Can This Chicken Company Solve America's Food Waste Problem?

Colombia’s National Development Plan for cattle ranching seeks to reduce pasture land from 94 million acres to 70 million acres while increasing cattle numbers from 23 million head to 40 million. The program focuses on planting trees on grazing land and the "cut and carry method," whereby farmers grow fields of shrubs and distribute the fresh cuttings to cows in pastures. The result is greater cattle productivity and a more eco-friendly farming system.

Bruce Friedrich, the Executive Director of The Good Food Institute in Washington, DC, thinks that we're wasting resources raising animals for food products. He thinks the answer is creating a product that doesn't replace meat, but rather competes with it.

In California’s wildfire-prone Sierras, forest managers are turning to an ancient, if not quite intuitive, tool: more fire. In 2019, the Forest Service will manage 250,000 acres with controlled burns and “mechanical thinning,” using equipment to take out small trees. Though such plans face some hurdles, states across the country are adopting them, reducing wildfire severity while often benefiting ecosystems.

Communities across Uganda have been realizing the benefits of agroforestry, an old farming system that mimics natural ecosystems. Apart from creating a diverse, stable local food supply, the practice promotes soil health, bolsters biodiversity, creates wildlife habitat, and sequesters carbon. An NGO is working with communities to spread the practice across the region, with marked effect.

In Londonderry, New Hampshire, the Carriage Shack Farm hire out goats to eat unwanted plants like poison ivy or bittersweet. Contrary to humans, they aren’t harmed by the plant and actually enjoy eating it. Prior to being hired, the farm trains the goats so that their appetites and stomachs aren’t adversely affected.

For years, a rancher in Southern Oregon has been trying to keep a local pack of wolves from killing his livestock, and after many rounds of trial and error and collaborative efforts, a high-tech fence may be the solution. Although the fence isn't cheap, many came forward to help make this a possibility and show their support for a project that united people that historically have stood politically opposed.

Violent clashes between farmers and cattle herders that have claimed thousands of lives have largely ceased in Otukpo, thanks to a peacekeeping process that resolves disputes and is based on a shared recognition of two groups' humanity. The process imposed rules in an otherwise unruly system in which Fulani herders' open-grazing cattle destroyed crops, leading to violence. Negotiated leases and dispute-resolution mechanisms, governed through monthly meetings, have resulted in only one death since 2018, while surrounding areas continue to suffer many casualties.

A community organization in Indiana called Cultivate "rescues" food from local caterers, hospitals, casinos, and businesses to then be packaged into take-home meals for students at Woodland Elementary School that come from food-insecure homes. Cultivate is in its second year of existence, has three staff and 400 volunteers, and hopes to expand beyond their pilot program to reach all 21 schools in the district.

Fariel Salahuddin was determined to tackle the extreme lack of access to fresh water she encountered in rural Pakistani communities, but she wanted the model to be sustainable, not dependent on donations. Most of the communities didn't have regular access to rupees to help sustain their solar water pump micro-enterprises - what they did have, however, were goats. Salahuddin set up a scheme where villagers could pay for their clean water access with livestock instead of cash, which she then sells using Facebook at high rates during Muslim festivals to generate a sustainable revenue source.

Rwanda has a unique program that allows farmers to insure their livestock, such as dairy cows, productive pork, and chickens, against Rift Valley Fever. When animals die of the disease, farmers are compensated at a rate of 5.5 percent of the animal's value.