Archive for the ‘Innovation’ Category

Mar27

Aquaponics: An Interview with Sweet Water Organics’ Matt Ray

Nourishing the Planet’s Kimberlee Davies spoke recently with Matt Ray, the principal farmer for Sweet Water Organics, an aquaponics training organization in Milwaukee, about his experience in the field of aquaponics.

Sweet Water Organics uses aquaponics technology to grow food in downtown Milwaukee.

What is aquaponics? How did you become involved?

Aquaponics has been around for centuries. It was traditionally a technique in tropical climates, using floating bamboo rafts with vegetation in fresh water pools. This was simply the adaptation of agriculture to the tropics. The technique has become cutting edge over the last 20 years. We can adapt aquaponics to today’s geographies and culture.

Aquaponics is a blending of aquaculture (the raising of aquatic animals) and hydroponics (growing plants in water without soil). In aquaponics, aquatic animals serve as the nutrition base for the plants. The great thing about aquaponics is that it is a closed system; it doesn’t have to flow in one pipe and out of another.

I saw it begin to pop up in the late 1980s, starting with the Virgin Islands, Australia, and even Asia, where fish are grown symbiotically with rice paddies. Forward-thinking farmers and activists began to develop the practice in non-tropical climates, and academics began researching the field. Twenty years later, we have a lot more people doing it. Scientific data has emerged to support the spread and success of this technique. It’s possible to take the nuts and bolts and adapt them to wherever you are. It’s going to work and it can be replicated.

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Posted by Laura Reynolds in Agriculture, Fish, Food, Gardening, Innovation, Interview, Local, organic, Sustainable, Technology, Urban Farming, Water

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Mar14

Readers’ Responses: Curbing Food Waste to Improve Human and Environmental Health

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In our February newsletter, we wrote about the environmental and humanitarian consequences of food waste. Worldwide, 30 to 40 percent of all food produced is either lost or wasted between the stages of production and consumption. We asked readers to send us their ideas on how to curb food waste, and we got many thoughtful and innovative responses.

Many readers responded to our February newsletter about how to reduce food waste. (Photo credit: Zero Waste Europe)

Some of our readers who own or work on farms wrote about their methods of recycling excess organic matter. Jan Steinman of Vancouver, Canada, wrote: “I live on a co-op farm, and nothing is wasted. We have a ‘three bucket’ system in the house. What people don’t want goes in the goat bucket, as appropriate (vegetable trimmings, etc.). If it isn’t suitable for the goats, it goes in the chicken bucket (moldy bread or cheese, cooked grains or legumes, etc.). Finally, if neither humans nor goats nor chickens will eat it, it goes into compost.”

Noting that many readers do not raise their own goats or chickens, Jan added, “If they go to a farmers market, they can surely find someone who will put their ‘waste’ to a higher use.”

For farmers who have more produce than they can sell or eat, organizations are cropping up to help get this food to hungry consumers. Peter Burkard wrote, “Here in Sarasota, Florida we have a food gleaning project run by Transition Sarasota which saves food from the fields that would otherwise go to waste and donates it to the local food bank.”

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Posted by Laura Reynolds in Compost, Conservation, Farmers, Fertilizer, Food, Food Waste, Innovation, Waste

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Jan28

“The Man Who Stopped the Desert”: What Yacouba Did Next

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By Devon Ericksen

In the documentary film, “The Man Who Stopped the Desert,” a farmer named Yacouba Sawadogo struggles to maintain his livelihood in the increasingly harsh land of northern Burkina Faso. Part of Africa’s semi-arid Sahel region, Burkina Faso has suffered from desertification as over-farming, overgrazing, and overpopulation resulted in heavy soil erosion and drying. Desertification has affected many countries in the Sahel, including Senegal, Mali, Niger, and Chad.

Yacouba Sawadogo has worked for more than 30 years to reverse desertification in the Sahel. (Photo credit: 1080 Film)

In 1980, Yacouba decided to fight the desert’s spread by reviving an ancient farming technique called zai, which led to forest growth and increased soil quality. Zai is a very simple and low-cost method, involving using a shovel or axe to break up the ground and dig small holes, which are then filled with compost and planted with seeds of trees, millet, or sorghum. The holes or pits catch water during the rainy season and, when filled with compost, retain moisture and nutrients through the dry season.

