#ecological applications

[xtruss]

Humans Have Substantially Altered The Relationship Between Wolves and Deer, Finds Study

— By Lori Fligge | University of Minnesota | October 30, 2023

A combined photo collage: A breeding female wolf traveling on a logging road carrying a deer fawn back to her pups in June 2023. Credit: Voyageurs Wolf Project

New research from the University of Minnesota's Voyageurs Wolf Project found that human activities in northern Minnesota—logging, road and trail creation, and infrastructure development—have profoundly impacted where wolves hunt and kill deer fawns. By altering forest ecosystems, humans have created an environment that possibly favors the predators.

This research, recently published in Ecological Applications, is a collaboration between the University of Minnesota, Northern Michigan University, the University of Manitoba, Voyageurs National Park, and the Voyageurs Wolf Project.

"The premise is really quite simple: human activities change where deer are on the landscape, and wolves go where the deer are," said co-lead author Thomas Gable, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota and project lead for the Voyageurs Wolf Project.

The Researchers Found:

Wolves disproportionately hunt and kill deer fawns around recently logged areas—those logged within the past five years. This is likely because clear-cut forests provide dense stands of young saplings, supplying prime food for deer and excellent hiding spots for newborn fawns. Wolves seem to know these recently-logged areas are good hunting spots, turning the nursery grounds into risky areas for deer fawns during summer.

More than expected, wolves tend to kill deer fawns closer to human infrastructure, like cabins, year-round residences and barns. This is likely in part due to the fact that supplemental feeding of deer by people is common in the region, and this likely congregates deer near human-developed areas. The high concentration of deer near human development, in turn, attracts wolves to areas near people.

Wolves preferentially hunted fawns from linear features—roads, powerlines, ATV/UTV trails, and hunting lanes— and disproportionately killed fawns closer to these features than would be expected. This was unsurprising to the research team, as wolves face the same general issues that people do when traveling in the woods, and just like humans, wolves often prefer to travel on linear corridors than through dense forest.

"When we put all of the pieces together, it is pretty clear that the cumulative effects of all major aspects of human activity in the Northwoods—logging, infrastructure development, and road and trail development—have fundamentally changed where and how wolves hunt deer fawns here," said Sean Johnson-Bice, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Manitoba and co-lead author of the study.

"The rules of this predator-prey game change when people alter ecosystems, and it's possible we have created conditions that may have tipped the scales in the predators' favor."

Future research is needed to understand whether human activities have simply influenced where wolves end up killing deer fawns or if human activities have actually increased wolf hunting efficiency of deer. The team is exploring various approaches to examining this question.

[dravencore]

philosophical debates and fights to the death won't fix him but @carrionkid and I agree that gardening would

[exopelagic]

what WAS the normal child response to learning abt climate change actually. bc I’m pretty sure ‘depressed for at least 6 months and becoming deeply fascinated by apocalypses for ~3 years’ was prooooobably not it but who am I to say

[flavia8]

They are all wildly different to each other and only a few are in my preferred field

[softpeachydarling]

Just found out I got accepted to my top choice masters program with a full scholarship!

I'm going to be studying data science + AI.

[hmdigitalindia]

The COM-100 is a professional-grade digital meter designed for measuring water quality. It is widely used in various applications such as hydroponics, aquariums, water filtration, and laboratory testing. The COM-100 is a professional grade level EC/TDS/Temp meter ideal for all water quality testing, hydroponics, water purification applications, wastewater regulation, aquaculture, colloidal silver, labs & scientific testing, pools & spas, ecology testing, boilers & cooling towers, water treatment and more.

[artcalledky]

[jcmarchi]

Characterizing social networks

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/characterizing-social-networks/

Characterizing social networks

People tend to connect with others who are like them. Alumni from the same alma mater are more likely to collaborate over a research project together, or individuals with the same political beliefs are more likely to join the same political parties, attend rallies, and engage in online discussions. This sociology concept, called homophily, has been observed in many network science studies. But if like-minded individuals cluster in online and offline spaces to reinforce each other’s ideas and form synergies, what does that mean for society?

Researchers at MIT wanted to investigate homophily further to understand how groups of three or more interact in complex societal settings. Prior research on understanding homophily has studied relationships between pairs of people. For example, when two members of Congress co-sponsor a bill, they are likely to be from the same political party.

