Millions of rural poor growing crops for export earn a pittance and face rising prices of inputs.
By growing crops upwards -- in more ways than one -- it means heavily developed areas can decrease dependence on imports.
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Fast-growing crops would be planted in the tropics, where sunlight is abundant.
But, when it comes to growing crops and supporting a longer expedition -- or permanent colony -- it's more of a slow crawl.
Manor Farm has traditionally been used for grazing and growing crops.
The lessons learned from these projects will help SAP roll out similar solutions for other fast growing crops in developing and emerging markets around the world.
The voluntary economic activity of growing crops triggered government regulation.
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No-till, practised more in America than in Britain, means growing crops without ploughing fields, and leads to many-fold increases in bird population and a range of other environmental benefits.
Growing crops to feed animals requires a lot more land, energy and fertilizer than growing them to feed people, he says: 70% of the land that was once Amazon rain forest is dedicated to grazing.
Also in Germany, there are aerobic digesters which are fed by maize (corn) rather than waste and so the same argument would arise over growing crops for fuel or for food as applies to biodiesel production and must ring an eventual death-knell for both biodiesel and biogas, if the latter is made from food too.
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They are growing different crops, planting trees, harvesting rainwater and growing fodder for livestock to minimize the impacts of climate change.
In the 1990s China was one of the first countries to approve some genetically modified cash crops, such as cotton and corn, and today China has more acreage devoted to growing GM crops than just about any other country in the world.
Critics say encouraging biofuels could prompt farmers, especially in poorer countries, to abandon food production in favour of growing fuel crops.
Areas most suitable for growing seed crops will be identified, taking into account factors such as soil types and local climate.
They say GMOs will bankrupt farmers, but today China has more land growing GM crops than anyone else except the U.S. and Brazil.
But the alternative, growing those crops on existing farmland, would encourage the clearance of more land to grow the food crops that had been displaced.
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The dry conditions are already presenting challenges for those growing essential crops like wheat and means there is less grass for livestock, our correspondent added.
The foundation supports scientific research aimed at developing vaccines that do not require refrigeration, preventing insects from transmitting disease, and growing healthy crops in harsh climates.
Even dietary considerations should not be considered off limits given that beef farming, for example, requires nine times as much water as growing cereal crops.
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Growing such crops as switchgrass not only absorbs carbon, but also produces a fuel that some power plants can use instead of oil, coal or gas.
The country should import more grain in order to raise more livestock, and devote its own land to the more profitable business of growing cash crops for export.
If there is an issue with price movement, surely governments around the world should look to stop blocking the most efficient methods of growing hardy crops that can stand up to weather extremes.
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Al-Eryani argues farmers, much like himself, will need to see government-backed incentives before they'll ever switch to growing other crops or turn to the conservation methods needed to avert this collision course with nature.
The standard economic argument against Fairtrade goes like this: the low price of commodities such as coffee is due to overproduction, and ought to be a signal to producers to switch to growing other crops.
Many food executives had hoped that southern hemisphere farmers would try to cash in on high grain prices by growing bigger crops over the next several months, but weather problems are plaguing growers in several countries.
Algae at least can be grown, with sufficient engineering, on a large scale that does not require prime crop land in competition with growing food crops (as rules out conventional biofuel strategies beyond grants from governments and the European Union), and there is no demand for freshwater since saline water does even better to promote the growth of certain highly oil-yielding strains.
Robin Harper (Green Party Convener, Lothians) asked whether the Executive has approved the commercial growing of GM crops in Scotland.
BBC: NEWS | Programmes | BBC Parliament | Scotland: First Minister's Questions (11/03/04)
The effect is achieved by trickling seawater over porous cardboard screens -- called evaporators -- which cool and humidify the dry desert air, creating a favorable growing environment for crops.
The expanding world population and the on-going switch towards consumption of meat and dairy produce as incomes rise are already putting pressure on freshwater supplies, which increased growing of biofuel crops could exacerbate.
BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | UN warns on impacts of biofuels
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