Yacouba’s story attracted international attention when Mark Dodd of 1080 Films created the documentary in 2010, and the African farmer has since told his story around the world, including at an October 2012 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) meeting in South Korea. 1080 Films recently released a short follow-up film about Yacouba’s life since the original film, called “What Yacouba Did Next…,” describing what Yacouba has done since the film’s release and giving an idea of the respect he has received from the international community.

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Posted by Laura Reynolds in Africa, agroforestry, Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Erosion, Fertilizer, Innovation, Soil

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Jan03

Innovation of the Month: iDE Brings Water to Dry Soils Around the World

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By Molly Redfield

Approximately 1.2 billion people live in water-scarce areas of the world, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Farming, a water-intensive endeavor, is responsible for nearly 70 percent of human water use worldwide and can exacerbate situations of scarcity, the FAO says. Meanwhile, improved water management could double crop yields in many parts of the world, according to the International Water Management Institute. With this in mind, organizations such as International Development Enterprises (iDE) strive to improve water management practices around the world.

In Bangladesh, a woman irrigates her family’s rice field using a treadle pump. (Photo credit: iDE)

iDE, whose mission is to create income and livelihood opportunities for poor rural households, is dedicated to increasing the availability of affordable micro-irrigation technologies. The organization promotes technologies such as treadle pumps, rope pumps, drip irrigation, sprinkle irrigation, water storage systems, multiple water use systems, and ceramic water purifiers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In these regions, iDE also champions greater gender equality, nutrition, and sanitation, providing women and the rural poor with greater access to both education and technological resources.

The treadle pump is perhaps iDE’s most famous technological innovation. The pump, which ranges from US$20 to $100, attaches to a well and draws groundwater to the surface by way of a manually powered suction system. Not only do treadle pumps increase farmers’ access to water in areas where surface water is scarce, but they enable farmers to grow crops during both the wet and dry seasons. Increased access to water, particularly in water-scarce regions like rural Zambia, can enable subsistence farmers to produce enough food to create a surplus, helping poor farmers to generate income, according to iDE.

iDE’s success with the treadle pump has inspired similar projects led by the FAO, individual Kickstarter campaigns, and Enterprise Works to expand treadle pump use in poor parts of the world. To date, more than 2 million pumps have been sold and are in use worldwide. In recognition of its achievements, iDE has received the 2004 Tech Award: Accenture Economic Development Award, the 2010 Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value, and the 2010 International Design Excellence Award.

Molly Redfield is a research intern with the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project.

Posted by Laura Reynolds in Agriculture, Development, Farmers, Innovation, Innovation of the Week

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Nov11

An Interview with Seth Itzkan: Using Holistic Management to Address Desertification and Climate Change

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By Carol Dreibelbis

In this series, we interview inspiring people that our readers have nominated. These individuals are working on the front lines to improve the global food and agricultural systems. Want to nominate someone? E-mail your suggestions to Laura Reynolds!

Name: Seth Itzkan

Affiliation: President of Planet-TECH Associates, a consultancy focusing on trends and innovations.

Bio: Seth has 25 years of experience consulting with private and public agencies on strategies for success in changing times. He is interested in the mitigation of climate change and is investigating new approaches to the problem, particularly focusing on the role of soils and grassland restoration through “holistic management.”

In 2011, Seth spent six weeks at the Africa Center for Holistic Management in northwest Zimbabwe, the sister organization of the Savory Institute in Colorado. While in Zimbabwe, he saw firsthand the restoration of degraded lands through improved land and livestock management. Since his return to the United States, he has advocated for holistic management to be considered as a methodology to address both desertification and global warming.

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Posted by Laura Reynolds in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Erosion, Fertilizer, Innovation, Land, Livestock, Soil, Sustainable

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Oct23

U.S Food Day: 25 Innovations in 25 U.S. States

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Tomorrow is U.S. Food Day, a yearly nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Watch our short, fun video about Food Day by clicking here!

