specifically, the case has held banana giant Chiquita Brands International accountable for financing a brutal paramilitary death squad in Colombia. Chiquita In Colombia Between 1997 and 2004, Chiquita financed the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) to the tune of US $1.7m. The AUC was a coalition of right-wing death squads. The group of over 30,000 soldiers operated throughout two-thirds of the country, and manufactured war to prop up a series of illegal business activities. Primarily, the AUC ran what was then the largest drug trafficking cartel in the world. It also engaged in arms sales, human trafficking, and money laundering.

Towards Democratic And Ecological Cities

June 11, 2024 Yavor Tarinski, Grassroots Economic Organizing. , , , , , ,
Cities are an integral part of human history. With their creation a public space emerged, which allowed their inhabitants to experience true political freedom. The city gave birth to direct democracy and the concept of the polis – both based on the idea that citizens can and should collectively and equally self-manage their common urban life, in all its spheres. Such free cities networked with each other into democratic confederations. Their relation with the countryside was one of symbiosis and mutual aid. With the expansion of empires, nation-states and capitalism, cities were submitted to the paradigms of political oligarchy and unlimited economic expansion.

European Farmers Shun Anti-Green Deal Protest In Brussels

June 1, 2024 Katharina Wecker, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
Europe’s largest farming unions representing millions of agricultural workers have rejected calls to join next week’s protest against EU green reforms, DeSmog can reveal. Smaller groups have also shunned the demo – some wanting to avoid the prospect of violence, others claiming they didn’t know it was happening. Preparations for the June 4 demo have been ramping up ahead of the start of the EU elections next Thursday, with protesters set to gather in Brussels days before European citizens head to the polls. The hardline Dutch group Farmers Defence Force (FDF) has urged farmer “warriors” to attend the demo, with its spokesperson claiming: “we are defending the rights of farmers and the standards of the European Union as it’s supposed to be”.

Revealed: Far-Right Links Of Polish Farmer Hunger Strikers

May 28, 2024 Marta Kasztelan, Claire Carlile and Phoebe Cooke, DeSmog. , , , , , , ,
An obscure far-right linked farmers group has risen to prominence in Poland after it was championed by populist politicians ahead of the EU elections, DeSmog can reveal. Orka, a new farmers’ movement that materialised earlier this month, entered Warsaw’s parliament building on May 9 to protest against EU climate plans and Ukrainian food imports. Protesters suspended a 10-day hunger strike last week after winning the attention of Polish President Andrzej Duda, who invited them to talks, and reportedly offered one member a role on his council for agriculture. The protest group was accompanied by the far-right Confederation Party’s Marta Chech, who is running as a candidate in the June 6-9 EU ballot.

Fertiliser Giant Yara Must Tackle Massive Emissions, Shareholders Say​​

May 25, 2024 Clare Carlile, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
Investors are calling for Yara, Europe’s largest fertiliser manufacturer, to make deep cuts to polluting emissions of greenhouse gases. Five shareholders in the company have filed a vote calling for Yara to strengthen its climate targets at its AGM later this month (28 May). If successful, the motion would see the corporation forced to set climate targets in line with a 1.5C warmed world – the vital internationally agreed goal for limiting temperature rise. The Norwegian chemical giant is the largest natural gas user in the EU. At almost 63 tonnes a year, its carbon footprint is equivalent to the annual emissions of over 16 coal-fired power plants – according to sustainable finance organisation ShareAction, the group behind the investor call.

Half Of Pasture Lands On Earth Degraded By Climate Change, Overuse

May 23, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. , , , ,
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has found that as much as half of the natural pasture land on Earth has been degraded by the impacts of climate change and overexploitation, putting a sixth of the planet’s food supplies at risk. The new UNCCD report — Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralists — emphasizes the importance of rangelands and points to ways to better manage and restore them while protecting pastoralism. “Degradation of Earth’s extensive, often immense natural pastures and other rangelands due to overuse, misuse, climate change and biodiversity loss poses a severe threat to humanity’s food supply and the wellbeing or survival of billions of people,” a press release from UNCCD said.

