Useful agriculture links

This thread is for you guys to post links to useful resources concerning agriculture. Try and make them as impartial as you can and fact based rather than news stories.

Control of water pollution from agriculture - http://www.fao.org/docrep/W2598E/w2598e00.htm

Factory farming - http://www.factoryfarming.com/

Agricultural economics - http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/

Sustainable agriculture - http://www.foodroutes.org/

Urban agriculture - http://www.ruaf.org/

[Cannonball]

I see by veetermons sites, that many of these chemicals have not been tested enough to establish which levels in the water are safe. So???

My genetic engineer son was working on this sort of thing in a Carolina research outfit, with the feds, but the lab was privatized in the early 2000s, and all research went looking for cures for AIDS, cancer and such. It seems, unlike an old rumor, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", truth is, prevention is worthless, but cures are worth a bunch. So it is, in todays business world.

[screener]

This is the centre for information on low external input sustainable agriculture,

http://www.leisa.info/index.php?url=index.tpl

Lots of good information dealing with small farming around the world, perhaps not co-incidentally there isn't a lot from North America.

[screener]

Here's some people trying to develop corn that will fit into a low input style of farming.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0722161725.htm

As we get to have expensive fuels and feedstocks for fertilizers and pesticides we will need crops designed for low input agriculture. It's refreshing to know that someone is looking at this.

[bruce]

http://markets.ft.com/ft/markets/commodities.asp - The latest commodity prices.

[altyfc]

A few UK-based sites...

http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/index.htm
http://www.ukagriculture.com/
http://www.fwag.org.uk/
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...44304/1224648/

[Cannonball]

It seems more and more people in the world are becoming aware of soil microbiology and the importance of the little microbes in sustaining plant and animal life.

[forfi]

I wrote my first piece on this some 8 years ago and folks said "Yes,thank you very much" and then moved swiftly on ..........

[screener]

here's another opportunity courtesy of the low external input folks,


http://www.leisa.info/index.php?url=...lob-html.tpl&p[o_id]=76729&p[a_id]=237&p[a_seq]=0

Restoring and maintaining soil life is possible through various means. This includes different agronomic techniques, such as using diverse cropping systems and sequences, adding mulch, opting for zero tillage or recycling farm resources. All efforts made towards improving the organic matter content in the soil help in making it productive and sustainable. At the same time, we need to consider that soil is also a community resource. This issue will therefore also highlight traditional practices for restoring soil health, the social agreements towards the prevention of soil deterioration, and the cultural practices which have enabled improving and maintaining soils as a basis of farmers’ livelihoods.

Please send us your stories!

I'm looking forward to this issue. should be a good range of concepts.