Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on August 7, 2013
Focus on family farming to feed a growing world
As farmers and ranchers look for strategies to increase production to feed a growing world population, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and Food Tank suggest the best way to nourish the world is through increased production from family farms.
FAO predicts the world population will increase by 34 percent to reach 9.1 billion by 2050. In preparation for 2014, the International Year of the Family Farming, an organization focused on finding sustainable agricultural solutions and FAO are highlighting ways to provide family farmers the tools they need to really nourish the world.
In a release by the two organizations, Food Tank co-founder Danielle Nierenberg says family farming plays an important role in improving nutrition. Family farming can enhance soil health, protect water supplies, improve nutrition, and increase incomes.
FAO and Food Tank focus on five ways to support family farming globally. Those five strategies include:
Promote sustainable agriculture methods
In an analysis of 40 projects and programs, sustainable techniques like agroforestry and soil conservation increase yields for African smallholder farmers.
Assist family farmers in adapting to climate change and short-term climate variability
In sub-Saharan Africa, Farmer Field Schools teach farmers to mitigate climate change by managing inputs such as pesticides more effectively while increasing yields and incomes.
Promote policies to provide smallholders with legal titles to their land
Landesa works with countries to implement land rights programs, and helped 100 million farmers obtain or secure ownership over their land.
Increase access to local markets
Farmers markets can provide a great venue for family farmers to sell their products directly to consumers.
Close the gender gap
Closing the gender gap in agriculture could lift 100–150 million people out of hunger.
If public and private sectors direct funding toward family farmers, smallholder agriculture can get the push it needs to nourish both people and the planet.
Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Program Officer at FAO, says the organizations’ strategies will build on existing knowledge of sustainable agriculture to improve resilience in the food system.
7 Comments on "Focus on family farming to feed a growing world"
BillT on Thu, 8th Aug 2013 12:14 am
Isn’t that interesting! The answer is NOT tech but plain old fashioned work. Farms that raised their own food and some extra to sell. But then, that means that the 5% in farming in the US today will need to become 50%+ in the years ahead.
ricardo on Thu, 8th Aug 2013 1:46 am
Western civlization is over if third world populations keep growing as they do now, we have a ticket to collapse in no more than 50 years.
Jeff H on Thu, 8th Aug 2013 2:36 am
I have a small farm, trying to find anyone who is willing to “do the work” is a real challenge, I can get all the cheerleaders I want. But the person who will really work is few and far between. Thats alright, when you need something to eat, guess what, you can’t buy it, you will have to work for it, and you will have to learn how to grow your own food, thing is you wont have electricity, water thats readily avaliable, or fuel… just a hoe, and some seed that who knows where or what it is. Hierloom seeds are something that grows the same each year, if you dont start to pay attention to monsontos attempt to copywrite life, with gene splicing, and genitical modification, you will probably die trying to figure out if the stuff your growing will even produce edible crops…
efsome on Thu, 8th Aug 2013 8:14 am
lets see if agribiz’ll permit this kind of thing voluntarily 🙂
Arthur on Thu, 8th Aug 2013 3:08 pm
Yes, those countries that do not prepare in time for the transition, are in for a world made by hand. But relax, weed picking is so much fun!
DC on Thu, 8th Aug 2013 3:39 pm
The people behind this orgs message is virtually identical to the agri-corps except in a few places. Their message is still the same-grow more food to feed ever more mouths. This outfit still promotes infinite population growth, even if they dont overtly state it. Not one word about the link between over-population and hunger-duh. Besides, I am pretty sure the cattle network is a US trade association where most of its member run corporate owned CAFOs-not family farms.
IE, Corporate ‘food’.
bobinget on Thu, 8th Aug 2013 7:47 pm
We can learn valuable lessons from some of the hardest working people on earth, Haitians.
They share an island (Hispaniola) with The Dominican Republic. The Haitian side is almost denuded of trees making mudslides, flooding, common. When organized agriculture came to Haiti it was from multinationals who quickly transformed cheap labor and remaining level farmland into export crops.
Another land of run-away population growth in the news lately is Yemen. We will learn more about Yemen as Americans always learn geography, our military is busy there trying to contain an Islamic rebellion by drone targeting some of Yemen’s disagreeable bad guys.
Yemen joins Egypt as a classic case of post peak oil &
diminished underground water for agriculture.
Oil remaining Yemen should by all rights, stay in Yemen. It should used to improve infrastructure and develop new industries to employ (and feed) a burgeoning population set to redouble on two decades. Farmers, like oil drillers are tapping finite
water sources, borrowing against their children’s futures. The average yearly income is the lowest of any Arab state at $1000. Keep in mind Yemen once was a prosperous oil exporter.
Will Haiti or Yemen be the future of North American agriculture? No it will not. Why not, you may ask?
Most North and South American Farmers don’t dick around arguing about gene splicing. Most would like to get Monsanto’s intellectual property for the same price their kids pay for pirated music or films.
Yes, if drought pestered Brazilian farmers need Round-Up Ready drought resistant soy-beans they trucked in seed from countries that were permitted by their governments to sell them. North and South American farmers are in business to grow and sell fruits, grains and veggies and have no intention of
not being on top of every new scientific development.