Sharing the Ascension Experience
In an era of war and global terrorism, Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug sees agriculture as an instrument of peace.Though he’s revered as a peacemaker, this pugnacious 90-year-old is quick to wrestle with procrastinating bureaucrats in third-world countries, and he’s worked tirelessly to convince kings and presidents of the value of his agricultural advancements. These days, … Read more
Although fresh veggies grown in self-sufficient space greenhouses are at least 15 years away, scientists already are testing experimental greenhouses in laboratories on Earth and in harsh environments like Devon Island in the Canadian high Arctic. “For a mission of a year, it’s possible to pack enough food and water,” says Rob Ferl, director of … Read more
Changi General Hospital plants vegetables on its rooftop, harvests them and offers them to patients. For its efforts, it has been awarded an Urban Agriculture Achievement Award, given by The Urban Agriculture Network, a regional agriculture group. The vegetable farm is found right on the rooftop of the hospital. Using the hydroponic method, about 10 … Read more
New convention centre to boast a meadow on top — the largest green roof in countryWhen the Vancouver convention centre spreads its sails in 2008 with a $500-million expansion, it will be sporting a 2.4-hectare roof alive with flowers and grasses. Destined to be the largest green roof in Canada, it will cover the equivalent … Read more
It has been a year since farming operations in Ceballos’ small lot in Caloocan began. At only 200 sq.m., the area is obviously small for commercial production. But the young entrepreneur used the financial grants anyway to build a greenhouse and assemble a Nutrient Film Technique-driven hydroponic system in the family backyard. Throughout the course … Read more
Famine has struck Kenya in a big way, with more than 2.3 million people requiring emergency assistance. For these subsistence farmers, the shortage of rain over the past three years has left them with no food. Kenyan President Kibaki declared the famine a national disaster and asked the international community for assistance.Members of Tigoni Baptist … Read more
The final frontier opens up opportunities for food makers and Europe’s space agency pushes its latest technologies at the massive food fair in Paris this week. The European Space Agency (ESA) said this week at the end-products food show SIAL that the current focus for its scientists is to solve the problem of food production … Read more
About 20 airplanes, 5,000 trucks, and 40 ships deliver food aid to poor countries every day, according to the WFP. The average daily expenditure on food in the developed world is $10; WFP food rations cost 29 cents per person fed per day.Food drops from low-flying airplanes are mostly a thing of the past. Today, … Read more
The problem, perhaps, is that techniques such as inter-cropping, agroforestry, green manuring, composting and biological pest control offer less prospect of commercial gain to those who have money to invest. The hundreds of millions of people who would gain are the much-derided practitioners of so-called “peasant agriculture”, who have very little money, but who are … Read more
A method that uses roughly only one-hundredth the fresh water customarily needed to grow forage for livestock may leave much more water available for human consumption, as well as for residential and industrial uses. The method for lessening water use is being tested by 42 wireless sensors being installed in a forage-growing hydroponic greenhouse built … Read more