However, less is known about whether group interactions between three or more people are likely to occur between similar individuals. If three members of Congress co-sponsor a bill together, are all three likely to be members of the same party, or would we expect more bipartisanship? When the researchers tried to extend traditional methods to measure homophily in these larger group interactions, they found the results can be misleading.

“We found that homophily observed in pairs, or one-to-one interactions, can make it seem like there’s more homophily in larger groups than there really is,” says Arnab Sarker, graduate student in the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) and lead author of the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The previous measure didn’t account for the way in which two people already know each other in friendship settings,” he adds.

To address this issue, Sarker, along with co-authors Natalie Northrup ’22 and Ali Jadbabaie, the JR East Professor of Engineering, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and core faculty member of IDSS, developed a new way of measuring homophily. Borrowing tools from algebraic topology, a subfield in mathematics typically applied in physics, they developed a new measure to understand whether homophily occurred in group interactions.

The new measure, called simplicial homophily, separates the homophily seen in one-on-one interactions from those in larger group interactions and is based on the mathematical concept of a simplicial complex. The researchers tested this new measure with real-world data from 16 different datasets and found that simplicial homophily provides more accurate insights into how similar things interact in larger groups. Interestingly, the new measure can better identify instances where there is a lack of similarity in larger group interactions, thus rectifying a weakness observed in the previous measure.

One such example of this instance was demonstrated in the dataset from the global hotel booking website, Trivago. They found that when travelers are looking at two hotels in one session, they often pick hotels that are close to one another geographically. But when they look at more than two hotels in one session, they are more likely to be searching for hotels that are farther apart from one another (for example, if they are taking a vacation with multiple stops). The new method showed “anti-homophily” — instead of similar hotels being chosen together, different hotels were chosen together.

“Our measure controls for pairwise connections and is suggesting that there’s more diversity in the hotels that people are looking for as group size increases, which is an interesting economic result,” says Sarker.

Additionally, they discovered that simplicial homophily can help identify when certain characteristics are important for predicting if groups will interact in the future. They found that when there’s a lot of similarity or a lot of difference between individuals who already interact in groups, then knowing individual characteristics can help predict their connection to each other in the future.

Northrup was an undergraduate researcher on the project and worked with Sarker and Jadbabaie over three semesters before she graduated. The project gave her an opportunity to take some of the concepts she learned in the classroom and apply them.

“Working on this project, I really dove into building out the higher-order network model, and understanding the network, the math, and being able to implement it at a large scale,” says Northrup, who was in the civil and environmental engineering systems track with a double major in economics.

The new measure opens up opportunities to study complex group interactions in a broad range of network applications, from ecology to traffic and socioeconomics. One of the areas Sarker has interest in exploring is the group dynamics of people finding jobs through social networks. “Does higher-order homophily affect how people get information about jobs?” he asks.    

Northrup adds that it could also be used to evaluate interventions or specific policies to connect people with job opportunities outside of their network. “You can even use it as a measurement to evaluate how effective that might be.”

The research was supported through funding from a Vannevar Bush Fellowship from the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense and from the U.S. Army Research Office Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative.

[wormsdyke]

Hi, was reading ur tags and I'm intrigued. You got any more interesting facts/examples of parasitism??

i would LOVE to talk more about parasitism!!! i’m by no means an expert but i think it’s super neat!!

something i didn’t know until studying ecology more is that finding parasites in an ecosystem can be an indicator of a really healthy environment! they fill an ecological niche, just like any other creature, and their absence would disrupt their community just like any other creature.

for example, i helped study a particular stream’s health by sampling fishes from it, then dissecting them and searching for parasitic worms. if i dissected a healthy adult bluegill and found it had heart worms, i might consider that a good thing for the stream’s biodiversity. it shows that the bluegill population is stable enough to produce healthy reproductive adults, and the worm population is stable enough to exist within the host body in a small enough capacity not to hinder its growth. win-win!

there’s a lot of parasites that are very careful in how they depend on their host! many spend their entire lives on/within a host’s body and rely on it for nutrition, so they need their host alive. (this is called endoparasitism - meaning the parasite lives inside the host body. the alternate is ectoparasitism - where the parasite lives on the host’s surface.)

