Trees are an important part of most ecosystems, and they can actually make a great contribution to agriculture by providing everything from shade to soil health, water retention, wind breaks, and marketable products.
Wildfires across the West are burning out of control and causing catastrophic losses to landscapes and communities. How did we get here, and how can we better manage fire in the future? Lesli Allison walks us through the complexities and dangers––and the critical importance of land management.
For the US to have a resilient food system at a large scale will require changes in national policy. Aria McLauchlan and Harley Cross of Land Core lay out how the Farm Bill, which will be reauthorized in 2023, can stimulate healthy–and long-term sustainable–farming practices.
Healthy-soil agriculture has the potential to solve a lot of big problems from climate to nutrition. But how do you bring it to scale within the realities of a competitive market system with narrow profit margins? Jessica Chiartas of Regen1 tells us––and it’s not easy or fast.
Landscapes evolved with animals and need animals to thrive. “Goatscaping” substitutes animals for machines and toxic chemicals to produce more resilient and healthy soil, plants, and even beneficial insect populations. They’re also incredibly cute.
For over 25 years Santa Ana Pueblo has been engaged in a large scale project to restore wildlife, plants, and watersheds long degraded by invasive practices. The results for agriculture, culture, and the land itself have been dramatic.
Cooling the earth’s climate is not just about cutting emissions––it’s about removing masses of carbon from the air. Karl Thidemann of Soil4Climate makes the case that the secret of sequestration is in the soil––with win-win benefits for ecosystems, nutrition, profitability, and community.
Zach Weiss has seen land so degraded that even weeds couldn’t grow…and helped transform it into healthy, living landscapes by changing the flow of water and letting nature do most of the work. The implications for agriculture, wildlife, and climate are huge.
The name of Pamela Tanner Boll‘s new film, To Which We Belong, comes from the great naturalist and conservationist Aldo Leopold, who understood the interconnection among all living beings, and the need to treat land with respect––and a deep sense of belonging.
Biologist Eva Stricker works with hog farmer Zach Withers and rancher Emily Cornell to study—and quantify—how compost works to heal degraded agricultural lands. So far the results are promising.