October 1st is World Vegetarian Day and the kick-off of Vegetarian Awareness Month! The North American Vegetarian Society first created World Vegetarian Day in 1977 to ”promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism.” Exploring vegetarianism has never been easier, with lots of organisations and web sites around to help the curious give it a go. There is [...]
Archive | September, 2011
Trying to go beyond the biotech anti/pro debate
Many developing countries (particularly those in Africa) are being targeted for agricultural investment by donors. This is most famously exemplified by the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations’ initiative Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Critics of AGRA, such as AGRA Watch, point to many problems with AGRA’s approach, particularly in projects that fail to incorporate [...]
Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Ethical Perspectives on Land Use and Food Production
From 30th May to 2nd June 2012 the 10th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics (EurSafe) which will be held in Tübingen (Germany). The conference theme is Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Ethical Perspectives on Land Use and Food Production. Climate change is one of the major framing conditions for sustainable [...]
Mission: Vegetable Garden – Part 1: Planting
First of all, meet Johnston: Johnston is the gardener of the compound to where I just moved in. When I arrived, I saw that he had planted some tomatoes in the front garden. We talked and he demonstrated an obvious passion for gardening, and was sad that the rain had spoiled his tomatoes. I asked [...]
ESRS Highlights
I know we aren’t all lucky enough to be Rural Sociologists, but for those interested in sustainable agriculture, the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS) Congress is an event you shouldn’t miss! For the 2011 congress in Chania, Crete, there were 59 presentations inlcuding “food” in the title, 19 involving “agriculture”, and over 20 papers relating to sustainability. [...]
Special Issue Alert
The journal Animal Feed Science and Technology just published a “Special Issue: Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture – Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions.” I found the link on the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN), which you can find here. The link to the issue is here. The relevant articles include: The significance of [...]
Die Produktive Stadt / Carrot City – Designing for Urban Agriculture
Carrot City is a traveling exhibit that shows how the design of buildings and cities can enable the production of food in the city. It explores the relationships between design and urban food systems as well as the impact that agricultural issues have on the design of urban spaces and buildings. The focus is on how [...]
Street food – New discussion on FSN Forum
An interesting discussion forum about issues of food security and nutrition is the FSN forum hosted by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN. In the past years many topics relevant to PUREFOOD and FOODLINKS have been discussed, such as the ones on ‘Public procurement of agricultural good’, ‘Food, agriculture & cities’, ‘Climate change [...]
Are Italian small-scale farmers missing their chance?
It was surprising for me to observe a big difference in societal and consumer concerns between the Netherlands and Italy towards food, especially when it comes to animal welfare. The Dutch consumers seem to focus their attention mainly on the sustainability aspect of their daily purchases in the supermarkets or elsewhere. One can think of such issues [...]
My Slow Food $5 Challenge
I still haven’t joined Slow Food. Not that I don’t believe in what it stands for. Good, clean, fair food: who could argue with that? The problem is, the Slow Food I’ve come to know in Europe tends to perform extremely well on the first two counts – to swipe language from Patricia Allen, the [...]
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Toni Massanés: Molt bo, Leah!...
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Dorte Ruge: Hello everybody !
There are still seats availab...
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Leah Ashe: Thanks, Jess. First: Since I know you enjoy a good...
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Henk Renting: Thanks, Jessica and also Maria for your additional...
