8 May 2015, ClimateWire: New England city turns to its wastes to ensure year-round supply of fresh vegetables and fish. By this time next year, residents in Keene, N.H., will have year-round access to local and sustainable fish and vegetables, thanks to their municipal landfill. Keene’s city officials are partnering with an organization called the Local Farms Project with plans to construct a 1-acre greenhouse and a recirculating aquaculture system on the grounds of the closed Keene Landfill. Once it is fully operational, the Keene Energy and Agriculture Project is expected to produce 500,000 pounds of fresh lettuce and herbs and 66,000 pounds of live tilapia for local grocery wholesalers each year. Read More here
Tag Archives: Agriculture
8 May 2015, Climate News Network:Tree-based farming could deliver abundant benefits: In addition to mitigating the effects of climate change, forests can help alleviate hunger and provide a safety net for some of the world’s poorest people. Forests may be the green investment with the richest returns for humankind, according to new research. While one study outlines the ways in which forests provide food, fuel, shelter and a safety net for more than a billion humans, a separate one confirms that a canopy of older, sturdier trees helps protect the saplings and juvenile growths against heat and drought. An international team of more than 60 scientists collaborated on a report − Forests, Trees and Landscapes for Food Security and Nutrition: a Global Assessment Report − just published by the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO). Read More here
12 February 2015, Climate News Network: Rice serves up double measure of biofuel and fodder. An inexpensive process developed in Japan will allow farmers to produce their own tractor fuel and cattle feed in one simple step. Japanese scientists have found a potential answer to the biofuel dilemma that if you grow crops for energy, you have to sacrifice crops for food. They report that they can now ferment rice to deliver ethanol, while making silage for cattle feed –and that it can all be done on the farm without need for any expensive off-site processes. Mitsuo Horita, of the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences in Tsukuba, Japan, and colleagues write in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels that they used a process of solid-state fermentation known to temperate zone farmers everywhere: grass or cereal is harvested, compressed, sealed, and fermented in the absence of oxygen. Read More here