U.N. Warns of Long-Term Climate Change Impacts on Food Production. By Gargi Parsai, The Hindu, 4/1/11. “‘Potentially catastrophic’ impacts on food production from slow-onset climate changes are expected to increasingly hit the developing world in the future, and action is required now to prepare for those impacts, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned on March 31st in a report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Food production systems and the ecosystems they depended on were highly sensitive to climate variability and change. Changes in temperature, precipitation and related outbreaks of pest and diseases could reduce production. Poor people in countries that depended on food imports were particularly vulnerable to such effects, the FAO said… A crucial measure highlighted in the FAO submission is need to develop staple food varieties better adapted to expected future climatic conditions. Plant genetic material stored in gene banks should be screened with future requirements in mind and additional plant genetic resources -- including those from wild relatives of food crops -- must be collected and studied because of the risk that they may disappear.”

World Dangerously Close to Food Crisis, U.N. Says. By John Collins Rudolf, NYTimes, 11/24/10. “Global grain production will tumble by 63 million metric tons this year, or 2 percent over all, mainly because of weather-related calamities like the Russian heat wave and the floods in Pakistan, the United Nations estimates in its most recent report on the world food supply. The United Nations had previously projected that grain yields would grow 1.2 percent this year… In the long term, growing demand for food staples like corn and seed oil for use as biofuels will most likely continue to play a central role in tightening world food supplies, the United Nations warned. Roughly 7% of global yields of corn and other coarse grains is being used to make ethanol.”

Family Farms in Africa Threatened by Foreign Biofuel Producers. By Silvia Aloisi, Reuters, 10/21/10. “Land purchases by foreign investors in poor countries and the growing use of biofuels are boosting pressures on agricultural farmland and helping make 500 million small farmers hungry, a U.N. envoy said on Thursday [10/21/10]. Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, said the combination of environmental degradation, urbanization and large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors formed an ‘explosive cocktail’ for small farmers.

“‘The plots cultivated by smallholders are shrinking year after year. Farmers are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation,’ he said in a new report presented to the U.N. General Assembly. ‘This poses a direct threat to the right to food of rural populations.’ Each year, up to 30 million hectares (74 million acres) of farmland are lost due to severe degradation, conversion to industrial use and urbanization.

“On top of that, more than a third of large-scale land acquisitions -- which last year reached some 45 million hectares-- are intended to produce agrofuels rather than food, according to the World Bank… There has been a steep rise in the number of land deals since a 2008 spike in food prices, with countries like China, South Korea and rich Gulf Arab states seeking to secure their food supplies by buying large swathes of farmland mostly in African nations. The problem of land rights and ownership is particularly acute in Africa, where according to a U.N. conference in Rome last week 90% percent of the land being targeted by investors is not legally documented.”

The Siberian Energy Rush. By Joshua Hammer, Fast Company, 11/1/10 issue, in-depth. “Global warming is opening up the Arctic Circle, and Russia would like to control its bounty of natural resources. That is drastically altering life for the Nenets, a tribe of reindeer herders, who complain bitterly about being forced to divert their herds from routes they've upsed for more than a thousand years.”

Severe Drought Afflicts Brazilian Amazon. BBC, 10/22/10. “The Brazilian government has announced $13.5 million in emergency aid for Amazon regions hit by the worst drought in decades… The River Amazon at Manaus has fallen to its lowest level since 1963. Scientists say the region is facing its worst drought since that year. In Amazonas state 27 municipalities have declared a state of emergency because of the dry spell. Several tributaries of the Amazon have almost completely dried up, paralyzing river transport and the fishing industry. The rainy season in the region usually begins in November. The Peruvian Amazon, 2,000km (1,240 miles) upstream has also been affected… Environmental groups say severe drought are likely to become more frequent in the Amazon as a result of global warming, putting further strain on the rainforest.”

