Land | Environment.org

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) traces its earliest roots to the farm crisis of the 1980s, when cycles in the global economy and federal agricultural policy combined to push farmers losing their farms into the national spotlight. The 330,000 farm families who lost their farms between 1978 and 1992 were, unfortunately, not the last. The total number of farms has continued to steadily decrease since then, with the loss of mid-sized farms at a particularly concerning rate.

Within the past couple of years, there has been mounting evidence suggesting a tipping point for farmers and ranchers not unlike that of the 1980s. Today, high production costs, unstable markets, and low crop prices driven by uncertain export markets and overproduction have converged to create an economic climate in which farmers’ livelihoods are threatened. Earlier …

Careful land allocation for carbon dioxide removal is critical for safeguarding biodiversity

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| Climate

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 05 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02567-3

A spatial assessment of global decarbonization scenarios reveals that land allocated for carbon dioxide removal substantially overlaps with areas of high biodiversity importance. The implications of such overlap depend on location and mode of implementation and demonstrate that careful assessment will be required when implementing decarbonization pathways to safeguard biodiversity.
Nature Climate Change…

Plant nutrient acquisition under elevated CO2 and implications for the land carbon sink

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| Climate

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 18 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02386-y

Elevated atmospheric CO2 has stimulated plant growth, yet the future land carbon sink may be constrained in part by nutrient availability. Here the authors review plant nutrient acquisition strategies and the need for better representation in models to improve predictions of land carbon uptake.
Nature Climate Change…

Healing Land and Legacy Through Urban Agriculture

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| Sustainability

*Sanctuary Farms | Photo Credit: Ali Lapetina*

Ask someone to imagine a “farm” and they will probably conjure a barn, a silo, rolling hills of crops, and pasture. That is, they will imagine rural areas.

But one of the fastest growing – and underutilized – forms of agriculture is happening in America’s cities and suburbs, neighborhoods surrounded by industry, infrastructure, and millions of people.

Urban farms take on as many forms and faces as the residents who sustain them. Some are worked on by community members or local businesses. Others sit on rooftops or vacant lots. City growers are using the latest technologies and the collective hands of their neighbors. But no matter how urban farms are tended, they lead to stronger communities, healthier kids and families, and are good for the environment. We need Congress to deliver investments now …

How a dwindling helium supply is impacting public land management

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| Pollution

In October, the Bureau of Land Management finalized a new resource management plan for Colorado’s Western Slope that will determine how 2 million acres of public land are managed for the next 15-20 years.

The plan includes some conservation wins; it sets aside land designated as critical habitat, for example, and institutes extra protections for big game. But it also permits continued leasing in areas that have moderate and high potential for oil and gas development — with a particular focus on places with the unique geological conditions necessary for helium production.

Helium is a noble gas, meaning it is chemically inert and doesn’t react with other substances. These qualities mean that it’s in high demand for a variety of critical uses in medical technology, diving and national defense; diagnostic procedures like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), for example, and nuclear …

Climate change will exacerbate land conflict between agriculture and timber production

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| Climate

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 29 August 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02113-z

Increases in crop and timber production are necessary to meet rising needs. Here the authors predict how current forestry land is likely to face increased competition from agriculture as climate change shifts land-use suitability.
Nature Climate Change…

What’s the difference between Indigenous nations co-managing or co-stewarding their land? A lot.

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| Pollution

For a decade, wind farm companies had been eyeing Molok Luyuk — a mountain ridge of religious importance to tribes in northern California, whose people have worked for years to protect it. It’s also widely biodiverse with elk, mountain lions, and black bears, as well as 40 rare plants such as the pink adobe lily.

Mia Durham is the secretary for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, a tribe that has been in a relationship with Molok Luyuk for thousands of years. In response to petitions filed by wind energy companies that wanted to develop the area, the tribe and its allies asked President Biden to protect it in 2019.

“That’s what heightened it for us and put us on track of moving forward as quickly as possible,” Durham said. “We wanted to protect sacred sites that are there. They were …

California offers $100 million for tribes to buy back their land. It won’t go far.

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| Pollution

When he was 10 years old, Terry Supahan’s mom bought him a new bike. Supahan, a member of the Karuk Tribe in Northern California, had only ridden second hand bikes before. A hundred years earlier, the state of California had stolen millions of acres of land from his tribe and more than a hundred others. In 1968, the state sent checks to individual Indigenous people to pay them back. Supahan’s mom used the money she received — about $ 100 he recalls — to buy the bike, a moment that Supahan remembers fondly, but laughs at now. How could a bicycle compare to millions of acres of stolen land?

The check was part of a $ 29 million land settlement for roughly 65 million acres of land — two-thirds of the entire state — stolen from Indigenous people. That works …

Environment.org

Tag: Land

Keeping Farmers on the Land

Careful land allocation for carbon dioxide removal is critical for safeguarding biodiversity

Plant nutrient acquisition under elevated CO2 and implications for the land carbon sink

Healing Land and Legacy Through Urban Agriculture

How a dwindling helium supply is impacting public land management

Climate change will exacerbate land conflict between agriculture and timber production

What’s the difference between Indigenous nations co-managing or co-stewarding their land? A lot.

California offers $100 million for tribes to buy back their land. It won’t go far.