The Downstream Gateway examines global issues related to water, from ecosystems and watersheds to freshwater resources, conservation efforts, and the impact of human activity and public policy.
Can Biotechnology Save Africa?
Jamal Toye from School Without Walls in DC explores biotechnology in Africa.
The landscape in this area east of Johannesburg, a slightly rolling plain with fields of tall corn, could almost pass for the American Midwest.
The bitter battle that seed giants Monsanto Co. and Pioneer Hi-Bred wage for the hearts and pocketbooks of farmers doesn't end in the United States. They're going at it in Africa, too.
There's nothing like rain to wreck the field trial of a crop designed to resist drought.
Fog shrouds the terraced hills, and a stream is swollen from the rain that fell overnight, but the damage of a drought that left 10 million Kenyans dependent on food aid is still evident.
In Iowa, corn is king. In eastern and southern Africa, it's more important than that.
I left Africa last night with a great deal of gratitude for the people who have shared their stories with me, especially the farmers.
Thought moths were a threat to your clothes? They can devastate corn crops, too, and do in eastern and southern Africa.
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Philip Brasher is Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Des Moines (Iowa) Register and specializes in coverage of food, agriculture, energy and climate policy. He has been a lead writer...