Category: Food_Ag_MN

Many of us spent most of 2020 sheltering at home, doing our part to curb the pandemic we are weathering as a global community. While there is solidarity in the fact that people around the world are modifying their lives to flatten the curve—wearing masks, socially distancing, and working remotely when possible—many of us are eagerly awaiting the vaccine that allows us to emerge from our shelters and breathe a sigh of relief.

If you wanted to produce food at the lowest cost to the environment, what methods would you use? Would you select modern farming methods (large-scale, specialized, mechanized and increasingly digital), or would you opt for traditional farms that are small and low-tech? Environmentalists often prefer the latter, having seen the damage that modern farms can do.

Wine connoisseurs can talk endlessly about how terroir—the mysterious alchemy of soil, climate and landscape conditions—conjures the classic flavor profiles of their favorite wines. Climate change will likely disrupt these conditions, leaving some regions too warm and dry to produce their storied wines, and researchers are looking for ways to help.

A trio of recent picks by President-elect Biden for his environmental team will put environmental justice issues at the center of his administration’s agenda. As Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and I report, Biden made a series of firsts with his top-level hiring decisions this week. Those picks are set to seriously tackle the disproportionate impact certain communities face from despoiled air and land.

A renowned soil scientist at The Ohio State University has just been given the Canadian-based Arrell Global Food Innovation Award for improving soil health, and in doing so, increasing food production around the world. Across four continents, Rattan Lal, a Distinguished University Professor in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), has pioneered ways to reduce deforestation, control soil erosion, and enrich soil, leading to sustained or higher crop yields.

A lack of bees in agricultural areas is limiting the supply of some food crops, a new US-based study has found, suggesting that declines in the pollinators may have serious ramifications for global food security.

Jeremy Coller would like to be remembered as a man who saved “a few cows from a factory farm.” But unlike animal rights activists who break into barns to document abusive practices or environmentalists who lobby for legislation to curb pollution associated with animal agriculture, the British financier’s approach is all about capital.

After the success of the Greggs vegan sausage roll and the juicy-yet-meatless Impossible Burger, the next new food sensation is coming to a plate near you: 3D-printed steaks and chicken thighs….

Regenerative agriculture works to draw carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil, but there’s an ongoing debate on how much carbon can be stored there and for how long.

Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses bring the state a lot of political attention during presidential election cycles. But in my view, even though some candidates have outlined positions on food and farming, agriculture rarely gets the attention it deserves…