some parasites move from host to host through the food chain, so they need to keep a low enough profile to be carried along. for example, a parasite might deposit its eggs onto the gills of an aquatic insect, where the eggs stay dormant and use the insect’s body as shelter. the eggs won’t develop and hatch until the host insect is eaten by a fish, giving the parasites a larger host body to grow into. they might develop into larvae in the fish’s heart and and just hang out there, remaining larvae, until the fish is eaten by a bird! now the parasite is in an even bigger host body, and it could mature into its adult form. it might make its home in the bird’s intestines, so its eggs can be dropped with the bird’s feces - and the cycle repeats!! the host organisms could live a complete life and successfully reproduce without the parasite causing it any problems!

not every parasite is that gentle though. there’s multiple millions of different parasitic species each with their own survival strategies, many of which are much more disruptive to the host. for example, some species of parasitic wasps have venom they can use to immobilize or affect the behavior of catterpillars, allowing the wasps to lay their eggs inside the caterpillar, sometimes completely filling the host body with eggs and killing it. so, you know, a bit less pleasant of an experience for the host.

i think it’s Loxothylacus panopaei (loxo), the parasitic barnacle that castrates mud crabs, laying their eggs in the host’s body and altering the hosts behavior to make it protect and nurture the parasitic eggs. in female mud crabs, this means they are prevented from laying their own eggs and instead care for the parasitic eggs. but get this - male mud crabs naturally have narrower bodies with no internal space for eggs, and no nurturing or protective behaviors for their own eggs. but when infected and controlled by loxo, male mud crabs’ bodies will widen to resemble the females, creating a space for loxo to lay eggs in them too. then the loxo causes the male crab to care for the eggs like a female would. this means loxo essentially doubled the amount of hosts it can use, and it reproduces crazy fast with this strategy. loxo’s intense and effective reproductive strategy means it’s spreading fast, invading regions where the crab populations haven’t evolved to have any defense against the parasite, and mud crab populations are in danger because of it. there’s ongoing efforts to study the interactions between loxo and mud crabs and to protect vulnerable populations in the chesapeake bay region.

compared to bluegill example, it just goes to show how much diversity there is among parasites and their impact. the heart worms in the bluegills and the barnacles on the mud crabs employ crazy different strategies with crazy different effects on their hosts. but they both have to have a degree of caution with their hosts - maintaining a population at the ecosystem’s carrying capacity requires the parasite to infect as many hosts as it can, but leave enough hosts alive long enough to reproduce so that the future generations of parasites will have hosts too. ecology is just a constant series of cost-benefit analyses and evolutionary microadjustments - how much can we take, but still ensure our children will have enough to survive?

parasitism is so fascinating to me as a case study in the way we interact with the natural world and apply our own morals onto nonhuman organisms. i think it’s easy to think of parasites as bad, mean creatures. i remember learning about forms of symbiosis in grade school science, where mutualism (where both of the organisms benefit from their interactions) was described like a happy friendship between two animals, and parasitism sounded like bullying. and i completely understand that gut reaction - seeing a deer turned pale and sickly from ticks draining their blood makes my heart ache, and i don’t think it’s wrong to feel that way. i don’t think compassion for the world around us is ever a bad thing. but i think it can be easy to follow that heartache into a somewhat pessimistic path. like, Cryphonectria parasitica (the fungus that causes chestnut blight) doesn’t have an evil plan to kill a chestnut tree. it’s an organism which has a sole motive of survival and reproduction, and parasitism is the method it’s evolved to achieve that.

anthropomorphizing can sometimes keep us from remembering that wildlife conservation cannot be limited to animals we think are cute. creepy crawlies have to be included in conservation efforts because excluding any member of an ecosystem disrupts every member of the ecosystem. we see this in cases like the absence of keystone species creating havoc down the food chain (think wolf restoration efforts in yellowstone) but similar problems can happen when we lose primary consumers from food chains too.

that’s not just a theoretical statement - there’s something like a 50% decrease in insect numbers globally caused by habitat loss, climate change, pollution, etc. i think education about invertebrate ecology and parasitology is so important in destigmatizing them so we can afford them the compassion and efforts they deserve to protect them. i love this ted talk by danae wolf, a conservation photographer who focuses on insects and spiders, where she expands on this topic. it’s not specific to parasites, but i think the insights she has are applicable there as well and overall worth the watch!

anyways!!!!!!!!! thank you so much for this ask!!!!!! i love ecology and parasitology and wildlife conservation and was so excited to write a short essay about it i hope you don’t mind!!!!!!!! again i’m no expert im just autistic with half a degree in wildlife conservation but it’s a joy to talk about and i would love to hear from others if anyone has things to add :D

