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USC Canada
SeedChange (Sème l'avenir in French), formerly known as USC Canada, is a non-profit organization that works with farmers around the world, including in Canada, to strengthen their ability to grow food sustainably with locally adapted seeds. The organization was founded in 1945 by Lotta Hitschmanova as the ''Unitarian Service Committee of Canada''. It updated its name in October 2019, a few months short of its 75th year. The mission of SeedChange is to build food sovereignty by working with partners to enhance biodiversity, promote ecological agriculture and counter inequity. Its work serves to help farmers build and maintain strong rural communities thanks to resilient family farms and healthy ecosystems. The organization partners with other non-profit organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to design and deliver programs to help farmers strengthen biodiversity, food sovereignty, and realize their rights. SeedChange also works to influence global food production policies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonprofit Organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a Profit (accounting), profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be Tax exemption, tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status. Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotta Hitschmanova
Lotta Hitschmanova, (November 28, 1909 – August 1, 1990) was a Canadian humanitarian. In 1945, she helped to found the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada (now called SeedChange), an international development organization consisting of a small group of aid workers sending supplies to war-torn Europe for relief and reconstruction. Attired in an army nurse's uniform and military-style hat, she traveled yearly to strife-torn and poverty-stricken parts of the world searching out towns and villages in need of Canadian assistance to recover from drought, war, disease and poverty. Early life Hitschmanova was born "Lotte Hitschmann" in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), on November 28, 1909, to Max Hitschmann and Else Theiner. She had a younger sister named Lilly born fifteen months later. Their father was a malt merchant with factories located beyond Prague's suburbs. The family lived in moderate wealth and comfort.Hyam, p. 417. She attended a coeducational high school St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family Farms
A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family; it is sometimes considered to be an estate passed down by inheritance. Although a recurring conceptual and archetypal distinction is that of a family farm as a smallholding versus corporate farming as large-scale agribusiness, that notion does not accurately describe the realities of farm ownership in many countries. Family farm businesses can take many forms, from smallholder farms to larger farms operated under intensive farming practices. In various countries, most farm families have structured their farm businesses as corporations (such as limited liability companies) or trusts, for liability, tax, and business purposes. Thus, the idea of a family farm as a unitary concept or definition does not easily translate across languages, cultures, or centuries, as there are substantial differences in agricultural traditions and histories between countries and between centuries within a country. F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and microbes. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal Environmental factor, factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Food Sovereignty
Food sovereignty is a food system in which the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control the mechanisms and policies of food production and distribution. This stands in contrast to the present corporate food regime, in which corporations and market institutions control the global food system. Food sovereignty emphasizes local food economies, sustainable food availability, and center culturally appropriate foods and practices. Changing climates and disrupted foodways disproportionately impact indigenous populations and their access to traditional food sources while contributing to higher rates of certain diseases; for this reason, food sovereignty centers indigenous peoples. These needs have been addressed in recent years by several international organizations, including the United Nations, with several countries adopting food sovereignty policies into law. Critics of food sovereignty activism believe that the system is founded on inaccurate baseline assumptio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Geographic (magazine)
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely read magazines of all time. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine months after the establishment of the society, but is now a popular magazine. In 1905, it began including pictures, a style for which it became well-known. Its first color photos appeared in the 1910s. During the Cold War, the magazine committed itself to present a balanced view of the physical and human geography of countries beyond the Iron Curtain. Later, the magazine became outspoken on environmental issues. Since 2019, controlling interest has been held by The Walt Disney Company. Topics of features generally concern geography, history, nature, science, and world culture. The magazine is well known for its distinctive appearance: a thick s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity Loss
Biodiversity loss includes the worldwide extinction of different species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in a certain habitat, resulting in a loss of biological diversity. The latter phenomenon can be temporary or permanent, depending on whether the environmental degradation that leads to the loss is reversible through ecological restoration/ecological resilience or effectively permanent (e.g. through land loss). The current global extinction (frequently called the sixth mass extinction or Anthropocene extinction), has resulted in a biodiversity crisis being driven by human activities which push beyond the planetary boundaries and so far has proven irreversible. Even though permanent global species loss is a more dramatic and tragic phenomenon than regional changes in species composition, even minor changes from a healthy stable state can have dramatic influence on the food web and the food chain insofar as reductions in only one species can adversely aff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Food System
The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, distribution, and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps. Food systems fall within agri-food systems, which encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in food storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal, and consumption. A food system operates within and is influenced by social, political, economic, and environmental contexts. It also requires human resources that provide labor, research and education. F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seeds Of Diversity
Seed of Diversity, Semences du patrimoine, is a Canadian charitable organization that aims to "search out, preserve, perpetuate, study, and encourage the cultivation of heirloom and endangered varieties of food crops", particularly Canadian plants, and to educate the public about their use. It has been called "The Canadian NGO leader in two key areas of food system sustainability: crop genetic diversity and the redesign of pollination strategies". Seeds of Diversity originated in 1984 as the Heritage Seed Program of the Canadian Organic Growers organization. Members of Seeds of Diversity propagate and share seeds and other plant material, and the organization also runs a "seed library" using seed-storage technology. Educational materials related to seed saving are a major focus of the organization. Seeds of Diversity acts as a central organizing force for Seedy Saturday events across Canada. History In 1984, Canadian Organic Growers organized a conference on the loss of genetic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agroecology
Agroecology (US: a-grō-ē-ˈkä-lə-jē) is an academic discipline that studies ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems. Bringing ecological principles to bear can suggest new management approaches in agroecosystems. The term is often used imprecisely, as the term can be used as a science, a movement, or an agricultural practice.Wezel, A., Bellon, S., Doré, T., Francis, C., Vallod, D., David, C. (2009)Agroecology as a science, a movement or a practice. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development Agroecologists study a variety of agroecosystems. The field of agroecology is not associated with any one particular method of farming, whether it be organic, regenerative, integrated, or industrial, intensive or extensive, although some use the name specifically for alternative agriculture. Definition Agroecology is defined by the OECD as "the study of the relation of agricultural crops and environment." Dalgaard ''et al''. refer to agroecology as the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Development Charities Based In Canada
Development or developing may refer to: Arts * Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped *Photographic development * ''Development'' (album), a 2002 album by Nonpoint Business * Business development, a process of growing a business *Career development * Corporate development, a position in a business * Energy development, activities concentrated on obtaining energy from natural resources * Green development, a real estate concept that considers social and environmental impact of development * Land development, altering the landscape in any number of ways * Land development bank, a kind of bank in India *Leadership development *New product development *Organization development * Professional development *Real estate development * Research and development *Training and development * Fundraising, also called "development" Biology and medi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_relative_to_baseline_-_fcosc-01-615419-g001.jpg "Click for more on -> Biodiversity Loss")