‘Right to Food,’ Sustainable Farming Marked on World Food Day. AFP, 10/16/10. “The UN top official on the right to food called for wholesale changes in farming methods to safeguard the environment and ensure everyone has enough to eat. Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement to mark World Food Day [October 16] that there is currently ‘little to rejoice about’, and ‘worse may still be ahead’. ‘Current agricultural developments are... threatening the ability for our children's children to feed themselves,’ he said…

“De Schutter said the emphasis on chemical fertilizers and a greater mechanization of production was ‘far distant from the professed commitment to fight climate change and to support small-scale, family agriculture.’ In addition, ‘giving priority to approaches that increase reliance on fossil fuels is agriculture committing suicide’, he said. ‘Agriculture is already directly responsible for 14% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions -- and up to one third if we include the carbon dioxide produced by deforestation for the expansion of cultivation or pastures.’ As a result of climate change, the yields in certain regions of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to fall by 50% by 2020 in comparison to 2000 levels. And growing frequency and intensity of floods and droughts contribute to volatility in agricultural markets.’... ‘Low-technology, sustainable techniques may be better suited to the needs of the cash-strapped farmers working in the most difficult environments,’ De Schutter said. ‘They represent a huge, still largely untapped potential to meet the needs and to increase the incomes of the poorest farmers.’”

Walmart Doubling Sales of Produce from Local Farms. By Ariel Schwartz, Fast Company, 10/14/10.“It's becoming increasingly difficult to vilify Walmart, despite its tendency to put smaller retailers out of business. The retail giant last year unveiled an ambitious sustainability index for its suppliers, and now the it's announced plans to double the sales of fresh produce sourced from local farms in U.S. locations by the end of 2015. The move is part of a larger set of global sustainable agriculture goals unveiled by Walmart this week.

”Other goals for 2015 include selling $1 billion in food sourced from one million small and medium farmers, increasing income of those small to medium farmers by 10 to 15%, and providing training to one million farm workers in sustainable farming practices. Walmart also plans to invest over $1 billion in its global fresh food supply chain over the next five years. And in an apparent effort to lure customers who shy away from traditional big box retailers, Walmart will open up dozens of 30,000 to 60,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market grocery stores over the next few years.”

Gates Foundation Focus Turns to Seeds, Climate. By Christine Stebbins, Reuters, 10/14/10. “Gates Foundation, which has donated $1.5 billion to agriculture in developing countries, is focusing more investments on seeds and technology to help small farmers adapt to climate change, the foundation's chief executive said [in a speech] on Thursday [10/14/10].”

Antarctic Krill at Risk from CO2. ABC News (AU), 10/13/10. “Tasmanian scientists have released ground-breaking research which shows increasing ocean acidification is deadly for Antarctica's main food source. The team at the Antarctic Division has studied the impacts of increased levels of carbon dioxide on the shrimp-like krill. Scientists exposed the laboratory krill embryos to varying levels of carbon dioxide, from as little as 380 parts per million, which is the current surface level, to 2,000 parts per million. The embryos exposed to the highest level did not survive. Krill Biologist Rob King says with carbon dioxide levels predicted to double by the end of the century, the next step is to find the exact tipping point. ‘No one had done this before, especially for Antarctic krill, and we really were shooting in the dark a bit to find and guess what levels to try,’ he said.”

Washington's Wind Power Windfall. By Kathie Durbin, Clark Columbian, Washington, 10/12/10. “Eastern Klickitat County’s wind energy boom has utterly transformed the landscape. In the past four years, 624 wind turbines have risen along the crest of the Columbia Hills and on ridges south and east of this town of 90, each the height of a 41-story building as measured from the ground to the tip of the highest turbine blade… The gusty Gorge winds that set those turbine blades spinning have the capacity to generate more than 1,200 megawatts of power once all the wind farms under construction in Klickitat County are generating electricity -- enough to serve about 300,000 homes. That’s more than the generating capacity of Portland General Electric’s Trojan nuclear power plant, which closed in 1993, or about five natural gas-fired plants, such as the River Road plant operated by Clark Public Utilities… For Bickleton, the wind-powered transformation has been abrupt, and mostly positive… The arrival of large-scale wind development also has thrown a lifeline to Bickleton-area farmers who previously scratched out a living growing dryland wheat.”