[killrisma]

I need to create a 10 piece art portfolio for college applications by October 10th… pray for me, y’all

[neuroux]

Visual Perception: How Our Brains Interpret the World

They say that perception is reality, but what if the way we perceive the world around us isn't actually accurate? Our brains are incredibly complex, and the way they interpret visual information is a fascinating topic that has enticed scientists for decades. Did you know that our brains can process visual information up to 60,000 times faster than text? Or that over 50% of our brain is dedicated to processing visual information? In this blog, we will delve into the world of visual perception, exploring how our brains interpret the visual world around us and the captivating science behind it.

The Fundamentals of Visual Perception

The human brain visually perceives everything to make sense of the surrounding world. How? Let’s take this example. When you see pizza on the table, your brain assesses its color, shape, and texture to label it as food. Or when you play a video game, your brain visually perceives the graphics to judge how far your enemy is, how fast your character is moving, and what should be your reaction time. Visual perception does so much more than just recognize objects. It also helps the human brain understand depth, motion, spatial relationships, etc.

Visual Processing in the Brain

At the back of the brain, in the primary visual cortex, visual impulses from the retina are first processed. Here, the signals are divided into many characteristics, such as color, shape, direction, and movement.

Perception of Color

Color perception is a complex process that involves the interaction of multiple areas in the brain. The human eye contains three types of cones sensitive to different wavelengths of light. These cones are responsible for our ability to perceive colors, which are perceived by the brain to create the perception of color.

Perception of Shape and Form

The perception of shape and form is also a complex process involving multiple areas of the brain. The brain processes the signals from the retina and breaks down the features of an object, such as its edges and contours. These features are then combined to create the perception of shape and form.

Perception of Motion

The perception of motion is the ability to detect and interpret changes in the position of objects in the visual field over time. It allows us to perceive movement in our surroundings, track moving objects, and navigate through our environment. 

There are two main types of motion perception: first-order and second-order motion. First-order motion refers to the perception of changes in the position of an object itself, while second-order motion refers to the perception of changes in the texture, contrast, or other properties of an object that create the illusion of motion. Motion perception is influenced by different factors, including the speed, direction, and trajectory of an object, as well as its contrast and luminance. It is also influenced by contextual factors, such as the presence of other moving objects in the visual field and the overall structure of the visual scene.

The Role of Experience in Visual Perception

Visual perception is not just a passive process of receiving visual information from the environment. Our past experiences and knowledge also influence how we perceive the world around us. For example, if you are looking at a painting by Picasso, your brain will interpret the distorted shapes and colors differently than if you were looking at a realistic photograph.

Our expectations and biases can also influence our visual perception. A classic example is the "duck-rabbit illusion," where the same image can be interpreted as either a duck or a rabbit, depending on our expectations and past experiences. Scientists deploy many techniques to assess visual perception and the ecological momentary assessment application from NeuroUX is one brilliant way to work with real-time data and analyze visual perception. Their cognitive testing applications with 15+ validated tests are used by researchers and clinicians to get real-time data for studies.

Source: https://ecologicalmomentaryassessment.blogspot.com/2023/04/visual-perception-how-our-brains.html

[dubaiecosmart]

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[directactionforhope]

"Starting this month [June 2024], thousands of young people will begin doing climate-related work around the West as part of a new service-based federal jobs program, the American Climate Corps, or ACC. The jobs they do will vary, from wildland firefighters and “lawn busters” to urban farm fellows and traditional ecological knowledge stewards. Some will work on food security or energy conservation in cities, while others will tackle invasive species and stream restoration on public land. 

The Climate Corps was modeled on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, with the goal of eventually creating tens of thousands of jobs while simultaneously addressing the impacts of climate change. 

Applications were released on Earth Day, and Maggie Thomas, President Joe Biden’s special assistant on climate, told High Country News that the program’s website has already had hundreds of thousands of views. Since its launch, nearly 250 jobs across the West have been posted, accounting for more than half of all the listed ACC positions. 

“Obviously, the West is facing tremendous impacts of climate change,” Thomas said. “It’s changing faster than many other parts of the country. If you look at wildfire, if you look at extreme heat, there are so many impacts. I think that there’s a huge role for the American Climate Corps to be tackling those crises.”  

