Solarpunk Farming

Summary: Fungus-powered farming delivers higher yields and better-tasting crops, says study

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that an extract from the yeast-like fungus Pseudozyma aphidis can significantly boost crop yields while improving produce quality. Unlike previous approaches using live fungal cultures — which are difficult to apply consistently at scale — the team used a secreted extract, making results more reliable across different climates and environments.

Testing on tomatoes, corn, and melons showed an 18% improvement in tomato germination rates, flowering one to two weeks earlier, over 60% more ripe tomato fruit by weight, and melon yields five times greater than untreated plants. Tomatoes also scored higher in taste tests for firmness, sweetness, and aroma. The extract works by producing auxin-like plant hormones and siderophores that help plants absorb iron.

The researchers say the approach offers a practical, eco-friendly alternative to synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, supporting food security without the associated environmental costs. The team plans to continue refining the extraction process to identify the specific compounds responsible for these effects.

A post about the problems with climate change leading to extreme rainfall events reminded me of this concept. I saw a great video about it years ago, and I couldn't find it, so I am just linking a journal article about the concept.

The TL;DR is that we need to be doing as much as we can to slow water down on the land.

Giant dams across rivers, while useful for flood mitigation and power generation, are ecologically harmful. Small structures, essentially providing resistance to flow of temporary streams, have a whole giant host of benefits, from decreased erosion to increased water infiltration and water sequestration.

If you live somewhere arid (or honestly in many places that are now experiencing more eratic rainfall), you should think about where you could potentially use one or more of these strategies.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/36851527

I've got a big piece of land, it is all fenced with a decently high fencing, but during the times animals dug holes below it, some parts broke, some animals climb it.

Since I'd like to cultivate/hold animals in, what would be the best way to make THIS fence animal proof, without relying on other fencing around animals or my cultivations? Is it even possible/worth it? We have wolves, foxes, boars, etc etc etc..

I was thinking about electric wiring somehow (?), does it make it foolproof? Otherwise what other options may I have?

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/25169968

The benefits of agrivoltaics—the placement of solar panels over cropland for more efficient land use—varies dramatically depending on where it’s located, finds new research from the United States. As agrivoltaics spread and attract more interest, this is one of the first studies to really dig into its inherent trade-offs, and identify places where it works well for both electricity generation and farmers’ bottom lines.

The trade-offs in question are that while the huge increased electricity production enabled by more solar panels is a positive, and renting out land to solar providers can also provide new revenue streams for farmers, the shading effect of solar panels can disturb crop growth. Weighing up these costs and benefits has complicated the picture for farmers who may be considering agrivoltaics on their land.

To shed some light on the issue, a study led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign started by looking at 14 years of maize and soybean crop data from the Midwestern US. The dataset, which included information on crop yield and water-use, compared conventional non-solar cropland with farms where a third of the productive area was covered by panels. They also applied climate simulations to the data, to determine how crop-growing conditions and solar panel impact could change under a low, high, and highest-emission future scenario.

Very quickly, stark differences appeared in the model, between the more humid eastern stretch of the Midwest, and the drier semiarid western Midwest.

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office last January, employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture were reportedly instructed to flag and delete any webpages that mentioned climate change — including resources used by farmers to prepare for extreme weather. In response, a group of environmental and agricultural nonprofits sued the agency over the loss of critical information. In May, just days before a scheduled hearing, the USDA announced it would restore its climate webpages. At that point, “we had essentially won,” said Peter Lehner, managing attorney at Earthjustice, the nonprofit law firm representing the plaintiffs. But the negotiations over a legal settlement continued on.

Last week, the ag department finally settled the lawsuit, agreeing to share the datasets used to power its climate risk viewer and other tools. Even though most of the webpages in question had already been restored, Lehner added, the plaintiffs wanted to ensure access remains public — a priority that prolonged the negotiations.

As part of the settlement, the department of agriculture agreed to keep its climate risk viewer — which contains over 140 layers and includes maps on wildfire risk — online at least until the plaintiffs receive the underlying raw data. That way, Lehner told Grist, if these webpages are taken down at some point in the future, the plaintiffs — such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit — would be able to recreate the climate risk maps.

That’s important because the settlement does not guarantee that the USDA will maintain these digital resources indefinitely. “The government should be able to change their website,” Lehner said. “But they have to do it in certain ways. And if it’s important information, they have to give the public notice and they have to do it carefully.” (The Department of Justice, which represented the USDA in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the settlement.)

In the initial complaint, Earthjustice alleged that the USDA’s purge of webpages that mentioned climate change violated multiple federal laws — including the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, which requires federal agencies to give adequate notice before changing the public’s access to informational tools, and the Freedom of Information Act.

Of particular interest to one of the plaintiffs — the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, or NOFA — were webpages related to loans for climate-smart conservation practices. Wes Gillingham, head of the NOFA board, told Grist that the organization directs many growers to these resources to help with the financial cost of implementing more sustainable growing practices.

