The Blueberries of Wrath on the mid-north coast of NSW
Bitter fruit: the dark underside of the booming NSW blueberry industry

"Blueberry farms have become an increasingly common sight across the rolling hills of the NSW mid-north coast...The number of people in need of ... support points to a dark underbelly of exploitation in the blueberry industry that authorities appear incapable of dealing with...It’s semi-organised crime, that is how I would describe it. "

"A NSW parliamentary inquiry into modern slavery is currently investigating worker conditions."
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/04/nsw-blueberry-industry-farm-labour-loopholes-dark-underside
#food #workers #slavery #plantations #exploitation #AgriculturalIndustry #plantations #CoffsHarbour #MidNorthCoast #NSW #LabourLaw #regulation #PALM #Pacific

‘This way of #farming is really sexy’: the rise of #regenerative #agriculture

On the Isle of Wight Hollie Fallick and Francesca Cooper are part of a movement to bring tired and depleted soil back to life – and boost food security

they don’t practise typical farming: instead they are part of a growing global movement practising regenerative #agriculture – or #regen ag for short.

“Really simply, regenerative agriculture is nature-friendly farming,” says Fallick, who says she stopped being vegan when her health suffered. “It’s thinking about the health of soil, animals, humans and how they all link together.”

On Nunwell home farm, which sits alongside land the pair manage for the Wildlife Trust and produces meat and eggs for their direct-to-consumer business, chickens peck away alongside belted Galloway cows, nomadic pigs graze on grass as well as kale and bean “cover crops” sown to boost nutrients in the soil.

The idea is that by following the basic principles of regen ag – not disturbing the soil, keeping it covered, maintaining living roots, growing a diverse range of crops and the use of grazing animals – they can regenerate tired and depleted soil and produce nutritious food. The work, they argue, is urgent. Up to 40% of the world’s land is now degraded by industrial and harmful farming methods, according to the UN, while a recent study suggested improving soil could keep the world within the 1.5C heating target."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/14/this-way-of-farming-is-really-sexy-the-rise-of-regenerative-agriculture

#AgriculturalIndustry #Sustainability #FoodSupply #Food #IsleofWight #UK #Soil #Soils

The arc of electrification bends slowly, but it is bending

#agriculturetechnology #agriculturalmachinery #agriculturalinnovation #agriculturalindustry #agriculture #agribusiness #construction #constructionindustry #electrification #evs #evsolutions #sustainability #sustainabledevelopment

https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/electrification-agriculture-construction-equipment/778526

The arc of electrification bends slowly, but it is bending

#agriculturetechnology #agriculturalmachinery #agriculturalinnovation #agriculturalindustry #agriculture #agribusiness #construction #constructionindustry #electrification #evs #evsolutions #sustainability #sustainabledevelopment

https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/electrification-agriculture-construction-equipment/778526

"More than 800 million trees have been cut down in the #Amazon #rainforest in just six years to feed the world’s appetite for Brazilian #beef, according to a new investigation, despite dire warnings about the forest’s importance in fighting the #climate crisis.

A data-driven investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), the Guardian, Repórter Brasil and Forbidden Stories shows systematic and vast forest loss linked to cattle farming.

The beef industry in #Brazil has consistently pledged to avoid farms linked to deforestation. However, the data suggests that 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) of the Amazon was destroyed near meat plants exporting beef around the world."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/02/more-than-800m-amazon-trees-felled-in-six-years-to-meet-beef-demand

#Amazon #Rainforest #Climate #ClimateCrisis #HabitatLoss #HabitatDestruction #Habitat #Brazil #Agriculture #AgriculturalIndustry #Forest #Ecosystems