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  • From: Mike Rock <mikerock AT mhtc.net>
  • To: KAKerby AT aol.com, market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Fwd: ABJ Extra - Newsletter June 17, 2011 -- Where have all the flowers gone? ~~ Urban Farming
  • Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:02:52 -0500

FYI


June 17, 2011

Dear
Mike Rock
,

_Where have all the flowers gone?_

_High-mountain wildflower season reduced, affecting pollinators like bees,
hummingbirds_

__It's summer wildflower season in the Rocky Mountains, a time when
high-peaks meadows are dotted with riotous color.

But for how long?

Once, wildflower season in montane meadow ecosystems extended throughout the
summer months. But now scientists have found a fall-off in wildflowers at
mid-season.

They published their results, funded by the National Science Foundation
(NSF), in the current issue of the _Journal of Ecology_.

"Shifts in flowering in mountain meadows could in turn affect the resources
available to pollinators like bees," says David Inouye of the University of
Maryland, currently on leave in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology.

Inouye and colleagues George Aldridge and William Barr of the Rocky Mountain
Biological Laboratory, Jessica Forrest of the University of California at
Davis, and Abraham Miller-Rushing of the USA National Phenology Network in
Tucson, Ariz., found that such changes could become more common as climate
change progresses.

"Some pollinators with short periods of activity may require only a single
flower species," write the ecologists in their paper, "but pollinators
active all season must have flowers available in sufficient numbers through
the season."

For example, bumblebees, important pollinators in many regions, need a
pollen and nectar supply throughout the growing season to allow the queen
bee to produce a colony.

As mid-summer temperatures have warmed in places like the Elk Mountains of
Colorado, the researchers have found that the mid-season decline in
flowering totals is ecosystem-wide.

"These meadows are heavily affected by snowmelt and temperature," says
Inouye. "Wildflowers use information from these natural cues to 'know' when
it's time to unfurl their petals."

The early-season climate is becoming warmer and drier in the high altitudes
of the southern Rocky Mountains.

These changing conditions are altering moisture availability and hence
flowering timing in sub-alpine meadows, says Inouye. The result is a
mid-season decline in number of wildflowers in bloom.

Such changes in seasonal flower availability across large areas, or in
individual habitats, could have serious consequences for entire pollinator
populations, says Inouye, which include not only bees, but hummingbirds and
others that feed on pollen and nectar.

Over the long term, he and colleagues believe, the changes could affect
animal-pollinated plants.

If bees and hummingbirds need flowers, flowers need hummingbirds and bees.

And they all need a high-meadow ecosystem that changes at its own pace, say
the scientists, not one moving in fast-forward in tandem with warmer
temperatures.

Otherwise those sultry days and nights, especially in high summer, may leave
Colorado mountain meadows empty, along with their wildflowers, and the
pollinators that depend on them, vanished in the shimmering heat.

_________________________________________________________________


_Farming the Cities, Feeding an_

Urban Future - Beekeeping is part

of this Urban Agriculture Trend



_Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet team emphasizes urban agriculture as a
means of increasing food security, empowering women, and protecting the
environment._



Washington, D.C.-As people move from rural to urban settings in search of
economic opportunities, urban agriculture is becoming an important provider
of both food and employment, according to researchers with the Worldwatch
Institute. "Urban agriculture is providing food, jobs, and hope in Nairobi,
Kampala, Dakar, and other cities across sub-Saharan Africa," said Danielle
Nierenberg, co-director of the Institute's Nourishing the Planet project.
"In some cases, urban farmers are providing important inputs, such as seed,
to rural farmers, dispelling the myth that urban agriculture helps feed the
poor and hungry only in cities."

The United Nations projects that up to 65 percent of the world's population
will live in cities by 2050, up from around 50 percent today. The rate of
urban migration is particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,
where inadequate urban infrastructure struggles to keep up with the large
influx of people. "Although most of the world's poor and hungry remain in
rural areas, hunger is migrating with people into urban areas," said Brian
Halweil, co-director of the Nourishing the Planet project.

