food security Archives - Page 25 of 52

Dirt’s big year

The FAO has designated 2015 as the International Year of Soil

By Alan Guebert January 12, 2015

Last year may have been a lot of things to a lot of people but one thing it surely wasn’t was predictable. I mean who foresaw last year’s record-setting high in the U.S. stock market, the plunge in global crude oil prices, Russia’s naked grab of Ukraine’s sovereign territory or the Obama administration’s reaching out

Country Crossroads, Recipe Swap

New book ‘The Stop,’ about empowerment, transformation of food banks

Recipe Swap: Oatmeal Risotto with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil, and Parsnip, Sage, Rosemary  in no-time Risotto

By Lorraine Stevenson December 8, 2014

As we head toward Christmas, many of us give generously to charitable causes. Food banks are one of them and they definitely need our help. Goodness knows what would happen if we suddenly closed our wallets on them. Over 60,000 Manitobans turned to one in the month of March, according to the Hunger Count 2014

Crops, International news

Kenyan farmers profit from the sun to water crops

Drip irrigation requires a costly upfront investment, but it pays for itself in a relatively short time

By Portia Crowe November 26, 2014

For subsistence farmers in rain-scarce Kenya, drip irrigation can mean the difference between hand-to-mouth survival and being able to grow an agricultural business like Alice Migwi’s. She now has three full-time employees, an expanding plot of land, and enough surplus produce to sell to restaurants and hotels after harvest. “A drip system is perhaps the

Did you know?, International news

A destructive crop pest with many different names

The finding is expected to help with international biosecurity and control

By Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre November 13, 2014

A global research effort has finally resolved a major biosecurity issue: four of the world’s most destructive agricultural pests are actually one and the same. For 20 years, some of the world’s most damaging pest fruit flies have been almost impossible to distinguish from each other. The ability to identify pests is central to quarantine,

International news

India boosts wheat subsidies to farmers

Wheat stocks already in government warehouses are nearly three times the official target

By Mayank Bhardwaj November 10, 2014

The Indian government has raised the price it will pay to buy new-season wheat from local farmers by 3.57 per cent to 1,450 rupees ($23.60) per 100 kg, encouraging the crop even though supply has exceeded demand for eight years. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat consumer, sets a price each year to protect domestic farmers

Crops, International news

Small-scale farming at a crossroads

Is small beautiful or should the new motto be ‘move up or move out?”

By Laura Rance-Unger November 5, 2014

As director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., Shenggen Fan has come a long way from his roots in rural China, where he shared a one-hectare farm with his parents and two brothers. The agricultural economist, honoured earlier this year by the World Food Program’s Hunger Hero Award for his

International news, News

Ebola has become famine’s new friend

Hunger and displacement caused by the crisis could have long-lasting effects

By Laura Rance-Unger October 23, 2014

The global campaign to end world hunger came face to face last week with famine’s powerful new ally: the Ebola virus. “It could lead to a hunger crisis of epic proportions,” Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) told delegates attending the Borlaug Dialogue, an annual event held in honour of

Opinion

A sustainable food supply is a worthy goal, but beware of simplistic solutions

Intensive, large-scale production employing the latest technology is key to feeding a hungry world

By Al Mussell October 14, 2014

The view that we need to change how we produce food in the name of sustainability has become ubiquitous in Canada and other developed countries. Indeed, spurred on by the perceptions of some consumers, the food industry has become keenly interested in how farmers produce food. They want to know about their carbon footprint; animal

Crops

Conservation not a hippie delusion

Small-scale farmers can implement conservation agriculture and improve soil health  in developing areas, often by using a mix of science and local knowledge

By Shannon VanRaes July 16, 2014

The damaging effects of tillage on soils is well documented on Europe and North American soils. So why is that approach still being exported to developing nations, proponents of conservation agriculture asked the recent World Conference on Conservation Agriculture. “We’re taking that paradigm to developing countries, so one has to ask, what is actually going

Crops

Agribusiness companies help end hunger through CFGB

Several companies are providing free inputs to growing projects across Canada

By Cfgb Release May 21, 2014

Spring planting has not yet begun, but Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) growing project organizers across Canada are already thinking about what they will grow this year to help end hunger. Their efforts will be greatly aided by support from some of Canada’s agribusiness companies. Businesses lined up to provide free seed, fertilizer, chemicals and other

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures higher on year-end positioning

U.S. grains: Soybean futures fall, shrugging off China purchases

Growing pains: An Ontario city’s urban agriculture efforts show good policy requires real capacity

Tag Archives food security