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The Kingdom of Bhutan has decided it will pursue its goal for all agriculture to become organic. The Himalayan nation, which borders India and China, plans for its food production to become 100% organic by 2020, an aim enshrined in Bhutan’s National Framework for Organic Farming. At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in […]

On Monday, US farmers and livestock groups called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce or suspend the use of maize for ethanol production for an entire year. The ongoing drought in large parts of the US has led to soaring grain prices, causing concern about food supplies and high feed costs for cattle

In tandem with local farming partners, the Development Fund of Norway has today launched a project designed to establish the impact of sustainable agriculture on Malawi’s soils. Agriculture consultant Mahara Nyirenda explained to reporters that the project will gather empirical evidence that would serve to help promote sustainable farming practices to a larger proportion of

Food experts are warning that America’s Midwest drought threatens a repetition of the 2008 global food crisis, when spiraling prices set off riots in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. With corn and soybean crops in the midst of an unrelenting heat wave, huge crop losses are inevitable. This will, in turn,

A ground breaking new book, ‘Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity’, exploring sustainable diets and how they relate to the production and consumption of the food we eat, has this week been released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Bioversity International. Written by prominent scientists, policy makers and practitioners, the book studies the

According to the latest OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook, released Wednesday, sustainable farming systems will be essential for world farm production to rise by the necessary 60 percent by 2050 to meet the needs of a growing population. FAO head Jose Graziano da Silva made it clear at the public launch of the Outlook Document that the

This week, across Europe, sustainable food campaigners, industrial farming lobbyists and national governments will be putting together lists of suggestions to the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and passing them to MEPs for consideration. This is the week set aside in which MEPs on the agriculture and rural development committee have the opportunity to table

An announcement issued recently by the Indian Government’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has stipulated that every food package containing genetically modified food must, as of January, 2013, bear at the top of its display panel, the words ‘GM.’ This new ruling will give Indian consumers the right to know whether the

A new report offers hope for rural communities fighting to protect their land and natural resources from global ‘land grabbing’. The report, published by Namati and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), documented the experiences of communities, all located in Sub-Saharan Africa, who had survived years of war and upheaval merely to find their lands

Cuban researchers are currently developing crops which are adapted to climate change. The National Institute for Basic Research in Tropical Agriculture (INIFAT), a government institution, has been investigating over 30 species of vegetable, including cabbages, tomatoes and cucumbers, in order to breed resilient varieties that can cope with tropical conditions. Development of resistant varieties can