Sustainability

Global warming report: Humans “dominant cause”

The earth will not be able to keep its temperature below 2°C   and it will probably increase by a further 4,8°C by the end of this century if greenhouse emissions are not tackled aggressively according to the IPCC report published this friday.  The earth is getting irreversibly hotter and more evidence is mounting confirming...

Sustainable agriculture in China

The economic growth that China has experienced during the past 40 years has in more recent years raised public’s attention on resource conservation and environmental protection, food security as well as employment and income generation. The concept of sustainable development has been formulated in an international context and has been recognized by most countries around the...

Tomatoes that will change the economy

Normally we associate tomatoes with sauces, ketchup, pizza, ragout and so on, the applicable uses of tomato in gastronomy are almost infinite. Others however are beginning to see other applicable uses for tomatoes such as Bioplastics, or biodegradable plastics.  The road to a sustainable agriculture is beginning to engage chemistry at as new agricultural practices  are...

Organic V conventional tomatoes

Organic tomatoes contain more vitamin C and oxidative components  according to a study “the impact of  Organic Farming on  Quality of Tomatoes is Associated to Increased Oxidative Stress during fruit development” . produced by Federal University of Ceara in Brazil and published on PloS One.  Biological agriculture exposes the tomato plant to more stress during its...

How oxidative stress impacts on quality of tomatoes

  Organic tomatoes contain more vitamin C and oxidative components than conventional tomatoes. This is what a study carried out by the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil has recently published on on PloS One “the impact of  Organic Farming on  Quality of Tomatoes is Associated to Increased Oxidative Stress during fruit development” .   Organic agriculture exposes...

The Water footprint

We are all aware of the importance of water in everyday life. We see water as an unlimited resource and most of all it is free. Or is it?  The majority of us use water for washing, cooking and drinking and general household use but we are not aware that this is only a small...

Land Grabbing in developing countries

 The lack of secure access to natural resources (land and water) by the rural population is one of the main causes of poverty in developing countries. The dispossession and marginalization of the rural poor has drawn media attention in recent years as the phenomenon of land grabbing  reached  unprecedented levels in the past decade and causing...

Food security in China

The medical  journal Lancet published an extensive article on  food security in China. Rapid industrialization and social transformation is affecting food supply as well as food safety. And the picture that emerges from this is that in spite of progress made since 2006 to reach acceptable standards of food security the situation is still unclear....

Europe’s policies on climate change

A recent study by the Stockholm environment institute (SEI) in collaboration with friends of the earth demonstrates that Europe is able to comply with its environmental justice responsibility. The study demonstrates that it is possible to reduce green house emission by at least 40% by 2020 and by 90% in 2050  with the use of...

Hybrid seeds v GMO’s

Hybrid seeds, GMO (genetically-modified)seeds. most people have the idea that they are the same thing  and the terms are often used interchangeably. Both GMO’s and Hybrid varieties refer to varieties that are developed artificially by cross breeding, however there are some significant differences. Hybrid varieties are developed from same species. Hybridisation consists in cross breeding...

Waste management

According to FAO, by 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 Billion. Most of this will take place in developing countries, in order to feed this larger population food production must increase by 70%. Annual cereal production will need to increase by to about 3 billion tonnes from the 2.1 billion of today. However the European commission...

New professions in Green Agriculture

The development of sustainable agriculture is opening up new professional opportunities such as conservation biologists environmental scientists, food and safety specialists. Sustainable agriculture is not necessarily organic agriculture and although they are different, they  are often used interchangeably. Sustainability  relates to managing renewable resources, waste, biomass and energy, water resources and controlling and reducing Co2...