Farm Earth University

Describes approaches for effectively applying science, technology, and innovation to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Outlines core areas for policy action, including a focus on platform or generic technologies, defining infrastructure services as foundations for technology, placing universities at the centre of local development and improving science education, spurring entrepreneurial activities, improving the policy environment and focusing on areas of under-funded research for development.

With humor and pathos, Forrest Pritchard recounts his ambitious and often hilarious endeavors to save his family’s seventh-generation farm in the Shenandoah Valley. Through many a trial and error, he not only saves Smith Meadows from insolvency but turns it into a leading light in the sustainable, grass-fed, organic farm-to-market community. There is nothing young Farmer Pritchard won’t try. Whether he’s selling firewood and straw, raising free-range chickens and hogs, or acquiring a flock of Barbados Blackbelly sheep, his learning curve is steep and always entertaining. Pritchard’s world crackles with colorful local characters—farm hands, butchers, market managers, customers, fellow vendors, pet goats, policemen—bringing the story to warm, communal life. His most important ally, however, is his renegade father, who initially questions his son's career choice and eschews organic foods for the generic kinds that wreak havoc on his health. Soon after his father’s death, the farm becomes a recognized success and Pritchard must make a vital decision: to continue serving the local community or answer the exploding demand for his wares with lucrative Internet sales and shipping deals. More than a charming story of honest food cultivation and farmers’ markets, Gaining Ground tugs on the heartstrings, reconnecting us to the land and the many lives that feed us.

The Earth in Her Hands celebrates the important contributions women make to the wide world of plants—in the fields of horticulture, environmental science, botany, floral design, farming, landscape architecture, herbalism, food justice, and more.

We're bombarded by messages telling us that more, bigger, and better things are the keys to happiness-but after we pile up the stuff and pile on the hours, we end up exhausted and broke on a planet full of trash. Sarah van Gelder and her colleagues at YES! Magazine have been exploring the meaning of real happiness for eighteen years. In this much-needed volume, they marshal fascinating research, in-depth essays, and compelling personal stories that lead to a life-altering conclusion: what makes us truly happy are the depth of our relationships, the quality of our communities, the contribution.

Managing the ability of agriculture to meet rising global demand and to respond to the changes and opportunities will require good policy, sustained investments, and innovation - not business as usual. Investments in public Research and Development, extension, education, and their links with one another have elicited high returns and pro-poor growth, but these investments alone will not elicit innovation at the pace or on the scale required by the intensifying and proliferating challenges confronting agriculture. Experience indicates that aside from a strong capacity in Research and Development, the ability to innovate is often related to collective action, coordination, the exchange of knowledge among diverse actors, the incentives and resources available to form partnerships and develop businesses, and conditions that make it possible for farmers or entrepreneurs to use the innovations. While consensus is developing about what is meant by 'innovation' and 'innovation system', no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at a given time, in a given place, for a given result. The AIS approach that looks at these multiple conditions and relationships that promote innovation in agriculture, has however moved from a concept to a sub-discipline with principles of analysis and action. AIS investments must be specific to the context, responding to the stage of development in a particular country and agricultural sector, especially the AIS. This sourcebook contributes to identifying, designing, and implementing the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen AIS and to promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth. It emphasizes the lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and prospects for replicating or expanding successful practices. The information in this sourcebook derives from approaches that have been tested at different scales in different contexts. It reflects the experiences and evolving understanding of numerous individuals and organizations concerned with agricultural innovation, including the World Bank. This information is targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook can also be an important resource for the research community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Education as if people and planet mattered In Transformative Learning, Satish Kumar reflects on the legacy of Schumacher College, a beacon of innovation that fosters an ecological-based, holistic model of higher education built around the college's unique "learn by doing," head, heart, and hands pedagogy. Over fifty current and former instructors and alumni, including Vandana Shiva, David Orr, Kate Raworth, Fritjof Capra, Bill McKibben, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and Jonathon Porritt, paint a rich picture of education for human well-being and the ecological health of the planet. Contributions delve deeply into the nature of transformational learning and holistic education, present a wealth of alumni experiences of working towards an ecological society, and detail the expansion of the Schumacher model to Belgium, Brazil, India, Japan, and beyond. The result is a rich tapestry of ideas and educational methods packed with insights and experience for practitioners and activists looking to build a just, ecological society.

ULTRA Powerful Pest and Disease Control Solution Make all-Natural Pesticide. Farm at $100 per acre a year. Everything you need to know to: Go completely organic Boost quality and yield Save huge, huge, HUGE costs Make all-natural fertilizer, pesticide, and microorganism inputs yourself. JADAM’s ultimate objective is to bring farming back to farmers. Through JADAM’s method, farming can become ultra-low-cost, completely organic, and farmers can once again become the masters of farming. Farmers will possess the knowledge, method, and technology of farming. When organic farming becomes easy, effective, and inexpensive, it can finally become a practical alternative. Farmers, consumers, and Mother Nature will all rejoice in this splendid new world we wish to open. You will learn many useful new methods including increasing microbial diversity and population, boosting soil minerals, tackling soil compaction, reducing salt levels, raising soil fertility, and more. This book also shows you how to make natural pesticides that can replace chemical ones. He started organic farming and raised animals himself from 1991 in Asan, Chungnam province. He went on to establish "Jadam Organic Farming" and started to promote this farming system through books and website (www.jadam.kr). He established "Jadam Natural Pesticide Institute" in 2002 from where he continued his research while integrating knowledge from many experienced farmers which led to the completion of the system of ultra-low-cost Jadam organic farming. He invented and developed many technologies for a natural pesticide which he voluntarily did not patent but rather shared through books and website. His "Natural Pesticide Workshops" teaches the essence of ultra-low-cost JADAM organic farming. Lectures, too, are disclosed on JADAM website(en.jadam.kr).