GILA word of the week: Bee highway

The FAO has definitely been busy. This week it announced that Cape Verde has it's first FAO urban agriculture program. Earlier in the month the FAO released a collection of findings from scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels. The document investigates, among other things, how climate change will impact crop production in Africa and grain production in Russia and neighboring Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

-I hope these entrepreneurs can do it, however it will be an uphill climb. By 2017 a Brooklyn duo hopes to produce the first rooftop wine from rooftop vineyard.

-Norway is creating a bee highway. What is that you ask? Private individual, state bodies, companies, and associations post their little slice of green on the website polli.no to map out a bees’ safe route across the Oslo.

-A graduate student has published the first summary, I believe, stating the limits of community gardens in creating communities. One of her preliminary findings (in the Netherlands) is that those who garden together don't often become friends outside the garden, however they are more likely to ask for help from others. As this story hit the web, so did one which focuses on urban agriculture and measuring what it actually yields, in terms of food production and money.

-Chicago laps the fields in rooftop farms, 13 have been documented, compared to 3 in Chicago and only 2 in Toronto. I wonder how many exist outside North America?