2 Oct 2009
For today’s post, I am handing over to Jimmie Hepburn, who farms organic carp quite near to me here in Devon. During the Middle Ages, carp farming was commonplace, but once we were able to harness the power of ancient sunlight to plunder the sea, it mostly died out. Jimmie’s project, Aquavision, is beginning to make freshwater aquaculture financially viable. He wrote an excellent article on the latest edition of ‘Organic Farming’ magazine (Issue 101: for subscription details call 0117 914 2447). I thought it was rather wonderful, and asked to be able to reproduce it here. You can read the full article here.
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1 Oct 2009
Food security and the need for GIS models
As expected, the recent paper ‘Can Totnes and district feed itself?’ has started stirring things up. An intriguing response comes from Colin Tudge, a director of LandShare CIC (co-funders of the research) and leader of the Campaign for Real Farming. Colin’s thesis is that the food security issue is a simple matter of feeding the population as far as practical from local sources, recognising that some trade between specialist production areas will always be necessary. He argues that we simply need macronutrients (energy foods and protein), mainly in the shape of grains, and micronutrients – vitamins and minerals – and that by growing lots of wheat and encouraging more urban horticulture we can feed ourselves. I’m brutally over-summarising, of course, but he is keen to keep things simple.
Read more»
For today’s post, I am handing over to Jimmie Hepburn, who farms organic carp quite near to me here in Devon. During the Middle Ages, carp farming was commonplace, but once we were able to harness the power of ancient sunlight to plunder the sea, it mostly died out. Jimmie’s project, Aquavision, is beginning to make freshwater aquaculture financially viable. He wrote an excellent article on the latest edition of ‘Organic Farming’ magazine (Issue 101: for subscription details call 0117 914 2447). I thought it was rather wonderful, and asked to be able to reproduce it here. You can read the full article here.
