8 results for tag: agrogeology
Navigating Geological Contrasts: Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania
Tanzania exhibits highly contrasting geology, which plays a crucial role in its strengths and limitations for agricultural development. Certain areas of the region contain abundant minerals for fertile soils while others suffer from depletion. This disparity arises largely from the region's unique geomorphological features, notably its location along the East African Rift System (EARS). The EARS is an extensive continental rift valley beginning at the Red Sea in the north, and extending eastward into the Indian Ocean (Wood & Turn). The rift is actively forming through extensional tectonics, a process that pulls apart the Earth’s crust, thinning ...
Study Captures Data to Turn Midwestern Farms into Carbon Sinks
(Left to right) Prof. Daniel Maxbauer, Jaren Yambing, and Ella Milliken
Carleton College geologists join a growing wave of research into the carbon-trapping power of pulverized rock in America's agricultural fields
No one could have predicted the severe heatwave that would swelter Ella Milliken and Jaren Yambing's first week of baseline field testing in June 2021—except maybe climate scientists. It was the longest heatwave to occur so early in a Minnesotan summer.
Under a blazing June sun, the Carleton College research assistants walked among rows of knee-high corn saplings in 90-degree weather. Flagging the corners of 12 half-acre plots, they ...
Rochagem Congress Part 4: ‘Rocks for Crops’ in the World
Peter van Straaten and the Rocks for Crops multi-cultural collaboration with Lombok University, Indonesia.
Dr. Peter van Straaten spoke at the III Brazilian Rochagem Congress in November 2016 (which we have previously featured in a series of articles: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). In his presentation, which was based on the article reprinted below, he challenged the audience to not only include geologists, soil scientists and agronomists in agrogeological research and development but also include farmers as equal stakeholders. Farmers are important as they can direct our efforts to a practical and sustainable ‘down to earth’ approach, so ...
Spotlight on Agrogeologist Peter Van Straaten, PhD
At the II Brazilian “Rochagem” Conference, which took place in Poco de Caldas, Minas Gerais, in May 2013, Professor Peter van Straaten gave a series of talks on the use of rock dust to increase soil health for agriculture. As a pioneer in the practice of using rocks for soil remineralization, van Straaten shared his extensive knowledge with a broad spectrum of scientists and researchers who attended the conference. An expert in agrogeology, which Van Straaten defines as “geology in service of agriculture,” he has built an international network of projects that study remineralization and sustainable agriculture in Africa. His work has helped ...
RTE Coordinator Promotes Sustainable Development in Cameroon
The African nation of Cameroon is a place of rich agricultural traditions and great natural diversity. Semi-arid regions in the north transition through the Savannah Highlands into tropical rainforests in the south. Gilbert Kuepouo, Cameroon’s Remineralize the Earth (RTE) coordinator, knows all these ecosystems as if they are old friends—he has been studying them since his childhood.
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Rocks for Crops
From humble beginnings in Tanzania in 1984 to the establishment of a course at the University of Guelph, to the official opening of an Agrogeology Centre in Indonesia, the field of agrogeology is gaining wider global interest and exposure. The first Rocks for Crops International Conference took place in Brasilia, Brazil on November 7-14, 2004. Visit their website, Rocks for Crops , for abstracts of papers from the conference. Remineralize the Earth is working on the development of a large research database that will include agrogeology research from all over the world. Abstracts from the International Workshop in Brazil available. Peter van Straaten, ...
Stone Age Science: Rejuvenating the Earth with Rock Dust
Dylan Keating explores the global implications of rock dust and explains why applying it in our gardens can transform our crops.
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Remineralization Seminar in Norway
The seminar took place in the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Aas, Norway on March 13th, 2006. The gathering included people from many different institutions and industries to discuss different aspects of rock powder application in agriculture. A report on this conference by Michael Heim can be found in the Forum. Many questions were explored and issues addressed that are relevant to practical application of rock dust worldwide. The Norwegian University of Life Sciences is a leading international centre of knowledge, focused on higher education and research within environmental- and biosciences. UMB focuses specifically on biology, food, ...