Most of the current positions are staffed through state or nonprofit entities, such as the Montana Conservation Corps or Great Basin Institute, many of which work in partnership with federal agencies that manage public lands across the West. In New Mexico, for example, members of Conservation Legacy’s Ecological Monitoring Crew will help the Bureau of Land Management collect soil and vegetation data. In Oregon, young people will join the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working in firefighting, fuel reduction and timber management in national forests. 

New jobs are being added regularly. Deadlines for summer positions have largely passed, but new postings for hundreds more positions are due later this year or on a rolling basis, such as the Working Lands Program, which is focused on “climate-smart agriculture.”  ...

On the ACC website, applicants can sort jobs by state, work environment and focus area, such as “Indigenous knowledge reclamation” or “food waste reduction.” Job descriptions include an hourly pay equivalent — some corps jobs pay weekly or term-based stipends instead of an hourly wage — and benefits. The site is fairly user-friendly, in part owing to suggestions made by the young people who participated in the ACC listening sessions earlier this year...

The sessions helped determine other priorities as well, Thomas said, including creating good-paying jobs that could lead to long-term careers, as well as alignment with the president’s Justice40 initiative, which mandates that at least 40% of federal climate funds must go to marginalized communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change and pollution. 

High Country News found that 30% of jobs listed across the West have explicit justice and equity language, from affordable housing in low-income communities to Indigenous knowledge and cultural reclamation for Native youth...

While the administration aims for all positions to pay at least $15 an hour, the lowest-paid position in the West is currently listed at $11 an hour. Benefits also vary widely, though most include an education benefit, and, in some cases, health care, child care and housing. 

All corps members will have access to pre-apprenticeship curriculum through the North America’s Building Trades Union. Matthew Mayers, director of the Green Workers Alliance, called this an important step for young people who want to pursue union jobs in renewable energy. Some members will also be eligible for the federal pathways program, which was recently expanded to increase opportunities for permanent positions in the federal government...

 “To think that there will be young people in every community across the country working on climate solutions and really being equipped with the tools they need to succeed in the workforce of the future,” Thomas said, “to me, that is going to be an incredible thing to see.”"

-via High Country News, June 6, 2024

--

Note: You can browse Climate Corps job postings here, on the Climate Corps website. There are currently 314 jobs posted at time of writing!

Also, it says the goal is to pay at least $15 an hour for all jobs (not 100% meeting that goal rn), but lots of postings pay higher than that, including some over $20/hour!!

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - May 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Support me on Ko-fi or $Kaybarr1735! Also, if you tip me on Ko-fi or CashApp (and give me some way to contact you if it doesn’t automatically), at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week - almost double the content!

1. Scientists Invent Healthier More Sustainable Chocolate

“The new chocolate recipe from researchers at ETH Zurich uses more materials from the cocoa pod that are usually discarded, including more of the pulp as well as the inner lining of the husk, known as the endocarp. […] The resulting chocolate also [was “deliciously sweet” and] had 20% more fibre and 30 percent less saturated fat than average European dark chocolate[, and] it could enable cocoa farmers [to] earn more from their crops.”

2. Vermont Is Coming for Big Oil, Making It Pay for Decades of Climate Pollution

“Legislators in Montpelier are on the brink of enacting the "Climate Superfund Act," modeled after the federal Superfund law, that seeks to make oil, gas and coal companies pay for damages linked to historical greenhouse gas emissions. […] Companies would be held liable for the costs associated with […] floods and heat waves, along with losses to biodiversity, safety, economic development and anything else the treasurer deems reasonable[, that were caused by their emissions].”

3. Important bird habitat now protected in the Rocky Mountain Trench

“Grassland-reliant species in the Rocky Mountain Trench now have more protected habitat thanks to a new [270-hectare] conservation area near Cranbrook. […] About one-third of the Skookumchuck Prairie Conservation Area is forested[…,] Most of the site is a dry grassland[…, and] Three hectares of wetlands add to the landscape diversity and offer crucial benefits to wildlife and water systems in the area. This conservation gem also provides habitat for endangered American badger and excellent winter range for elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer.”

4. Lemur Week marked by 70th breeding success

“A wildlife park has celebrated its 70th lemur breeding success ahead of a week raising money to help save the endangered primates. […] The park's open-air Madagascar exhibit is home to 31 free-roaming lemurs and was officially opened in 2008. […] Females are only sexually receptive for just one or two days a year, leaving a small window of opportunity for males to father offspring. […] The two playful siblings, one female and one male, were born to father Bernard and mother Hira.”

