Nourishing the Planet

Check out more  from Nourishing the  Planet!   Order your copy of State of the World 2011              Read our blog, updated daily Research in Real Time   Dear Naresh,    Last Saturday, I attended the 10th Anniversary of the launch of Growing Power Chicago, a national nonprofit organization and land trust that provides people from diverse backgrounds with equal access to healthy, affordable----and tasty----food. Congratulations to Growing Power and founder Will Allen for showing urban youth that agriculture can be fun and profitable.    Our trip to Latin America is rapidly approaching! On April 29th, we will begin our tour of agricultural innovations in the region. Before our return on May 13th, we will visit projects in the field and meet with policymakers, journalists, and farmers' groups in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. We have already received lots of exciting feedback from individuals and organizations, but we want to hear from you too! If you know of any initiatives that we should highlight, please email me. This week, we highlight five agricultural innovations that are working to improve biodiversity around the world. In this post, we discuss the work of the International Development Research Center, a Canadian organization searching for ways to help small-scale farmers manage food price shocks and utilize technologies that enhance agricultural productivity.  And be sure to check out this TEDxManhattan Talk by Fred Kirschenmann, in which he discusses the key role soil plays in food production. All the best, Danielle Nierenberg Nourishing the Planet Project Director Worldwatch Institute www.nourishingtheplanet.org Please connect with us on Facebook!     Here are some highlights from the week: Five Agricultural Innovations to Improve Biodiversity  According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a quarter of the world's known plant species----some 60,000 to 100,000 species----are threatened with extinction. And even though plants may not receive as much attention as endangered animals, they are important. Among their many attributes, plants are a vital source of food, they can help stabilize the climate, and they also provide shelter, medicines, and fuel. Here are five agricultural innovations----seed banks, permaculture, native crops, indigenous livestock, and crop breeding----that are working to protect the world's fragile biodiversity.      Changing the Way We Eat: Thinking of Soil as More than Just Dirt On January 21st, TEDxManhattan featured a series of speakers with backgrounds in food and farming who shared their knowledge and expertise with thousands of audience members watching either in-person from seats at the event or virtually from around the world. In this post, Nourishing the Planet highlights a TEDxManhattan Talk by Fred Kirschenmann, who discusses the importance of soil in our food production system.      Canadian Research Center Addresses Global Food Security In many developing countries, poor people spend more than half their income on food, but many of them are not getting enough nutrients to stay healthy. The International Development Research Center (IDRC) is working to change that problem. IDRC has provided CA$2.8 billion in grants since its founding with a focus on agricultural programs that increase food security in the developing world and grow local rural and urban economies. Research funded by IDRC is helping find ways to help small-scale farmers deal with shocks to food prices and utilize technologies to enhance agricultural productivity.      Running the Numbers II: One Artist Brings Hunger Statistics to Life  Chris Jordan is an acclaimed digital photography artist whose previous collections have included pieces such as Toothpicks, which depicts in toothpicks the annual number of trees cut down to make junk mail. In 2009, he embarked upon a new project called "Running the Numbers II: Portraits of Global Mass Culture." Every piece in this collection is a digital image, some replicas of very well-known paintings or graphics, and was created to illustrate issues affecting the world. One work, Maya, appears to depict a circular Mayan artifact, but upon closer viewing visually demonstrates the number of people in the word suffering from malnutrition.    Soursop: Many Names, Many Flavors  Our indigenous crop of the week is soursop, or guanábana, a tropical fruit that is native to Central America, northern South America, and the Antilles, but that now grows wild and is cultivated in warm, tropical climates around the world. Soursop's milky-white pulp is fibrous and punctuated with black, mildly toxic seeds. When you can get it fresh, the fruit is eaten raw with a spoon. Soursop also preserves well, so commercial farmers often squeeze it to make beverages, candies, custards, and jellies. Guanábana juice concentrate or carbonated soft drinks abound in Central and South American countries.      Agriculture: The Solution You can now check out Nourishing the Planet's latest PowerPoint presentation from the recent Global Citizenship Symposium at Georgia College. In this presentation we outline the connection between sustainable agriculture and public health.      Looking for Borlaug Field Award Nominations The World Food Prize is currently looking for nominations for its first annual Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. This award aims to recognize exceptional, science-based achievement in international agriculture and food production by an individual under 40 who has devoted time, effort, and stamina towards the fight to eliminate global hunger and poverty. Nominations for the award will be accepted online through June 30.   NtP in the News Our research continues to garner exciting press coverage. This week, The Epoch Times interviewed me about the growing food crisis tragically taking place in Somalia and the efforts needed to eliminate hunger in that region.      What did you think of this newsletter? Please give us your feedback...we will use your comments to constantly improve our work. Write Danielle Nierenberg, Senior Researcher and Project Director of Nourishing the Planet, at dnierenberg@worldwatch.org.