Tag Archives: cash crop

Cocoa prices are surging, but cocoa farmers are still making a pittance

Posted on June 24, 2014 by argylesock

argylesock says… Chocolate tastes so good, but it’s not so sweet for the smallholders who grow it. You can scroll down for info about other tropical commodity crops.

Posted in agriculture, money and trade | Tagged cacao, cash crop, coffee, commodity crop, farmer, palm oil, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, rubber, shrub, smallholder, sugar cane, trade, tree | Leave a comment

Call for articles: Nutritional values and family farming

Posted on June 16, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on AGRICULTURE BLOG…..:
Farming Matters | 30.2 | June 2014 We are told of the great advances that have been made in ‘modern’ agriculture in the last 60 years. Yet there are more hungry and malnourished people on…

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged access to food, agroecology, biotechnology, cash crop, conservation, crop, development, family farm, farmer, fertiliser, finance, food, food availability, food loss, food quality, food security, food sovereignty, food waste, forest, genetic modification, Green Revolution, intensive, iron, knowledge, land use, local community, nutrition, obesity, poverty, rural, smallholder, trade, tradition, Vitamin A, woodland, yield, young person | Leave a comment

Move Over Quinoa, It’s Teff’s Turn

Posted on January 26, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Global Food Politics:
Ethiopian Farmers Harvesting Teff An interesting story in The Guardian this week argues that teff—an ancient Ethiopian grain—is poised to be the next global super grain. Teff is rich in calcium, iron, and…

Posted in food, money and trade | Tagged cash crop, development, food sovereignty, grain, neglected crop, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, pseudocereal, quinoa, smallholder, staple food, teff, trade | 1 Comment

The Quinoa Challenge (and Other Food Dilemmas)

Posted on January 26, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Global Food Politics:
An interesting report in the Guardian last week highlighted the implications of the increasing global demand for quinoa. The story notes that as demand for Quinua real (royal quinoa) has increased, Bolivian consumers, for…

Posted in food | Tagged access to food, aid, cash crop, development, food security, food sovereignty, grain, neglected crop, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, poverty, pseudocereal, quinoa, smallholder, staple food | Leave a comment

Family farming

Posted on January 19, 2014 by argylesock

2014 is the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF). It’s so named by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and supported by over 360 civil society and farmers’ organisations including the World Rural Forum. The IYFF follows the … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture | Tagged aid, biodiversity, cash crop, crop diversity, development, family farm, farmer, food, food security, food sovereignty, gardener, politics, poverty, prosperity, pseudocereal, quinoa, smallholder | 1 Comment

Where the quinoa went

Posted on January 7, 2014 by argylesock

Charlie Haynes at the Annals of Botany blog discusses the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s Year of Quinoa. That year was all about rediscovering the neglected crop called quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Quinoa is a pseudocereal. The Year of Quinoa … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, human health, money and trade | Tagged aid, cash crop, crop, crop diversity, food, food security, food sovereignty, fruit, grain, neglected crop, nutrition, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, protein, pseudocereal, quinoa, smallholder, staple food, trade, vegetable, wheat | 4 Comments

Millet

Posted on December 6, 2013 by argylesock

Millets are grasses with smaller seeds than the grains that people like me, in the rich world, know as our staple foods. We should notice other grains too, including millets. Millions of people appreciate millets as staple food and as … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged barley, cash crop, climate, corn, crop, crop variety, development, dryland, farmer, feed, food, foxtail millet, grain, knowledge, livestock, maize, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, oats, pearl millet, plant_monocot, poverty, rice, rye, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, trade, value-added, wheat, wild rice, woman | 4 Comments

Ruth Benerito

Posted on October 14, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on Grandma Got STEM:
Thanks to Andrea Hermann, who suggested this post: The Washington Post recently had an obituary by Emily Langer for Dr. Ruth Benerito. Dr. Benerito, an Agriculture Department chemist, was credited with helping create wrinkle-free cotton. She…

Posted in knowledge transfer | Tagged cash crop, cotton, crop, history, knowledge, plant_dicot, research, textile, woman | Leave a comment

Tobacco farming and food security

Posted on September 30, 2013 by argylesock

Fanuel Kangondo at The Herald tells us that in Zimbabwe, tobacco farming is critical in promoting food security. Mr Kangondo quotes Lovemore Manatsa of British American Tobacco Zimbabwe, who said that smallholders produced tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) more cheaply than larger … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, money and trade | Tagged agroforestry, AIDS, cash crop, child, crop, development, disease, drug, education, farmer, food security, human, plant_dicot, smallholder, tobacco, trade, tree | Leave a comment

The Role and Risk of Coffee-based Development in Ethiopia

Posted on September 15, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on Global Food Politics:
Two Farmers in Ethiopia Pick Coffee Cherries, the fruit processed into coffee beans (Image courtesy The Upcoming). A new report issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) claimed that the child mortality…

Posted in agriculture, human health, money and trade | Tagged arboriculture, cash crop, child, coffee, coffee leaf rust, crop, development, disease, farmer, fungicide, fungus, organic, pathogen, plant_dicot, poverty, shrub, trade | Leave a comment