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- Episode #130: For the Listeners - The Agroinnovations Podcast on Monsanto Sued by Indian Government for Biopiracy
- Episode #130: For the Listeners - The Agroinnovations Podcast on More Law Suits for Monsanto
- Compost Junkie on Fukuoka sensei, is this Zen farming?
- Angus Boyd on Socialist or Entrepreneur?
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Category Archives: Agriculture
Control What You Spend
We have control of such a small portion of the factors that affect us–we can’t control the market, we can’t control the weather, we can’t control the political situation–the one thing that we can control is what we spend. — Walt Davis Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Holistic Management
Tagged Agriculture, Business, Fertilizer, Soil
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More Law Suits for Monsanto
The legal pressure continues to mount on Monsanto as two signficant court cases move through the judicial system in the United States. Continue reading
Bush Sr.: Monsanto’s Transgenetic Engineer
Watch this footage of then Vice-President George H. W. Bush inserting Roundup Ready transgenes into crop DNA in Monsanto’s laboratory. Then watch as Monsanto execs encourage Bush to accelerate the regulatory approval process for one of the first transgenic crops. Bush responds by saying: Call me, we’re in the dereg business, maybe we can help… Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Politics
Tagged Genetically modified food, George H. W. Bush, gmo, Monsanto, Roundup
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Viralized Transgenics
Get ready for the upcoming episode #129 of the Agroinnovations Podcast (Merry Christmas, Monsanto) by listening to me denounce the biotech industry’s viralized transgenetic engineering. Continue reading
Shipping Containers as Farms? (Updated)
After reading an article on Treehugger, I just learned about a Kickstarter Project that is attempting to modify recycled shipping containers with the tools to grow fruits and vegetables in an urban environment. Is this a good idea? Continue reading
Turkey Tractors
Chickens aren’t the only poultry species suitable for rotational grazing via enclosed “tractors”. Turkeys seem to do just fine as well. So, in the spirit of Turkey day, I thought I’d share some innovative things that other agriculturalists are doing with turkey tractors. Continue reading
Monsanto Sued by Indian Government for Biopiracy
According to France 24, the Indian Government has filed suit against the biotech company Monsanto, accusing the company of stealing India’s indigenous plants in order to re-engineer them into patented varieties. Continue reading
Pesticide Use Breeds Aphids
According to research conducted at the Biocenter of the University of Würzburg, “…the preventative application of insecticides against aphids does not produce any advantages even though it consumes a lot of time and money.” Continue reading
CREAR Image Gallery
As a follow-up to Episode #77 of the Agroinnovations Podcast, an interview with Mark Feedman of CREAR, I have put together this image gallery from my visit to CREAR in 2004. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Development, Image Gallery, Organic
Tagged crear, dominican-republic, image gallery, jevons, Organic
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Permaculture the Schools
The clock is still ticking, and collapse continues unabated. Most are oblivious to the true nature of the progression, what it means, why it’s happening, and most importantly, what we should do about it. But the answer is simple, and … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Albuquerque, Appropriate Technology, Development, Environment, Global Warming, Organic, Philosophy, Politics
Tagged Agriculture, children, education, farming, OSAT, permaculture, schools
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EETA Dominican Republic
For over 25 years, the people at the Experimental Station for Appropriate Technology (EETA) have worked directly with local farmers to develop appropriate technologies. EETA defines appropriate technology as anything that addresses an identified need and can be developed at … Continue reading
Soil Health: A True Investor’s Safe-Haven
As our markets implode and wave after wave of bad financial news hits the wire, wild-eyed investors search in vain for a “safe haven” from risky, highly leveraged investments; high risk investing started with complex investment instruments like credit default … Continue reading
Oyster Mushroom Production
Producing oyster mushrooms in our small, urban farm has proven a rewarding experience. The above photo was taken several weeks after inoculation into freshly cut elm logs. Inoculation was done using plug spawn, or wooden dowels heavily colonized with oyster … Continue reading
Building Healthy Soils
As I mentioned several weeks ago, we are in the process of rebuilding our soil fertility in our garden. One great service that I will personally attest to is that provided by a local company called Organic Technology International. For … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Microfarm, Mushrooms, Permaculture
Tagged gardening, Microfarm, mycelium, New-Mexico, Organic, soils
1 Comment
Castration
A provocative title, indeed, but the reality is a bit more practical. The tool in this photo is a castrator, for mules, horses, donkeys, and bulls…am I missing anything? No, not humans, not in this day and age, at least. … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Appropriate Technology, Bolivia
