Tag Archive for: Agriculture

La agricultura sintrópica y su aplicación en viticultura regenerativa: La fusión de sabiduría ancestral y ciencia moderna

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Introducción: En un mundo donde la viticultura enfrenta desafíos ambientales crecientes, la agricultura sintrópica se presenta como un faro de innovación y esperanza. Esta práctica agrícola, ideada por el agricultor y científico suizo-brasileño Ernst Götsch, promete una alianza entre la producción y la regeneración del ecosistema, ofreciendo un futuro más sostenible para los viñedos alrededor del mundo.

Orígenes de la Agricultura Sintrópica: Ernst Götsch ha dedicado su vida a desarrollar sistemas agrícolas que funcionan en armonía con la naturaleza. Basándose en la observación detallada de los procesos naturales, Götsch ha creado un conjunto de principios agrícolas que imitan los ciclos y estructuras de los ecosistemas naturales, fomentando la biodiversidad, la regeneración del suelo y la eficiencia productiva.

Implementación en la Viticultura: La aplicación de la metodología de Götsch al cultivo de uvas implica un replanteamiento radical de la gestión del viñedo:

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Growing Greener: Organic Farming Vs. Regenerative Agriculture

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Organic farming, governed by strict regulatory standards, focuses on minimizing synthetic inputs, promoting biodiversity, and preserving soil health. However, its primary aim is often to meet certification criteria rather than actively regenerating ecosystems. While organic practices certainly contribute to sustainability, they may fall short of addressing broader ecological concerns.      

Additionally, organic standards require animals to have access to outdoor spaces and mandate strict regulations on their feed, prohibiting antibiotics and growth hormones. This labeling assures consumers that the meat they purchase comes from animals raised in conditions prioritizing natural inputs and animal welfare. While organic labeling assures certain standards, it may only partially reflect a holistic approach to sustainable meat production.

Regenerative agriculture represents a paradigm shift in sustainable farming practices. It transcends the limitations of organic certification by prioritizing principles aimed at restoring ecosystems, enhancing soil fertility, and building resilience against environmental challenges.

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The Miyawaki Method: Imagining a Mini-Forest’s Potential

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What Is The Miyawaki Method?

Most of us know the term old-growth forest, which refers to natural forests that are still mostly free of human disturbance (though not necessarily free of human presence).

These forests have reached maturity and beyond—a process that often takes centuries. As a result, they host incredible biodiversity and sustain a complex array of ecosystem functions.

The Miyawaki Method is unique in that it re-creates the conditions for a mature natural forest to arise within decades rather than centuries.

At the heart of the method is the identification of a combination of native plant species best suited to the specific conditions at any given planting site. As we’ll see, determining this combination of special plants is not always so straightforward.

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Regenerative Agriculture: A New Value Proposition for Kenya’s Coffee Sector

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Coffee productivity in Kenya has been on the decline, putting over 1.5 million households, majority smallholders, at risk of losing their means of livelihoods. Between 1990 and 2020, Kenya’s acreage under coffee declined by 30%, from 170,000 to 119,000 hectares. Even worse, production dropped by 70%, from 129,00 to 40,000 Metric Tonnes. The prices of coffee have recently plummeted to as low as Ksh 20 per kilogram of cherry compared to the expected minimum of Ksh. 80 per kg, causing an uproar among the farmers, majority of whom are smallholders. The current productivity of coffee averages 475 kilos per hectare compared to 970 kilos per hectare recorded in 1963.

The low productivity can be attributed to weak coffee sector and extension systems, declining soil health, poor coffee management, adverse climatic conditions and low global coffee prices compared to a high cost of production.

The Government of Kenya has embarked on plans to revive the coffee sector through various coffee sector structural and market reforms.

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Reflections From Debates on Regenerative, Organic, Agroecology

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Regenerative. Organic. Agroecology. Like any ecosystem—there is both mutality, collaboration and competition. Sorting out where there is mutuality, shared principles and purpose, and where there are conflicts and competition, was the task of several innovative debates and “fishbowl” discussions at the world’s largest organic food expo, BIOFACH. Some 40.000 companies, farmers, organizational leaders, researchers, and policy makers were gathered there.

I want to share some points from my input, speaking as board member at  IFOAM – Organics International, and some gold from debates:

Stand together

First, my “sense of the room (s)” was that we can all draw inspiration from each other. And above all, organic, agroecological and serious regenerative actors and movements must stand together. For together we are THE alternative and primary challenger to current degenerative food systems.

As a stand-alone term “Regenerative” begs the question: “which regenerative definition are we talking about? Syngentas? Bayers? Nestles? Or that of credible actors like Climate Farmers  or Regeneration International  ?” We must ask this question wherever “regenerative agriculture” is proposed as the solution. Just as we have with “Sustainable.” Andre Leu, International Director at Regeneration International has found one solution: “When uncertain if practices are regenerative or degenerative, we use the descriptions of organic principles of health, ecology, fairness and care.”

