Ford Foundation President: To address the climate crisis, we must address inequality
Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, recently published a profound statement about the importance of addressing inequality to fight climate change. Offering insight into these intertwined issues, which have become the defining challenges of our time, he focuses on the fundamental role of land.
Let’s Skip the War Part—and Go Right to Reparations
Because ecological destruction affects both friend and foe, the use of bombs, drones and missiles is akin to shooting oneself in the foot…and the lungs and the spirit. War undermines that which most of the world’s people aspire to: physical and financial security; satisfying work and social ties; clean air, food and water. Perhaps we can skip the violence and tragedy and blowback and move directly to restitution: reparations for damage sustained.
Making Land Access For Young Ones in the Buffer Zone
Fascinating article about preferential treatment in USDA grants programs by those landowners who move Conservation Reserve Program land to “beginning farmer” opportunities.
How Indigenous Land-use Practices Inform the Current Sharing Economy
How Indigenous Land-Use Practices Inform the Current Sharing Economy by Aaron Fernando The concept of ownership is a social contract that allows certain individuals and groups to have rights to certain resources or items while excluding others from that access. Under the mainstream conception of private property, both the ownership of land and anything built […]
Future of Colombia
A great article by Nicola Bilotta about FARC, Land Reform, and the Future of Colombia’s Security
More US Farmland Owned by Overseas interests
From The Center for Rural Affairs: A recent report from the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting revealed that foreign holdings of U.S. farmland doubled between 2004 and 2014. Foreign investors now control 27.3 million acres of farmland. Among the leading foreign owners of domestic farmland is the Chinese firm Shuanghui. The same firm purchased pork […]
Save Rural America
In June, The Center for Rural Affairs were among 578 organizations, businesses, and local governments that signed a letter opposing the elimination of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development mission area and undersecretary. For more than 20 years, they have helped rural communities develop and expand thriving businesses, create new economic opportunities, and build […]
The Land Matrix: Tracking Land Grabs
Check out this resource from the Tactical Technology Collective that tracks large-scale land deals: https://tacticaltech.org/projects/land-matrix-2012
Young Farmers in Minnesota get a hand from new land access bill
From the National Young Farmers Coalition: Saint Paul, Minnesota – On Tuesday evening, Governor Mark Dayton signed ten budget bills that included a first-of-its-kind beginning farmer tax credit. Authored by Rep. Nels Pierson (R-Rochester) and Sen. Mike Goggin (R-Redwing), the bill supports the transition of land to young and beginning farmers through a tax credit […]
Local Food: Animated
Advocacy group Local Futures has just released this short video about how buying local food impacts local economies. The 2-minuted animated short highlights the essence of the problems of the global economy, and the multiple benefits of localization. Like it? They have a booklet too.