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The fertile top layers of soils keep disappearing, a new study shows
By Roberta Attanasio Plants grow in and out of soils—and sustain almost all living beings on our planet, either directly or indirectly. But soils are rapidly disappearing from farms all around the world, threatening our ability to grow food. The treasure beneath our feet is continuously subjected to erosion and degradation, mostly resulting from intensive farming practices. Relentless tilling, for example, allows weeds control by turning the soil over, but leaves it bare and vulnerable to wind and rain—causing the loss of the fertile top layer. Even the famed black Iowa soil is disappearing. “In Iowa they call it ‘black gold’—a fertile blanket covering the landlocked Midwestern state. Thousands…
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How protecting our oceans can help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges
By Roberta Attanasio Stories of the past tell us that our oceans are deep, mysterious and indestructible—but oceans are quickly changing, bowing to biological degradation and much more. Oceans are damaged every day by oil and gas drilling, pollution, and industrial impacts. Human activities are changing the ocean’s chemistry, destroying habitats, and killing marine life. The Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its corals since 1995, and a report released in 2019 on the state of global biodiversity found that over one-third of marine mammals and nearly one-third of sharks and shark relatives are threatened with extinction. Overfishing is one of the primary threats to ocean biodiversity—it endangers not…
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A new report shows the worldwide magnitude of food waste
By Roberta Attanasio The foreword of a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report starts with a poignant observation: “If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste also burdens waste management systems, exacerbates food insecurity, making it a major contributor to the three planetary crises of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.” The report (UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021) was produced by the UNEP in collaboration with the partner organization WRAP, a global NGO based in the UK. It was released on March 4, 2021, and shows that substantial amounts of food…
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Farmed Salmon Develop Ear Deformities All Around the World
By Roberta Attanasio Salmon farming is the fastest growing food production system in the world—accounting for 70 percent (2.4 million metric tons) of the market. Increasing demand is leading to the gradual development of responsible practices to minimize its negative impacts on the environment. Indeed, salmon farming is known to pollute the oceans, use toxic pesticides to control the spread of sea lice, foster diseases caused by viruses and bacteria, allow escapees, and deplete the stocks of forage fish—depending on the production region, 1.5 – 8 kilograms of wild fish are needed to produce one kilogram of farmed salmon. However, despite the development of the open and transparent production practices…
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Salmon Farming: The Chilean Massive Die-Off
By Roberta Attanasio Salmon farming—the fastest growing food production system in the world—is going through hard times in Chile, the world’s second-largest salmon producer after Norway. Last year, Chile exported $4.5 billion of farmed salmon, but now a deadly algal bloom is killing millions of farmed fish. A few months ago, an estimated 40,000 tons of salmon died in the Los Lagos region, which is known as the Switzerland of the Southern Hemisphere’s—the snow-capped peaks of the Andes Mountains tower over deep mountain lakes and green farming valleys, creating a fairy-tale landscape. Unlike Switzerland, the fairy-tale landscape extends down to the coast and its beaches, which became covered with dead…
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Soils Are Threatened: Can We Halt The Problem?
By Roberta Attanasio Today, December 4, 2015, is World Soil Day — a day to connect people with soils, and raise awareness of their critical importance in our lives. Soils — the reservoir for at least a quarter of global biodiversity — have been neglected for too long. We fail to connect soil with our food, water, climate, and life. The maintenance or enhancement of global soil resources is essential to meet the world’s need for food, water, and energy security. Soil loss is an unfolding global disaster that will have catastrophic effects on world food production, according to scientists from the University of Sheffield’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures. …
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Food-Borne Parasites: The “Top Ten” List
By Roberta Attanasio Food-born parasites affect the health of millions of people all around the world, causing huge social costs. However, we don’t know much about these parasites — where they come from, how they live in the human body, and how they make us sick. Today (July 1, 2014), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), a report — Multicriteria-based ranking for risk management of food-borne parasites — as a first step in tackling the problem. Parasites are organisms that derive nourishment and protection from other living organisms known as hosts. Parasites that are present in food cause food-borne infectious diseases.…
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A New Kind of Global Die-Off: Bananas Hit by Rapidly Spreading Diseases
By Roberta Attanasio The world loves bananas. Actually, the world loves the Cavendish bananas, mostly because it is (almost) the only variety commercially available worldwide. The entire global banana industry relies on this seedless and, therefore, sterile variety made of bananas all essentially identical to each other — and equally susceptible to infection by the same harmful microbes, which can spread very easily across plantations around the world. This is not a hypothetical scenario — instead, it’s happening as we speak. Two species of fungi are threatening the world supply of the Cavendish bananas. One is Mycosphaerella fijiensis, a fungus that causes a disease dubbed Black Sigatoka, also known as…
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The Golden Grain of the Andes: Are You Ready to Cook?
By The Editors The Golden Grain of the Andes — quinoa — is being praised all around the world. Indeed, the year 2013 is “The International Year of the Quinoa”, which celebrates not only quinoa, but also the indigenous peoples of the Andes, who have maintained, controlled, protected and preserved quinoa as food for present and future generations, thanks to their traditional knowledge and practices of living in harmony with nature. A few days ago, in a speech dedicated to the introduction of “Quinoa in the Kitchen“, José Graziano da Silva (FAO Director-General), said “Quinoa is part of the effort to recover these lost foods and to promote traditional…
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Sustainability in Action: Family Farming
By Roberta Attanasio There are many family farms in the world, farms based on rural activities managed and operated by a family — they deserve our support for their contribution to the global food system and are now a recognized reason for celebration worldwide. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that there are about 500 million of these farms on our planet. The FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in his statement of November 22, 2013 “Family farmers rely mainly on family labor. Many times they have little more than their own physical strength to harvest the land. They usually run non-specialized, diversified…
