What does greater urbanization mean to birds? And also to bird conservation? Tomorrow.
Month: May 2012
Growing local? ‘Our business has steadily increased’
Producing and consuming more local food “can spell increased economic opportunities for Ohio farmers and small businesses, in addition to health and environmental benefits.” And OSU Extension is helping (video, 1:30).
The chickens, however, have feathers
OARDC scientists have received a major USDA grant to study whether so-called “naked oats” can be incorporated into organic farming rotations as a lower-cost way to feed organic chickens …
How should we talk about climate change?
Why do we think what we think about climate change? What are the best ways to communicate climate change to the public? Find out tomorrow. Ohio State’s Eric Nisbet is the speaker. He’s a principal investigator on the NSF-funded project “Co-Evolution of Upstream Human Behavior and Downstream Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate.”
Growing new non-GMO soybeans
OARDC’s soybean breeding program serves, in part, a growing niche — the producing, selling, and/or exporting of non-GMO soybeans (not genetically engineered). Here’s why (video, 2:46).
Niche marketing, says sustainability advocate John Ikerd in a paper on marketing and sustainable agriculture, is a way to “enhance the economic viability of systems that are ecologically sound and socially responsible and otherwise likely to be sustainable.”
In other words, niches are one way to strengthen a side — the staying in business and making a living side — of the sustainability-based ecological pyramid.