Cooperatives In China And Prospects For Their Significant Growth

May 14, 2024 Ali Al-Assam, Orinoco Tribune. , , , ,
During my recent visit to China from April 14th to 24th, 2024, I had the opportunity to engage with seasoned members of the cooperative movement, among whom were British nationals who live in China. A highlight of my trip was spending a substantial part of a day, together with colleagues from ‘Friends of Socialist China’, exploring an agricultural cooperative in the north-eastern Jilin province. The law on Specialised Farmer Cooperatives was passed by the National People’s Congress, coming into effect on July 1 2007. As stated by Tim Zachernuk In his excellent study of cooperatives in China: “The law acknowledges international cooperative experience as codified in the cooperative principles formulated by the International Cooperative Alliance.

Deregulation Is Turning Oklahoma Into A Factory Farm Sacrifice Zone

May 13, 2024 Ben Felder, In These Times. , , ,
As Barbara Dozhier prepared a ham before the arrival of her great-grandchildren and the rest of her family last Christmas Eve, she prayed for a weather forecast with wind out of the south. A breeze in the opposite direction meant her home four miles outside the east Oklahoma town of Kansas would be overcome with the stench of chicken litter. Ever since a six-building poultry farm opened across the street in 2018 — where 336,000 birds are raised at a time — family gatherings at the Dozhier home have been forced inside. “Sometimes the wind is out of the north and you just hurry up, get in the house and shut your door,” Dozhier said. ​“At first I was upset all the time but after all these years there is nothing you can do.”

Pakistani Farmers Launch A Nationwide Movement

May 8, 2024 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
Thousands of farmers in Pakistan have launched a nationwide movement demanding increased government procurement of wheat. The campaign will kick off with national mobilizations on Friday, May 10, Khalid Khokhar, the leader of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (Pakistan Farmer Movement or PKI), a united body of most of the farmers’ unions in the country, said in a press conference on Sunday. The mobilizations are set to kick off in Multan, Punjab and would be a continuation of the last month’s agitation in several parts of the country. Khokhar claimed that an even greater number of farmers’ organizations and groups would be participating in the campaign and mobilizations.

The Refillery Is Coming For Your Grocery Store Routine

May 7, 2024 Kate Ray, Portside. , , , ,
“This is slow shopping,” says Roque Rodriguez about his refillery grocery store, Seed and Oil, in Woodside, Queens. “It’s about slowing down, being more present, being more aware: What’s the impact of the choice I just made? We educate folks when they come in, we talk to them, and you see people getting into the rhythm of it.” I don’t think it’s that much slower to shop at package-free stores like Seed and Oil—you bring your own container and weigh it, then you fill it up with the amount of rice or walnuts or Peanut M&Ms that you want to take home. But I get what he means.

Globalised Capitalism’s Eating Habits Responsible For One Third Of World’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions

May 7, 2024 HG, The Canary. , , , ,
According to a new report from the World Bank, changing how we farm could cut global emissions by almost one third. Greenhouse gas emissions could be drastically reduced by simply altering how food is produced around the world. The agrifood industry – which combines agriculture and food – takes into account the whole production process. It involves the whole journey, from food to plate including manufacture and retail. It is responsible for nearly a third of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This is one sixth more than the whole world’s heat and electric emissions.

Sustainable Food Systems: Feeding Ourselves Across Europe

May 6, 2024 Louise Kelleher, Resilience. , , ,
Brussels is currently not the most hopeful place for those wishing to see EU food systems in a fair, ecological transition. But hope is on the ground. Not waiting for the impetus to come from above, many communities, food policy councils, solidarity farming initiatives, food cooperatives, as well as rural and urban municipalities have already established their own democratic, economic and social frameworks in order to create sustainable food systems. At Feeding Ourselves 2024, a roundtable on Bottom-Up Approaches to Sustainable Food Systems was a chance to connect partners of two ARC2020 projects, Rural Resilience in France and Rural Europe Takes Action – Germany* with kindred spirits in Ireland.

Cooking Sections’ Singular Stew Of Art, Activism, And Local Food

May 4, 2024 David Bollier. , , , ,
What a delight to encounter the work of the British artistic duo Cooking Sections, two British artists whose virtuoso artworks effortlessly blend art with activism, local commoning, and eco-stewardship in the service of climate-friendly foodways. Alon Schwabe and Daniel Fernández Pascual -- Senior Research Fellows at the Royal College of Art in London – create distinctive works of art about modern food that are also enmeshed in the fabric of everyday life:  land, intertidal waters, restaurants, buildings, social festivals. The canvas for their art is large and unconventional: the bioregional theaters of the world where food is grown and harvested, from Scotland and Istanbul to southern Italy and South Korea, and beyond.
«12345678910»