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The Costs Of The AfDB’s Feed Africa Initiative To Farmers: A Deep Look At The 40 National Compacts

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The African Development Bank’s Dakar II initiative, titled “Feed Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience,” is the latest and most ambitious addition to the Bank’s long-standing “Feed Africa” program. This initiative aims to transform African agriculture and make Africa a breadbasket for the entire world. Implemented as part of the national agricultural development plans of 40 African countries, the initiative has sparked significant debate about its approach and its potential effects. The initiative aims to industrialize African food systems with a proposed budget of $61 billion, primarily from the private sector and development institutions. However, this strategy has been criticized because it risks marginalizing smallholder farmers, harming biodiversity and fostering dependence on multinationals for the purchase of seeds and agrochemicals.

To better understand the Dakar II initiative, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) analyzed each of the 40 “national pacts”, that is to say the global agricultural development plans drawn up by consultants for the program. We examined critical factors, including finance, land allocation, seeds, use of agrochemicals, technology and people, to assess their collective implications for Africa’s smallholder farmers. In this report, we present the main findings and the concerns they raise.

Critics of the initiative, including the Irish president, have expressed concerns about its unique approach and its emphasis on large-scale monoculture, formal seed systems and high-tech solutions such as climate-smart agriculture, digital and precision agriculture, and chemical inputs. These methods are considered beyond the reach of small farmers due to their cost, environmental risks and the threat they pose to their autonomy and traditional practices.

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Finca Pastoreo: enfocada en la agricultura regenerativa, permite que los visitantes aprendan sobre el arte de cultivar

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En el espacio de unas 400 cuerdas, coexisten gallinas ponedoras, pollos parrilleros para carne; ganado, cerdos y ovejas, que se mantienen en constante movimiento, proporcionando los nutrientes que requiere el terreno para contrarrestar el cambio climático a través de la agricultura regenerativa.

Se trata de un conjunto de prácticas agrícolas y la cultura del pastoreo, cuyo objetivo es regenerar la materia orgánica del suelo, optimizando la calidad de las tierras y, por ende, la calidad del producto que más adelante llegará a la mesa de los puertorriqueños.

El proyecto comenzó en junio del 2020, de la mano de los agricultores y empresarios Pedro Prado y los hermanos Ángel y Ray Adorno, quienes se adentraron en una aventura que persigue mejorar la calidad de vida en el país, mientras disfrutan de las bondades que les regala el paisaje.

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Agroecología, Regenerativa, Natural y Ecológica: ¿competencia o familia armónica?

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Agroecología

La agroecología se basa, comúnmente, en las definiciones de Glissmann, los 10 elementos y los 13 principios. El uso de términos y la comprensión de los diversos actores varían mucho. No existen normas mínimas ni requisitos de verificación predefinidos, pero hay herramientas (por ejemplo, TAPE de la FAO) para evaluar el cumplimiento en casos concretos. El término agroecología no se utiliza mucho en el mercado y no hay estadísticas exhaustivas al respecto. Los debates internacionales y los gobiernos promueven cada vez más la agroecología como paradigma para la transformación del sistema alimentario, y el impulso y el reconocimiento crecen rápidamente año tras año.

Agricultura ecológica

La agricultura ecológica tiene alrededor de 100 años y comenzó con los llamados pioneros ecológicos. IFOAM Organics International es la organización paraguas global desde 1972. Basa su definición en principios, estándares, buenas prácticas, herramientas y visiones legitimadas por sus miembros, como Organic 3.0.

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Cursos de interés – Curso “Biodinámica Nivel Avanzado”, Zaragoza Dinámica, marzo 2024

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La Agricultura Biodinámica constituye un nuevo enfoque a la forma de producción de alimentos, en el que la prioridad es llevar a cabo un manejo holístico del sistema agrario y buscar la vitalidad de los alimentos a través de vitalizar las fincas. Su origen se encuentra en el ciclo de conferencias impartidas por Rudolf Steiner en 1924. La finca se considera como un organismo en el que las plantas, los animales y los seres humanos están conjuntamente integrados. También tiene en cuenta los ritmos cósmicos en la producción vegetal y la cría animal (por ejemplo, en un cultivo; la siembra y la cosecha deben estar programadas si es posible en los días favorables).

En esta formación avanzaremos en el conocimiento de los principios que rigen la biodinámica dándole un enfoque práctico a la formación, así como en el conocimiento y aplicación de la certificación que distingue a los productos producidos bajo sus parámetros: Certificación Demeter.

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The Fashion Industry Goes Green with Sustainable Agriculture

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IZMIR, TURKEY — While efforts have focused on reducing waste, brands and designers are increasingly endorsing projects in regenerative agriculture to help reduce the emissions produced in the manufacture of classic textiles, such as cotton and wool.

In between rows of sprouting cotton crops, the dried-out stems of wheat and sugar beet carpet a stretch of farmland near Turkey’s Aegean coast, helping to lock in soil nutrients and moisture — even in the scorching heat.

In nearby fields, where cotton is being grown without the protective blanket, the plants wilt and wither under the sun. “Healthier soil means healthier cotton,” said Basak Erdem, the farm manager of cotton fields owned and run by cotton
manufacturer SOKTAS, which is based in the Soke municipality of Aydin province.

Four years since SOKTAS first converted one hectare (2.47 acres) of land for regenerative farming — using nature-based methods to restore the land and improve its carbon storage capacity — the soil absorbs more than 18 tonnes of carbon per hectare a year.

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Tag Archive for: Agriculture

Webinar – Sustainable Pest Management & Production

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This will be a short webinar discussing a variety of topics related to pest management and sustainable agriculture in California.