However, the settlement doesn’t mean that farmers are getting all that they need from the USDA. Gillingham, a farmer himself, added that he is still unsure which loan programs for farmers are available under the second Trump administration. “What loan programs are live and not is a huge question,” he said.

This predicament highlights the financial precarity for many agricultural producers in the U.S., at a time when the federal government has slashed funding programs for farmers. And it illustrates the work that farming groups have left to do to protect their livelihoods. Gillingham noted that he’s currently worried about a future farm bill that could gut funding for conservation practices, like those that can help farmers protect soil health.

Lehner agreed that farmers are struggling under the Trump administration, and that, in a way, gave their lawsuit leverage.

“To be frank, I think the fact that we were representing farmers and others who were saying, ‘Look, this is hurting us. We’re trying to deal with climate change. We’re trying to deal with extreme weather and you’re cutting the legs out from under us,’ that didn’t make them look very good,” he said. “It just made them, in my view, look stupid and mean.”

Editor’s note: Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council are advertisers with Grist. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions.

Public libraries and botanical gardens (and more) may keep seed exchange catalogs. They may also host events for seed exchanges among groups. Search online for seed libraries and seed exchanges near you to locate opportunities for finding free and interesting seeds to include in your garden this year.

if I had to replace my tractor today I honestly have no idea which I would pick, but I think all of them come with irreplaceable software components. Are there any tractors available that have fully reviewable / replaceable control software?

Around where I live there are a few patches of Alkekengi officinalis. I like the fruit very much and I like to go pick it, however those patches are quite a bit far from where I live. Since the plant spreads quite fast, I was thinking of planting some more nearby. I have checked local laws and it is not considered an alien species, so that spreading it is allowed. Do you have advice on how to effectively spread it in the wild? What locations may result in good survival and whether it is better to transplant the ryzhomes or to plant the seeds?

“As a sixth-generation Iowa farmer, Tanner Faaborg is all too aware that agricultural traditions are hard to shake. So when he set in motion plans to change his family’s farm from a livestock operation housing more than 8,000 pigs each year to one that grows lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms, he knew some of his peers might laugh at him. He just did not necessarily expect his brother to be chief among them.

“”My older brother has worked with pigs his entire adult life, managing about 70,000 of them across five counties,” Faaborg says. “But we got to a point where he went from laughing at me to saying: well, I guess maybe I’ll quit my job and help you out.””

Example shown by Goldifarms, located in a zone 9 in California, on this video from almost three years ago:

"How I designed my permaculture food forest: A step by step guide"

• Grapes climb up Acacia
• Calendulas, poppies for chop and drop
• Apricot and persimmon trees
• Ceanothus riseus for nitrogen and ground cover
• Mexican bird of paradise for chop and drop and nitrogen
• Artichoke for biomass and food
• Strawberry tree to attract pollinators and provide some shade

This is the guild they started with, but they also mention they've been experimenting with consortiums related to syntropic agriculture, which they mention as having a focus on maximizing the area you plant, so you can be harvesting a continuous yield and if your goal is to grow most of your food in a small backyard

What about their water bill? Well, they also designed it with water retention in mind:

By capturing and storing as much water as possible and building soil rich in organic matter, which can hold up to 20 times its weight in water, you ensure that moisture is available right where plants need it. With good design, water is stored within reach of plant roots, so once your trees are established, you won’t need to irrigate

Elaine Ruth Ingham, groundbreaking microbiologist and a leader in the regenerative agriculture movement, died on Monday in Fort Mill, South Carolina, with her husband by her side. She was 73 years old.

Ingham was known for her soil science research that developed the concept of the soil food web. She championed the critical role of microorganisms in building healthy, sustainable ecosystems. As a researcher, educator, and mentor, her pioneering studies and advocacy empowered farmers, scientists, and environmentalists worldwide to restore and sustain soil health.

Ingham’s work, including dozens of research papers published in scientific journals in the 1980s and 1990s, brought her to an early understanding of the importance of soil microbiology for plant health. Her influential popular publications include the Soil Biology Primer, published by the Natural Resources Conservation Services Soil Quality Institute, with the well-known image of the soil food web used by educators around the world to discuss the role of microorganisms in soil.

• Ramon “Chin-Chin” Uy Jr., is a sustainable food entrepreneur based on Negros Island in the Philippines, which recently hosted the global “good food” movement Slow Food’s first-ever regional conference in Asia and the Pacific.
• The gathering last November brought together farmers, chefs, food artisans and policymakers from across the region to discuss agroecology, biodiversity and climate-resilient food systems.
• Mongabay reporter Keith Anthony Fabro sat down with Uy during the event to discuss agroecology in the region and what it means that Negros Island is being heralded as its “capital.”