Look at what you are eating
To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates
Innovation of the Week: Policy Formulation and Action Planning for Urban Farming
Most people don’t usually associate agriculture with cities, but there are over 800 million people worldwide practicing urban farming. More people now live in cities than rural areas, making urban food security more important than ever before.
This increased urbanization typically means more poverty, more overcrowding, increased malnutrition, and water management problems. But farming in the cities can help alleviate many of these problems. A small garden can provide fresh produce for an urban family that might otherwise not have access to vegetables–most urban farmers use their harvest to supplement diets that are dependent on what is available at the market or store and what they can afford.
Farms are also innovative. Backyard gardens or roof top gardens, exposed directly to the sky, maximize water supply where there is often poor access to irrigation. Plastic buckets, tires, and other “trash” can be used to contain soil for smaller gardens. Integrated fish farming has even been used in some areas just outside of cities to both treat human waste and provide fish for human consumption.
While encouraging urban agriculture could help to improve nutrition, sanitation, and resource management in cities, there is often little institutional or official support for farmers in large cities. Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture & Food Security (RUAF Foundation) introduced a program called Cities Farming for the Future in Accra, Ghana, in 2005, to promote “collaboration between urban authorities with citizens, farmers, civil organizations, private sector companies and other governmental entities in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of policies and related action plans.”
The result has been a general increased awareness of the role urban agriculture can play both in providing food and in creating a more sanitary and sustainable urban environment; increased and improved education regarding urban farming; increased government incentivizing of urban agriculture; a farmers’ association and recognition from the Ghana Agricultural Workers Union; revised agriculture bye-laws; and policy maker outreach.
RUAF is not alone in its work to make urban agriculture an integral part of city planning and infrastructure. The FAO Food for the Cities program promotes dialogue and partnerships between institutions, government agencies, and non-profits as well as grass-roots organizations regarding urban agriculture. And the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) created an initiative to gather and share information on urban agriculture called Urban Harvest. Urban Harvest also helps to create partnerships between national and international efforts to encourage the integration of city life and sustainable food production on a local level. Senior researcher Danielle Nierenberg will be visiting some of these Urban Harvest projects next week when she is in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Oct
29
Persistently Innovative: One farmer teaches by example
Danielle Nierenberg Africa, Agriculture, Ethiopia, Farmers, State of the World 2011 Add your comment
Kes Malede Abreha, described by our guides/interpreters as a “farmer-priest”
We met Kes Malede Abreha, described by our guides/interpreters as a “farmer-priest,” on his farm near Aksum in the Central Zone of Tigray region. A small, wiry, soft-spoken man with a neatly trimmed beard, Kes Malede is one of the leading “farmer-innovators” in his community. Roughly eight years ago, he started digging for water on his very dry farm. His neighbors thought he was crazy, telling him he would never find water on the site. His wife even left him, moving their children into town.
But about 16 meters down, Kes Malede hit water. After his wife returned, he began sketching ways that would make it easier to “push” that water to the surface. He developed a series of pumps, improving on each one. The one he’s using now is built from inexpensive wood, iron, and metal piping, all available locally. It can push or lift water not only to the surface, but also through a system of hoses to irrigate his fruit trees and farm crops, including teff, sorghum, tomatoes, and other vegetables.
As part of a group of farmers who can apply for and receive funding for their innovations from the global, NGO-initiated organization, Prolinnova, Kes Malede is teaching other farmers in the community by example, showing them how small investments in technology can make a big difference on the farm.
Before he developed his water-management system, Kes Malede and his family lived in a one-room house and could grow only enough staple food to feed the household. Today, the family lives in a bigger house, grows a diversity of crops, and raises chickens, cattle, goats, and bees. Kes Malede’s investment in more beehives has not only provided income from honey production, but also helped pollinate his fruit and vegetable crops. He’s now helping other farmers—the same ones who thought he was crazy—by teaching them about his water lifting system and by selling modern, box-style beehives that allow farmers to both manage the bees better and harvest more honey.
