Fertilize by drone, till by text: Making tech work for Africa's farmers

Solar-powered cold storage units operated through Farmer Producer Organizations in India have reduced post-harvest losses from as high as one-third of crops to minimal levels. This enables smallholder farmers to save on storage and transportation costs while gaining control over when to sell their produce at better prices.

During rain seasons in Bangladesh, rivers flooded villages and their agriculture so that local economies and food supplies were in jeopardy. A Bangladeshi non-profit Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha introduced small floating farms designed to be run by women. Consequently, the organization has initiated 40 floating farms that serve 300 rural women and save local agriculture.

The failure of India's Zero Energy Cool Chambers to gain farmer adoption reveals that effective post-harvest storage solutions must match farmers' immediate cash needs, work across diverse climates with minimal maintenance, and points toward community cold storage with flexible rentals as a more promising approach.

Disabled farmers in Kashmir are adapting agricultural practices through locally-fabricated tool modifications, adjusted work timing, and traditional soil/seed management techniques that reduce physical labor by 15-50% and enable them to continue farming despite increasing climate stress.

As populations urbanize and the disparity between city and country grows, farmers in Japan are facing increasing economic challenges and a shortage of new farmers to work the land. But a new scheme may help farms to be more profitable by creatively doubling the productivity of their land. New projects allow farmers to grow produce or graze livestock beneath large swaths of solar panels, generating income from both energy sold to the grid as well as more traditional agricultural means.

The rapid development of emerging economies across Asia and Africa is lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty - but there is much debate as to how to best structure this growth. If these economies evolve in the same way as in the West - with unchecked, excessive resource consumption and heavy pollution - the planet may be on the fast track to disaster. Earthrise explores how these nations can grow sustainably using improved, eco-conscious technologies like renewable energy and eco-friendly farming practices.

By supporting small-scale female farmers, Groundswell International, an NGO, is diversifying diets and combating food insecurity in countries in West Africa.

The effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and hotter global temperatures, are already having drastic impact on many communities, especially the rural, agricultural regions of countries such as Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Mozambique. Earthrise explores how people in these communities are learning new skills, implementing new techniques, and are striving in every way possible to adapt to these environmental changes while creating hope for sustainable growth in the future.

Most insurance companies avoid insuring poor farmers because the transaction costs are too high, but a non-profit in Kenya created a sustainable way to cover them.

Skagway Brewing Company built an aeroponic farm inside their brewpub to grow fresh lettuce year-round, successfully meeting the restaurant's full weekly demand and capturing brewing CO2 to boost yields.