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Food & Agriculture

Food and agriculture sit at the intersection of every one of today's most pressing global challenges. Climate and water, world hunger, economic and financial stability, biodiversity and environmental health all pivot one very pragmatic question: "How to feed people while stewarding the natural resource base on which we — as well as future generations — all depend for survival?"

Industrial agriculture uses over 70% of the world's fresh water resources, is the leading driver of biodiversity loss and contributes more than 30% of climate-changing greenhouse gases — all while feeding fewer than one third of the earth's population. Peasants, urban gardeners and hunter-gatherers feed the rest.

Related Publications

Proposition 37 is a straightforward ballot initiative that would require processed food containing genetically engineered (GE) ingredients to be labeled. Californians have a right to make informed choices about the food they eat and how it’s grown. Get the facts on GE food. Download as PDF

Bees are in trouble. In the U.S., they’ve been dying off at alarming rates since 2006 and beekeepers continue to report staggering annual losses. While policymakers remain resolutely stuck — and have yet to take swift action to address the known causes of bee die-offs — home gardeners, backyard beekeepers and concerned individuals across the country have been stepping up to protect our favorite pollinators. View this toolkit for simple tips and actions to help protect honey...

This reports presents the results of monitoring for airborne pesticides conducted between June 2006 and August 2009 in central Minnesota. Overall, the results of the study indicate that for several months each summer, central Minnesota residents in potato-growing areas are regularly exposed to low to moderate lovels of the commonly used fungicide chlorothalonil in air. View as PDF »

Agroecology provides a robust set of solutions to the environmental and economic pressures and crises facing American agriculture in the 21st century.

Honey Bees and Pesticides: State of the Science, a 22-page report on the factors behind colony collapse disorder (CCD) with a sustained focus on the particular role of pesticides. The report documents evidence that pesticides are a key factor in explaining honey bee declines, both directly and in tandem with two leading co-factors, pathogens and poor nutrition. These studies, in U.S. and in Europe, have shown that small amounts of neonicotinoids—both alone and in combination with other...