Agriculture

Though the use of new portable greenhouse techniques, one farmer is looking to extend his local food growing season year-round -- in Northern Vermont.

As rural villagers abandon farms for the city, tropical lands are reverting to rainforests.

Architects form the University of British Columbia are calling on cities to "go wild" -- mainly by integrating ecological features into the cityscape to make it more self-contained. The result would be both sustainable and exciting, they say.

Degradation of soils has brought down many human civilizations. Our current industrial agriculture practices threaten the future of human existence. A 50-year farm bill is needed to guide policy on a more sustainable path, according to this oped.

This column looks at President-elect Barack Obama's food politics and wonders just how sustainable his administration's food policies will be.

With urban farms sprinkled throughout the island, Cuba is proving to be one of the world's most successful models of how to integrate agriculture into urban areas.

As more and more of China's "floating population" return from their city jobs to their farms, officials brace for backlash from the recently unemployed.

China's Communist ruling party has agreed to allow farmers to transfer land use rights for farming. The plan is designed to consolidate landholdings, discourage uneconomic farmers, and boost rural incomes for 750 million people.

The next president should take farming seriously and personally, according to Neal Pierce, who writes that rethinking the scale of food production is smart for regions, the environment and the economy.

Preserving farmland has always been a major issue in the U.S. But as Bill Fulton discusses, the local economic results don't quite justify the efforts.

The non-profit group Nuestras Raíces in Holyoke, Mass. has found urban agriculture a powerful community glue, providing increased food security and economic opportunity to the Puerto Rican population there.

The USDA is considering a plan to put conservation land back into agricultural production -- a move farmers are trumpeting, but environmentalists are opposing.

Vancouver's South East False Creek community is making the production of food one of the major aspects of its preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Its emphasis on local food production is a model other cities may look to follow.

In an effort to reduce shipping costs, Wal-Mart is cutting its food miles and passing the savings on to customer by selling locally grown produce.

Protests both peaceful and violent are breaking out across Europe and Asia as people's livelihoods begin to suffer from soaring fuel costs, and some stores are running out of food as truck drivers go on strike.

Both farmers and the rural poor are hurting because gas prices are not only higher in Canada's rural areas, but the distances required to obtain food and other necessities are so great.

"Honey from the Hood" is one of the home-grown prodcuts from a Kensington neighborhood garden. To avoid soil contamination from this former industrial site, plants are grown in raised beds or hydroponically.

For years, hipsters have sported trucker hats and rootsy fashion with a back-to-the-earth vibe. Now, some young professionals are heading back to the farm for real -- and taking their organic, pro-environment values with them.

Andres Duany led a recent charrette in Tsawwassen, B.C., resulting in a unique plan focused on walkability and local agriculture.

America is reaching the limits of its water supply, signaling a need to change urban development, energy and agricultural practices, writes Shiney Varghese of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.