• As a first step in the development of his mega farm Indian investor Karuturi LTD planed to establish a sugar cane plantation of 15,000 hectares, including a refinery. The companies CEO Ram Karuturi envisioned refining sugar in a plant on the farm and selling it within Ethiopia as well as South Sudan, just a 100 Kilometer to the west. There is a large demand for refined sugar in both countries, each importing large quantities through the harbor of Djibouti. As the sugar plantation was so central to Karuturi’s plan he hired one of Ethiopia’s leading experts. Before joining Karuturi Dr. Aragaw had established the countries largest sugar plantation in Eastern Ethiopia, which he claimed at the time being the largest agricultural project in East Africa. When we visited the farm first in October 2011 Dr. Aragaw and his team was testing different varieties of cane sugar on 64 hectares. Due to the good quality of the soil Dr. Aragaw was sure to be able to plant the plants much more dense than common in other regions of Ethiopia – 40 plants per square meter instead of 13. Once the right varieties are chosen, beginning in 2012 Dr. Aragaw planed to plant a 1,000 hectares nursery and expand this the following year to 10,000 hectares. By 2013 the first crop would be ready and the sugar factory established. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #sugarcane #plantationagriculture
    As a first step in the development of his mega farm Indian investor Karuturi LTD planed to establish a sugar cane plantation of 15,000 hectares, including a refinery. The companies CEO Ram Karuturi envisioned refining sugar in a plant on the farm and selling it within Ethiopia as well as South Sudan, just a 100 Kilometer to the west. There is a large demand for refined sugar in both countries, each importing large quantities through the harbor of Djibouti. As the sugar plantation was so central to Karuturi’s plan he hired one of Ethiopia’s leading experts. Before joining Karuturi Dr. Aragaw had established the countries largest sugar plantation in Eastern Ethiopia, which he claimed at the time being the largest agricultural project in East Africa. When we visited the farm first in October 2011 Dr. Aragaw and his team was testing different varieties of cane sugar on 64 hectares. Due to the good quality of the soil Dr. Aragaw was sure to be able to plant the plants much more dense than common in other regions of Ethiopia – 40 plants per square meter instead of 13. Once the right varieties are chosen, beginning in 2012 Dr. Aragaw planed to plant a 1,000 hectares nursery and expand this the following year to 10,000 hectares. By 2013 the first crop would be ready and the sugar factory established. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica #sugarcane #plantationagriculture
  • Ramakrishna Karuturi, the CEO of Karuturi LTD, at the time the world’s largest grower of cut roses, talked to us in 2011 about his motivation to grow food in the Gambela region of western Ethiopia. Karuturi had come to our attention because this was one of the largest land deals signed in Africa at the time. And while many international investors were very secretive about their business and didn’t grant access to journalists, Ramakrishna Karuturi gave us full permission to document, film and photograph freely all over his farm. He was certain that he was doing the right thing and helping the people of this region. Karuturi was taking aback by allegations of illegally grabbing land. His openness to visiting journalists had already brought him a lot of bad press, with many stories focusing on the low hanging fruits of exploitation: low wages and child labor. These are always easy to visualize, yet in our opinion often fall short off getting to the core of the issue. So instead of staying for a few days, like most other journalists have done, we spend a total of about two month on the farm during two visits in October/November 2011 and February/March 2012. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
    Ramakrishna Karuturi, the CEO of Karuturi LTD, at the time the world’s largest grower of cut roses, talked to us in 2011 about his motivation to grow food in the Gambela region of western Ethiopia. Karuturi had come to our attention because this was one of the largest land deals signed in Africa at the time. And while many international investors were very secretive about their business and didn’t grant access to journalists, Ramakrishna Karuturi gave us full permission to document, film and photograph freely all over his farm. He was certain that he was doing the right thing and helping the people of this region. Karuturi was taking aback by allegations of illegally grabbing land. His openness to visiting journalists had already brought him a lot of bad press, with many stories focusing on the low hanging fruits of exploitation: low wages and child labor. These are always easy to visualize, yet in our opinion often fall short off getting to the core of the issue. So instead of staying for a few days, like most other journalists have done, we spend a total of about two month on the farm during two visits in October/November 2011 and February/March 2012. ––– „The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
  • Ramakrishna Karuturi, at the time the world’s largest producer of cut roses, started developing his mega farm next to the Baro River in Gambela, an out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. The Baro, the only navigable river in Ethiopia, was a key element in Karuturi’s vision to become one of the worlds largest food producers. It not only promised to provide irrigation for the envisioned 300,000 hectare farm. Karuturi also thought it would enable him to export his produce to neighboring countries in East Africa. For this reason Karuturi – when we first visited the farm in 2011 – had already purchased a few barges to move the planed harvests downstream. Although the plan was quite different and diverted market risks compared to other investors who only planed to sell high value crops to the international market, it was destined for failure. While the Baro has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. But the Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. –––
