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Wednesday, February 26, 2025

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US strikes a deal with Ukraine that includes access to its rare earth minerals, officials say; California researchers explore crops that thrive on salt; Medicaid cuts could hurt low-income Alaskans, damage health care system; MI environmentalists alarmed about potential Line 5 emergency permit status.

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Trump faces backlash for restricting press access. The Defense Secretary's ties to a controversial church spark debate, Speaker Mike Johnson struggles with votes for a budget that includes health care cuts. Arkansas expands school meals, and Western voters push back against cuts to wilderness agencies.

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U.S. farmers in limbo due to the federal funding freeze worry their projects will go unrealized, mass firings could wreak havoc on tourists visiting public lands this summer, while money to fight wildfires in rural areas is also jeopardized.

Study: How AL farmers can cultivate resilience

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Wednesday, December 4, 2024   

It is estimated Alabama row-crop farmers could lose more than $236 million this year, with prices for cotton, soybeans, corn, peanuts and wheat all hard-hit.

As climate patterns shift and farming becomes less predictable, some researchers suggest more resilient farming practices could offer a way forward.

Liz Carlisle, associate professor of environmental studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara and co-author of a new study published in the Frontiers science journal, highlighted the potential of what is known as "agroecological farming," practices mimicking natural ecosystems.

"If we want to have a more sustainable food system, we really need to invest in that next generation of farmers and their development of knowledge," Carlisle urged. "Think of them as the most important resource in farming."

She pointed out most farms today still rely on fossil fuel-based inputs, like chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The new approach prioritizes a living, healthy soil and aims to replace nonrenewable chemicals with practices tapping into natural ecosystems.

Carlisle noted new farms planted in wooded landscapes would look a lot like an actual forest, with multiple layers of crops, including trees. And farming on prairie lands could include regenerative grazing patterns created by native bison and other herbivores.

"Agroecological farming systems are really trying to work with nature and the services that nature provides, in terms of pest control and fertility, rather than working against nature," Carlisle explained.

Over the past century, as family farms have been swallowed up by large corporations, farming in the U.S. has trended in the opposite direction. Carlisle observed people with deep ties to their lands have been replaced by chemical-centered practices in an effort to lower labor costs and entire rural economies have paid the price.

"It's worth investing a little bit more of our tremendous wealth as a society in the people that do that critically important work," Carlisle contended. "And the landscapes that they're caring for."


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