Solutions journalism is news about how communities and organizations are responding to social and environmental problems. This collection contains solutions stories about promoting sustainable farming methods through staple crops. In Papua New Guinea, using staple crops and agroforestry has provided food security for the residents. Indigenous tribes are helping to protect tropical forests in order to protect their traditional farming method of using staple crops. A new staple crop has been discovered in the Mayan Rainforest, as sap that is later turned into gum can be collected from the trees without harming them.
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Project Drawdown considers planting and harvesting perennial staple crops to be a potential solution for mitigating the effects of climate change. They explain that "staple foods from trees include starchy fruits such as bananas and breadfruit, oil-rich fruits such as avocado, and nuts such as coconut and Brazil." Many staple trees are perennial, meaning they come back each year, and will sequester more carbon each year, in addition to being more resilient to changing climates. They also form good agroforests, a traditional way of farming that mimics a natural ecosystem. Transitioning agriculture to be primarily perennial staple crops will result in less money spent by the farmers, as they require less fertilizer and maintenance, as well as reducing everyone's carbon footprint.Coming soon!