„The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
    Ramakrishna Karuturi, at the time the world’s largest producer of cut roses, started developing his mega farm next to the Baro River in Gambela, an out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. The Baro, the only navigable river in Ethiopia, was a key element in Karuturi’s vision to become one of the worlds largest food producers. It not only promised to provide irrigation for the envisioned 300,000 hectare farm. Karuturi also thought it would enable him to export his produce to neighboring countries in East Africa. For this reason Karuturi – when we first visited the farm in 2011 – had already purchased a few barges to move the planed harvests downstream. Although the plan was quite different and diverted market risks compared to other investors who only planed to sell high value crops to the international market, it was destined for failure. While the Baro has a very low flow during the dry season, during the rainy season, between June and October, it alone contributes about 10% of the Nile's water at Aswan, Egypt. But the Indian company, not used to the hydrology of the region and too arrogant to listen to the indigenous warnings was shocked, when the flooding of the Baro river destroyed 50,000 tonnes of maize in 2011 and again flooded the fields in 2012. The stock price of Karuturi LTD tanked sharply and never recovered. –––
„The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
  • Armed guards protect a storage in the middle of the developing corn farm of Indian investor Karuturi LTD in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. The worlds largest rose grower leased 100,000 hectares to grow food and energy crops in the remote region Gambela. a out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers–a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem is being reshaped. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. The massive investments and extensive surfaces affect life in the entire region. Critics have already suggested Gambella should be renamed Karuturistan. –––
„The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
    Armed guards protect a storage in the middle of the developing corn farm of Indian investor Karuturi LTD in the western Ethiopian region of Gambela. The worlds largest rose grower leased 100,000 hectares to grow food and energy crops in the remote region Gambela. a out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers–a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem is being reshaped. To make way for the investors, parts of the Gambella National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area was designed to be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. The massive investments and extensive surfaces affect life in the entire region. Critics have already suggested Gambella should be renamed Karuturistan. –––
„The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
  • Driving down the potholed, rippled road that cuts from Gambela town, the capital of the region, west through the Gambela National Park towards South Sudan in October 2011 we knew immediately when we did arrive. Along the way we had driven by bushland, grassland and dense forest. We saw a people carrying firewood and big bushels of grass to indigenous homesteads mostly hidden in the forest. Suddenly the trees ended and to the left of us laid a devastated wasteland. Trees and bushes ripped from the ground were scattered across the plain like the mikado game of a giant gone wild. In the distance we saw plumes of smoke from a dozen bulldozers and excavators rising into the air. When we got closer a wicked concert filled the air mixed from the sound of heavy machines at work with that of ripping roots, crushing wood, and an occasional drumbeat when another tree hit the ground. The land was rapidly „developed“, transferred from a diverse ecosystem into the mirage of a great farm. „WEL COME KARUTURI FARM“ read a sign. Ramakrishna Karuturi, a rose producer from India, had secured 100,000 hectares of land in Gambela, a out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers–a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. –––
„The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
    Driving down the potholed, rippled road that cuts from Gambela town, the capital of the region, west through the Gambela National Park towards South Sudan in October 2011 we knew immediately when we did arrive. Along the way we had driven by bushland, grassland and dense forest. We saw a people carrying firewood and big bushels of grass to indigenous homesteads mostly hidden in the forest. Suddenly the trees ended and to the left of us laid a devastated wasteland. Trees and bushes ripped from the ground were scattered across the plain like the mikado game of a giant gone wild. In the distance we saw plumes of smoke from a dozen bulldozers and excavators rising into the air. When we got closer a wicked concert filled the air mixed from the sound of heavy machines at work with that of ripping roots, crushing wood, and an occasional drumbeat when another tree hit the ground. The land was rapidly „developed“, transferred from a diverse ecosystem into the mirage of a great farm. „WEL COME KARUTURI FARM“ read a sign. Ramakrishna Karuturi, a rose producer from India, had secured 100,000 hectares of land in Gambela, a out of the way frontier region between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. If Karuturi was able to develop the initial 100,000 hectares, he had been promised a further 200,000 hectares by the Ethiopian government. 300,000 hectare, 740,000 acres, 3,000 square kilometers–a farm roughly the size of Luxembourg. –––