Currently, an estimated 800 million people worldwide are engaged in urban
agriculture, producing 15-20 percent of the world's food. However, this
activity occurs mainly in Asia, making it critical to place more worldwide
emphasis on this vital sector. In Africa, 14 million people migrate from
rural to urban areas each year, and studies suggest that an estimated 35-40
million Africans living in cities will need to depend on urban agriculture
to meet their food requirements in the future.

"Urban agriculture is an important aspect of the development movement as it
has the potential to address some of our most pressing challenges, including
food insecurity, income generation, waste disposal, gender inequality, and
urban insecurity" said Nancy Karanja, a Professor at the University of
Nairobi, Kenya, and a _State of the World 2011_ contributing author.

Organizations such as Urban Harvest and others are working across the
African continent to enhance urban agricultural efforts. In sub-Saharan
Africa, the Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), a
Florida-based organization, has helped farmers build gardens using old tires
and other "trash" to create plant beds. And the group Harvest of Hope has
helped organize urban Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in Cape
Town, South Africa, purchasing excess produce from city gardens and
redistributing it in schools in the area.

"These projects are not only helping to provide fresh sources of food for
city dwellers, but also providing a source of income, a tool to empower
women, and a means of protecting the environment, among other benefits,"
said Mary Njenga, researcher at the University of Nairobi and the World
Agroforestry Centre.

According to Nourishing the Planet, urban agriculture provides three
important advantages that are evident in successful projects across the
African continent:

_• Close to home (and market)._ Produce from urban farms and gardens does
not need to travel as far as produce grown in rural areas to reach the
dining table, which helps to reduce production costs, post-harvest waste,
and greenhouse gas emissions. This is also helpful in situations when supply
chains from rural areas have been interrupted and cities are unable to
receive food imports.

_• Empowering women and building communities._ In Kibera, the largest slum
in Nairobi, Kenya, Urban Harvest has helped women build "vertical farms"
simply by using sacks of soil in which to grow vegetables. Using these
gardening activities, the women share business ideas and technical know-how,
empowering each other. The community gardens also act as a forum where
community members can exchange ideas and discuss community issues and
problems.

_• Improving urban environments._ Faced with limited resources, urban
farmers are adept at utilizing urban waste streams to strengthen their soil
and grow their crops. Garbage is used as compost or fodder for livestock,
and nutrient-rich waste water is used for irrigation. By re-using these
waste products, urban farms help to reduce the amount of refuse clogging
landfills as well as the amount of water used in cities. Community gardens
also provide an aesthetically pleasing space and help improve the air
quality in urban areas.

Nourishing the Planet ([2]www.NourishingthePlanet.org) is a two-year
evaluation of environmentally sustainable agricultural innovations to
alleviate hunger. Worldwatch researchers traveled to 25 countries across
sub-Saharan Africa to meet with more than 350 farmers groups, NGOs,
government agencies, and scientists, highlighting small-scale urban
agricultural efforts that are helping to improve peoples' livelihoods by
providing them with food and income. The findings are documented in the
recently released report, _State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish
the Planet_.
Links:
2. http://www.NourishingthePlanet.org?utm_source=American+Bee+Journal&utm_campaign=055853d44a-American_Bee_Journal_Newsletter_6_15_2011&utm_medium=email

_State of the World 2011_ is accompanied by informational materials
including briefing documents, summaries, an innovations database, videos,
and podcasts, all available at [3]www.NourishingthePlanet.org. The project's
findings are being disseminated to a wide range of agricultural
stakeholders, including government ministries, agricultural policymakers,
and farmer and community networks, as well as the increasingly influential
nongovernmental environmental and development communities.
_________________________________________________________________
Links:
3. http://www.NourishingthePlanet.org?utm_source=American+Bee+Journal&utm_campaign=055853d44a-American_Bee_Journal_Newsletter_6_15_2011&utm_medium=email

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_ For a calendar of scheduled beekeeping short courses and meetings, check
our Events section of our website:
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  • [Market-farming] Fwd: ABJ Extra - Newsletter June 17, 2011 -- Where have all the flowers gone? ~~ Urban Farming, Mike Rock, 06/17/2011

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