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New Report Reveals Food, Water Disparities along U.S.-Mexico Border

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2012Economy, General, Politicsagricultural field, american corporations, arizona, boundary, california, canning kitchen, change, colorado, daylights, disparity, food, foodshed, gary nabhan, globalized economy, human survival, hungry, jeffrey m banister, Mexico, mexico border, minnesota, multi cultural, new mexico, nicaragua, nogales, oregon, ranchlands, republic, risk, skilled labor, sonora, taco wagons, texas, united states, university, US, water

A UA study has found poverty, water scarcity, food insecurity and interdependence between the United States and Mexico along the border.

The U.S.-Mexico border is the border in the world with the greatest disparity in access to food and water needed for human survival, according to a report commissioned and published by the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona.

An endowment from the Kellogg Foundation and a UA Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry grant supported the study and its focus on assessing transborder food systems to understand water scarcity and food insecurity within the borderlands region.

The report underscores how in the globalized economy, Arizona and the rest of the United States rely on the skilled labor, water, fresh produce, fish, shellfish and livestock originating in northern Mexico; while in Mexico, the population is increasingly dependent upon frozen and processed foods originating in the United States. (more…)

Milkweed Loss Hurts Monarchs

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2012Environment, Natureagricultural field, glyphosate herbicides, herbicide, john pleasants, karen oberhauser, Mexico, midwestern farm, milkweed, minnesota, monarch butterfly, monarchs, plant, university of minnesota, wildlife

*Loss of milkweed in Midwestern farm fields harms butterflies, a study shows*

If you’re a gardener, milkweed may not be at the top of your list.

But if you love Minnesota’s state insect—the monarch butterfly—maybe it should be.

Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, but the plant is disappearing from what used to be a prime reservoir: Midwestern farm fields. A new study by University of Minnesota monarch expert Karen Oberhauser and her Iowa State colleague John Pleasants ties a decade-long decline in monarch populations to the loss of milkweed from the corn and soybean fields that blanket the region. (more…)

Interior Releases First-of-its-Kind Regional Study as Part of National Assessment of Carbon Storage in U.S. Ecosystems

By Guest PostDecember 5, 2011Environmentagricultural field, amount of carbon, atmospheric warming, biological carbon sequestration, carbon emissions, carbon sequestration, carbon sink, carbon storage, chemical cycles, david j hayes, department of the interior, eastern iowa, eastern montana, emissions of nitrous oxide, forests, fossil fuel, great plains region, great plains region of montana, great plains study, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gas emissions, ken salazar, marcia mcnutt, methane, natural resources, rangelands, senator, southern texas, U.S. Geological Survey, underground rock formations, united states, us ecosystems, usgs, wetlands

*Report evaluates amount of carbon absorbed by wetlands, grasslands and forests in the Great Plains region*

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of the Interior today released the first in a series of regional studies measuring the amount of carbon stored in U.S. ecosystems. Published by Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the study examines the current and projected future carbon storage in the Great Plains region, as part of a nation-wide assessment.

“This is truly groundbreaking research that, for the first time, takes a landscape-level look at how our lands naturally store carbon and explores how we can encourage this capability in ways that enhance our stewardship of natural resources,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. “Our landscapes are helping us to absorb carbon emissions that would otherwise contribute to atmospheric warming.” (more…)

Tag Archives: agricultural field

New Report Reveals Food, Water Disparities along U.S.-Mexico Border

Milkweed Loss Hurts Monarchs

Interior Releases First-of-its-Kind Regional Study as Part of National Assessment of Carbon Storage in U.S. Ecosystems