Government steps to remedy lack of food processors and drivers are ‘thimble of water on a bonfire’, industry experts sayThe UK could face a “national shortage” of turkeys in the lead-up to Christmas brought on by a lack of labour following Brexit, the …
‘Corporate colonization’: small producers boycott UN food summit
Small-scale farmers and Indigenous groups say big ag offers only false and self-interested solutionsHundreds of civil society groups, academics and social movements are boycotting the first UN global food summit amid growing anger that the agenda has b…
US research points to lower milk yield from cows exposed to wildfire smoke
A team at the University of Oregon has begun a three-year study looking at the effects of air quality and other stress factors on dairy cattleJuliana Ranches drove to work in eastern Oregon in early September through wildfire smoke so thick that, for a…
‘Ecofeminism is about respect’: the activist working to revolutionise west African farming
Mariama Sonko is an unstoppable force who continued her work even when she was ostracised by her community in SenegalOutside Mariama Sonko’s home in the Casamance region of southern Senegal pink shells hang on improvised nets that will be placed in man…
Verdi aims to give farmers granular control over crop irrigation
Verdi, which launched today at TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield, refers to its smart valve clusters as “swarms.” The term denotes the kind of high-density implementation the company is looking to roll out in farms across North America. Retrofitted with existing irrigation technology, the aim of its system is to give farmers more control over the irrigation […]
Business minister bids to calm crisis fears as UK gas prices soar
No cause for alarm now, says Kwasi Kwarteng as energy discussions are likened to early Covid crisis talksThe government was scrambling on Saturday night to reassure Britons that rising gas prices would not plunge the country into an energy crisis, as m…
Netherlands proposes radical plans to cut livestock numbers by almost a third
Dutch farmers could be forced to sell land and reduce the amount of animals they keep to help lower ammonia pollutionDutch politicians are considering plans to force hundreds of farmers to sell up and cut livestock numbers, to reduce damaging ammonia p…
France threatened with legal action over use of pesticides
Widespread use of chemicals that can harm wildlife means French state has failed to protect the country’s flora and fauna, say NGOSThe French government is being threatened with court action by two NGOs who accuse it of failing to meet its obligations …
Wainwright prize for nature writing goes to James Rebanks for English Pastoral
Award comes during booming year for nature books, with sales over the last two months reaching £2.8mJames Rebanks’s story of his family’s farm in the Cumbrian Fells, English Pastoral, has won the Wainwright nature writing prize, praised as a “seminal w…
20 meat and dairy firms emit more greenhouse gas than Germany, Britain or France
Livestock companies with large emissions receive billions of dollars in funding, campaigners sayTwenty livestock companies are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than either Germany, Britain or France – and are receiving billions of dollars …