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‘This place wanted to be a wetland': how a farmer turned his fields into a wildlife sanctuary

Gabrielle Canon

October 22, 2023 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Oregon

A barley farm in southern Oregon transformed 70 of its 400 acres into a wetland sanctuary after it had spent years leaking phosphorus pollution into the Upper Klamath Lake. A team of scientists and advocates collaborated with the farmer to finance and construct the new natural ecosystem, which began to yield the farmer both environmental and financial benefits after only one year.

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The World's Soils Are Becoming Dangerously Degraded, but Rare Microbes Offer Hope

Sandy Ong

October 19, 2023 |

Wired |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Argentina, Buenos Aires

The startup Puna Bio collects microbes that live on the high-altitude La Puna plateau and turns them into a product that farmers can apply to soybeans to increase yields and improve soil health. Since they adapted to survive in such a harsh climate, the microbes can survive depleted soil and extreme weather to pass along key nutrients and antioxidants to crops.

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The Initiative Enabling Nigerian Farmers To Grow And Earn More

Nathaniel Bivan

September 15, 2023 |

HumAngle |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Kubau, Kaduna

Babban Gona is an agriculture company that helps smallholder farmers in Nigeria produce bigger yields and increase their incomes. The company offers training, fertilizer, herbicides, and seeds in exchange for some of the farmer’s harvest. When the produce sells, the farmers get some of the profit and a bonus if it sells for more than expected.

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Landless Workers Fight for Fair Food

Nicole Froio

August 31, 2023 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil

The Landless Workers Movement in Brazil is fighting for land access for rural workers and is breaking up unequal land monopolies by squatting on privately-owned vacant land. This practice attracts the attention of the federal government, which assesses whether it can buy the land and provide it to the movement to live and farm on.

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What can harnessing 'positive deviance' methods do for food security?

Katrina Lane

August 29, 2023 |

Devex |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Niger

Researchers are helping communities spread the agricultural practices of outlier, high-performing farms amid food security struggles in Niger. Their approach, known as positive deviance, involves identifying what the farmers are doing differently through surveys and encouraging them to teach community members to do the same.

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Automation is Transforming the World's Leading Vertical Farm Companies

Roe Medovoi-Klotz

August 28, 2023 |

The Sweaty Penguin |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Compton, California

Automated indoor farming harnesses technology like artificial intelligence, robotics, and climate-controlled systems to limit the negative environmental impacts of growing food while maximizing nutrients and yields.

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Cotton growers use "bank-less" systems to save water and improve efficiency

Pip Courtney

August 19, 2023 |

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Australia, Dalby

Cotton farmers in Australia are converting their fields to be bankless so the work requires less water and labor. That means they’re removing the mounds of soil that kept water contained in ditches and redesigning the fields so it flows from one side to the other in gated stages instead of siphoning water by hand.

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Napa Vineyards Are Pairing Wine With ‘Fish Friendly Farming'

Nicole Gluckstern

August 14, 2023 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Napa Valley, California

The Fish Friendly Farming (FFF) program aims to alleviate the impacts of farming and ranching on local waterways, specifically local salmon and trout populations. The program works with area farmers to become certified and enact the best practices regarding soil health and erosion management to prevent too much sediment from entering nearby waterways. So far, the program has certified more than 280,000 acres of farms across 10 counties. In Napa Valley alone, about 90% of all vineyards are now FFF certified.

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An Ancient Desert-Dwelling Culture Embraces Hydroponics

Vandana K

July 28, 2023 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Ghantiyali, Rajasthan

A nonprofit in India focused on supporting farmers, Urmul Seemant Samiti, is helping pastoralists transition to using hydroponics to grow fodder for their livestock amid increasing droughts. Alongside hydroponic fodder startup Hydrogreens, the organization trains pastoralists to use sprinkler systems to create fog that waters their indoor crops.

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Bengal banana farmers bask in sunshine

Diwash Gahatraj

July 24, 2023 |

Village Square |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: India, Birbhum, West Bengal

Farmers in West Bengal, India, are swapping rice for bananas to save on expenses and labor and adapt to increasingly erratic monsoons and rainfall impacting yields. The farmers use solar panels and drip irrigation setups funded by the state government to reduce emissions and minimize water loss, as bananas require a lot of water.

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