Peer2Politics

Amid all the mayhem and turmoil of recent weeks, here's a news story you may have missed. The Romanian parliament unanimously passed an amendment to the country's "Law on the Sale of Food Products" bill which states that every large supermarket in the country must ensure that 51% of the fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, honey, dairy products and baked goods they stock are "locally sourced". As a demonstration of how enlightened policymaking can unlock Transition, it's an eye-catching and paradigm-shifting piece of legislation. But is it legal, and, actually, does that matter anyway?

La Via Campesina

Circulate - the go-to location for circular economy related news and insight.

Circulate - the go-to location for circular economy related news and insight.

Designing perennial polycultures (guilds) can be a big challenge. It can be hard to find information on perennial crops and support species. There is a need for information, sample polycultures, and design templates.

Since 2007 we have worked to address these key needs on our site, a crowdsourced tool featuring perennial crops, polycultures, and food forests. Thus far our focus has been on humid temperate systems, but we are raising funds to expand to a global resource. At the same time we’ll be implementing a major overhaul of our site. This will include the open-access addition of the 700 perennial crop species from Eric Toensmeier’s forthcoming book The Carbon Farming Solution.

Feeding more than seven billion people with minimal environmental and climate impacts is no small feat. That parts of the world are plagued by obesity while starvation is rampant elsewhere shows that part of the problem revolves around distribution and social equity. But agricultural methods pose some of the biggest challenges.

Our food choices are deeply connected to climate change. Food will play a critical role in the next frontier of our efforts to solve the environmenta

For my first post-welcome post, I'd like to offer comments on a few significant quotes from stuff I've read. This might help to sharpen the contrast between the circular growth economy I do not advocate and the perma-circular economy I do advocate. One of the main think tanks spearheading a totally mainstream approach to generalized…

Stream What Makes Our Fertilising Practices Unsustainable? by The Green Exchange from desktop or your mobile device

Marilee Foster is not the kind of farmer who makes rash decisions. But when she recently heard about Rowbot, a lawn-mower sized autonomous machine that can fertilize the soil, mulch weeds and sow crops on 50 acres a day, she asked, “How much does it cost? And where can I get it?”

These past two weeks, the airwaves and print media have been saturated with news regarding the Panama Papers and the ongoing operation in Southern Punjab. The

It’s heartening to read about an altruistic movement with no hidden motives except to feed the hungry, homeless and needy, writes Mari Marcel Thekaekara.

Or why the miniaturization of farm machinery will help encourage small, diverse farms.

Sustainable Food Trust presents a True Cost Accounting discussion on the Fat of the Land

OVER THE LAST two centuries in the West, we have been telling ourselves that economic growth is the most direct path to prosperity, that the good life implies material affluence, and that technology and ‘free markets’ will be able to solve most of our social and environmental problems. In recent decades, we have even attempted to impose this story on the entire globe, arrogantly declaring the end of history.

In addition to not feeding the masses, vertical farming could have grave environmental and economic consequences

New dietary guidelines could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1bn tonnes by 2030, and could lessen country’s problems with obesity and diabetes

Earlier this month, Shareable posted a short article about the Little Free Pantry in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Created by Jessica McClard, the Pantry is an easy way for people to share surplus food and household goods, and access items they may need.

What if we could grow delicious, nutrient-dense food, indoors anywhere in the world? Caleb Harper, director of the Open Agriculture Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, wants to change the food system by connecting growers with technology. Get to know Harper's "food computers" and catch a glimpse of what the future of farming might look like.