Touch the Soil News #1731 (Feature Photo – Abu Dhabi Skyline – CCA SA 4.0 International) The capital city of the UAE – Abu Dhabi – has gotten serious about food security. Having to import 90 percent of its food, the city has undertaken one of the most robust efforts to bring agricultural technology and…
Author: Touch the Soil
Agricultural Robotics
Touch the Soil News #1733 (Feature Photo – Agricultural Robot – CCA SA 3.0 Unported, Amazone GmbH & Co. KG) Agritech Tomorrow brings us news about the coming age of agricultural robots. Predicted to reach a market of $11 billion, robotics is delivering fruit picking machines and drones to dominate future farms. You can read…
Soil Should Have Rights Too
Touch the Soil News #1732 (Feature Photo – Soil Profile – By US Department of Agriculture – https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/edu/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1343062) The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is taking sustainable farming to new levels. To a large degree, sustainable farming is about soils. To support sustainable education the FAO provides timely…
Ramping Up Urban Food is Going Global
Touch the Soil News #1730 (Feature Photo – Industrial Food – By TUBS – Own work CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16493789) Shine news portal of China brings us a video of how urban local food is transforming lives in China. You can click on the following link to get to the news page and the video. Of…
Getting off the Industrial Food Grid
Touch the Soil News #1729 (Feature Photo – Industrial Food – CCA SA 4.0 International) Khaleej Times journalist Karen Ann Monsy brings us the story of Canadian landscape architect Phil Dunn in Dubai. Dunn has taken on the challenge of eating for a whole year only from local resources integrated into the Sustainable City in…
Creating a Farming Paradise in China
Touch the Soil News #1728 (Feature Photo – Buddha in Shandong Province – CCA SA 3.0 Unported) Shine News brings us the story of a farming paradise that is being co-ordinated over roughly 15 acres of farmland, mountains and water. The project blends agriculture, tourism and more. The project, located in Shandong province, will be…
Can Nature Help Farm Economics?
Touch the Soil News #1727 (Feature Photo – Sierra Mixe Corn – Courtesy of Wisc.edu) The Foundation For Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR https://foundationfar.org/), with matching funds from Benson Hill, granted $1.9 million to UC Davis for an interesting study. The study looks at a Mexican corn variety called Sierra Mixe that is able to…
Insect Protein – What Are the Insects Fed With?
Touch the Soil News #1724 (Feature Photo – A Group of Insects – CCA 1.0 Generic, DirkvdM) With insect proteins getting more and more attention – and money for development – what should consumers be concerned with. Following is a short video from Consumer Labs on cricket powders and what they found. It probably is…
High Finance & Food Security
Touch the Soil News #1723 (Feature Photo – Roger Ferguson, Secretary of Treasury Potential – Public Domain) Farmlandgrab.org brings news of high finance and food security. Known for leadership in connecting investors with 2 million acres of farmland around the world, TIAA CEO Roger Ferguson Jr. is being considered for Secretary of Treasury under Joe…
Keeping Community Gardens Forever in New York City
Touch the Soil News #1722 (Feature Photo – Teaching Gardening In New York – By SUMMER RAYNE OAKES – How to Make a Plant Love You: Houseplant Masterclass at 00:43, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79089634) The Queens Daily Eagle news brings an interesting grass-roots story. Community gardeners are pettioning the city to designate community gardens as…