How Long Have We Been in the Anthropocene?
A global survey of scientists shines a light on the time depth of human impacts on Earth.
Agriculture
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U.S. Farmers Made in Brazil
A small group of Midwestern farmers have gone to Brazil to continue their tradition of farming—but what they have found is a far cry from the U.S. family farm.
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Ancient DNA Illuminates Pastoralism’s Rise in Africa
A new study pieces together clues to the multistep process behind the origins of livestock herding in sub-Saharan Africa.
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The Truth About “Sustainable” Palm Oil
In West Papua, Indonesia, both conventional and “green” palm oil projects dispossess and exclude Indigenous people from their lands.
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What’s the Cost of Quinoa?
Many had hoped that quinoa production would lift farmers out of poverty and rehabilitate a war-torn nation—but the state of this seed remains uncertain.
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Bracing for the Vanilla Boom
Some of Madagascar’s farmers, made wealthy by this year’s vanilla crop, will spend their cash in crazy “hot money” sprees. But their profligate spending may not be as illogical as it first appears.