In honor of Food Day 2012, we’d like to showcase 50 state-by-state programs, projects, individuals, and organizations that are innovating to make the nation’s food and agricultural system more sustainable. This week, we bring you the first 25, from Alabama to Missouri. Keep an eye out for the second 25 next week, where we will highlight innovations taking place from Montana to Wyoming!

1. Alabama. The Jones Valley Urban Farm in Birmingham, Alabama has been in operation since 2007. Occupying 3.5 acres of once vacant space in downtown Birmingham, Jones Valley Urban Farm grows organic produce and flowers and offers hands-on education to the community about farming and nutritious foods.

2. Alaska. The Fish to Schools program, created by the Sitka Conservation Society, is a school feeding initiative dedicated to serving local and nutritious seafood to students in Sitka, Alaska. As the ninth largest seafood port in the United States, Sitka’s economy and community is strongly interconnected with seafood. Through the Fish to Schools program, Sitka youth gain knowledge about local seafood resources by integrating seafood into their diets and by attending educational seminars on marine life and the process of harvesting seafood.

3. Arizona. The Sunizona Family Farms in Wilcox, Arizona started growing cucumbers in 1996. Today, not only do they sell nearly 95 percent of their organic produce, ranging from tomatoes, to kale to beets, to chard, locally, they also use growing methods which rely strictly on plant-based products. No animal inputs are used in any part of the farming process, they make their own fertilizers out of vegetable components, and even use waste pecan shells to create wood pellets, which they use to heat their greenhouse.

4. Arkansas. The City of North Little Rock, Arkansas has been given $1.5 million to encourage healthy nutrition and lifestyles in low-income neighborhoods. The mission is to make the City of North Little Rock a Fit 2 Live community that is committed to healthy eating and active living by creating an environment that recognizes and encourages citizens to adopt healthy life choices. (more…)

Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Agriculture, Environment, Food, Innovation, Sustainable, Uncategorized

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Oct19

Danielle Nierenberg Speaking at World Food Prize Foundation’s “DialogueNEXT”

On Wednesday, October 17, Nourishing the Planet Director Danielle Nierenberg spoke about the role of innovation in agriculture at the World Food Prize Foundation’s “DialogueNEXT” in Des Moines, Iowa. Watch the full video here!

Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Conservation, Environment, Innovation

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Oct19

Inaugural Global Green Inclusive Innovation Summit Aims to Empower Businesses for Good

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By Carol Dreibelbis

For the first time ever, governments, businesses, multilateral organizations, NGOs, academics, and investors will come together to discuss green, inclusive businesses at the Global Green Inclusive Innovation (G2i2) Summit. The G2i2 Summit will take place from October 25 to 26, 2012 at Infosys Technologies’ campus in Bangalore, India. In the spirit of global participation, the Summit’s location will rotate around the globe in future years.

G2i2 Summit organizers hope to address climate change, reduce poverty, and improve the social impact of business. (Photo credit: www.g2i2summit.com)

The G2i2 Summit will focus on accelerating the spread of innovative green and inclusive businesses around the world. A “green” business can be defined as one that demonstrates an explicit concern for the environment and does not negatively impact the local or global environment, community, or economy. A business is defined as “inclusive” when it aims to benefit low-income or other disadvantaged communities; businesses do this by actively including these communities in the business process, whether through job creation, offering affordable goods and services, or other means. While green and inclusive businesses may be either for-profit or non-profit in nature, they ultimately aim to do good through business.

By bringing together representatives from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, the G2i2 Summit aims to both foster innovative green, inclusive business partnerships and match these partnerships with funders. According to the G2i2 Summit website, “New green and inclusive businesses not only need desirable green products or guaranteed markets from companies; but also funding from public and private sector sources, social and infrastructure support from governments, on-going business and technical training from multi-laterals; and local market knowledge from NGOs and academia.”

The G2i2 Summit will feature keynote speeches by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Honorable Minister for Rural Development of India; Professor Rajeev Gowda, chairperson of the Center for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management; and NS Raghavan, co-founder of Infosys Technologies, a global consulting and IT services company based in India. The agenda will also include special pitch sessions for green and inclusive businesses aiming to scale or replicate in India and around the world.