Grain Production Continues Growth After Mixed Decade
by Alice McKeown | October 29, 2009, Worldwatch Institute
For the second year in a row, world grain production rose in 2008, with farmers producing some 2.287 billion tons.1 (See Figure 1.) The record harvest was up more than 7 percent over the previous year and caps a decade in which only half the years registered gains.2 Per capita production also recovered, reaching 339 kilograms per person.3 The total amount of land dedicated to grain harvests worldwide has remained relatively stable over the past 15 years at around 700 million hectares-though it was below the average experienced from 1975 to 1986-but yields have increased 146 percent over the last 46 years.4
Three of the top four global agricultural crops by quantity are grains: maize, rice, and wheat (sugarcane is the fourth).5 Other cereals and grains include millet, sorghum, oats, barley, quinoa, and rye. Together these crops make up nearly half of global daily calorie consumption and are considered critical for global food security.6 Some 35 percent of all grains in 2008 were used to feed industrial livestock, while 47 percent were consumed by humans.7
Farmers in Asia led grain production in 2008, growing 42 percent of the world total (969 million tons), of which some 43 percent was rice (milled equivalent).8 (See Table 1.) The Americas were the next largest growing region, with maize as the prominent crop, followed by Europe, which grew a significant amount of wheat.9
Oceania showed the largest percentage increases in grain production over the previous year.10 However, total harvest there remains well behind record harvests in the past.11 And looking back to 1990, Africa’s production grew more than Oceania’s, at 67 percent compared with 46 percent.12
Over the past 50 years, farmers in the least developed countries have grown a slowly increasing share of global grains, ending at just over 6 percent in 2008-although their population is 12 percent of the global total.13 Ongoing structural and production capacity problems, such as lack of market access and underinvestment in human capital, infrastructure, and research, are expected to continue in developing countries as a whole, leading to lower growth rates than in industrial countries as well as to growing domestic demand for grain and other crop imports.14
Global production of rice rose significantly in 2008 due to a bumper crop of 460.3 million tons.15 (See Figure 2.) Some 90 percent was grown by farmers in Asian countries, including China (133.3 million tons) and India (98.9 million tons).16 World rice stocks rebounded to a seven-year high, although further near-term increases are not likely to reach the records set in the late 1990s.17
Wheat production also benefited from a record harvest year in 2008, rising 12 percent to reach 684.6 million tons.18 Farmers in Asia (especially in China and India), together with those in Europe, grew three fourths of the global total.19 Developing countries continue to drive demand for wheat imports, especially in South and East Asia and Africa.20 However, changes in diets resulting from higher incomes mean that per capita demand in countries like China will stay stable or decline as consumers shift demand to processed foods.21
Farmers grew a record 1,142 million tons of coarse grains in 2008, up 5 percent over the previous year, including 820 million tons of maize, 154 million tons of barley, and 65 million tons of sorghum.22 The United States dominates maize production, growing 37 percent of the global total, with China next at 20 percent.23 Demand for coarse grains is expected to slow due to the global recession because of reduced demand for livestock; 58 percent of the coarse grain crop in 2008 was used for feed.24
Traditional indigenous grains, which often provide higher nutritional value than the more commonly grown grains, are referred to as “orphan” crops. One example, millet-which is an important staple in rural diets in Asia and Africa-reached 34 million tons in 2007, about 2 percent of the total grain harvest.25 Investments in expanding production of this and other orphan crops like quinoa may be an important way to improve the food security of many of the world’s poor.26
World grain stocks have recovered somewhat since the lows of recent years and are at the highest level since 2001.27 (See Figure 3.) A related measure considered important for food security, the stock-to-use ratio-the level of global reserves expressed as a percentage of annual consumption-is now around 23 percent, above the level estimated to ensure global food security but still below the five-year average and previous higher years.28 However, recent studies have disputed a simple correlation of stocks to security , pointing to biofuels production, energy prices, volatile commodity prices, and rising demand as other factors that affect global food prices and food security.29
