Agriculture

From Stripping to Sowing: Climate Justice’s Unsung Heroes

When you think of mindfulness, what do you picture? Maybe someone meditating and practicing deep breathing, or someone journaling by candlelight before bed. Or, maybe someone in glittering platform heels pole dancing with a hypnotic flow to Hiatus Kaiyote…

From Stripping to Sowing: Climate Justice’s Unsung Heroes

UC Berkeley’s Colonial History & Sowing the Seeds of Change

Over the past few years, land acknowledgements have become commonplace at UC Berkeley. You may see them in email signatures, lecture slides, and introductions to webinars. All too often, once the slide is clicked through or the next guest speaker takes the stage, the land acknowledgment, or any further information regarding Indigenous land and sovereignty, is not brought up again…

UC Berkeley’s Colonial History & Sowing the Seeds of Change

The Reemergence of California’s Drought Spurs Need to Support Disadvantaged Communities

It has been two years since California overcame its over seven year-long drought, only to digress to an even worse state of drought in 2021. While the state frequently receives low rainfall, this is a cause for concern because of rising temperatures stemming from climate change…

The Reemergence of California’s Drought Spurs Need to Support Disadvantaged Communities

We’ve Got Beef

Most of us are familiar with the Old McDonald—the man from the nursery rhyme who had a farm. We picture the farm with a stereotypical red barn with hay, a few pigs rolling in mud, horses, and a couple cows out in huge pastures. This romanticized version of the American farm is no longer a reality.

We’ve Got Beef

The 5th Annual Women in Tech Symposium Sheds Light on the Ag-Tech Field and Inclusivity

In order to share the experiences of women in the technological field, the Women in Tech Symposium selects a tech-related topic each year and holds panels and discussions to dive deeper into the area of focus. This year marked the 5th Annual Women in Tech Symposium titled The New Era in Human-Computer Interaction.

The 5th Annual Women in Tech Symposium Sheds Light on the Ag-Tech Field and Inclusivity

Modern Hunger: How the Berkeley Student Farms Coalition Stands Up to Big Agriculture

In 2016, the American dairy industry dumped out over 43 million gallons of milk. Farmers poured gallon after gallon into fields, manure pits, and animal feed. The dairy industry had grown so large that the market was flooded with more milk than consumers wanted, and prices subsequently plummeted.

Modern Hunger: How the Berkeley Student Farms Coalition Stands Up to Big Agriculture

Sowing the Seeds of Community: Berkeley Student Farms and the Fruits of Gardening

While cities can often appear to be a losing battle ground between Mother Nature and concrete, efforts in recent years have yielded a surprising increase in the amount of green speckling the maps of urban areas. Collaborative cultivation of public land through the creation of community gardens is steadily growing in popularity.

Sowing the Seeds of Community: Berkeley Student Farms and the Fruits of Gardening

Global Pandemic, Local Food: The Unsung Heroes of the Berkeley Farmers’ Markets

In the seemingly endless list of everyday practices interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, shopping for food has been, for many, a source of stress and difficulty. Border closures and trade restrictions have disrupted global food chains and affected millions of farmers, farmworkers, and consumers.

Global Pandemic, Local Food: The Unsung Heroes of the Berkeley Farmers’ Markets

A Guide to Supporting Bats — Overlooked and Valuable to Agriculture

The common public perception of bats is historically negative. They are thought of as vectors of disease, aggressive towards humans, and often connotated with myths of vampires. However, bats are an integral and often overlooked component of the food system.

A Guide to Supporting Bats — Overlooked and Valuable to Agriculture

The Pits Side of the Avocado

Social media influencers and dietitians alike have made avocados the quintessential health food. Pinterest boards of the abundant ways to eat avocados--from guacamole to avocado toast-- have increased sales and popularity of the fruit. While seeming like a harmless commodity, this growth in demand has had environmental justice implications for the farmers who grow these fruits.

The Pits Side of the Avocado

2016 UN Report Shows Risk of Coronavirus Outbreak Enhanced by Environmental Degradation

A 2016 United Nations Report on Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern is getting new attention in light of the global Coronavirus pandemic. A large section of the report details the increasing risk of zoonosis, or the process of animal based viruses mutating to infect humans, which is the process by which coronaviruses infect humans.

2016 UN Report Shows Risk of Coronavirus Outbreak Enhanced by Environmental Degradation

BioChar: A Potential Soil-ution to the Climate Crisis?

Blocks of solid carbon, biochar, are produced when organic materials such as wood chips or walnut shells are heated without the presence of oxygen. When correctly added to soil, biochar can lead to massive increases in plant growth and water retention.

BioChar: A Potential Soil-ution to the Climate Crisis?

Rooftop Farms: A Regenerative Urban Agricultural Model

Unlike large-scale, rural monocropping, urban farms contribute to a food web that is locally sourced and regenerative in nature. Multiple crops can grow simultaneously and communities have reliable access to local, seasonal produce with less energy embodied in it. 

Rooftop Farms: A Regenerative Urban Agricultural Model

Climate change is leading to shifts in the agricultural and fishing industries of the Philippines

A country still transitioning to industrialization, the Philippines will face an even larger population of food insecurity within the country, as well as a decline in economic activities as climate change’s effects become more dramatic in the coming decades.

Climate change is leading to shifts in the agricultural and fishing industries of the Philippines

An American Poisoning: The Story of Plan Colombia

In the decades following Plan Colombia’s initiation, rates of Parkinson’s and certain types of cancer have increased enormously. For years, scientists have studied and found an association between Parkinson’s and Roundup, and many now agree that there is also an epigenetic connection.

An American Poisoning: The Story of Plan Colombia