Farm finance consultant, Mary Jo Irmen, shows you how to build a system that will allow you the freedom to borrow money without having to go to the bank. She delivers an eye-opening approach to the core financing challenges of farmers and ranchers--lost control of money and decisions. You will see how you can build a financial system you own and control, keep the interest and principal payments in your pocket, get started in an industry filled with uncertainty, set your own loan terms and take back control of your financial resources. The days of depending on the traditional bankers for farm finance can be put behind you. It is time to look forward and begin to understand how it is possible to farm without the bank.

The son of legendary investor Warren Buffet relates how he set out to help nearly a billion individuals who lack basic food security through his passion of farming, in forty stories of lessons learned.

In The Meaningful Money Handbook, personal finance expert and podcaster extraordinaire Pete Matthew guides you through everything you need to KNOW and everything you need to DO to build a secure financial future for yourself and your family. This is achievable for everyone by following three simple steps: 1. Spend less than you earn and clear debt. 2. Insure against disaster. 3. Build up your savings and invest wisely. You will learn: • How to get out of debt as quickly as possible. • Techniques for good financial control, so you can avoid getting into debt again. • The importance of insurance for laying down a foundation on which to build a solid financial plan, which isn’t washed away by an unexpected disaster. • How to save and invest simply and efficiently so that you can work your way towards future financial freedom. No matter your starting position, or your existing level of comfort with dealing with your money, Pete Matthew’s calm, straightforward and jargon-free approach will appeal to you and help you to set out on the right path. The Meaningful Money Handbook is a practical guide to succeeding with money by cutting out the stuff you don’t need to know, and clarifying the essential things you need to do, to make a real difference to your life. Don’t put it off any longer – pick up this book and start to take a meaningful approach to your money today.

This “must-read” memoir of human-scale agriculture offers an insider’s view of today’s food system by a leading voice in sustainable farming (Daniel Boulud). After years of working at the ends of the earth in human rights and development, Brent Preston and his wife were die-hard city dwellers. But when their second child arrived, the shine came off urban living. In 2003 they bought a hundred acres and a rundown farmhouse, determined to build a farm that would sustain their family, nourish their community, heal their environment—and turn a profit. The New Farm is Preston’s memoir of a decade of toil and perseverance. Farming is a complex and precarious business, and they made plenty of mistakes along the way. But as they learned how to grow food, and to succeed at the business of farming, they also found that a small, sustainable, organic farm could be an engine for change, a path to a more just and sustainable food system. Today, The New Farm supplies top restaurants, supports community food banks, hosts events with leading chefs, and grows extraordinary produce. Told with humor and heart, The New Farm is a joy, a passionate book by an important new voice.

A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.

Interestingly, some relief from today's woes may come from ancient human practices. While current agri-food production models rely on abundant supplies of water, energy, and arable land and generate significant greenhouse gas emissions in addition to forest and biodiversity loss, past practices point toward more affordable and sustainable paths. Different forms of insect farming and soilless crop farming, or hydroponics, have existed for centuries. In this report the authors make a persuasive case that frontier agriculture, particularly insect and hydroponic farming, can complement conventional agriculture. Both technologies reuse society's agricultural and organic industrial waste to produce nutritious food and animal feed without continuing to deplete the planet's land and water resources, thereby converting the world's wasteful linear food economy into a sustainable, circular food economy. As the report shows, insect and hydroponic farming can create jobs, diversify livelihoods, improve nutrition, and provide many other benefits in African and fragile, conflict-affected countries. Together with other investments in climate-smart agriculture, such as trees on farms, alternate wetting and drying rice systems, conservation agriculture, and sustainable livestock, these technologies are part of a promising menu of solutions that can help countries move their land, food, water, and agriculture systems toward greater sustainability and reduced emissions. This is a key consideration as the World Bank renews its commitment to support countries' climate action plans. This book is the Bank's first attempt to look at insect and hydroponic farming as possible solutions to the world's climate and food and nutrition security crisis and may represent a new chapter in the Bank's evolving efforts to help feed and sustain the planet.