After meeting Carlo Leifert, a professor in ecological agriculture who has been researching low-input farming, Wayne Roberts is now convinced that the merging of farm, food, health and environment concerns will become the new normal.

The great divide between food and farming is about to become a blur as a result of pioneering scientific research in Europe that's pushing the boundaries of health and agricultural policy. Though no poem insists that 'food is food and agriculture is agriculture, and never the twain shall meet', that may as well be the watchword in both fields. The chasm between the two is rarely bridged at any level of public discussion or decision-making. Food writers rarely report on farms, and vice versa. Nutritionists rarely discuss anything that happens to food before it's harvested, and vice versa for agronomists; even the champions of organic farming rarely make nutritional claims. Doctors barely know about nutrition and hospitals serve what is called hospital food, just as farmers and processors don't fret about what happens to diabetes rates when all their corn is turned into cheap pop and junkfood filler. Government ministries and departments of food and agriculture rarely meet, let alone worry about harmonizing their policies.
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People fighting off winter colds and bouts of the flu typically reach for a glass vitamin C-packed orange juice, but new research suggests that vitamin D may be a better protector. People with low levels of the vitamin, which is often called the sunshine vitamin because sun exposure triggers its production in the body, are more likely to catch colds, the flu, and even pneumonia, a broad new study reports. The effect was magnified in people with asthma or other lung diseases.

Vitamin D deficiency is quite common in the United States — particularly in winter…. "People think that if they have a good, balanced diet that they will get enough vitamin D, and that's actually not true," said Dr. Michal Melamed…. "Unless you eat a lot of fish and drink a lot of milk, you can't get enough vitamin D from diet" [CNN].
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The combined surface average temperature for land and ocean from January to March was the eighth-warmest on record since tracking began in 1880, NOAA said in an analysis released today, April 17, 2009.Temperature for the quarter: about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly a degree above the 20th-century average.

The average combined temperature for March was 55.9 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly a degree above the 20th-century average for that month, the report says.

The average global land surface temperature for March was 42.5 degrees Fahrenheit, about 1.7 degrees above the 20th-century average. The average global ocean surface temperature for the month was 61.4 degrees Fahrenheit, about 0.7 degree above the 20th-century average.
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The lush landscape of Hawai'i once offered abundant food. What can these islands teach us about food and sufficiency?

The island of Kaua'i is one of the most beautiful and fragile places on earth. From above, it looks like a vibrant green flower, lush and pulsing with life, floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiian tourist industry calls it "The Garden Isle," comparing it to the Garden of Eden. The image of Hawai'i has always been sold as a "paradise." But there is another side to life on this island, one that visitors rarely see.

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Portuguese project spreads solar power across Europe

He's launched one of the largest green business initiatives in the world; now the mayor of one of Portugal's smallest and poorest municipalities is spearheading an eight-country project to create communities run entirely on renewable energy.

José María Prazeres Pós-de-Mina started with his own municipality of Moura, one of the sunnier spots in the sunniest country in Europe. Noting that his region has 'sunshine to spare — and even to sell', Pós-de-Mina built what was at the time the world's largest solar electricity generating plant. Moura is home to just 16,500 people, but the plant is expected to produce enough energy to power 30,000 homes when it reaches full capacity in 2010.
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