5. Innovative material for sustainable building

“Researchers introduce a polymer-based material with unique properties. This material allows sunlight to enter, maintains a more comfortable indoor climate without additional energy, and cleans itself like a lotus leaf. The new development could replace glass components in walls and roofs in the future.”

6. Isle of Wight eagles don't pose threat to lambs as feared

“While there had previously been fears that the eagles would feed on livestock, such as lambs, the project has found no evidence of this. [… “W]hite-tailed eagles effectively steal meals from other predatory birds[, which is] a really important ecological role that had been lost within the landscape and is being restored.” [… The birds’] population was boosted by a chick last year – the first time the species has bred in England in 240 years.”

7. Breakthrough discovery uses engineered surfaces to shed heat

“Cheng's team has found a way to lower the starting point of the [Leidenfrost] effect by producing a surface covered with micropillars. […] The discovery has great potential in heat transfer applications such as the cooling of industrial machines and surface fouling cleaning for heat exchangers. It also could help prevent damage and even disaster to nuclear machinery.”

8. New malaria vaccine delivered for the first time

“A total of 43,000 doses arrived by air today from UNICEF, and another 120,000 are scheduled to show up in the coming days. […] They're the first vaccines designed to work against a human parasite. […] Across four African countries, these trials showed a 75% reduction in malaria cases in the year following vaccination of young children. […] The Serum Institute of India, who will be manufacturing the new vaccine, says a hundred million doses will likely be available to countries by the middle of next year.”

9. Urban gardening may improve human health: Microbial exposure boosts immune system

“"One month of urban indoor gardening boosted the diversity of bacteria on the skin of the subjects and was associated with higher levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the blood. The group studied used a growing medium with high microbial diversity emulating the forest soil," [… whereas] the control group used a microbially poor peat-based medium. [… N]o changes in the blood or the skin microbiota were seen. […] “This is the first time we can demonstrate that meaningful and natural human activity can increase the diversity of the microbiota of healthy adults and, at the same time, contribute to the regulation of the immune system."”

10. Cities Are Switching to Electric Vehicles Faster Than Individuals

“[M]ost large cities have adopted some kind of climate goal, and some of them are buying EVs for their municipal fleets at a faster rate than the general public. And that progress could speed up as more EVs enter the market and as cities get educated about grant funding and tax incentives that were passed over the last four years.”

May 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[thedansemacabres]

Introduction To Supporting Sustainable Agriculture For Witches and Pagans

[ID: An image of yellow grain stocks, soon to be harvested. The several stocks reach towards a blurred open sky, focusing the camera on he grains themselves. The leaves of the grains are green and the cereals are exposed].

PAGANISM AND WITCHCRAFT ARE MOVEMENTS WITHIN A SELF-DESTRUCTIVE CAPITALIST SOCIETY. As the world becomes more aware of the importance of sustainability, so does the duty of humanity to uphold the idea of the steward, stemming from various indigenous worldviews, in the modern era. I make this small introduction as a viticulturist working towards organic and environmentally friendly grape production. I also do work on a food farm, as a second job—a regenerative farm, so I suppose that is my qualifications. Sustainable—or rather regenerative agriculture—grows in recognition. And as paganism and witchcraft continue to blossom, learning and supporting sustainability is naturally a path for us to take. I will say that this is influenced by I living in the USA, however, there are thousands of groups across the world for sustainable agriculture, of which tend to be easy to research.

So let us unite in caring for the world together, and here is an introduction to supporting sustainable/regenerative agriculture. 

A QUICK BRIEF ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 

Sustainable agriculture, in truth, is a movement to practise agriculture as it has been done for thousands of years—this time, with more innovation from science and microbiology especially. The legal definition in the USA of sustainable agriculture is: 

The term ”sustainable agriculture” (U.S. Code Title 7, Section 3103) means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will over the long-term:

A more common man’s definition would be farming in a way that provides society’s food and textile needs without overuse of natural resources, artificial supplements and pest controls, without compromising the future generation’s needs and ability to produce resources. The agriculture industry has one of the largest and most detrimental impacts on the environment, and sustainable agriculture is the alternative movement to it. 

