The progressive international nonprofit, Food Tank (founded by Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack), had its NYC summit yesterday and addressed one of the food industry's most urgent issues: waste. "40% of all food is wasted. If food waste was a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses." — Roy Steiner, Rockefeller Foundation

Chihuahuan Desert Charities is taking a new look at biochar, an ancient strategy for soil amendment providing for greener agriculture.  Biochar can improve the hydraulic and chemical properties, as well it can significantly improve sorghum growth and yield under sandy desert soils, at a lower cost.

Doña Ana County is in a unique geographic border region known as the Paso del Norte, that is presented with the difficult community challenge of environmental conservation issues that threaten water, soil health, and biodiversity. Converting deserts into arable, green landscapes is a global vision, and desert farming is a strong growth area of agriculture worldwide.  Chihuahuan Desert Charities is being proactive and preparing our youth for the future. A large part of the DYGUP regenerative agriculture curriculum is learning the value of composting, biodiversity and enriching soil.

A 2015 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 34 percent of all kids between the ages of 2 and 19 ate fast food on any given day. Parents are faced with a multi-billion dollar advertising industry working to pack more junk into our kids just to make a profit. As a result, kids are less familiar with the very types of foods that are most healthy for them, like fruits and veggies.

A study by a University of Oregon professor and his colleagues demonstrates that charitable contributions create a response in the brain that mimics one activated by drugs and other stimuli. This response elicits a surge of dopamine and endorphins that are experienced as “hedonic” and rewarding. Charitable giving can feel pleasurable in the deepest parts of your physiology.

We are thrilled to report that green packaging options are going beyond recyclability to meet the sophisticated demands of eco-friendly consumers.  Is edible packaging part of our plastic-free future? With dead zones on the rise could things like seaweed packaging have a lasting effect on saving our oceans?  

The food movement is gaining momentum but we are at a critical moment.  Challenges are being faced and roadblocks are being put up. In the land of capitalism, we will have to maintain a sustained fight.  By working together we can keep the movement growing. The roots of change start in our local communities. We, as individuals need to reach out and grow with our neighbors around us.  Build on the roots of our community.

Throughout history, civilizations have risen or fallen depending on the fertility of their topsoil.

Great civilizations have fallen because they failed to prevent the degradation of the soils on which they were founded. The modern world could suffer the same fate. This is according to Professor Mary Scholes and Dr. Bob Scholes who have published a paper in the journal Science, which describes how the productivity of many lands has been dramatically reduced as a result of soil erosion, accumulation of salinity, and nutrient depletion.

As a state, New Mexico rates within the bottom 10 states, #46, for: the extent of child homelessness, the well-being of children and the risk for family homelessness.

In our desire to make a change to agricultural practices, how do we navigate the waters of marketing?