“Justin and a friend built a mobile greenhouse. Justin travels the country and teaches at risk youth about sustainable farming techniques.”
sustainable farming
Good Time to Buy Foreclosed Farm Land?
I’m hearing reports of large numbers of U.S. farmers going broke due to economic problems, drought, old age and no children to pass the farm down to, and excessive government regulations. Some newscasters are predicting higher food prices or even food shortages this year (2017) in the U.S.
Restoring Degraded Land: Growing Crops on Bedrock
This blog post is part of an ongoing series on how to restore degraded land. Good land is hard to come by and often not affordable unless you’re rich. The facts presented here are from the video Building Soil with Clive. His farm in Hawaii was scraped bare with a bulldozer down to bedrock not once, not twice, but three times before he started leasing it. The thought of farming land like this seems hopeless, right? But over the last 18 years Clive has built up 3”- 4” of topsoil on bedrock using the techniques he describes in his video, which are summarized here. He feels his main job is creating good habitat and taking care of the organisms in the soil using primarily mulch and cover crops. It’s interesting to note that he never seems to find time to make IMOs (indigenous microorganisms). Instead, his focus is on creating massive quantities of organic matter to build soil. The results speak for themselves.
Sawah Bali
A group called Sawah Bali is boosting economic activity in rural areas, and protecting farmland and traditional lifestyles in Bali. Their economic stimulus program revolves around saving agriculture by promoting organic farming, permaculture and improved business practices.
Allan Savory: How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change
“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And terrifyingly, it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes — and his work so far shows — that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.”
Bhaskar Save, the Gandhi of Natural Farming
“Bhaskar Save – the acclaimed ‘Gandhi of Natural Farming’ – completes 92 years. He has inspired and mentored 3 generations of organic farmers. In 1997, Masanobu Fukuoka, the legendary Japanese natural farmer, visited Save’s farm. He described it as “the best in the world”, even better than his own farm.