One concrete outcome of the G2i2 Summit will be the launch of several innovative, green and inclusive businesses related to sustainable food, clean energy, water, waste management, and health in the following target countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam. Various companies, governments, and organizations are in support of this goal, including the UN Global Compact; multinational corporations Unilever, Novozymes, Nokia, and Greif; and the governments of the United States, Germany, South Africa, Sweden, and New Zealand.

By connecting companies and governments with complementary green, inclusive initiatives, G2i2 Summit organizers hope to address climate change, reduce poverty, and improve the social impact of business. Visit the G2i2 Summit website for more information.

How have you seen businesses have a positive impact on your community? Please share with us in the comments section.

Carol Dreibelbis is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet project.

To purchase State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet please click HERE.

Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Agriculture, Environment, Innovation, Sustainable

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Oct06

Saturday Series: An Interview with Katie Martin

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By Molly Redfield

In our new Saturday Series, we interview inspiring people our readers have nominated. These people are working on the frontlines to improve the global food and agricultural systems. Want to nominate someone? E-mail your suggestions to Danielle Nierenberg!

Katie Martin of M•CAM/Heritable Innovation Trust (Photo Credit: Heritable Innovation Trust)

Name: Katie Martin

Affiliation: M·CAM/Heritable Innovation Trust

Bio: Katie Martin graduated in 2011 from Christopher Newport University with a BA in history. Many of her classes not only documented world history, but also analyzed oral history and other oral traditions. In 2008, Katie interned for M·CAM’s Heritable Innovation Trust (HIT). Now she is a program coordinator with HIT and travels with the organization documenting traditional practices and processes of communities across Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, and Ecuador.

Can you tell me about the “Heritable Knowledge Framework and the Development of Communal Innovation Trusts” document and how it contributed to the founding of the Heritable Innovation Trust?

The Heritable Knowledge Framework sets out the specific methods for engaging groups that want to work with us. The document states how we should approach communities (they invite us), what artifacts or processes constitute heritable knowledge, and how we should present this knowledge. The document defines heritable knowledge as relating to a continually used item or process that is adapted to an environment or circumstance. Furthermore, heritable knowledge is culturally present through mediums like dance or painting, is valuable to the community, and belongs to not one individual, but the group as a whole. The Heritable Knowledge Framework then tells us what we can do with the knowledge we acquire. With all of our documents we want to respect those who have provided us with their knowledge, honor their traditions, and adjust our actions to their expressed needs.

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Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Agriculture, Culture, Development, Environment, Food, Innovation, Interview, Markets, Tradition

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Oct05

Take Part in a Worldwide Dinner Party for Good

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By Carol Dreibelbis

The Feast, an organization that fosters social innovation for a better future, will be holding a Worldwide Dinner Party for Good as part of its first-ever Social Innovation Week in October. The Feast aims to engage the next generation of innovators and creative thinkers in solving some of the world’s most pressing problems through the Worldwide Dinner Party and other events.

Hundreds of people on six continents have already signed up to host a Worldwide Dinner Party on October 5th (Photo Credit: the Feast)

The Worldwide Dinner Party for Good will take place on October 5, 2012 at 7 p.m. local time. According to The Feast, each dinner party will center on a challenge: “Pick a challenge and by the end of your meal, commit to a project to make the world work better. On the big day, all diners will post their commitments online to create a giant feast on good.” The Feast both provides a number of challenges to choose from and allows diners to define their own.

The Data Challenge—presented by John Sherry, Director of Business Innovation Research at Intel—asks diners to, “design a tool that utilizes the data that is being or could be created in the public and private realms,” to improve people’s lives. Cell phone data, for example, has already been used to help farmers manage their land and animals.

The Open Design Challenge—presented by Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer at GE—asks diners to “use the open tools available today…to empower a new group of people to make something that improves their physical environment.” This challenge comes at a critical time, as climate change continues to alter the global environment, requiring farmers to adapt through innovation.

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Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Agriculture, Climate Change, Culture, Diet, Entertainment, Environment, Farmers, Food, Innovation, Sustainable