gold rush

The state of Nebraska is almost the size of the entire UK, with a population smaller than 

Manchester's. It is classic "over-fly" country, ignored by the rest of the US - which, it turns out, is a big mistake.

The rest of America may be having a miserable time. But if you want to be rich, come to Nebraska and be a farmer. There is a gold rush going on, and it is because of corn.

The price of corn has tripled in the last decade. Why? Because places like India and China simply cannot get enough of the stuff.

'A really good time'

Brandon Hunnicutt, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Growers' Association, loves his new combine harvester - which is just as well because it cost three times the price of a large family house here.

Equipped with an on-board computer, an iPad, a satnav and an Android phone, this high-tech monster cuts the corn that feeds the pigs that fill the stomachs of Asia. It also makes the ethanol for American petrol.

There's been a lot of ebbs and flows, but nothing this good.Brandon Hunnicutt, corn farmer

Brandon Hunnicutt admits that he and farmers like him have never had it so good.

"The short time I've been around on this planet, the really good time was right when I was a baby," he says. "And now, 38 years later, this is another really good time.

"So there's been a lot of ebbs and flows, but nothing this good."

And Brandon is a post-modern farmer, which means he is on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. His finger is never off the racing pulse of commodity prices and land values - which keep going up in this part of America.

The price of land in the region has increased fourfold in five years. Land prices in the rural Midwest are doing the opposite to house prices in the rest of America. They continue to shoot up, even prompting whispers of a bubble.

'Phenomenal income year'

There is a ton of extra cash here, and not all of it from the grain shipped in freight trains. Astonishingly, the farming community of states like Nebraska and neighbouring Iowa is still receiving billions in indirect subsidies on products like corn for ethanol, as well as direct payments to each farming family.

It is a legacy of the depression, which in this part of the country now seems like a very distant era.

We have a pehomenal income year that is beyond record.Prof Bruce Johnson, Nebraska-Lincoln University

"No question about it, we have a phenomenal income year that is beyond record," says Professor Bruce Johnson of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

On the subject of farming subsidies, Professor Johnson admits that for local farmers to continue to receive them "gets to be a questionable call".

And Brandon Hunnicutt admits that he does not need the $60,000 annual subsidy he receives in direct payments. In fact, those direct payments could be scrapped by the end of the year.

But the fact is that the American dream is being kept alive nowadays not in an industrial powerhouse or in Silicone Valley, but here in a small-town America, back on the farm where it all started.

ecosystem management

UN and China launch joint initiative to promote ecosystem management

UN and China launch joint initiative to promote ecosystem management

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and China’s academy of sciences today launched a joint programme designed to promote proper management of ecosystems in developing countries, with a special focus on Africa.

The International Ecosystem Management Partnership (IEMP), an initiative of the UNEP and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), will have the core mandate of synthesizing the science of ecosystem management for government decision-makers through monitoring, capacity-building and policy.

With ecosystems increasingly under threat as a result of a growing population, high rates of deforestation and transformation into agricultural and pasturelands, the role of ecosystem management has become more important than ever, according to UNEP.

The IEMP, based in China, is UNEP’s first South-South cooperation programme to promote sustainable development through sharing best practices and technology among developing countries.

The scope of the partnership’s work covers both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and its clients will include national governments, intergovernmental bodies and programmes, as well as development agencies and the science community.

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary General of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), Sha Zukang, stressed the critical role of ecosystems and the challenges of degradation in the context of population growth and increasing inequality.

“Ecosystems are the foundation of human lives and livelihoods,” he said. “The future of human civilization and sustainable development depends on sound, healthy and resilient ecosystems. For too long, humanity has ignored this fundamental truth at its own peril,” Mr. Sha added.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to promoting ecosystem management as a cornerstone of the transition to the green economy in developing countries.

Jian Liu, the IEMP Director, stressed that sustainable management of ecosystems and biodiversity is a critical path to the next civilization, which he called the “ecological civilization,” saying it constituted an integral part of the “fourth industrialization” – the development of the green economy.