Australian Farmers to Lose 1/3 of Irrigation Water in Murray-Darling Basin. By James Grubel, Reuters, 10/8/10. “Farmers would lose more than a third of irrigation water in Australia's major food bowl, the Murray-Darling, under a plan released on Friday to restore ailing rivers, posing a new headache for the Labor minority government. The move could see the value of cotton production cut by 25%, and farmers and irrigators have warned of farm closures, massive job losses and higher food prices if the plan by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority is adopted by the government… Environmentalists welcome the cuts, saying they will help Australia's major river system survive future droughts brought on by climate change in the world's driest inhabited continent. Prime Minister Julia Gillard's fragile one-seat majority government is dependent on support from both rural independents and the Green party and will have to balance both interests in deciding whether to adopt the plan by the end of 2011. Under the new plan, irrigation rights would be cut by between 3,000 to 4,000 gigalitres a year, cutting water supplies to farmers by between 27 to 37%, with the government to buy back water licenses to compensate farmers… The Greens party, which will control the Senate from July 2011, called for the government to stand by the plan…

“The Murray-Darling basin is Australia's food bowl, accounting for 40 percent of agricultural production and 93 percent of domestic food production. The basin supports food and cotton producers and covers 1.06 million sq km, 14 percent of Australia's landmass and an area the size of France and Spain combined. The basin covers four states and contains Australia's three biggest rivers, the 2,500-km (1,550 miles) Murray, the 2,700-km Darling and the 1,690-km (1,050 miles) Murrumbidge.”

Trying to Help Farmers Adapt to Climate Change in Kenya. By Isaiah Esipisu, IPS, 9/29/10. "In the semi-arid Laikipia district of Kenya's Rift Valley province, research scientist Sarah Ogalleh Ayeri travels from one village to another, documenting methods used by peasant farmers as they attempt to adapt to changing climatic conditions… She said that before introducing any climate change adaptation measures to any community of smallholder farmers, some key issues must be considered. 'We must first understand the preferred local adaptation strategies. But most importantly, we must know how farmers perceive climate change, how they link their existent adaptations to the phenomenon, and how these existent adaptations can be improved to be more effective, efficient and sustainable.'"

It’s Official: A Fisheries Disaster. By John Collins Rudolf, NYTimes, May 26, 2010. “Commerce Secretary Gary Locke declared the Gulf of Mexico a national fisheries disaster area on May 24, citing the havoc wrought on the region’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry by the Deepwater Horizon blowout. The fisheries of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are covered by the disaster declaration, making them eligible for federal relief funds. The spill in the gulf has forced the closing of more than 54,000 square miles of federal waters and wide swaths of Louisiana state waters to commercial and recreational fishing. Louisiana’s commercial fisheries, which generated about $2.4 billion in revenue and 27,000 jobs for the state last year, have been particularly hard hit by the spreading slick. The disaster declaration does not in itself authorize the release of funds, but federal law requires that it be accomplished before assistance can begin to flow. A far more important hurdle is Congressional approval of legislation authorizing $118 million in funds for the overall federal response to the spill, which was submitted by the Obama administration to the House and Senate on May 12. The pending legislation, as amended by the Senate appropriations committee, provides for $13 million in direct relief to gulf fishermen and fishing-related industries and $5 million in economic development grants to state, local and nonprofit entities to aid in the spill recovery process. When these funds will actually reach the hands of fishermen in the gulf is uncertain. The broader bill authorizing money for the spill response takes the form of an amendment to a massive $58.8 billion emergency appropriations bill that includes billions for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many other items. This complex bill is under debate in the Senate and requires review and approval by the House before becoming law. Final approval of the bill is likely to be further delayed by a weeklong congressional recess beginning on Memorial Day.”

