Looking at 2020 Through the Lens of a Glass Half-Full
The year 2020 has presented unforeseen challenges around the world. But if we want to see the glass half-full, we also should remember our blessings---and maybe...
Sustainability: Water, Soil, Climate
Conservation Agriculture is a Tool, Not a Goal
The importance of a resilient food and agriculture system is being discussed around the world, but what exactly does "resilience" mean?
For farmers like me, it...
Farmers Storing Carbon in the Soil are Climate Change Champions
As farmers, we have a positive story to tell about the role we play in mitigating climate change. Our efforts to sequester carbon often go unnoticed.
Unfortuna...
Agriculture Demonstrates Resilience Through the Flames
The air "was perfectly thick with smoke," wrote George McClellan as he explored the Cascade Mountains in 1853. Forest fires had reduced visibility so much that ...
Farming Through Risk
I've lived through tornadoes and hailstorms---but I've never seen anything like the derecho that blasted across Iowa and the Midwest on August 10.
Only in the ...
Agricultural strides: Consumer Packaged Goods companies take stake in the land
In this February 10, 2020 Food & Travel CPG Smart Brief article, Audrey Altmann offers a spotlight on ways consumer packaged goods companies are working to...
California Can Keep the Water Flowing
California is in trouble.
We can't keep the lights on, the fires out, or the air clean.
Worst of all, from my perspective as a farmer, is that we've failed to...
Digital Connectivity - Adversity Breeds Innovation
Our farm may be located in rural New Zealand, where some may think it's "hard to reach" or "remote and isolated", but more than 90 percent of the wool and meat ...
Farmer Views On Soil Health
The past several years theres been more attention and focus on soil health in agriculture. Not all soils are the same and different places around the world ma...
The Grapes of Mali
It takes a farmer to grow grapes, but it takes an architect to grow grapes in the desert.
Thats what I discovered here in Mali, a landlocked country that re...