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"In Kenya, where he works with small farmers, Daniel Maingi “failed miserably” in his attempts to connect with agricultural organizations funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

So he and fellow African activists from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia are bringing their message to Seattle, headquarters of the world’s richest philanthropy. At a Town Hall event Sunday, The Global Struggle for Food Sovereignty, they will argue that the foundation’s push for a “Green Revolution” in Africa is a flawed attempt to impose industrial agriculture at the expense of more ecologically sound approaches to farming.

Some of the visitors, including Maingi, will meet with staff at the Gates Foundation. But it won’t be the high-level gathering he had hoped for.

“At least we tried,” Maingi said.

The Gates Foundation spends nearly $400 million a year on programs to improve production and income for African farmers. Since 2006, the foundation has funneled nearly $420 million to its flagship agricultural initiative, a collaboration called the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, or AGRA.

But the foundation’s outsized spending and influence have raised concerns in Africa, just as some American educators have become alarmed over the foundation’s influence on the U.S. education system.

“It’s important that these voices be heard,” said Heather Day, of Seattle-based AGRA Watch/Community Alliance for Global Justice, an organizer of the Town Hall event and a five-day summit between African and American organizations seeking to persuade the Gates Foundation to change course.

While the goal of helping African farmers is laudable, the “Green Revolution” approach is based on Western-style agriculture, with its reliance on fertilizer, weed killers and single crops, such as corn, Maingi said.

But much of Africa is so dry that it’s not suited for thirsty crops, and heavy use of fertilizer kills worms and microbes important for soil health. “The model of farming in the West is not appropriate for farming in most of Africa,” Maingi said."

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"The Environmental Protection Agency announced that it remains “committed to biofuels” and that its goal is to put the renewable fuels program “on a path that supports continued growth.”

Let me translate that into English: “We’re cutting back on the ethanol mandate, mainly because of pressure from the oil industry, but we’ll pretend that the program is still full speed ahead because we don’t need any backlash from ethanol investors.”

The proposed cuts to the Renewable Fuel Standard from 18.15 billion gallons of biofuels to 15.21 billion gallons in 2014 represent a win for the oil industry, which has made no secret of its intention to force repeal of the biofuel mandate. Of course, the industry’s argument that adding 10% ethanol to motor vehicle fuels places “a crippling financial burden on refiners” is a crock. But like the ethanol industry, they’re simply protecting their interests.

The American Petroleum Institute urged the Obama administration to finalize the 2014 rule as quickly as possible, warning that delays could “harm consumers” and make it “harder to produce the fuels Americans need.”

Right.

This battle began in November 2013, when EPA officials issued a draft rule significantly reducing federal requirements for use of ethanol and biodiesel in U.S. fuel supplies. Predictably, the biofuel industry warned that unless EPA reversed course, disaster would ensue."

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A toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie this summer left the city of Toledo, Ohio, without drinking water for three days. Now environmentalists and farmers are working to prevent future blooms by evaluating fertilizer use in hopes of cutting excess runoff. Special correspondent Christy McDonald of Detroit Public Television reports on how drones may be a tool for maximizing crops and minimizing pollution.

TRANSCRIPT

"GWEN IFILL: Now, in the aftermath of the water quality emergency that plagued Lake Erie last month, some residents who live along its shores are calling for solutions.  And they are looking outward, to the countryside.

Reporter Christy McDonald of Detroit Public Television has our story.

CHRISTY MCDONALD: Farmer Jeff Sandborn thinks this drone could help solve the tainted water problem that left Toledo, Ohio without access to safe drinking water for three days earlier this summer.  That’s because experts believe the toxic algal bloom in Lake Erie that turned tap water noxious was caused by the fertilizer runoff from farms like Sandborn’s throughout the Great Lakes Basin.

JEFF SANDBORN, Owner, Sandborn Farms: We only have so much land that can grow crops, productive crops.  And this planet continues to have more people on it, so we have to do a better job on the land we have and get more out of the resources we put in, get higher yields to feed more people, is what it boils down to.  We’re here to feed an ever-growing population.

CHRISTY MCDONALD: Unfortunately, pressure to increase food production can have a negative impact on the environment, and, today, many are convinced Lake Erie’s problem starts on the farm.

Fertilizers that feed crops, like nitrogen and phosphorus, also feed the blue-green algae in the water.  Experts believe changes in farming practices have led to an increased amount of phosphorus runoff in recent years.

Kristy Meyer works for the Ohio Environmental Council, an advocacy group, where part of her time is spent sharing with other farmers best management practices for controlling runoff."

Read More From PBS News Hour

"The world is headed "down a dangerous path" with disruption of the food system possible within a decade as climate change undermines nations' ability to feed themselves, according to a senior World Bank official.

Rising urban populations are contributing to expanded demand for meat, adding to nutrition shortages for the world's poor. Increased greenhouse gas emissions from livestock as well as land clearing will make farming more marginal in many regions, especially in developing nations, said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Group Vice President and special envoy for climate change.

"The challenges from waste to warming, spurred on by a growing population with a rising middle-class hunger for meat, are leading us down a dangerous path," Professor Kyte told the Crawford Fund 2014 annual conference in Canberra on Wednesday.