Agriculture and Food Security

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The mission of this Working Group is explore new directions in Agriculture and Food Security.

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This Working Group is focused on Agriculture and Food Security.
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admin Albert Gomez Anthony Carrielaj ChrisAllen Corey Watts
efrost Elhadj Drame gsharma Hank Rappaport John.R.Falco.VMD jranck
Kathy Gilbeaux Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald MDMcDonald_me_com philippe.neeser samanthadas
SmithShawn SmShako TacarraB TheresaBernardo

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Global Food Supply - We Need to Plan for System Failure

ethicalcorp.com - by Mallen Baker - October 4, 2012

Mallen Baker argues that it’s irresponsible not to make contingency plans, especially when the potential failures concern the fundamentals – such as food

Imagine your critical business systems depend on one computer server. This server is huge – it has immense capacity – but you have grown into that space and now every single day you are pushing it to its limit. . .

. . . Now let’s substitute the global food system for the server. Here we have a system that is operating at full capacity. Any hiccups in normal production can lead to serious problems. This year we have seen such hiccups.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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ISO Focus+ - From Fish to Forests - May 2010

submitted by Albert Gomez

iso.org - May 2010

The use of fish and wood products continues to grow and are fast becoming the world's most traded commodities in their respective fields. At the same time, both sectors, crucial to biodiversity, are facing the pressing threat of climate change.

ISO's standards are powerful tools for taking action and the May issue showcases stories from companies benefiting from ISO standards, such as a Namibian fish processor or a large Brazilian company in the paperboard market, implementing management systems standards for quality and environmental or food safety as well as occupational health and safety.

http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index/iso-magazines/isofocusplus_index/isofocusplus_2010/isofocusplus_2010-05.htm

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Arctic Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise May Pose Imminent Threat To Island Nations, Climate Scientist Says

      

This Sept. 16, 2012, image released by NASA shows the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic, at center in white, and the 1979 to 2000 average extent for the day shown, with the yellow line. Scientists say sea ice in the Arctic shrank to an all-time low of 1.32 million square miles on Sept. 16, smashing old records for the critical climate indicator. (AP Photo/U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, File)

huffingtonpost.com - by James Gerken - October 5, 2012

Low-lying island nations threatened by rising sea levels this century could see the disastrous consequences of climate change far sooner than expected, according to one of the world's leading climate scientists.

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Biodynamics for Costa Rica

Services

Objective:
Provide technical tools, and eco-social practices, to build sustainable human development and integral to Costa Rica and Central America.

Par services we offer:

-Support to build agro biodynamic production models

-Preparation and distribution of biodynamic preparations

Agricultural-Development-astronomical calendars

-Training of farmers biodynamic.

-Courses and trainings, in interagency joint working logic, for the impact on the public sector.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbiodinamicacostarica.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F10%2Fxxvii-encuentro-latinoamericano-de.html

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Ocean-Based Food Security Threatened in a High CO2 World

oceana.org - September 24, 2012

Emissions from human activities are changing the ocean’s chemistry and temperature in ways that threaten the livelihoods of those who depend on fish and seafood for all or part of their diets. The changes may reduce the amount of wild caught seafood that can be supplied by the oceans and also redistribute species, changing the locations at which seafood can be caught and creating instability for ocean-based food security, or seafood security. This report ranks nations based on the seafood security hardships they may experience by the middle of this century due to changing ocean conditions from climate change and ocean acidification. This is done by combining each nation’s exposure to climate change and ocean acidification, its dependence on and consumption of fish and seafood and its level of adaptive capacity based on several socioeconomic factors. Country rankings are developed for risks from climate change and ocean acidification independently, as well as from both problems combined.

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Climate Change Takes a Bite Out of Global Food Supply

      

A Pakistani fisherman talks with young boys. Rising ocean temperatures are pushing many fish away from the tropics towards the poles where waters are cooler. (Credit: Akbar Baloch/IPS)

commondreams.org - by Stephen Leahy - September 29, 2012

Humanity’s ability to feed itself is in serious doubt as climate change takes hold on land in the form of droughts and extreme weather, as well as on the world’s oceans.

Less well known to many is the fact that emissions from burning oil, coal and gas are both heating up the oceans and making them more acidic. That is combining to reduce the amount of seafood that can be caught, according to a new report released here.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION HERE - Ocean-Based Food Security Threatened in a High CO2 World)
http://resiliencesystem.org/ocean-based-food-security-threatened-high-co2-world

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Probability Maps Help Detect Food Contamination

Sandia's stochastic network metholodogy accelerates spread of food-borne illness // Source: sandia.gov

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - October 1, 2012

Researchers demonstrate how developing a probability map of the food supply network using stochastic network representation might shorten the time it takes to track down contaminated food sources; stochastic mapping shows what is known about how product flows through the distribution supply chain and provides a means to express all the uncertainties in potential supplier-customer relationships that persist due to incomplete information

Uncovering the sources of fresh food contamination could become faster and easier thanks to analysis done at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC).

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Questions to Stimulate Discourse Regarding A Collapse in Food Distribution Systems

Michael McDonald’s Original E-Mail

 

From: Michael McDonald
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 5:48 AM
To: John T. Hoffman; Tom McGinn
Cc: Ross, Robert G; Linton Wells; Samuel Bendett; David A Hastings; Gresalfi, Michael; Timothy Siftar; Rahul Gupta; Luis Kun; Carl Taylor; gavin; Tim Stephens; Christine Springer; Lyerly, William; Gavin Mcgregor-Skinner; Ray Shirkhodai; Allen Clark; David Franz; Gary Vroegindewey
Subject: Questions to Stimulate Discourse Regarding A Collapse in Food Distribution Systems

 

John, Tom, and colleagues, 

 

I will be interacting with food distributors, state emergency managers, a state food council, and other food and emergency management stakeholders regarding preparations for a massive food crisis in the U.S.  They have asked for a series of general questions for stimulating a discussion about their management and governance in severe crises associated with food.  I would like to have your input into the framing of this discussion.  Many of the same questions need to be directed at medical supply distributers as well.  Here is the first draft series of my questions:

 

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Spain Recoils as Its Hungry Forage Trash Bins for a Next Meal

In Spain, the unemployment rate is over 50 percent among young people (Samuel Aranda for The New York Times)

Images: In Spain, the unemployment rate is over 50 percent among young people (Samuel Aranda for The New York Times)

nytimes.com - September 24th, 2012 - Suzanne Daley

On a recent evening, a hip-looking young woman was sorting through a stack of crates outside a fruit and vegetable store here in the working-class neighborhood of Vallecas as it shut down for the night.

At first glance, she looked as if she might be a store employee. But no. The young woman was looking through the day’s trash for her next meal.

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The G-20 and Food Security

Farmer with corn.Image: Farmer with corn.

submitted by Robert G. Ross

stanleyfoundation.org - September 2012

Spikes in the price of staple food commodities are pushing the issue of food security higher on the G-20 agenda. The Mexican finance ministry confirmed that the topic will be prominent for the next meeting of deputy finance ministers and central banks on September 23–24. The officials are mindful of the 2008 global crisis that sparked food riots in some 30 different countries, as well as the G-20’s own commitments to tackle price volatility. Prices rose by an alarming 10 percent earlier this summer, though the most recent reports have shown them stabilizing.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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