Category Archives: Agriculture

Digging in: on the frontlines as farmers lay siege to Delhi

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Donations flood in to community kitchens as farmers protest against liberalisation of agriculture sector

When the sacks were ripped opened, almonds poured out, more than 10,000kg of them. It was not the first donation that had been sent to the Indian farmers defiantly camped out along the periphery of Delhi. In previous days trucks had rolled up and disgorged sacks of rice, pulses, flour, vegetables, sugar, tea and biscuits.

“This is food being sent by supporters from all over India and from as far as England and Canada. There is no shortage of food. We have enough to eat for months,” said Jaswinder Pal Singh, a farmer from Punjab.

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Meet the South Poll cow: the healthier, naturally raised cattle of the future?

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Most US cattle are bred to be require grain rations and antibiotics but the small-framed red cow thrives on a grass-only diet – with benefits to the environment

Missouri rancher Greg Judy spots a six-month-old South Poll heifer calf in his herd that is a prime example of what he calls a “good doing cow”. A cow that will “do good” on grass alone.

Related: 'In the sun they'd cook': is the US south-west getting too hot for farm animals?

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Burned bottles and scorched vines: wineries hit hard by California fires – in pictures

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The Glass fire is sweeping through the famous wine regions of Napa and Sonoma in northern California. The wildfire, which erupted on 27 September, has damaged numerous wineries and vineyards, charring grapes and incinerating inventory. Tasting rooms and restaurants have also been hit. The effect on the industry has been described as “catastrophic”. Several Napa Valley growers have said they will forgo a 2020 vintage altogether due to smoke contamination of their crop.

The Glass fire has torched more than 50,000 acres and firefighters are battling to bring it under control. It has also destroyed dozens of homes and thousands of people remain under evacuation orders.

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Plagues of field mice decimating crops, say German farmers

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Estimated 120,000 hectares stripped bare by rodents and now browning in heatwave

Large swathes of Germany’s farmland are being decimated by plagues of field mice leading to significant crop loss, according to the country’s national farming association.

In some parts of the country, a quarter of the arable land is affected, leading to calls for compensation as well as a relaxation on rules governing the use of pesticides.

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Gene manipulation using algae could grow more crops with less water

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Enhanced photosynthesis holds promise of higher yields in a drought-afflicted future

Tobacco plants have been modified with a protein found in algae to improve their photosynthesis and increase growth, while using less water, in a new advance that could point the way to higher-yielding crops in a drought-afflicted future.

The technique focuses on photosynthesis, the complex process by which plants are able to use sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce nutrients that fuel their growth. Enhancing photosynthesis would produce huge benefits to agricultural productivity, but the complexities of the process have stymied many past attempts to harness it.

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Without seasonal workers, Australia may face a hungry summer | Michael Rose

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With not enough workers to pick the upcoming harvest, Australia faces potential food shortages, and its farmers face economic devastation

As Victoria’s Covid-19 outbreak threatens to spiral out of control and beyond its borders, Australia faces another pandemic-related crisis.

We are sailing into a food shortage and few are talking about it. This needs to change.

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How do you deal with 9m tonnes of suffocating seaweed?

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Across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, scientists are developing alternative sustainable solutions to the golden tide of Sargassum

The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, first detected by Nasa observation satellites in 2011 and now known to be the world’s largest bloom of seaweed, stretches for 5,500 miles (8,850km) from the Gulf of Mexico to the western coast of Africa.

Millions of tonnes of floating Sargassum seaweed in coastal waters smother fragile seagrass habitats, suffocate coral reefs and harm fisheries. And once washed ashore on Mexican and Caribbean beaches, this foul-smelling, rotting seaweed goes on to devastate the tourist industry, prevent turtles from nesting and damage coastal ecosystems, while releasing hydrogen sulphide and other toxic gases as it decomposes.

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Lords seek to allow gene-editing in UK ‘to produce healthy, hardier crops’

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Changes could introduce gluten-free wheat and disease-resistant fruit and vegetables, say peers


Peers are preparing plans to legalise the gene-editing of crops in England, a move that scientists say would offer the nation a chance to develop and grow hardier, more nutritious varieties. The legislation would also open the door to gene-editing of animals.

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Kenya’s pastoralists face hunger and conflict as locust plague continues

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As herds are devastated and crops destroyed across east Africa, there are fears of violence as competition for grazing increases

Tiampati Leletit had heard tales of massive desert locust swarms darkening Kenya’s horizon. But when they hit his farm the devastation was all too real. They ate everything.

“I have never seen anything like this. When the swarms of locust invaded, they consumed everything and all the vegetation was gone. The livestock had nothing to eat,” says the 32-year-old. In January, he had 80 goats. Today he has four.

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British workers reject fruit-picking jobs as Romanians flown in

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Contract length, farm location and caring duties cited as reasons for turning down work

Thousands of British workers who responded to a nationwide appeal to help pick fruit and vegetables on farms have rejected job offers, it has emerged.

