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Feel the Grass Grow: Ecologies of Slow Peace in Colombia
Books
This book discusses the ongoing process of achieving peace in Colombia following the 2016 signing of a peace accord by the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. It focuses on the role campesinos (peasant farmers) have had in the continued process of peacebuilding, using what Lederach describes as “slow peace” to recenter grassroots practices of peace, grounded in multigenerational struggles for territorial liberation.
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The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small
Books
This book by Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell, owners and founders of the Knepp Rewilding Project in southern England, offers practical advice on rewilding spaces from national parks to gardens. Applying the theory of rewilding alongside learning from the trials, errors and successes of rewilding the Knepp estate, chapters include guidance on plants, water systems and animals, in particular herbivores, as well as advice on applying rewilding principles in smaller spaces such as gardens.
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Fishing Europe's Troubled Waters: Fifty Years of Fisheries Policy
Books
This book, coming at the end of the author’s celebrated career in social science, reflects on 50 turbulent years of fisheries management and policy in Europe, across a period in which the globalisation of trade, increasing regulation and declining fish stocks have had a radical impact on North Atlantic fisheries. The author considers the origins of the Common Fisheries Policy and the roots of its failure to deliver sustainable fisheries, the flaws of a centralised system and the consequences of Brexit for the UK fishing industry.
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Italy may be the first country to ban lab-grown meat - TIME
News and resources
The Italian Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, recently proposed a bill that would result in a national ban on the production and marketing of cultivated meat, stating that so-called “synthetic” foods threaten small food producers, the environment, Italian food culture, and even human health. Despite the potential inaccuracy of many of these claims, there are fears that, if passed, the new law would limit the economic potential, scientific progress, and climate mitigation efforts associated with the emerging field of cultivated meat.
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Plant-based meat may be struggling but it will come back stronger - Fast Company
News and resources
Alt-protein or plant-based meat has recently seen a decline in its market shares with flagship companies like Beyond Meat struggling to stay afloat. However, this article argues that this is simply a symptom of hype cycles - as the initial hype following an innovation wanes novel products and technologies commonly experience a “trough of disillusionment”. Those products and technologies that survive this “trough” tend to achieve mainstream acceptance, which this article suggests will be the case for the alt-protein industry.
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Male and stale? Questioning the role of “opinion leaders” in agricultural programs
Journal articles
Programs aiming to drive change within smallholder agri-food systems commonly involve training initiatives with a limited number of selected "model farmers" who then pass on the knowledge they have learned to the wider smallholder community. These model farmers are often chosen as they are seen to be opinion leaders, central individuals within social networks, who are presumed to have greater success in influencing people's behaviour and so driving change. Using data from an experiment implemented among Indonesian cocoa farmers, this study set out to determine whether this assumption is indeed the case.
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What is regenerative agriculture?
Explainer
What is regenerative agriculture? Although this concept is frequently used in discussions about food systems transformation, and is starting to attract the attention of corporates and the mainstream, it lacks a formal definition, and what counts as "regenerative" can vary based on the individual asked, or the context.In this explainer, we explore ways of thinking about regenerative agriculture in relation to its various definitions, the stakeholders using the term, its knowledge practices and knowledge base, and how it fits in with wider goals for food system change.https://www.doi.org/10.56661/2d7b8d1cA shorter written version of this summary is available here.
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