Sustainable agriculture also has the perk of being physically better for you—the nutrient quality of crops in the USA has dropped by 47%, and the majority of our food goes to waste. Imagine if it was composted and reused? Or even better—we buy only what we need. We as pagans and witches can help change this. 

BUYING ORGANIC (IT REALLY WORKS)

The first step is buying organic. While cliche, it does work: organic operations have certain rules to abide by, which excludes environmentally dangerous chemicals—many of which, such as DDT, which causes ecological genocide and death to people. Organic operations have to use natural ways of fertilising, such as compost, which to many of us—such as myself—revere the cycle of life, rot, and death. Organic standards do vary depending on the country, but the key idea is farming without artificial fertilisers, using organic seeds, supplementing with animal manure, fertility managed through management practices, etc. 

However, organic does have its flaws. Certified organic costs many, of which many small farmers cannot afford. The nutrient quality of organic food, while tending to be better, is still poor compared to regeneratively grown crops. Furthermore, the process to become certified organic is often gruelling—you can practise completely organically, but if you are not certified, it is not organic. Which, while a quality control insurance, is both a bonus and a hurdle. 

JOINING A CSA

Moving from organic is joining a CSA (“Community supported agriculture”). The USDA defines far better than I could: 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), one type of direct marketing, consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production.

By purchasing a farm share, you receive food from the farm for the agreed upon production year. I personally enjoy CSAs for the relational aspect—choosing a CSA is about having a relationship, not only with the farmer(s), but also the land you receive food from. I volunteer for my CSA and sometimes I get extra cash from it—partaking in the act of caring for the land. Joining a CSA also means taking your precious capital away from the larger food industry and directly supporting growers—and CSAs typically practise sustainable and/or regenerative agriculture. 

CSAs are also found all over the world and many can deliver their products to food deserts and other areas with limited agricultural access. I volunteer from time to time for a food bank that does exactly that with the produce I helped grow on the vegetable farm I work for. 

FARM MARKETS AND STALLS 

Another way of personally connecting to sustainable agriculture is entering the realm of the farm stall. The farmer’s market is one of my personal favourite experiences—people buzzing about searching for ingredients, smiles as farmers sell crops and products such as honey or baked goods, etc. The personal connection stretches into the earth, and into the past it buries—as I purchase my apples from the stall, I cannot help but see a thousand lives unfold. People have been doing this for thousands of years and here I stand, doing it all over again. 

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Farmers’ markets are dependent on your local area, yet in most you can still develop personal community connections. Paganism often stresses community as an ideal and a state of life. And witchcraft often stresses a connection to the soil. What better place, then, is purchasing the products from the locals who commune with the land? 

VOLUNTEERING 

If you are able to, I absolutely recommend volunteering. I have worked with aquaponic systems, food banks, farms, cider-making companies, soil conservation groups, etc. There is so much opportunity—and perhaps employment—in these fields. The knowledge I have gained has been wonderful. As one example, I learned that fertilisers reduce carbon sequestration as plants absorb carbon to help with nutrient intake. If they have all their nutrients ready, they do not need to work to obtain carbon to help absorb it. This does not even get into the symbiotic relationship fungi have with roots, or the world of hyphae. Volunteering provides community and connection. Actions and words change the world, and the world grows ever better with help—including how much or how little you may provide. It also makes a wonderful devotional activity. 

RESOURCING FOOD AND COOKING 

Buying from farmers is not always easy, however. Produce often has to be processed, requiring labour and work with some crops such as carrots. Other times, it is a hard effort to cook and many of us—such as myself—often have very limited energy. There are solutions to this, thankfully:

Many farmers can and will process foods. Some even do canning, which can be good to stock up on food and lessen the energy inputs. 

Value-added products: farms also try to avoid waste, and these products often become dried snacks if fruit, frozen, etc. 

Asking farmers if they would be open to accommodating this. Chances are, they would! The farmer I purchase my CSA share from certainly does. 

Going to farmers markets instead of buying a CSA, aligning with your energy levels. 

And if any of your purchased goods are going unused, you can always freeze them. 

DEMETER, CERES, VEIA, ETC: THE FORGOTTEN AGRICULTURE GODS

Agricultural gods are often neglected. Even gods presiding over agriculture often do not have those aspects venerated—Dionysos is a god of viticulture and Apollon a god of cattle. While I myself love Dionysos as a party and wine god, the core of him remains firmly in the vineyards and fields, branching into the expanses of the wild. I find him far more in the curling vines as I prune them than in the simple delights of the wine I ferment. Even more obscure gods, such as Veia, the Etruscan goddess of agriculture, are seldom known.