Tagged Appropriate Technology, Bolivia, castration, livestock
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Railroads
My Dad is a train fanatic, he loves trains, has loved them since he was a kid. Lately he has been telling me about the incredible value of transporting things by rail, not just goods (which remains a ubiquitous service … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Bolivia, Development
Tagged Agriculture, Bolivia, export, Global Warming, railroads
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Corporatizing Information
Last year an article in the Economist pointed out some of the complexities and contradictions within the organic, Fair Trade, local food movement. The article is well written and provocative, but is it accurate? My attention was particularly drawn to … Continue reading
Agriculture Spurs Warming
A quick technorati search this morning gave me a general idea of an issue that is on many people’s minds: agriculture is responsible for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions. Just have a look here, here, here or here…four … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Environment, Global Warming
Tagged Agriculture, climate-change, Global Warming, permaculture
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Agrotherapy for the Disabled
After hearing story after story about the therapeutic and life-changing effects of gardening on the mentally challenged, I couldn’t help but notice a pattern. It’s more like the pattern noticed me, and asked me to write about it. On a … Continue reading
Kleckner Speaks Out…and Gets it Wrong
In an article today on Truth About Trade & Technology, Chairman Dean Kleckner criticizes former UN chief Kofi Annan for his rejection of the use of GMO crops by his organization the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. According … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Environment
Tagged Africa, agricultural-biodiversity, Dean-Kleckner, gmo, green-revolution, Kofi-Annan
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Monsanto Defeated
As reported by the Public Patent Foundation, four of Monsanto’s key patents related to genetically modified (GM) crops have been rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. After dozens of cases against North American farmers, the most well-known … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Environment, Politics
Tagged civil-disobedience, genetic-engineering, gmo, Monsanto, Percy-Schmeiser
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The Farm Bill
As the debate in Congress heats up over the revision and passage of the Farm Bill, the Democratic Congress is trying to find ways to pander and pork-barrel their way to re-election by keeping open the floodgate of subsidies to … Continue reading
Mycelium Running
In a recent interview on the Agroinnovations Podcast, Paul Stamets, mycologist and ecological pioneer, had this to say: “There’s a form of biological racism, unfortunately, that I have been confronting all of my life. And, people are prejudiced against mushrooms. … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture
Tagged Agroinnovations-Podcast, mushrooms, mycelium, Mycelium-Running, Paul-Stamets
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The Food Revolution
Talk of a food revolution often obscures the very serious challenges that we face as we attempt to reinvent our agricultural systems. Here in New Mexico, we have the highest rating of all US states in food insecurity. Without a … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Albuquerque
Tagged Agriculture, Albuquerque, food-revolution, New-Mexico
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Pyrolysis
Continuing on the idea of agricultural wastes, we move to pyrolysis, a term used to describe the conversion of biomass (and non-biological waste products, as well) into constituent elements by exposing it to moderate temperatures (~500ºC) in the absence of … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Global Warming
Tagged Agri-Therm, Agriculture, climate-change, Global Warming, pyrolysis
3 Comments
Mycoculture
Agricultural technologies that turn waste products into something useful have been absent from farming systems for too long now. Weeds, manure, bagasse, corn cobs, shells and husks…these are a few of the waste products from a list of many. Yet … Continue reading
GMOs Provoke Outrage
I’ve been awful at keeping up on my commitment to blogging. Its difficult as I try to work full time to pay the bills, but I suppose there are many amateur bloggers out there who manage to keep up with … Continue reading
Fair Trade in a Global Economy
The Agroinnovations Podcast is turning to the issue of Fair Trade, focusing on fairly traded coffee to address some of the issues that the Fair Trade movement now faces. It has been almost 20 years since Fair Trade pioneers and … Continue reading
GMOs Fail to Deliver
In 1996, global seed companies like Monsanto and Syngenta promised that genetically modified (GM) crops would be our salvation. GM crops would solve world hunger, rescue the small farmer from bankruptcy, and reduce our reliance on environmentally damaging and expensive … Continue reading
Monsanto v. Percy Schmeiser
I would encourage anybody interested in the implications of gene patenting and genetically modified organisms to listen to the broadcast recording of a talk given by farmer and citizen activist Percy Schmeiser. In it, Schmeiser details his multi-year legal battle … Continue reading
