SoAR’s Retaking The Field report profiled Lisa Schulte-Moore of Iowa State University who used a USDA AFRI grant to show how strips of native prairie protects soil and water. As a result, The Washington Post featured Dr. Schulte-Moore and her team’s cutting-edge work.
Read Darryl Fears piece: “Iowa farmers ripped out prairie; now some hope it can save them” at http://wpo.st/te-r1.
The fall armyworm is the name of a two-inch-long brown caterpillar with a yellow stripe. It has a military name because common infestations are both large and destructive. The insect recently arrived in Africa and its impact on the Lake Chad region — already plagued by violence from terrorist group Boko Haram — has security experts concerned.
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When it comes to food prices around the world, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that food prices have been decreasing over the past three years. After spikes in 2008 and 2011, commodities prices have trended downwards. This makes it easier for families all over the world to put more food on the dinner table.
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In California, five years of record-breaking drought have given way to a record-breaking winter of rain and snow that has provided farmers more water than they know what to do with. Southern Africa has had a similar experience, with record drought followed by torrential rains and floods. This change has also been accompanied by the rapid expansion of a new invasive pest—the fall armyworm.
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