October 21, 2023
Spotlight Story
The New Yorker writes an expose on nature-based carbon offsets. Read the story, here.
Industry Updates
According to a report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the global agricultural sector has incurred losses amounting to approximately $3.8 trillion over the past three decades due to the consequences of varying world disasters. Nearly half of these costs can be attributed to droughts, while floods, storms, pests, health crises, and conflicts are also significantly contributing to this growing impact. Asia appears to be the hardest hit region, with Africa also seeing significant impacts. The report notes that increasing severity and frequency, from 100 per year in the 1970s to around 400 events per year in the past 20 years, affects agrifood systems across multiple dimensions, compromising food security and undermining the sustainability of the agriculture sector. [link]
Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have modeled the effect of a worldwide redistribution of nitrogen fertilizer usage, simulating various nitrogen fertilizer quantities at different locations while calculating the total production of corn, wheat, and rice between 2015 and 2030 using the biochemical model, LandscapeDNDC. Around 60% of worldwide nitrogen fertilizer consumption is presently used for growing crops, however overly large quantities are used in big cultivation areas like North America, Europe, and East Asia, with a majority of applications ending up in groundwater or emitted into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide, a planet warming greenhouse gas. Research shows that worldwide consumption of nitrogen fertilizer could be reduced by 32% if a more homogenous distribution were to take place. The current level of grain production would remain unaffected. Redistribution would reduce nitrate leaching by 71% for wheat and 63% for corn, while also cultivating crops closer to their place of consumption. Increased harvests in Africa would also help the continent reach self-sufficiency. [link]
U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, visited Kankakee County in Illinois this week, discussing agriculture's struggles and what's being done to make things better. Vilsack noted that additional revenue streams for farms is key - particularly at the same time of harvest and/or government payments. Vilsack also discussed green solutions in the form of climate-smart agriculture, noting that government programs around cover crops, rotational grazing, drip irrigation, and more, are helping to improve soils, water quality, and opportunities for farmers. [link]
Phase two of Ireland's Soil Sampling and Analysis Program has opened for applications, following an initial pilot that collected over 90,000 samples from roughly 7,500 farmers. The program is aimed at putting soil health, soil fertility and soil carbon at the center of Ireland's future agricultural model, while also enabling better surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by screening for the presence of the ESBL E. coli strain. According to the Department of Agriculture, phase two has the potential to take another 90,000 samples from farms all over the country. [link]
Tyson Foods is partnering with the Netherlands-based insect ingredients company, Protix, in an effort to leverage their knowledge in the meat and insect industries to provide sustainable proteins and lipids for use in the global food system. In addition, Tyson is acquiring a minority stake in Protix to help fund its global expansion. The partnership also includes construction of an insect ingredient facility in the United States. The facility will enable the companies to upcycle food manufacturing byproducts into insect proteins and lipids for use in the pet food, aquaculture, and livestock industries, with a system to produce insect proteins including breeding, incubating, and hatching of insect larvae. [link]
General Mills, Inc. is collaborating with Walmart Inc. and Sam’s Club to advance the adoption of regenerative agriculture on 600,000 acres in the United States by 2030. The number is approximately how much land General Mills will engage to source key ingredients of its sold products through Walmart and Sam’s Club. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will administer grants to support initial projects, which seek to advance regenerative agriculture outcomes across many types of crops, including wheat, in the Northern and Southern Great Plains. The NFWF also will offer financial assistance to local grantee organizations, building out the education and coaching resources needed to help accelerate regenerative agriculture. [link]
A nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded to Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will support research on soil health and weed suppression in organic farming. Scientists will compare how single species and mixtures of perennials affect weed growth, while assessing soil health. They will also focus on corn yields based on two years of perennials versus two years of annual cash crops — soybeans and wheat — with cover crops. Rotating perennial hay crops with annual cash crops also may offer an opportunity to suppress weeds and improve soil health. [link]
U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) have reintroduced the Adopt Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) Act, legislation that would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update its greenhouse gas modeling for all renewable fuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Critics have called for the EPA to update its greenhouse gas modeling for all biofuels, noting that this would more accurately reflect the emissions reductions achieved by ethanol, biodiesel, and sustainable aviation fuel more recently and thereby lead to greater demand domestically and internationally. The GREET Act would require the EPA to update its modeling every five years. [link]
Colorado State University announced a Western SARE grant award that will focus on producer-led on-farm research and farmer-to-farmer learning networks to address social, economic and agronomic barriers to High Plains regenerative agriculture, with a specific focus on addressing barriers for historically underserved producers. The grant award totals $350,000, with one key project goal to create an online tool for farmers to document and analyze their own soil health experiments. The on-farm research will take place on 10 farms within the Central High Plains region. [link]
As the United States House of Representatives attempts to vote on the next Speaker of the House, United States Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says that the next Speaker will ultimately have little sway over the farm bill process this year. While Grassley sees an extension of the current farm bill as the most likely outcome, there are downsides to an extension of current farm policy, mainly in the form of lack of certainty and desired increases to reference prices from the 2018 bill. [link]
Rice University is conducting a multi-year, multi-institution research project to provide evidence that more sustainable farming practices reduce production risk while also maintaining or improving overall yields. Researchers will aim to determine the risk-mitigation benefits and related cost savings associated with practices that improve soil health in an effort to reduce federal crop insurance costs and lower loan rates from farm lenders. The work is supported by grants from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute for Food and Agriculture and from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research in partnership with the public advocacy nonprofit organization, Land Core. [link]
The Chinese parent of pork giant Smithfield Foods is working with banks to take the 87-year-old business public again in the U.S. Smithfield, the largest U.S. pork producer, could list its shares as early as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. Smithfield was acquired in 2013 by China’s top meat producer, WH Group. The $4.7 billion deal marked one of the biggest takeovers of an American business by a Chinese company at the time and resulted in the delisting of Smithfield, which used to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. [link]
In Case You Missed It…
In late September, a new study was published that showed regenerative agriculture practices have distinct economic benefits for farmers, in addition to their oft-cited environmental benefits. Check it out, here.