ArtifexBalear in Mallorca: From regenerative agriculture to marine ecosystem restoration
A tour of Miquel's Farm
I had the opportunity to interview Miquel Ramis, the multifaceted founder and director of ArtifexBalear, and he took me on a virtual tour of his farm. On the outskirts of Palma de Mallorca, in a forest garden brimming with raspberries and asparagus, Miquel grows around 14 varieties of different plants. They are planted and grown densely, and they are chosen for their synergy in relation to each other. In the garden, Miquel has built and installed bat houses and two prototypes of houses for insects such as ladybugs, mason bees and butterflies.
The ...
Plant Nutrition Technologies, Inc: Commercializing Remineralization while Protecting Waterways
It’s tough to teach an old dog a new trick, and the agricultural industry has relied on NPK fertilizers for almost 100 years with essentially no alternatives for large farms. That is to say that for a century, conventional fertilizers have been the only proven “trick” that could produce enough food for our swelling population, and so the consideration of other fertilizers has gained little ground within the large-scale agriculture industry. But as pollution and runoff from artificial fertilizers pose greater threats to human and environmental health, markets are ...
Regrounding Regenerative Agriculture
Photo: Fowler Clark Epstein Urban Farm, Regenerative Design Group 2018
For decades, organic farming was considered the pinnacle of environmentally friendly agriculture. Now, another movement is gaining traction, one which goes a step beyond simply eliminating certain harmful chemicals or improving the living conditions of livestock. Regenerative agriculture sharply diverges from conventional agricultural methods, incorporating practices such as low or no-till planting, rotating crops, planting cover crops, livestock grazing, and applying compost and manure. By aiming to ...
RTE To Biden: Remineralization, Other NETs Key To Reaching New GHG Reduction Targets
Negative emissions technologies (NETs), including soil remineralization, can play an important role in helping the U.S. achieve its plan of reducing net-GHG emissions by 50-52 per cent from 2005 levels before the end of the decade, suggests a letter signed by Remineralize the Earth (RTE), Methane Action and Climate Protection and Restoration Initiative executives.
“We encourage global leaders to focus not only on emissions reductions, but also on adopting a robust program to assess, develop and deploy evidence-based NETs across the economy,” says Joanna Campe, execut...
Rocking Glasgow: REMIN Aims to Highlight the Benefits of Remineralization at COP26
If gardeners and farmers simply used a little rock dust, then it would contribute towards stabilizing climate change. That is a message Jennifer Brodie, technical director at REMIN (Scotland) Ltd., hopes to convey with a carbon capture garden when the United Kingdom plays host to the United Nations 26th Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, Nov. 1-12, 2021.
“They’ll have acres of sophisticated technology on display [at COP26], including electric cars, solar panels and fancy windmills, and yet I truly believe the answer to climate change is right here under our ...
Prof. David Manning on Rock Dust: Quarries, Breweries and Beyond
Soils are a critically important natural resource, providing us with 90% of our food, lumber for construction, and natural fibers like cotton. Through plant and microbial activity, soils also play an essential role in shaping Earth’s atmosphere. The amount of carbon cycled through the plant-soil interface every seven years is equivalent to all the carbon in the atmosphere. Soils do all of this while only covering about a quarter of Earth’s surface. Sustainable soil management is therefore essential to mitigating climate change while preserving soil as a resource for ...
XPrize Foundation to Award $100M for Climate Change Solutions
Earth Day 2021 will herald the beginning of the most ambitious XPrize yet, and this time, the target is climate change. The XPrize Foundation was founded in 1994 with the mission to explore new frontiers, unleash human potential, and secure a healthy planet. This year’s contest is no exception. Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation have offered $100M, the largest incentive in XPrize history, for the teams demonstrating the most effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies. The $100M will be split across multiple prizes: three top prizes of $50M, $20M, and $10M, ...
Minerals and Microbes: Remineralization on the Isle of Jersey
Glyn Mitchell carrying hemp grown at Jersey Hemp.
The island of Jersey juts out of the English Channel just off the coast of Normandy, France. The people who live there don’t consider themselves part of the UK any more than they consider themselves part of France. It should come as no surprise, then, that the people of Jersey are taking their own approach to managing the natural resources that make the island unique in fighting climate change.
One of the people at the forefront of moving Jersey toward a more sustainable future is Glyn Mitchell, a carbon farmer with ...
New UC Davis Center Paves the Way for Rock Dust Research
If the world were to judge soil remineralization based on what could happen, rock dust amendments might already be standard procedure for the world’s farmers. The potential to use rock dust as a carbon storage tactic for climate change mitigation is well known in the scientific community, in addition to its ability to improve agricultural yields and soil health. Benefits like these are enough to make any policymaker or farmer at least consider the use of soil amendment programs, but expectations alone are not adequate to persuade any party to go “all in.”
Stakehol...
High School Student Brings Regenerative Agriculture to His Local Community
Logan Saenz, Mrs. Spencer, and community volunteers tend the Pembroke Park Agro-Eco Orchard.
Logan Li Saenz, a senior at City of Pembroke Pines Charter High School in Hollywood, Florida, is passionate about many topics. He aspires to attend a college or university “up North” to study a mixture of physics, chemistry, and social justice issues dealing with student access to scientific education and challenging research opportunities. These issues hit close to home, as he is from a Hispanic family of Nicaraguan and Colombian descent. He has made a conscious effort to ...