„The Farm“ investigates how international land investments in Ethiopia change the social and environmental fabric of the Gambela region. It is part of our @landrushproject that documents global agriculture since 2007. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
  • 2011: We are in Gambela, a forlorn plot of land tucked away between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. Gambela—hot, humid, flat. Unchanged for centuries: Tribes leading their herds. Anuak, Nuer, Murle fighting for cattle, women, pastures. First with spears, now with kalashnikovs. Gambela—suddenly a hotspot of international developments. In 2008 global food prices exploded. Riots broke out in more than 60 countries as people simply could no longer afford to buy food, making many governments painfully aware of their reliance on food imports. A global rush for farmland takes up speed. The Ethiopian government plans to lease 42 percent of Gambela’s surface to foreign investors. Besides the prospect of fiscal revenues and potential infrastructural developments, this policy also has strategic reasons. The central government in Addis Ababa has been trying to secure the country’s unity and control the ethnically diverse border regions in the lowlands. The emergence of a new state, South Sudan, has spurred concerns that claims for independence could also build up in Gambela. Now Gambelas forest lights up in a blaze of fire to clear land for international investors. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem is being reshaped. To make way for the large scale international farms, parts of the Gambela National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area will soon be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. Or so we thought when we started out investigation. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
    2011: We are in Gambela, a forlorn plot of land tucked away between the Ethiopian highlands and the vast expanse of South Sudan. Gambela—hot, humid, flat. Unchanged for centuries: Tribes leading their herds. Anuak, Nuer, Murle fighting for cattle, women, pastures. First with spears, now with kalashnikovs. Gambela—suddenly a hotspot of international developments. In 2008 global food prices exploded. Riots broke out in more than 60 countries as people simply could no longer afford to buy food, making many governments painfully aware of their reliance on food imports. A global rush for farmland takes up speed. The Ethiopian government plans to lease 42 percent of Gambela’s surface to foreign investors. Besides the prospect of fiscal revenues and potential infrastructural developments, this policy also has strategic reasons. The central government in Addis Ababa has been trying to secure the country’s unity and control the ethnically diverse border regions in the lowlands. The emergence of a new state, South Sudan, has spurred concerns that claims for independence could also build up in Gambela. Now Gambelas forest lights up in a blaze of fire to clear land for international investors. On a hundred-kilometer stretch of land, an almost untouched ecosystem is being reshaped. To make way for the large scale international farms, parts of the Gambela National Park, known as the site of Africa’s biggest animal migration outside the Serengeti, were unceremoniously moved. The marshes are drained. Instead of crocodiles, leopards, and white-eared kobs, this area will soon be covered in sugar cane, oil palms, rice, corn, and cotton. Or so we thought when we started out investigation. ––– #landrushproject #waterseedland #thefarm #bombayfc #USA #environmentalphotography #environmentalphotojournalism #slowjournalism #documentingourworld #landgrabbing #everydayafrica
  • Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Once the Aral Sea was known for its clear water and mild climate. It was surrounded by an oasis of dense brushwood and marshes. A diverse ecosystem that included flamingos and the Turan tiger. The water provided a habitat for some 40 species of fish and supplied a sizable fishing industry that produced 50,000 tons of fish annually. But Joseph Stalin’s “Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature” and Nikita Khrushchev’s “Virgin Lands Campaign” dreamt of turning the Central Asian desert into an oasis growing rice, melons, cereals, and most importantly #cotton. In 1954 the construction of the Karakum Canal began, diverting water from the Amudarya towards Turkmenistan. By 1960, between 20 and 60 qkm of water each year was taken to irrigate „White Gold“ in the desert and the Aral Sea began to shrink. As the water level decreased, the salinity and toxicity increased. The ecosystem collapsed, ships ran aground and the fish began dying. What had been the world’s forth largest lake, split into two separate salty lakes, the Large Aral to the south and the Small Aral to the North. The United Nations has dubbed the Aral Sea the worst man-made environmental disaster in history. It estimates that 100 million tonnes of salt-dust blows annually from the new formed #Aralkum #desert that covers an area the size of the Netherlands. The toxic storms often raging for days on end are polluting the air, water and food in the region leading to a high occurrence of tuberculosis, anaemia, various cancers, liver and kidney diseases, and birth and genetic defects.
    Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Once the Aral Sea was known for its clear water and mild climate. It was surrounded by an oasis of dense brushwood and marshes. A diverse ecosystem that included flamingos and the Turan tiger. The water provided a habitat for some 40 species of fish and supplied a sizable fishing industry that produced 50,000 tons of fish annually. But Joseph Stalin’s “Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature” and Nikita Khrushchev’s “Virgin Lands Campaign” dreamt of turning the Central Asian desert into an oasis growing rice, melons, cereals, and most importantly #cotton. In 1954 the construction of the Karakum Canal began, diverting water from the Amudarya towards Turkmenistan. By 1960, between 20 and 60 qkm of water each year was taken to irrigate „White Gold“ in the desert and the Aral Sea began to shrink. As the water level decreased, the salinity and toxicity increased. The ecosystem collapsed, ships ran aground and the fish began dying. What had been the world’s forth largest lake, split into two separate salty lakes, the Large Aral to the south and the Small Aral to the North. The United Nations has dubbed the Aral Sea the worst man-made environmental disaster in history. It estimates that 100 million tonnes of salt-dust blows annually from the new formed #Aralkum #desert that covers an area the size of the Netherlands. The toxic storms often raging for days on end are polluting the air, water and food in the region leading to a high occurrence of tuberculosis, anaemia, various cancers, liver and kidney diseases, and birth and genetic defects.
  • Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land. John Wesley Powell remarked in 1883. The great explorer believed that the arid West was not suitable for agricultural development, except for about 2% of the lands that were near water sources. Since then the American West has turned into a hydrological society. Rivers run in concrete beds, across mountains and deserts and up towards money. But even where the eye sees a wild river or natural lake, chances are that nature is nothing more than an illusion in the artificial landscapes of the #Anthropocene. Increasingly this system that made deserts bloom and cities boom is out of balance. The region demands more water than nature provides. More than 80 percent of the water goes to an agricultural system that turned harvesting into a mining operation: instead of copper, gold, or oil, it mines highly subsidized water. After 17 years of drought and heavy overuse of Colorado River water, Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has seen its surface elevation drop below 1,075 feet (327m) above sea level. With only 37% of capacity it is close to a level one emergency state which would cut water delivery to Nevada and Arizona. According to the Bureau of Reclamation there is a 64 percent chance that Lake Mead will fall below 1,025ft by 2019, which would trigger an emergency federal response. If it drops to 900ft (274m) it will be considered “deadpool,” meaning that water is no longer passing through the turbines.
    Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land. John Wesley Powell remarked in 1883. The great explorer believed that the arid West was not suitable for agricultural development, except for about 2% of the lands that were near water sources. Since then the American West has turned into a hydrological society. Rivers run in concrete beds, across mountains and deserts and up towards money. But even where the eye sees a wild river or natural lake, chances are that nature is nothing more than an illusion in the artificial landscapes of the #Anthropocene. Increasingly this system that made deserts bloom and cities boom is out of balance. The region demands more water than nature provides. More than 80 percent of the water goes to an agricultural system that turned harvesting into a mining operation: instead of copper, gold, or oil, it mines highly subsidized water. After 17 years of drought and heavy overuse of Colorado River water, Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has seen its surface elevation drop below 1,075 feet (327m) above sea level. With only 37% of capacity it is close to a level one emergency state which would cut water delivery to Nevada and Arizona. According to the Bureau of Reclamation there is a 64 percent chance that Lake Mead will fall below 1,025ft by 2019, which would trigger an emergency federal response. If it drops to 900ft (274m) it will be considered “deadpool,” meaning that water is no longer passing through the turbines.
  • Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Traveling through California’s Central Valley in the mid of the most severe #drought in the last 1200 years felt like a surreal mirage. While the radio was airing stories about water shortages, unemployed farm workers and subsiding lands, the harvest was in full swing. Everything in this desert-turned-factory-farm was green – except for the already harvested fields and the ever-present new almond, pistachio and walnut plantations sprouting from the ground. 82 percent of all almonds in the world are produced in California’s Central Valley. They are highly profitable despite high irrigation cost during the drought, as the harvest is nearly completely mechanized. Different from row crops such as salad, alfalfa or cotton, almond trees and other permanent crops can’t be fallowed during a drought year and need year round irrigation. This leads to demand hardening and reduced flexibility in the system. So when the farmers couldn’t find enough cheap water from state and federal sources, they focused their attention underground. Thousands of deep wells were sunk into the aquifers that carry ancient water, sucking dry a resource that took millennia to build. Although it is difficult to count how much water is left underground studies suggest that the aquifer under the Central Valley could fall dry around 2030.
#earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #waterislife #groundwater #almonds
    Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Traveling through California’s Central Valley in the mid of the most severe #drought in the last 1200 years felt like a surreal mirage. While the radio was airing stories about water shortages, unemployed farm workers and subsiding lands, the harvest was in full swing. Everything in this desert-turned-factory-farm was green – except for the already harvested fields and the ever-present new almond, pistachio and walnut plantations sprouting from the ground. 82 percent of all almonds in the world are produced in California’s Central Valley. They are highly profitable despite high irrigation cost during the drought, as the harvest is nearly completely mechanized. Different from row crops such as salad, alfalfa or cotton, almond trees and other permanent crops can’t be fallowed during a drought year and need year round irrigation. This leads to demand hardening and reduced flexibility in the system. So when the farmers couldn’t find enough cheap water from state and federal sources, they focused their attention underground. Thousands of deep wells were sunk into the aquifers that carry ancient water, sucking dry a resource that took millennia to build. Although it is difficult to count how much water is left underground studies suggest that the aquifer under the Central Valley could fall dry around 2030.
#earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #waterislife #groundwater #almonds
  • Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— A crop duster sprays cotton fields around Lubbock in Western Texas. King Cotton“ – once located in the humid Mississippi Delta – has moved to the semi-arid West. The world’s largest contiguous cotton-producing land surrounds Lubbock. Cotton here is heavily dependent on water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation and on federal government agricultural subsidies. These subsidies are one of the main reasons the world market price for cotton is pushed down below the production costs of farmers in Africa and India, resulting in bankruptcy and farmers suicides. Cotton is considered the world's dirtiest crop due to its heavy use of pesticides. Worldwide, cotton covers about 2.5% of the cultivated land but uses 16% of the world’s pesticides. According to the Rodal Institute Sixty five percent of conventional cotton production ends up in our food chain, directly through food oils or indirectly through the milk and meats of animals feeding on cotton seed meal and cotton gin by-products. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #cotton #pesticides
    Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— A crop duster sprays cotton fields around Lubbock in Western Texas. King Cotton“ – once located in the humid Mississippi Delta – has moved to the semi-arid West. The world’s largest contiguous cotton-producing land surrounds Lubbock. Cotton here is heavily dependent on water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation and on federal government agricultural subsidies. These subsidies are one of the main reasons the world market price for cotton is pushed down below the production costs of farmers in Africa and India, resulting in bankruptcy and farmers suicides. Cotton is considered the world's dirtiest crop due to its heavy use of pesticides. Worldwide, cotton covers about 2.5% of the cultivated land but uses 16% of the world’s pesticides. According to the Rodal Institute Sixty five percent of conventional cotton production ends up in our food chain, directly through food oils or indirectly through the milk and meats of animals feeding on cotton seed meal and cotton gin by-products. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #cotton #pesticides
  • Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— 40 percent of todays global food production relies on irrigation with groundwater. A 2015 study based on satellite observations showed that most of the world’s largest aquifers—the soil or porous rocks that hold groundwater—are being drained faster than they can refill. Climate change and population growth are expected to intensify the problem. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #waterislife #groundwater
