Sustainable Agriculture & Food Policy

How can social capital and social media benefit communities experiencing climate shocks or extreme events? Meredith Niles, an assistant professor and faculty with the University of Vermont Food Systems Program and Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, examines food systems sustainability and policy with a focus on food security and climate change.

When it comes to managing pollution and phosphorus runoff, does Vermont have more cows than the state can sustain? That's the suggestion of a new report by University of Vermont Gund Institute for the Environment researcher Michael Wironen. His study focuses on phosphorus and it's accumulation in Vermont soil over the past 90 years. Watch the segment

Five interdisciplinary teams will receive Gund Catalyst Awards between $35,000 and $50,000 to establish new research projects seeking real-world solutions to critical environmental issues. The inaugural Catalyst Awards will accelerate new efforts on global climate modelling, renewable biofuels, climate impacts on mountain communities, nitrogen ‘trouble zones’ and sustainable agriculture.

The Breakthrough Institute is proud to announce Steven Pinker, Ariane de Bremond, Sarah Evanega, and Julio Friedmann as our 2018 Senior Fellows. This is the tenth year that Breakthrough has conferred Senior Fellowships to leading scholars who have shaped our research and vision. This class of Senior Fellows will join the ranks of the 45 prominent experts who have joined our network of global thought leaders committed to building a future that is good for both humans and nature. We are grateful to be able to count upon their expertise, counsel, and inspiration.

On a surface-mine-turned-farm in Mingo County, West Virginia, former coal miner Wilburn Jude plunks down three objects on the bed of his work truck: a piece of coal, a sponge, and a peach. He’s been tasked with bringing in items that represent his life’s past, present, and future. “This is my heritage right here,” he says, picking up the coal. Since the time of his Irish immigrant great-grandfathers, all the males in his family have been miners.

Vermont has a problem. The state is $1.2 billion short of the funding it will need to meet federal targets for reducing pollution in state waterways. To solve that problem, Gov. Phil Scott suggested a creative solution last week in his budget address: Turning the pollutant into a commodity and selling it out of state. The pollutant is phosphorus, a primary ingredient of fertilizer, which is widely used in farming. ...

At last September's Maine Live Amanda Beal of Maine Farmland Trust discussed the importance of food policy and begged the question "is there really a food movement underway?" See the original video