Persephone receives the worst of this: I enjoy her too as a dread queen, and people do acknowledge her as Kore, but she is far more popular as the queen of the underworld instead of the dear daughter of Demeter. I do understand this, though—I did not feel the might of Demeter and Persephone until I began to move soil with my own hands. A complete difference to the ancient world, where the Eleusinian mysteries appealed to thousands. Times change, and while some things should be left to the past, our link to these gods have been severed. After all, how many of us reading know where our food comes from? I did not until I began to purchase from the land I grew to know personally. The grocery store has become a land of tearing us from the land, instead of the food hub it should be.

Yet, while paganism forgets agriculture gods, they have not forgotten us. The new world of farming is more conductive and welcoming than ever. I find that while older, bigoted people exist, the majority of new farmers tend to be LGBT+. My own boss is trans and aro, and I myself am transgender and gay. The other young farmers I know are some flavour of LGBT+, or mixed/poc. There’s a growing movement for Black farmers, elaborated in a lovely text called We Are Each Other’s Harvest. 

Indigenous farming is also growing and I absolutely recommend buying from indigenous farmers. At this point, I consider Demeter to be a patron of LGBT+ people in this regard—she gives an escape to farmers such as myself. Bigotry is far from my mind under her tender care, as divine Helios shines above and Okeanos’ daughters bring fresh water to the crops. Paganism is also more commonly accepted—I find that farmers find out that I am pagan and tell me to do rituals for their crops instead of reacting poorly. Or they’re pagan themselves; a farmer I know turned out to be Wiccan and uses the wheel of the year to keep track of production. 

Incorporating these divinities—or concepts surrounding them—into our crafts and altars is the spiritual step towards better agriculture. Holy Demeter continues to guide me, even before I knew it. 

WANT CHANGE? DO IT YOURSELF! 

If you want change in the world, you have to act. And if you wish for better agriculture, there is always the chance to do it yourself. Sustainable agriculture is often far more accessible than people think: like witchcraft and divination, it is a practice. Homesteading is often appealing to many of us, including myself, and there are plenty of resources to begin. There are even grants to help one improve their home to be more sustainable, i.e. solar panels. Gardening is another, smaller option. Many of us find that plants we grow and nourish are far more potentant in craft, and more receptive to magical workings. 

Caring for plants is fundamental to our natures and there are a thousand ways to delve into it. I personally have joined conservation groups, my local soil conservation group, work with the NRCs in the USA, and more. The path to fully reconnecting to nature and agriculture is personal—united in a common cause to fight for this beautiful world. To immerse yourself in sustainable agriculture, I honestly recommend researching and finding your own path. Mine lies in soil and rot, grapevines and fruit trees. Others do vegetables and cereal grains, or perhaps join unions and legislators. Everyone has a share in the beauty of life, our lives stemming from the land’s gentle sprouts. 

Questions and or help may be given through my ask box on tumblr—if there is a way I can help, let me know. My knowledge is invaluable I believe, as I continue to learn and grow in the grey-clothed arms of Demeter, Dionysos, and Kore. 

FURTHER READING:

Baszile, N. (2021). We are each other’s harvest. HarperCollins.

Hatley, J. (2016). Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Environmental Philosophy, 13(1), 143–145. https://doi.org/10.5840/envirophil201613137

Regenerative Agriculture 101. (2021, November 29). https://www.nrdc.org/stories/regenerative-agriculture-101#what-is

And in truth, far more than I could count. 

References

Community Supported Agriculture | National Agricultural Library. (n.d.). https://www.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-agricultural-production-systems/community-supported-agriculture

Navazio, J. (2012). The Organic seed Grower: A Farmer’s Guide to Vegetable Seed Production. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Plaster, E. (2008). Soil Science and Management. Cengage Learning.

Sheaffer, C. C., & Moncada, K. M. (2012). Introduction to agronomy: food, crops, and environment. Cengage Learning.

Sheldrake, M. (2020). Entangled life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. Random House.

Sustainable Agriculture | National Agricultural Library. (n.d.). https://www.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-agricultural-production-systems/sustainable-agriculture