    Today is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— 40 percent of todays global food production relies on irrigation with groundwater. A 2015 study based on satellite observations showed that most of the world’s largest aquifers—the soil or porous rocks that hold groundwater—are being drained faster than they can refill. Climate change and population growth are expected to intensify the problem. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #waterislife #groundwater
  • Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— I had followed the notorious Soy Highway in western Brazil for weeks: I met farmers that had turned a jungle into some of the most productive farmland on the globe, played pool with farm workers that made up a new prospering middle class, lived with peasant farmers that still struggled to find a market for their products but could become wealthy within a year if an extension of the road would turn their land into prime property, danced with the families of the landless workers movement on an occupied farm and with the daughter of a billionaire, interviewed cowboys, truck drivers and a professor that researched the health effects of the constant rain of chemicals that rendered the land from a diverse ecosystem into an industrial park. But when I was sitting with Pekwa on a small boat at the edge of a forest under threat I knew I found the core of this story. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #waterislife #indiginous
    Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— I had followed the notorious Soy Highway in western Brazil for weeks: I met farmers that had turned a jungle into some of the most productive farmland on the globe, played pool with farm workers that made up a new prospering middle class, lived with peasant farmers that still struggled to find a market for their products but could become wealthy within a year if an extension of the road would turn their land into prime property, danced with the families of the landless workers movement on an occupied farm and with the daughter of a billionaire, interviewed cowboys, truck drivers and a professor that researched the health effects of the constant rain of chemicals that rendered the land from a diverse ecosystem into an industrial park. But when I was sitting with Pekwa on a small boat at the edge of a forest under threat I knew I found the core of this story. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #waterislife #indiginous
  • Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Driving north from Sinop in western Brazil we see smoke rising from a field in the distance. Land that had been used for cattle ranching was now converted into farmland. This is the frontier where the #Cerrado, the largest savanna region in South America, gradually transforms into the #Amazon rainforest. With about 10,000 plant species, 10 endemic bird species, the Cerrado is the most biodiverse savanna in the world. But despite its environmental importance, it is one of the least protected regions in Brazil. While the Forest Code requires landowners in the Amazon to keep 80 percent of their land in its natural state, producers in the Cerrado are required to leave only 20 percent untouched. So basically the savanna with it’s gnarled shrubs and thick-barked trees is sacrificed to save the much better known rainforest. And this inexorable wave of „progress“ is eating its way north along the BR163 – the soy-highway – ever deeper into the Amazon wilderness. Most of the cleared land lies in 50 kilometer-wide strips along either side of the road. The loggers come first, cutting down large swaths of trees to get at the valuable, tropical wood. Next come the cattle farmers, who clear out the rest. Finally soya is planted, alternating with corn or cotton, submitting the region to the dictates of chemical and genetic engineering. Within a generation the primeval forest thus turns into an industrial park. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #deforestation
    Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Driving north from Sinop in western Brazil we see smoke rising from a field in the distance. Land that had been used for cattle ranching was now converted into farmland. This is the frontier where the #Cerrado, the largest savanna region in South America, gradually transforms into the #Amazon rainforest. With about 10,000 plant species, 10 endemic bird species, the Cerrado is the most biodiverse savanna in the world. But despite its environmental importance, it is one of the least protected regions in Brazil. While the Forest Code requires landowners in the Amazon to keep 80 percent of their land in its natural state, producers in the Cerrado are required to leave only 20 percent untouched. So basically the savanna with it’s gnarled shrubs and thick-barked trees is sacrificed to save the much better known rainforest. And this inexorable wave of „progress“ is eating its way north along the BR163 – the soy-highway – ever deeper into the Amazon wilderness. Most of the cleared land lies in 50 kilometer-wide strips along either side of the road. The loggers come first, cutting down large swaths of trees to get at the valuable, tropical wood. Next come the cattle farmers, who clear out the rest. Finally soya is planted, alternating with corn or cotton, submitting the region to the dictates of chemical and genetic engineering. Within a generation the primeval forest thus turns into an industrial park. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject #deforestation
  • Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled from 78 million tonnes in 1963 to a current total of 308 million tonnes per year. Livestock is the world’s largest user of land resources. 3.4 billion hectares are used for grazing and one-third of global arable land to grow feed crops, accounting for more than 40% of world cereal production. 40.000 head of cattle are fattened three times per year on Fazenda Maraba in Campo Verde, in the Brazilian cerrado. The cattle operation is only a side business for Maraba, which is known as one of the best and most modern cotton farms of Brazil. The cotton harvested here and on the companies’ nine other fazendas is delinted in the two gins of Maraba. The seeds then are used for biodiesel production and the remaining cotton-seed cake is used as high protein feed for the cattle supplementing corn silage also grown on the farm. So a former waste product from cotton production becomes a valuable feed that substitutes soya in fattening cattle. Which leaves the higher value soya grown by the company for export. All this despite the long held claim that agriculture was impossible in the Cerrado’s sandy soil, which is so acidic that lime needs to be added before anything can grow. It was only with the development of chemical fertilizers that large-scale agriculture could be brought into the region. Within one generation, 1.2 million square kilometers of savannah—three times the size of Germany—were transformed from a diverse ecosystem into agricultural land. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushpro
    Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled from 78 million tonnes in 1963 to a current total of 308 million tonnes per year. Livestock is the world’s largest user of land resources. 3.4 billion hectares are used for grazing and one-third of global arable land to grow feed crops, accounting for more than 40% of world cereal production. 40.000 head of cattle are fattened three times per year on Fazenda Maraba in Campo Verde, in the Brazilian cerrado. The cattle operation is only a side business for Maraba, which is known as one of the best and most modern cotton farms of Brazil. The cotton harvested here and on the companies’ nine other fazendas is delinted in the two gins of Maraba. The seeds then are used for biodiesel production and the remaining cotton-seed cake is used as high protein feed for the cattle supplementing corn silage also grown on the farm. So a former waste product from cotton production becomes a valuable feed that substitutes soya in fattening cattle. Which leaves the higher value soya grown by the company for export. All this despite the long held claim that agriculture was impossible in the Cerrado’s sandy soil, which is so acidic that lime needs to be added before anything can grow. It was only with the development of chemical fertilizers that large-scale agriculture could be brought into the region. Within one generation, 1.2 million square kilometers of savannah—three times the size of Germany—were transformed from a diverse ecosystem into agricultural land. #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushpro
  • Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled from 78 million tonnes in 1963 to a current total of 308 million tonnes per year. Livestock is the world’s largest user of land resources. 3.4 billion hectares are used for grazing and one-third of global arable land to grow feed crops, accounting for more than 40% of world cereal production. Over 32,000 tons of #soybean is regularly stored within a storage warehouse of Fiagril Agromercantil plant in Lucas do Rio Verde, Brazil. #Anthropocene #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject
    Today, the 1st of August 2018, is #earthovershootday. It marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. Agriculture is one of the main drivers of climate change, uses most of the water we consume, erodes the soils, drives extinction, deforestation and desertification. In fact there is hardly anything else as transformative to the planet as our agricultural practices. Whenever agriculture has failed societies collapsed. And now, for the first time in human history, we are running this experiment on a global level. ——— Over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled from 78 million tonnes in 1963 to a current total of 308 million tonnes per year. Livestock is the world’s largest user of land resources. 3.4 billion hectares are used for grazing and one-third of global arable land to grow feed crops, accounting for more than 40% of world cereal production. Over 32,000 tons of #soybean is regularly stored within a storage warehouse of Fiagril Agromercantil plant in Lucas do Rio Verde, Brazil. #Anthropocene #earthovershootday2018 #landrushproject #waterseedland #bombayfc @landrushproject
  • Due to the construction of numerous dams and excessive overallocation of its water, the Colorado River has not regularly reached the sea for more than 50 years. In most years the river ends at Morelos Dam at the US-Mexican border. The delta changed from a million acre wetland and riparian forest, that used to be one of the most biodiverse habitats in North America into a barren wasteland. Since 1998 no water reaches the Gulf of California at all, with the exception of an experimental Pulse Flow 2014 that drained 100,000 Acre Feed from the Morelos Dam to test if the dying delta could be revitalized.
    Due to the construction of numerous dams and excessive overallocation of its water, the Colorado River has not regularly reached the sea for more than 50 years. In most years the river ends at Morelos Dam at the US-Mexican border. The delta changed from a million acre wetland and riparian forest, that used to be one of the most biodiverse habitats in North America into a barren wasteland. Since 1998 no water reaches the Gulf of California at all, with the exception of an experimental Pulse Flow 2014 that drained 100,000 Acre Feed from the Morelos Dam to test if the dying delta could be revitalized.