Food Deserts Are Deliberate, But Black Farmers Are Fighting Back

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.

Seaweed is a sustainable and nutritious food source, which could be a solution to feeding a growing global population—the tricks getting people to eat it. Several Dutch companies are serving up seaweed in familiar formats like burgers, pasta, and falafel to make it an easier sell. They're also pioneering infrastructure to make farmed seaweed affordable.

Around the world, farmers are turning to permaculture and agrodiversity to create higher yields than chemical fertilizer while also avoiding the negative effects of conventional farming's focus on monocrop. Although results aren't fully conclusive, evidence does point to the success of low-impact farming strategies.

Facing sea-level rise and other climate threats, a group of women working in agriculture in Bangladesh are adapting their practices and focus and sharing their tips for success with other women.

Farmers in Vietnam face rising sea levels but rejected the city's water engineering projects. They prefer gradual measures to cope with climate change so scientists have allowed the farmers to steer the conversation.

During the Industrial Revolution, farmers began harvesting monoculture crops which produced promising profits but proved harmful to the soil and weakened the immune capabilities of native plants. Lately, however, permaculture practices have been on the rise amongst farmers to better diversify their yields and reduce reliance on chemicals.

Fruit farmers in the Pacific Northwest are implementing mitigation strategies like shade, produce coatings, and water misters to protect their crops from extreme heat.

A grassroots campaign to encourage more environmentally sustainable diets called the Plant Based Treaty is picking up support across the globe. Pledgers make their own decisions on how to best take action.

The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust uses conservation easements to conserve agricultural land in the state. These agreements happen when a landowner sells or donates the development rights to their land to the trust forever. They are allowed to keep farming the land, but it must remain undeveloped.

When organic materials like wood chips and manure are heated in the absence of oxygen they create a black powdery substance called biochar. This material prevents the release of carbon into the atmosphere from the natural decaying process. And it has other beneficial uses like improving soil fertility, too.