Tag: farms
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Organic growers see new role in the age of climate change
photo credit: Ruth Dusseault/Bay City News A robotic weeder that uses no herbicide, at the Organic Growers Summit in Monterey on Nov. 29, 2023. It’s hard to find a job fighting climate change, oddly. But the organic farming industry is one place where a person can make a living making a difference. Food systems account…
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The Future of Farming is Uncertain. Here’s How We Save It.
At a recent event, we spoke with author Tom Philpott about the environmental and economic destruction brought by industrial farming and how we can reverse course. As veteran reporter and author Tom Philpott says, our food system is incredibly productive — but also incredibly fragile. The consequences of this have become ever clearer over the…
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Top Methane Emitter is a Vast Cattle Feedlot. Federal and State Greenhouse Gas Regulators Are Giving It a Pass.
Photo: The Brandt Cattle Company feedyard in Southern California’s Imperial Valley composts dry manure in an open field, a process that avoids nearly all methane production and emissions from the feedlot’s manure. Credit: Google Earth A “kid gloves” approach to agricultural emissions, including burping cows, raises questions about an environmentally minded state’s commitment to combating…
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Ag land values benefit from groundwater recharge, runoff
Photo: Fresno Irrigation District General Manager Bill Stretch continues a management acumen of groundwater recharge borne from his predecessor. Agricultural values in the district tend to be among the highest in the San Joaquin Valley because of the dual sources of irrigation water. Todd Fitchette Groundwater recharge efforts in Fresno Irrigation District (FID) could be…
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Iowa farms using low-tech systems to filter fertilizer-borne nitrates from water
Photo: A worker shovels wood chips in a bioreactor trench in a farm field, on March 28, 2023, near Roland, Iowa. Low-tech systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Nick Helland’s central Iowa farm looks much like every other nearby farm on…