Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Cacti and credit throw Brazil's drought-parched farmers a lifeline
by Laurie Goering | @lauriegoering | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 17 December 2018 16:26 GMT
By Laurie Goering
KATOWICE, Poland, Dec 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Farming in the Jacuipe Basin of Brazil's parched northeast has never been easy. But rising temperatures and a halving of rainfall over the decades mean it now rarely pays.
"Everybody is saying the climate is changing (and) it's getting more difficult to produce," said Daniele Cesano, a renewable energy developer whose business interests have taken a twist: trying to make cows and cacti pay in a warming world.
Cesano works with more than 100 struggling farmers in the northeast to find new feed for their dairy cattle and new sources of income, while smoothing fluctuations in milk supply.
His business aims to make farmers - and the region's milk supply system - better able to cope with harsher weather linked to climate change.
More:
http://news.trust.org/item/20181217162133-dol0a/