Grain production destined for biofuels continues to grow, topping more than 5 percent in 2008, at 120 million tons.30 This marks a nearly 10 percent increase over the previous year, but a slower rate than the 25 percent experienced the year before.31 Various national biofuels mandates are expected to drive rising demand for grains for biofuels until second-generation feedstocks are readily available.32 In addition to diverting crop usage, demand for biofuels also influences farmers’ planting choices and could take land away from other crops.33
Grain prices have fallen more than 50 percent from their peak levels in 2008, but they are still well above the 2007 levels and the long-term average.34 This situation is expected to continue during the medium term.35 Although high crop prices are often assumed to increase profitability, a recent report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization concludes that higher prices only benefit producers and farmers who are connected to international markets, leaving most small farmers in developing nations out of the picture.36
Heavy reliance on a limited number of grains for food, feed, and industry jeopardizes the global food system.37 Today only 150 crops are cultivated, a sharp drop from the 10,000 used over time, and three grains-maize, rice, and wheat-combined with potatoes provide more than 50 percent of humans’ energy needs.38 With the Green Revolution that began in the 1950s, high-yielding grains quickly spread around the world, displacing local varieties; within 40 years they accounted for half of all land planted in wheat and rice.39 This loss of agricultural biodiversity-an estimated 75 percent decline since 1900-can limit the ability to adapt to climate change, lower nutritional security, and create monoculture crops that are more susceptible to pests and diseases.40
Even as grain production expands, large production gains and improvements in the future are unlikely because of resource constraints such as the spread of irrigation, the availability of water supplies, and soil quality.41 Some observers see the looming threat of climate change as a cause of concern. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and altered growing ranges may affect the quality and quantity of land and water available for grain crops. Temperature increases can also lead to yield reductions or crop failures.42 Genetic modification of grains may alter growing and consumption patterns, too; corn already accounts for 31 percent of all genetically modified (GM) crop production, and research continues into GM rice.43 Some food security experts are focused on reducing post-harvest losses in developing countries, which have reached up to 20 percent in parts of Africa.44 With the growing number of hungry people worldwide expected to top 1 billion by the end of 2009, the success of future grain crops becomes even more important.45
Complete trends will be available with full endnote referencing, Excel spreadsheets, and customizable presentation-ready charts as part of our new subscription service, Vital Signs Online, slated to launch in November.
Grain Figures:
Table 1: Grain Production by Region, 1990–2008
World Food Day, 2009
The right to food is a basic right.
Mitigating Climate Change through land use
Summary:
Land makes up a quarter of Earth’s surface,and its soil and plants hold three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. More than 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions arise from the land use sector. Thus, no strategy for mitigating global climate change can be complete or successful without reducing emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. Moreover, only land-based or “terrestrial” carbon sequestration offers the possibility today of large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, through plant photosynthesis.
Five major strategies for reducing and sequestering terrestrial greenhouse gas emissions are:
• Enriching soil carbon. Soil is the third largest carbon pool on Earth’s surface. Agricultural soils can be managed to reduce emissions by minimizing tillage, reducing use of nitrogen fertilizers, and preventing erosion. Soils can store the carbon captured by plants from the atmosphere by building up soil organic matter, which also has benefits for crop production. Adding biochar (biomass burned in a low-oxygen environment) can further enhance carbon storage in soil.
• Farming with perennials. Perennial crops, grasses, palms, and trees constantly maintain and develop their root and woody biomass and associated carbon, while providing vegetative cover for soils. There is large potential to substitute annual tilled crops with perennials, particularly for animal feed and vegetable oils, as well as to incorporate woody perennials into annual cropping systems in agroforestry systems.