As hundreds of workers are being flown in from Romania to pick lettuce and asparagus, specialist recruitment firms revealed that fewer than 20% of the applicants were either willing or able to take up roles on the farms.

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Are western Europe’s food supplies worth more than east European workers’ health? | Costi Rogozanu and Daniela Gabor

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The coronavirus threat facing fruit and vegetable pickers flown in from quarantined Romania underlines Europe’s inequalities

White asparagus is late April’s delicacy across much of north-west Europe. In Germany the pale spears of the Spargel are cherished as “white gold”, their arrival each year marked by festivals and celebrations. But Germany alone needs 300,000 seasonal workers to harvest its crops. Over the past 10 years most of these workers have come from Romanian villages where seasonal migration is one of the few sources of income.

Related: Romanian fruit pickers flown to UK amid crisis in farming sector

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Farmers across Europe bank on improvised armies of pickers to save harvest

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Growers from Ireland to Spain says coronavirus lockdown has stopped migrant workers from arriving

At this time of year John Greene is usually preparing to welcome dozens of Slovakian strawberry pickers for another harvest at his farm in County Wexford in south-east Ireland.

The work is arduous and repetitive and he relies on their experience and stamina to get the fruit picked, packed and sold.

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Planting hope: the Syrian refugee who developed virus-resistant super-seeds

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Plant virologist Dr Safaa Kumari discovered seeds that could safeguard food security in the region – and risked her life to rescue them from Aleppo

The call came as she sat in her hotel room. “They gave us 10 minutes to pack up and leave,” Dr Safaa Kumari was told down a crackling phone line. Armed fighters had just seized her house in Aleppo and her family were on the run.

Kumari was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, preparing to present a conference. She immediately began organising a sprint back to Syria. Hidden in her sister’s house was a small but very valuable bundle that she was prepared to risk her life to recover.

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New Zealand begins genetic program to produce low methane-emitting sheep

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‘Global first’ project will help tackle climate change by lowering agricultural greenhouse gases

The New Zealand livestock industry has begun a “global first” genetic program that would help to tackle climate change by breeding low methane-emitting sheep.

There are about six sheep for each person in New Zealand, and the livestock industry accounts for about one-third of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

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How do we feed the world without destroying it? | Bob Geldof

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An international summit next year will tackle the world’s most enduring crisis – hunger. Radical action is needed

Hunger is the most awful and profound expression of poverty. It exists in every country. It is something that most people can identify with on some perhaps primordial level. It is innate. The fear of hunger is etched into our DNA, passed down the generations from hungry, scared ancestors. It is in our bones. It is in my Irish bones.

First, the good news. For several decades global hunger has been decreasing. This is mostly thanks to the sweat and ingenuity of the 500 million smallholders who produce 80% of the food consumed in the developing world. It is also thanks to the work of exceptional NGOs, to economic growth and to the innovation of businesses all along the supply chain. It’s thanks, too, to the support of governments and international organisations. And it’s to increased political stability in some places.

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Philippines culls 7,000 pigs in outbreak of African swine fever

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Infected pigs found in two towns near capital Manila, as country becomes latest to be hit by disease

The Philippines has reported its first cases of African swine fever, becoming the latest country hit by the disease that has killed pigs from Slovakia to China, pushing up pork prices worldwide.

The virus is not harmful to humans but causes haemorrhagic fever in pigs that almost always ends in death. There is no antidote or vaccine and the only known method to prevent the disease from spreading is a mass cull of affected livestock.

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‘It can kill you in seconds’: the deadly algae on Brittany’s beaches

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Activists say stinking sludge is linked to nitrates in fertilisers from intensive farming

André Ollivro stepped carefully down the grassy banks of an estuary in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, not far from his beachfront cabin. The pungent smell of rotting eggs wafting from decomposing seaweed made him stop and put on his gas mask. It was a strange sight in what is usually a tourist hotspot.

“You can’t be too careful,” said the 74-year-old former gas technician, who is leading the fight against what has come to be known as France’s coastal “killer slime”.

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Farmers jailed in Australia for smuggling Danish pig semen in shampoo bottles

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Two men from GD Pork pleaded guilty in WA to breaching biosecurity laws to gain ‘unfair’ breeding advantage

Two pig farmers in Western Australia will be jailed after being convicted of illegally importing Danish pig semen concealed in shampoo bottles.

Torben Soerensen has been sentenced to three years in prison, while Henning Laue faces a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to breaching quarantine and biosecurity laws.

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IPCC leaked report: Going vegetarian and controlling land use are key to climate crisis

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Scientists in Geneva warn that cutting carbon emissions from cars and factories is not enough

Attempts to solve the climate crisis by cutting carbon emissions from only cars, factories and power plants are doomed to failure, scientists will warn this week.

A leaked draft of a report on climate change and land use, which is now being debated in Geneva by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), states that it will be impossible to keep global temperatures at safe levels unless there is also a transformation in the way the world produces food and manages land.

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