farming

Here are five things you need to know.

And it's about to get a lot worse.

Rather than turning to toxic chemicals to rid farm fields of destructive insects and noxious weeds, some farmers in Missouri are recruiting chickens and bugs to do the job for them.
The 40 acres of land purchased by Gary Wenig and his wife to grow organic crops were initially overrun by weeds and insects. In order to grow truly organic plants, the couple had to eschew products like Roundup and atrazine. Synthetic pesticides are permitted for organic growing, but they’re expensive and can still be toxic.

Starbucks didn't fare very well either.

(COMMONDREAMS) Hundreds of thousands have signed petitions calling on the U.S.

Disruptive technology may sound a bit scary to those unfamiliar with the term, but in reality, it has made our lives much easier in myriad ways. Simply put, digital disruption is innovation that displaces or replaces existing technologies — Netflix being one of the most notable.

(COMMONDREAMS) A new legal opinion penned by two former Justice Department officials bolsters warnings that the proposed merger between agroindustrial giants Bayer and Monsanto “is a five-alarm threat to our food supply and to farmers around the world.”

(ANTIMEDIA Op-Ed) Dear Bernie Sanders supporters,

(ANTIMEDIA) Preparations by various cogs of the national security complex, including FEMA, indicate a coming worldwide food shortage — and a resulting crisis marked by extreme civil unrest around the globe.

The same technological advances that brought us the Internet are about to change farming forever, though some say it’s a bittersweet way to make sure the world gets its organic produce on schedule.
The technologies used for the old-paradigm mono-crop are getting more high-tech than ever, but will this affect the slow-food movement, and the desire of consumers to access high quality, non-GM, organic food from their farmer down the lane?