WALNUT CREEK, Ohio—Amid the rolling green hills of eastern Ohio, Amish and Mennonite farms dot the landscape along roads traveled by horse-drawn buggies and automobiles. Here, self-sufficient living is a way of life. This is a reason why the Food Independence Summit has already become one of the country’s largest sustainable living events where experts…

LANCASTER COUNTY, Penn.—Among the historic Amish settlements in southeastern Pennsylvania, faith, fidelity, and long days working in green fields are the root of traditional farming. Together, they support and nourish a community and culture steeped in biblical teachings. In Lancaster County, south of Philadelphia, the Amish hold fast with many of the old ways. Their…

When you bite into broccoli or enjoy a handful of grapes, you’re probably thinking about how they taste or that you’re eating something nutritious. Yet the growing problem of soil depletion is robbing us of the nutrients in our food. What does soil depletion mean to you and your family and what can you do…

Is there a war being waged on farmers across the globe in the name of going green? In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rule that mandates small farms disclose climate-related information if they wish to do business with public companies. The proposed rule, called “Enhanced…

Sri Lanka is now entrenched in an economic collapse and a humanitarian crisis, a little more than one year after the federal government adopted organic agriculture policies that adhered to the global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) trend. This past summer, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that he would be stepping down, after thousands of citizens…

Under pressure from environmentalists, some governments have implemented extreme nitrogen fertilizer restrictions that ignore the time needed to restore a depleted soil microbiology, resulting in protests from some scientists and farmers who are seeing the concerning impacts of such restrictions. According to organic farming proponent and former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil scientist Kelly…

For years, “sustainable” has been the buzzword in conversations about agriculture. If farmers and ranchers could slow or stop further damage to land and water, the thinking went, that was good enough. I thought that way too, until I started writing my new book, “One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise…

New research shows how regenerative farming practices—soil-building techniques that minimize plowing, use cover crops, and plant diverse crops—affect the nutritional content of the food. Results of the preliminary experiment, which included 10 farms across the US, show that the crops from farms following soil-friendly practices for at least five years had a healthier nutritional profile…

Standing in an old-growth blueberry forest, Ezra Ranz is demonstrating the “two-finger tickle” method for picking ripe berries from clusters dangling on 7-foot canes. “Pretty simple,” he says. “Hands underneath the berries, gentle fingertips brushing toward your palms, presto. Like tickling a baby.” He grins mischievously. In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, 9 fat…