Sitio Semente– From Garden to Forest
Adapting agriculture to the local environment by mimicking natural processes is common to traditional agriculture communities around the world, yet it has only recently re-emerged in the Americas. After decades of land degradation and resource misuse, sustainable food systems are gaining popularity. Increasingly, a great emphasis is being placed on creating systems and practices that work in tandem with nature. One well-known practice is the ‘Three Sisters’ adopted from the Native Americans, in which corn, bean and squash are planted together. The three crops provide ...
RTE Makes Advances at Cuba Agroecology Conference
In November of 2015, Remineralize the Earth (RTE) was invited to the 5th International Conference of Agroecology and Cooperatives, November 22-27, 2015, by Greg Watson who led the Cuban-U.S. Agroecology Network (CUSAN) delegation of the Schumacher Center for New Economics. CUSAN was launched in 2014 as an initiative for exchanging and promoting agroecology-related knowledge. While primarily focused on the information exchange between the United States and Cuba, it welcomes partners from other international communities as well.[1]
The network is being established at ...
Remembering Bill Holmberg – RTE Board Director (1995-2016)
Photo portrait of Bill Holmberg.
I have been reflecting this Thanksgiving on the opportunity to express my profound gratitude for the contribution of our dear friend Bill Holmberg as a board director of Remineralize the Earth. He supported this mission and this work long before we became a nonprofit organization, already beginning in the 1980s.
Bill passed away on September 8 at the venerable age of 88. As I prepared for our next board meeting I was nevertheless stunned and shocked to know that I would not hear his inspiring voice again on the telephone. ...
Growing Better Cacti with Remineralization: Ongoing Research in the Quilombola Communities of Northeast Brazil Part I
Fernanda de Paula Medeiros with a farmer of Lajedão dos Mateus.
Far out in the semi-arid region of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, several communities strive to make a livelihood out of agriculture and ranching. This is a region with fertile soils, but the ability of the communities to thrive off of this natural resource is undermined by their historical background and the dearth of another vital resource – water.
To this end, two agrogeologists joined with two nonprofit organizations and formulated a plan of action to introduce agroforestry and sustai...
“Let’s ‘rock it’ at SEER Centre in Scotland
Just several decades ago, most of the farmlands in the foothills of Grampian Mountains in Scotland were largely infertile, acidic and open to severe weather conditions, where hardly anything had been grown for almost 50 years. However, that was exactly where Cameron and Moira Thomson settled their home and started their “good life” experiment. By spreading a thin layer of rock dust over the land, they are able to mimic the earth’s glacial processes that naturally fertilize the land. Nowadays the rich soils they have regenerated are capable of producing giant vegeta...
Rocks to Ash – Exciting Initiative on Mount Cameroon – Part 2
Previously we covered Professor Valentine Nzengung’s remineralization project in Cameroon, where his team is developing an organic fertilizer product (QwikGro) to restore nutrients to the soils. At the end of the last interview, Nzengung mentioned that FESCAM is conducting field trials with the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) to test the effect of QwikGro on banana growth.
In this instalment, we will continue with the progress of his latest trip and discuss the impacts of remineralization on local communities in Cameroon.
Remineralization in Cameroon...
Rocks to Ash – Exciting Initiative on Mount Cameroon – Part 1
Creating a soil amendment that provides essential nutrients for crop growth is critical to combating climate change and increasing food security in Cameroon. This is essentially what Valentine Nzengung, professor in the department of Geology at the University of Georgia and president of Food and Energy Security Cameroon (FESCAM), is studying.
FESCAM is developing a product - QwikGro - that will revitalize soil productivity and soil health in Cameroon and elsewhere. Dr. Nzengung describes FESCAM as “a non-profit corporation based in the US with the mission of ...
RTE Invited to Collaborative Between Growers in Cuba and the US – A New Chapter in Farmer to Farmer Networking
Organic farmland sits at the foot of Cuba’s mountainous landscape; about the size of New York State, Cuba is home to an array of diverse biomes and agricultural systems alike. (Source: The Cuban-U.S. Agroecology Network)
RTE Invited to Collaborative Between Growers in Cuba and the US
A New Chapter in Farmer to Farmer Networking
24 June 2015
“To permanently end poverty and hunger by 2030, the world needs a food system that can feed every person, every day, everywhere; that can raise real incomes of the poorest people; that can provide safe food and adequate ...
Highlights from RELACCx in Puerto Rico
Remineralize the Earth was honored to be invited to present at the Renewable Energy Latin America & Caribbean Conference & Exhibition (RELACCx) in Puerto Rico November 19-21, 2014.
RELACCx is the premier renewable energy finance and development event for Latin America and the Caribbean. The two-day conference took an in-depth look at political and financial landscapes, prominent and emerging markets, and existing energy infrastructure to provide the audience with the tools needed to accelerate renewable energy development in these regions.
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From the Canadian Arctic to the Niger Delta: Finely Ground Rock Dust to Bioremediate Oil Spills in Waterways and Farmlands
Environmental chemist Ugo Amadioha, a native Nigerian, born and raised in the Etekwuru-Egbema Kingdom in Imo State, Nigeria, recently expressed interest to Joanna Campe of Remineralize the Earth about creating a project that will adopt remineralization as a means to bioremediate degraded farmlands in the Niger Delta. He is currently Senior Chemist with Chemtech Consulting Group in New Jersey, USA and is seeking partnerships and funding for such a project.
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