Organic Growth: How Turkey's Eco-Markets Took Root

The Food and Agriculture Organization and the Slow Food Coffee Coalition are helping coffee farmers in Malawi adopt agroforestry practices by teaching them new techniques, helping them improve coffee quality, and showing them how to attract international markets. This way, the farmers earn more for their products and benefit the environment with their work.

A barley farm in southern Oregon transformed 70 of its 400 acres into a wetland sanctuary after it had spent years leaking phosphorus pollution into the Upper Klamath Lake. A team of scientists and advocates collaborated with the farmer to finance and construct the new natural ecosystem, which began to yield the farmer both environmental and financial benefits after only one year.

Agroforestry is a farming method in which a variety of crops, plants, and trees are planted mimicking the makeup of a forest. The practice is becoming more popular in Rondônia, Brazil, as a sustainable farming option to restore land degraded from livestock ranching while providing an income for small farmers.

After realizing that his soil was becoming more saline after repeated uses of chemical fertilizer, a farmer in India made the switch to organic farming with the hopes of saving his crops. By switching to organic farming he has a lower crop yield than he would by using chemicals, but he is hopeful others will see the benefits of this method.

The Alexandre Family Farm in California made the switch to regenerative agriculture as a way to improve their soil health and improve the quality of their dairy operations. They are part of a growing number of individual dairies across the country that are embracing organic farming and are becoming “certified regenerative” as a way to build relationships with consumers and retailers on their own.

Symbrosia, a clean-tech startup in Hawaii, is taking seaweed from the ocean and turning it into a powder that can be used to feed livestock to reduce the amount of methane they produce — a key contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The company worked with an organic farm in Upstate New York to test the product and found that sheep given a high dosage of the supplement had up to 70 percent reduction in methane emission. Creating the powder takes weeks and a lot of steps, but the startup is hopeful the product can become a mass-produced commodity.

The Raíces Cooperative Farm in Hood River, Oregon provides Spanish-speaking community members "a place to grow food," learn from one another about farming practices and develop leadership skills. “Through Raíces, I began to learn better cultivation techniques. [We are shown] how to care for the soil, plants, and seeds, and the program provides economic support" one member explained. During the coronavirus pandemic, the cooperative has also been integral to supplying food for mobile markets.

On his organic farm in Illinois, Will Glazik is experimenting with different types of agricultural methods to increase his crop yield while also avoiding the harmful impacts of industrial farming. He’s part of a growing movement called “sustainable intensification,” which combines both conventional and organic farming techniques. While there are challenges with this approach and what works in one place might not work in another, combining these types of farming could help feed a growing global population.

In order to keep local farms and businesses afloat, the Metuchen Farmers Market in North Jersey went virtual. Volunteers for the market enlisted the help of the Canada-based Local Line to build the market's platform, which allows customers to place orders online for a weekend pickup.

An unusual mixture of biochar — a charcoal-like substance that is produced by burning organic matter — and dung beetles is one way farmers could reduce their cows’ methane emissions to combat climate change, while also improving the health of their soil. Studies on Doug Pow’s farm in Australia have shown an improvement in soil-water retention and an increase in the amount of carbon retained in the soil, which prevents it from escaping into the atmosphere. “We are doing our bit to re-engineer the soil in a positive way, for the long-term benefits of our world,” Pow says.