Can an Ancient Farming Method Improve Sustainability?

The AHA! Team — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 06:14:38 +0000

John Jeffay via Israel21c – Researchers say plot-and-berm method could address current challenges of water scarcity and food insecurity, especially in arid areas. An ancient farming method that made the deserts of the Middle East bloom 1,000 years ago should be revived today, say experts in Israel. The “plot-and-berm” system, developed in the early Islamic period along the Mediterranean coast, used innovative water-harvesting and soil-enrichment technologies to grow vegetables, watermelons, dates, and grapes. Plots were dug in places where the water table was high, and farmers added urban waste to the sand to improve its fertility. Berms were the sand barriers built to stop the sand/waste mix from being blown away by wind or washed away by water. Experts at Bar-Ilan University, University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority say an updated form of plot-and-berm could work effectively as a sustainable, modern-day alternative to existing forms of agriculture in hot, sandy parts of the world. They’ve been studying what they call SGHAS (traditional sunken groundwater-harvesting agroecosystems) in sandy areas of Israel, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Gaza and the Atlantic coast of Iberia. They used a combination of geospatial analysis, archeological findings, and historical documentation. Their conclusion is that this early Islamic farming method was way ahead of its time in terms of agricultural knowhow. But plot-and-berms were largely abandoned after the 12th century Crusader conquest. The method was adopted elsewhere, in the Middle Ages and again in the early 20th century, but not in Israel or many other parts of the region. The research team says plot-and-berm has much to offer and neatly addresses current challenges of water scarcity and food insecurity, especially in arid areas. “The reappearance in the Middle Ages … and early 20th century in Iberia suggests that this type of agriculture is adaptable to varying economic and cultural settings and therefore may possess potential for certain, current socio-agronomic scenarios,” said Prof. Joel Roskin from Bar-Ilan’s Department of Environment, Planning and Sustainability. His team’s research on plot-and-berms, which was funded by the Israel Science Foundation, has been published in the journal Environmental Archaeology, entitled “Character and Evolution of Sunken Groundwater-Harvesting Agroecosystems in Aeolian Sand since Early Islamic Times, between Iran and Iberia.” The paper explains how modern agriculture often relies on intensive water usage and practices that deplete soil quality, while traditional systems like plot-and-berm are low-impact and more sustainable. Farmers living in hot, dry and sandy conditions between the ninth and 12th centuries made the most of the limited assets they had — shallow groundwater and a ready supply of organic waste from nearby towns and cities. To read the original article click here.

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School Gardens Linked with Kids Eating More Vegetables

AHA Publisher — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 08:00:55 +0000

University of Texas at Austin via EurekAlert – Getting children to eat their vegetables can seem like an insurmountable task, but nutrition researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found one way: school gardens and lessons on using what’s grown in them. Researchers worked with 16 elementary schools across Central Texas to install vegetable gardens and teach classes to students and parents about nutrition and cooking. In a study recently published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, the team describes specifically targeting schools with a high percentage of students on the free and reduced-price lunch program to understand how nutrition programs affect low-income groups. Each school was studied for one academic year. The study found that students who participated in the gardening, nutrition and cooking classes ate, on average, a half serving more vegetables per day than they did before the program. “A lot of the families in these schools live with food insecurity. They live in food deserts and face a higher risk of childhood obesity and related health issues,” said Jaimie Davis, associate professor of nutritional sciences at UT Austin and the lead author of the paper. “Teaching kids where their food comes from, how to grow it, how to prepare it — that’s key to changing eating behaviors over the long term.” In addition to tracking what the children ate, the study looked at weight, body mass index and blood pressure. During the nine months of the study, there were no statistically significant changes in those measures of health. The study involved more than 3,000 students in the third through fifth grades. Although a half serving increase in vegetable consumption per day may seem like a small change, it’s extremely encouraging to Davis and her colleagues. “Behavior changes can be difficult to achieve, especially long term,” Davis said. “Changes to health parameters like blood pressure may take longer to manifest. Getting children to eat more vegetables can potentially set them up for long-term success.” Previous studies have shown that increased fruit and vegetable consumption can promote health and lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. More fruits and vegetables may play a role in reduced obesity in adults, but the effects have not been well studied in children. “We have been able to introduce children to a wide variety of vegetables that they’ve never had access to,” Davis said. “Parents I talk with ask, ‘How did you get my kid to eat kale?’ But when they grow the kale from seed and learn how to prepare it in olive oil and bake it into kale chips, they love it.” To read the original article click here.

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Can an Ancient Farming Method Improve Sustainability?

School Gardens Linked with Kids Eating More Vegetables