• Climate-friendly livestock production. Rapid growth in demand for livestock products has triggered a huge rise in the number of animals, the concentration of wastes in feedlots and dairies, and the clearing of natural grasslands and forests for grazing. Livestock- related emissions of carbon and methane now account for 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions—more than the transport sector. A reduction in livestock numbers may be needed but production innovations can help, including rotational grazing systems,manure management, methane capture for biogas production, and improved feeds and feed additives.
• Protecting natural habitat. The planet’s 4 billion hectares of forests and 5 billion hectares of natural grasslands are a massive reservoir of carbon—both in vegetation above ground and in root systems below ground. As forests and grasslands grow, they remove carbon from the atmosphere. Deforestation, land clearing, and forest and grassland fires are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Incentives are needed to encourage farmers and land users to maintain natural vegetation through product certification, payments for climate services, securing tenure rights, and community fire control. The conservation of natural habitat will benefit biodiversity in the face of climate change.
• Restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands. Extensive areas of the world have been denuded of vegetation through land clearing for crops or grazing and from overuse and poor management. Degradation has not only generated a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions, but local people have lost a valuable livelihood asset as well as essential watershed functions. Restoring vegetative cover on degraded lands can be a win-win-win strategy for addressing climate change, rural poverty, and water scarcity.
Agricultural communities can play a central role in fighting climate change. Even at a relatively low price for mitigating carbon emissions, improved land management could offset a quarter of global emissions from fossil fuel use in a year. In contrast, solutions for reducing emissions by carbon capture in the energy sector are unlikely to be widely utilized for decades and do not remove the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. To tackle the climate challenge, we need to pursue land use solutions in addition to efforts to improve energy efficiency and speed the transition to renewable energy.
Yet so far, the international science and policy communities have been slow to embrace terrestrial climate action. Some fear that investments in land use will not produce “real” climate benefits, or that land use action would distract attention from investment in energy alternatives. There is also a concern that land management changes cannot be implemented quickly enough and at a scale that would make a difference to the climate.
Putting Food Security on the Agenda in Copenhagen
Danielle Nierenberg Africa, Agriculture, Climate Change, Energy, Hunger, Poverty, organic 2009-10-14
Although agriculture (and its related land use changes) contributes at least one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), it’s only recently that the international community has begun thinking about ways to limit the GHGs that result from producing food or how to deal with the impacts climate change will have on food security.
Agriculture is likely the human endeavor perhaps most affected by changes in temperature and rainfall patterns and extreme weather events that will result from climate change. And many modern agricultural practices, which depend heavily on fossil fuels, contribute carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Livestock production alone contributes some 18 percent of all GHGs, according to a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Farmers, development agencies, the donor community, and policy-makers are all coming up with innovative solutions to ensure that climate change is not only on the international agenda in at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, but that changes are being made on the ground as well.
Our friend and colleague, Sara Scherr at EcoAgriculture Partners, for example, published a Worldwatch paper earlier this year highlighting agricultural innovations that can mitigate the GHGs from food production and improve food security, such as rotational grazing practices or the use of perennial crops. The Rodale Institute is also finding that organic and sustainable agriculture practices can both increase yields and help sequester carbon in the soil, preventing it from going into the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. And international aid agencies, such as CARE , are working with farmers and communities to encourage farming practices that both feed people and curb GHGs.
We’re planning to document some of these innovations on-the-ground as we travel throughout Eastern Africa starting as research for our Nourishing the Planet project. Stay tuned for photos, blogs, and video from our first stop, Ethiopia, next week.
From Worldwatch Institute nourishing the planet
Easy ways to save clean water
Turn the tap off while:
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brushing your teeth – use a glass, or a container to rinse;
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shaving - fill the sink with a little water, or use a shaving cup;
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washing dishes – put dishwashing liquid mixed with water in a bowl, or a sink if you have two -one for washing and one for rinsing;
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washing vegetables when cooking.
