What's wrong with our food system?

Hi,
11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food -- far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.



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Save the seeds for the future of food

Hi,

Watch this video to understand the urgency in preserving and protecting the future of food.

With climate change happening so fast, the natural evolution of crop plants to cope with this rapid rise in temperature will not happen. Mass extinction of crop and food plants will happen very quickly. Scientists are really in a panic to save as many wild species and existing varieties of crop plants.

The seeds of these plants can then be resources which can be used for research and natural or artificial selection. The new varieties of plants created by man can then cope well with the higher temperatures and so our food production can keep pace with population growth.


30 or 40 years ago mass starvation used to be common in India and China due to rapid increases in population numbers in these countries. Research by scientists led to new strains of rice and wheat plants. Food shortages have since been forgotten due to Green Revolution, as it is called.

Scientists are coming to our rescue again to avert another catastrophe. This time the cause is different, extinction of food crops due to rapid global warming.

Click on the link below:

One seed at a time, protecting the future of food




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Are domesticated plants manupulating us?

Hi,

Michael Pollan, author of "The omnivore's Dilemma" is a good story teller.

You will see from the video how our food growing methods not only affects our health, but also how it affects the environment.

For a long time, since man started domesticating plants and animals for his food and raw materials, it has mostly been exploitative. More for man does not have to be less for nature.
He tells us how to re-look at nature. Agriculture can be co-developmental. He tells us about permaculture. It is organic food production where nature is taken into account (taking ecological relationships into account in farming methods). No new technology required, but food is produced cheaply, and environmental degradation is close to zero!

Do you know how plants use biochemistry to protect themselves against pests? We thought we had invented pesticides! It is only about 17 minutes of sheer entertainment and ideas.

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