Organic Farming

Insights Into GAS: Solidarity Purchasing Groups

August 7, 2024 Tamat, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! New Economy, Organic Farming, Solidarity Economy, Solidarity Purchase Group

Discover what it means to be part of a Solidarity Purchase Group (GAS) through the interview with Vincenzo Vizioli, president of AIAB Umbria. With a journey that began in the late 1980s, Vincenzo explains how his choice for organic and biodynamic farming has evolved into a model of sustainability, cooperation, and mutualism. In the video, Vizioli tells the story of the Italian Organic Movement and the birth of GAS and IAP, highlighting the importance of sustainable agriculture and the need to promote social participation and community resilience. He then delves into the concept of GAS, explaining how these groups not only facilitate access to quality organic products but also promote a fair and solidarity-based economy.

Sustainable Practices, Less Chemical Fertilizer Lead To Higher Crop Yields

June 29, 2022 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Create! Farming, Food and Agriculture, Organic Farming, Sustainability

In farming, high crop yields are often associated with the use of human-made fertilizers. But what if these abundant results could instead be achieved by using farming practices that were more environmentally friendly? An extensive new study of 30 farms in Africa and Europe has shown that the combination of small amounts of fertilizer with natural farming methods like mixing compost or manure with the soil, cultivating a wider variety of crops and cultivating plants like clover or beans that amplify soil’s fertility can result in high crop yields while maintaining the harmony of agricultural ecosystems, a press release from Rothamsted Research said. The study found that a significant amount of chemical fertilizers could be replaced by adopting these more natural techniques, which would have multiple benefits.

The Food Shortage Solution In Your Own Backyard

June 9, 2022 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Food and Agriculture, Organic Farming, Urban Farming

A confluence of crises—lockdowns and business closures, mandates and worker shortages, supply chain disruptions and inflation, sanctions and war—have compounded to trigger food shortages; and we have been warned that they may last longer than the food stored in our pantries. What to do? Jim Gale, founder of Food Forest Abundance, pointed out in a recent interview with Del Bigtree that in the United States there are 40 million acres of lawn. Lawns are the most destructive monoculture on the planet, absorbing more resources and pesticides than any other crop, without providing any yield. If we were to turn 30% of that lawn into permaculture-based food gardens, says Gale, we could be food self-sufficient without relying on imports or chemicals.

Regenerative Food And Farming: Survival And Revival

October 2, 2021 Ronnie Cummins, Regeneration International. Create! climate crisis, Food and Agriculture, Organic Farming, Regenerative Farming

Regenerative agriculture and holistic livestock management represent the next, crucial stage of organic food and farming, not only avoiding toxic pesticides, fertilizers, sewage sludge, GMO seeds, and excessive greenhouse gas emissions, but regenerating soil fertility, water retention, carbon sequestration, and rural livelihoods as well.

Produce For The People

October 24, 2020 Jacquelyn Voghel, Daily Hampshire Gazette. Create! Cooperative, Immigrant Rights, Massachusetts, Organic Farming

Hatfield, MA - For many farmers, the 2020 season has posed numerous difficulties: an ongoing drought, early frost and a need for extra public health precautions amid the pandemic, to name a few. But in a year marked by challenges, Riquezas del Campo farm, now in its second season, is growing. The immigrant-led, worker-owned cooperative farm got started later in the growing season when it started in 2019 and had just one customer, said Lorena Moreno, a founding member of the farm. This year, the farm, situated on the Northampton-Hatfiled line, has multiplied its sales around four times over, is attracting new members and selling to more vendors.

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