Africa Revives Hardy, Local Rice vs Asian Cousin. By Alister Doyle, Reuters, May 21, 2010. "Scientists are reviving long-ignored African rice to cut dependence on Asian varieties that may be less able to withstand the impact of climate change on the poorest continent, a report said on May 21. Historically, scientists have focused on breeding useful traits such as disease resistance from African rice into Asian rice. Now the focus is on the reverse -- using African rice as the basic crop and improving it with Asian genes. 'African rice was initially ignored by mainstream research,' said Koichi Futakuchi, a scientist at Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in a statement. 'Now for the first time, we're reversing the gene flow.' Asian and African rice are the only two cultivated species of the crop in the world but the usually higher-yielding Asian type, introduced to Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, has become the dominant type to meet surging demand... 'With climate change a reality, the work of developing crop varieties adapted to the changing environment is going to keep plant breeders busy for decades,' AfricaRice said in a study coinciding with U.N. International Biodiversity Day on May 22."

Ocean Acidification Hits Northwest Oyster Farms. By Darcy Bonfils, ABC News, April 22, 2010. "Mark Wiegardt and Sue Cudd have each dedicated about 30 years of their lives to bringing oysters to our tables. Now the two have found themselves in the forefront of one of the newest, most pressing environmental issues of our time:ocean acidification. It all began with the oyster larvae at their Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery in Tilamook, Ore. 'It first started in 2007. We had a situation here when all of a sudden, our larvae started dying,' said Wiegardt… Desperate, Wiegardt and Cudd turned to expert oceanographer Burke Hales and his team from Oregon State University to study the new and alarming enigma. They learned that the Pacific waters piped into their hatchery from nearby Netarts Bay were the cause of the dying larvae… The scientists went to work and learned that something was making the oceans too acidic and preventing the oyster larvae from growing shells. No shells means certain death… 'The chemistry is very simple. It is 101... 'While the effects are just beginning to be seen in our hatcheries, the oceans are now changing faster than they have ever changed over the last 200 million years,' said Richard Freely of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who has been studying ocean acidification for 20 years. 'effects can be seen in the weaker shells of oysters, clams, mussels, lobsters and shrimp. Smaller-shelled creatures, such as those at the bottom of the food chain, which most fish eat, are also dwindling away,' said Freely. 'Corals have a hard time forming too.' Ocean acidity, said Freely, threatens the entire $2 billion U.S. shellfish industry."

Warmer Nights Threaten India's Rice Production. By Gayathri Vaidyanathan, ClimateWire, May 5, 2010. "This development could have a far-reaching impact on the yield of rice, causing a shortfall in an important staple crop in a crowded country already grappling with food security and inflationary issues, said Krishna Kumar Kanikicharla, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorologyin Pune, India. A nighttime temperature increase of 0.20 degree Celsius has been seen in the past decade, said Kanikicharla. This is higher than the measured daytime increase of 0.16 degree Celsius over the same period. His findings will be published in the journal Climate Research shortly. This is the first time that a nighttime temperature rise has been observed in India. The Earth radiates back heat at night, so a tight blanket of greenhouse gases and clouds in the upper atmosphere acts as a block to prevent radiation back into space. As a result of this blanketing, warmer nights can be an indicator of climate change, according to some experts."

Organic Farming Offers Best Hope for Feeding the World. Commentary by Anna Lappé, Foreign Policy, April 29, 2010. "Organic farmers improve output, less by applying purchased products and more by tapping a sophisticated understanding of biological systems to build soil fertility and manage pests and weeds through techniques that include double-dug beds, intercropping, composting, manures, cover crops, crop sequencing, and natural pest control. Biotech and industrial agriculture would in fact more aptly be called water, chemical, and fossil-fuel-intensive farming, requiring external inputs to boost productivity. Industrial agriculture gobbles up much of the 70% of the planet's freshwater resources diverted to farming, for example. It relies on petroleum-based chemicals for pest and weed control and requires massive amounts of synthetic fertilizer. In fact, in 2007, we used 13 million tons of synthetic fertilizer, five times the amount used in 1960. Crop yields, by comparison, grew only half that fast. And it's hardly a harmless increase: Nitrogen fertilizers are the single biggest cause of global-warming gases from U.S. agriculture and a major cause of air and water pollution -- including the creation of dead zones in coastal waters that are devoid of fish. And despite the massive pesticide increase, the United States loses more crops to peststoday than it did before the chemical agriculture revolution six decades ago...

