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Cattle graze in silvopasture (Photo courtesy of The National Agroforestry Center/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=rich).
Franklin & Marshall College
Sustainable agriculture has an accessibility problem. One Virginia farmer has a vision to solve it.
Greg McGlinch owns Down Home Farms, a 450-acre family farming operation in Darke County, Ohio. “I hate seeing soil go down the creek because you’re losing a lot of valuable nutrients,” he said on June 26, 2021. “A lot of that you can’t put a monetary value on” (Photo by Jules Struck).
Emerson College
Interest in sustainable farming practices is building, and while independent and governmental conservation organizations can be good resources for promoting ecological practices, farmers say that swapping information peer-to-peer works best.
Decker Woods and Sophia Cooper exchange farming tips in Big Muddy Farms’ biggest plot, July 6, 2021 (Photo by Jules Struck).
Emerson College
Big Muddy Urban Farm minimizes some of the financial barriers that keep potential farmers from entering the industry, like low profit.
Volunteers work together to organize food at the San Francisco Marin Food Bank (Photo by Sejal Govindarao).
George Washington University
The city of San Francisco and local organizations innovated to serve food insecure populations during the pandemic. Can food initiatives have the infrastructure to be durable?
Hannah Breckbill, the founder of Humble Hands Harvest, stands near the farm’s vegetable patch, July 2, 2021. “I didn’t grow up in farming, so I didn’t come with any preconceived notions,” she said. “Sustainability seemed like the obvious thing to aim for, as a farmer” (Photo by Jules Struck).
Emerson College
It's hard for new farmers to find affordable land to buy. A community of Iowans banded together to solve that issue for a farmer in their neighborhood.
A farm in Ohio, where soybean and corn are the biggest crops, June 23, 2021 (Photo by Jules Struck).
Emerson College
Farming sustainably is already hard work, and young potential farmers need to be creative to find a foothold in an aging industry.
The view from a bluff in the Ponca Wilderness in Compton, Arkansas. These lands, like much of what is now the state of Arkansas, are native to Indigenous peoples including the Osage, Sioux, Quapaw, and Caddo. (Image courtesy of Thomas Shahan/Flickr https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
Digital Content Producer & Assistant Editor, Planet Forward
Indigenous professor Dr. Bethany Henry Rosenbaum asked a powerful question: How do we bridge the Indigenous understanding that removal of Native people is still impactful today with the Western understanding that it’s in the past?
The tri-level home offers two bedrooms and 2.5 baths as well as an additional bed and bath in the accessory dwelling unit. EngiNUity even included a deck. (Photo courtesy EngiNUity - Northwestern Solar Decathlon team)
Northwestern University
A team of Northwestern University engineering students won the 2021 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge by designing an energy-efficient home. Their approach makes us ask: Could small homes be a viable investment in a sustainable future? Medill's... Read More