agriculture
The sign outside Spring Valley Student Farm, a collaborative project with UConn’s Residential Life, Dining Services and EcoHouse Learning Community in Mansfield, Conn., on Sept. 23, 2022. Jessica Larkin-Wells, the farm manager for Spring Valley Student Farm, said the farm focuses heavily on education, including how to build resilient soil. (Madeline Papcun/University of Connecticut)
University of Connecticut
Farmers around Mansfield, Connecticut, and around the world, have been facing intertwined production and economic challenges due to variation in precipitation levels. So how are they adapting?
Robin Clemmons rips apart a pod of black beans, demonstrating that not many people may realize where crops, like black beans, actually come from. These bean pods need to be dried before volunteers can shell them by hand — in a days work, it's tricky to fill a plastic shopping bag. (Carter Weinhofer/Eckerd College)
Planet Forward Sr. Correspondent | Eckerd College
Food security is a growing issue, but small-scale agriculture can be a catalyst to aid in large-scale food movements.
Than Naing Oo next to his garden plot in 2018 in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Paul Bick)
Planet Forward Correspondent | Northwestern University
Global Garden Refugee Training Farm in Chicago makes space for refugee farmers to grow traditional fruits and vegetables, while also integrating local cultivars. One farmer shares what he grows in his farm plot.
Feral hogs are a destructive invasive species prevalent across Texas. (Roy Buri/Pixabay)
Planet Forward Correspondent | Texas Tech University
Controlling invasive species can be costly and time-consuming. Watch this video to learn how including them on your plate could be a viable way to manage and even reduce populations.
Roy Pfaltzgraff uses sustainable soil health practices on his farm in Haxtun, Colorado. (Eric Forbes)
Planet Forward Correspondent | Colorado State University, Center for Science Communication
Colorado farmer, Roy Pfaltzgraff, reflects on the challenges he faces as a farmer, how he has adapted, and the importance of consumers understanding food production.
Tyrell McClain holds up a clump of soil on McGinley Ranch while discussing the high biodiversity under the surface of the ground on September 17, 2022. (Dr. Imani Cheers/Planet Forward)
Planet Forward Correspondent | George Washington University
An interview with Vice President of Ranch Operations at Turner Enterprises, Mark Kossler, about the benefits, challenges, and future of sustainable agriculture.
A hoop house composed with plastic sheeting and tubes provides cover for a raised garden in Washington, DC. (Lance Cheung/USDA (Public Domain Mark 1.0))
University of Maryland
University of Maryland international Ph.D. student Krisztina Christmon launched her award-winning idea of repurposing farm plastic as part of a university innovation challenge in 2020. One year later, she serves as CEO of Repurpose Farm Plastic LLC.
Pathoumma Meusch stands before a small herd of cattle after checking on her goats. Meusch Farms LLC produces grass-fed cattle with little environmental impact, she said. (Photo by: Lauren Ulrich, Indiana University Bloomington)
Indiana University
Pathoumma Meusch doesn’t consider herself revolutionary. “I’m just a farmer,” as she says. But the unassuming woman has championed local food in a region dominated by industrial agriculture and redefined what it means to be a Midwestern farmer.
Planet Forward Correspondent | Arizona State University
According to N-Drip’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Seth Siegel, their technology brings a new irrigation system that could help save 50% of the water used in Arizona’s agriculture.
In 2015, in collaboration with Indigenous leaders and Indigenous youth, FAO identified 6 pillars of work and 2 focus areas—Indigenous women and Indigenous youth—as part of FAO’s goal of freeing the world of hunger and malnutrition (Photo courtesy of UN Women/Ryan Brown https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/).
Planet Forward FAO Fellow | University of Oklahoma
Indigenous Peoples’ communities' challenges and priorities of “food security, food sovereignty, and health have accelerated and intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to Indigenous Peoples’ Liaison Mikaila Way.