"In the most comprehensive analysis of world agriculture to date, several U.N. agencies and the World Bank engaged more than 400 scientists and development experts from 80 countries over four years to produce the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development report [Agriculture at Crossroads, PDF, 606 pp]. The conclusion? Our 'reliance on resource-extractive industrial agriculture is risky and unsustainable, particularly in the face of worsening climate, energy, and water crises,' said Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, a lead author on the report... Unfortunately, you don't hear about this study, or others with similar findings, in Attention Whole Foods Shoppers -- Robert Paarlberg's defense of industrial agriculture in the May/June 2010 issue of Foreign Policy. Instead, organic agriculture, according to Paarlberg, is an 'elite preoccupation,' a 'trendy cause' for 'purist circles' ['Organic, local, and slow is no recipe for saving the world's hungry millions']." Ode to Farming. Foreign Policy, April 26, 2010. Slide show: images of farming around the world.

Global Warming Reduces Grain Output. Bloomberg, April 19, 2010. "Rising temperatures and inadequate rainfall are causing grain output to stagnate in India, threatening food security in the world's second-most populous nation, according to a weather scientist. In the past decade, average temperatures have increased by 0.25 degree Celsius when the monsoon crops are sown in June, and by 0.6 degree Celsius when winter crops are planted in October, said Krishna Kumar, a senior scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, a state-owned researcher…'Warmer nights affect rice output while day temperatures hurt wheat production,' Kumar said in an interview on April 16 in the western city of Pune. 'Night temperatures are increasing more rapidly than day temperatures since the late 1980s' due to rising human greenhouse-gas emissions, he said… India's population and the largest water-limited tropics croplands, makes it a [leading example of the observed declines in food grain production]."

Out of the Demographic Trap: Hope for Feeding the World. Commentary by Fred Pearce, YaleEnviro360, April 5, 2010. "I bring good news from Machakos, a rural district of Kenya, a couple of hours drive from Nairobi... Since independence in 1963, the Akamba's population has more than doubled. Meanwhile, farm output has risen tenfold. Yet there are also more trees, and soil erosion is much reduced. The Akamba still use simple farming techniques on their small family plots. But today they are producing so much food that when I visited, they were selling vegetables and milk in Nairobi, mangoes and oranges to the Middle East, avocadoes to France, and green beans to Britain. What made the difference? People. They made this transformation by utilizing their growing population to dig terraces, capture rainwater, plant trees, raise animals that provide manure, and introduce more labor-intensive but higher-value crops like vegetables. For them, 'multiplication' of their numbers has been the solution rather than the problem. They have sprung the demographic trap. The story of Machakos convinces me that humanity is not done yet -- our ingenuity may still save us from succumbing to planetary limits, and we can feed a growing world population." Fred Pearce is a freelance author and journalist based in the UK. He is environment consultant for New Scientist magazine and author of the recent books When The Rivers Run Dry and With Speed and Violence.

Using the Sun to Sterilize Water. BBC News, March 22, 2010. "Tanzanian villagers have begun using an energy-saving method to sterilize their drinking water - leaving the water under the sun. The piped water supply to Ndolela village in the central Iringa region is intermittent and even when it does flow, it is not clean enough to drink. When the pipes run dry, villagers get water from a dirty spring. Mother of five Rose Longwa says the new process has changed her life. 'We no longer suffer from stomach illness. That's because the water is clean and safe.' Like many other people in rural Africa with no access to safe drinking water, she used to sterilize her water by boiling it. But she says the smoke from the firewood to heat the water used to irritate her eyes. She is also glad she no longer has to go to fetch wood from the bush. 'I fill the plastic bottles, put the lids on, then put them on my black-painted roof where they stay for a whole day.' The sun heats the water, helped by the black roof, which helps to absorb the heat. Solar radiation means a combination of ultra-violet rays and heat destroys the bacteria which cause common water-borne diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery and diarrhea. After eight hours in the sun, it is ready to drink. If the water reaches more than 50C, it is safe in just one hour."