Global Grain Stocks – On the Pulse of Food Security

Touch the Soil News #2064 (photo – Growing Crops – Public Domain, USDA) The International Grains Council reports on carryover grain stocks from year to year.  Carryover is that inventory of grain on hand before new crop comes in.  For the grain year 2016/2017 grain stocks ended at 662.9 million metric tonnes.  A metric tonne…

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Food Gardening for the First Time

Touch the Soil News #2048 (photo – Food Bank) (Courtesy of Morning AgClips (Ag News Service) recently posted a story by the Associated Press Journalist Jessica Damiano.  The story covers all the topics new household gardeners might visit when planning their first vegetable garden.  The article suggest keeping a focus on your tastes and your…

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The Economics of Food Insecurity – Growers Can Adapt to be More Productive

Touch the Soil News #2029 (photo – Food Market) ( Public Domain, USDA) Most farmers believe their occupations are forever ensured.  And that is true.  Even farmland has attracted the world of investors who want to ride the crest of the demand for food by owning farmland. NPR News recently reported that 44.2 million people…

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Reclaiming Unused Spaces for Social and Economic Purpose

Touch the Soil News #2001 (photo – Cities Without Hunger Farm in Sao Paulo – Photo Courtesy of Cities Without Hunger)) With a name like Cities Without Hunger, there are hints of a significant need in the background.  Operating in the city of Sao Paulo with a population of 12.5 million, almost 2 million are…

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Urban Food Farming in Sri Lanka – Backstop to a National Economic Crisis

Touch the Soil News #1952 (Feature Photo  – Urban Farming at the Town Hall in Colombo, Sri Lanka – (Photo courtesy of International Water Management Institute) Sri Lanka is an island Nation of over 22 million people in the Indian Ocean.  About 35 miles from India, this nation recently experienced a dramatic economic crisis in…

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Public and Private Partnership for Food – An Emerging New Business Model

Touch the Soil News #1908 (Feature Photo – Cabbage – Public Domain, USDA) Urban Farmers and Conventional Growers are all trying – within the framework of our financial economy – to produce food in a way that feeds everyone. Then there are foodbanks that are also helping to bridge the gap.  One Foodbank – Second…

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Hungry in the Middle of an Agricultural Utopia

Touch the Soil News #1890 (Feature Photo – Latin America – CCA SA 3.0 Unported, Mexican Golden Eagle) Foodtank News brings up an interesting question regarding Latin America: How is it that, given our wealth of agricultural resources, we always seem to find ourselves on hunger’s precipice? After all, of the world’s 12 so-called mega…

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Green Revolution 2.0 – President of Philippines Steps Up to the Plate (Must Read)

Touch the Soil News #1879 (Feature Photo – Addie’s Grocery – Photo courtesy of Addie’s Grocery) The President of the nation of the Philippines, in concert with their Department of Agriculture and Department of Interior & Local Government have stepped up to the plate to make urban agriculture a national priority. When it comes to…

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All Hands on Deck for Food Security

In response, the nation is looking at legislation that would, without hindering anyone’s rights, convert to urban farming, all idle or abandoned government or private lands, buildings, shipping containers, subdivisions or villages, public housing, open spaces in all urban, peri-urban and urbanizable areas in the country; and all available land resources and buildings in schools,…

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Thailand – When Food Must Come from a Local Source

Positive Future News #909 (Feature Photo – Thailand Farming – CCA SA 4.0 International, Takeaway) Thailand, a nation of over 70 million people, and a national history that goes back 800 years, is facing extensive hunger. It is no surprise that the solution that Thai people are pursuing is not buying food from the global…

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