Report on food crisis
NGO Voices on the World Food Crisis (foodforethought)
What are various NGOs saying about the world food crisis? Between the tanking world economy and swine flu hysteria, the media has become increasingly silent on the ripple effects of the global food crisis. Reliefweb is an electronic hub for international NGOs and the UN. It offers a global view of the crisis – with updated policy reports and research data on food prices internationally. This is an essential resource for anyone wanting to understand the big picture of our shrinking food security. Please click here to access the area dealing with the food crisis.
Use Electricity Wisely Wheel
Find out what you can do to save more electricity!
Check out our interactive ‘Use Electricity Wisely Wheel’ to find out lots of different ways you can reduce your electricity use while saving money. Each time you select a conservation action, you’ll see what it will cost, and how much you’ll save each year. Watch your electricity bill shrink and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Links, Resources and Eco-info
Please visit these sites to learn more about preserving our planet, and if not, how to repair it.
Consumer Information
Energuide
oee.nrcan.gc.ca/energuide/index.cfm
Enbridge
www.enbridge.com/energytips/
Every Kilowatt Counts
www.everykilowattcounts.ca
Green Communities Canada
www.gccecoenergy.ca
powerWISE
www.powerwise.ca
Union Gas
www.uniongas.com/environment/energyconservation.asp
Zero Footprint
www.zerofootprint.net
Government Websites
Conservation Council of Ontario
www.greenontario.org/cco/index.html
Conserve The Light
www.conservethelight.ca
ecoENERGY Retrofit Grants and Incentives
www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/retrofit-summary.cfm
Natural Resources Canada – Office of Energy Efficiency – Grants and Incentives
oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/incentives.cfm?attr=0
Natural Resources Canada – ENERGY STAR
oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/energystar-portal.cfm
Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure
www.mei.gov.on.ca/english/
High Resolution – Using Our Electricity Resources Wisely (pdf)
Low Resolution – Using Our Electricity Resources Wisely (pdf)
Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Climate Change
www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/air/climatechange/index.php
Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Add It Up
www.additupontario.ca/index.html
Ontario Power Authority, Conservation Fund
www.powerauthority.on.ca/CFund/
Ontario Power Authority, Technology Development Fund
www.powerauthority.on.ca/TDFund/
Toronto Atmospheric Fund
www.toronto.ca/taf/
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
www.trca.on.ca
Non-governmental Organizations
Canadian Energy Efficiency Centre
www.energyefficiency.org
Centre for Energy
www.centreforenergy.com/AboutEnergy/
Clean Air Foundation
www.cleanairfoundation.org
David Suzuki Foundation
www.davidsuzuki.org
Earth Day Canada
www.earthday.ca/pub/resources/top10.php
Eco Superior Environmental Programs
www.ecosuperior.org
Envirocentre
www.envirocentre.ca
Friends of the Earth (Canada)
www.foecanada.org
Greening Sacred Spaces
www.faith-commongood.net/gss/
Greensaver
www.greensaver.org
Green Venture
www.greenventure.ca
The Pembina Institute
www.pembina.org/index.php
Ontario Eco-Schools
www.yorku.ca/ecoschl/index.asp
weconserve.ca
www.weconserve.ca
Electricity Industry Links
Hydro One Networks Inc.
www.hydroonenetworks.com/en/
Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO)
www.ieso.ca
Ontario Energy Board
www.oeb.gov.on.ca
A Sampling of Energy Conservation Projects in Ontario
ENERGY STAR for New Homes
www.esnewhomes.ca
Greening Sacred Spaces
www.faith-commongood.net/gss/index.asp
greenTBiz
www.greenTbiz.org
Project Porchlight
www.projectporchlight.com
Reduce the Juice
www.reducethejuice.ca
Rewire: A Project of the University of Toronto Sustainability Office
rewire.utoronto.ca
Windfall Ecology Center
www.windfallcentre.ca
Tip Resources
Homeowner energy tips
www.directenergy.com/EN/Pages/EnergyConservationTips.aspx
Tips for business managers
www.directenergy.com/EN/Pages/42tips.aspx
