Cover crops in orchards
It takes an ecosystem to grow a tree. By Anna Mouton. We humans often describe a clean floor as one you can eat off. But a clean orchard floor starves soil organisms. Cover crops can boost diversity both above and…
Everything counts in large amounts
What are collembolans doing in your orchard? By Anna Mouton. Collembolans are among the most common animals on earth — they occur on every continent and in almost all terrestrial habitats. You can probably find somewhere between 10 000 and…
Life in earth
The underground movement that supports orchards. By Anna Mouton. Plants put a lot of energy into cultivating microbes. A significant portion of the sugars that plants make during photosynthesis is pushed out into the soil in the form of root…
Soil health in Washington State
Q+A with Tianna DuPont. By Anna Mouton. The United States is the second largest apple-producing country — total production in 2020 was 5.1 million tonnes. Seventy percent of these apples come from Washington State. Fresh Quarterly spoke to Tianna DuPont,…
A new agricultural revolution
The focus shifts to sustainability. By Anna Mouton. Agricultural production has grown exponentially for nearly two centuries. Outputs more than tripled in the period 1960–2015 — the achievements of the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s are so significant that…
Organic matter… matters
Because orchard performance is rooted in the soil. By Anna Mouton. Most growers would agree that soil conditions can determine the success of an orchard. This is why so much effort goes into soil preparation when planting. But what about…
Carbon jargon
Your quick guide to carbon literacy. By Anna Mouton. CO2, CO2e and GHGs Greenhouse gases — GHGs — in the atmosphere trap heat that would otherwise radiate into space. The most abundant greenhouse gas in our atmosphere is water vapour,…
Confronting climate change
Carbon emissions and the future of South African agriculture. By Anna Mouton. Global warming threatens South African agriculture as much by changing consumer behaviour as by changing the climate. Growing awareness of the environmental impacts of agriculture is leading consumers…
World leaders in water management
How does Israel manage to export water when the country has an arid to semi-arid climate? Fresh Quarterly learns more from renowned hydrologist Prof. Eilon Adar of the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev…
Groundwater
What do about half the people and half the crops on earth have in common? Their survival depends on groundwater. By Anna Mouton. Only about 2.5% of all water on earth is fresh. About 0.9% is brackish. Everything else is…