November 25, 2023
Spotlight Story
An article from CNN looks at how the CEO of Land O’Lakes is changing the rules of American farming. Check it out, here.
Industry Updates
UK landowners in Norfolk are showing how farms could be paid by developers for growing nature as well as food, using private investment to make biodiversity a "cash crop". The Wendling Beck Environment Project is a habitat creation, nature restoration and regenerative farming initiative, spanning almost 2,000 acres near Dereham. It is also a national pilot for a funding model under new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules which will become mandatory from January 2024. Once a developer has identified a plot of housing or industrial land, a survey will assess the amount of biodiversity and the quality of habitats lost, which must then be replaced with equivalent habitats, plus a net gain of at least 10%, in order to gain planning permission. If that cannot be provided on site, they can pay nearby landowners to create these habitats for them, ideally through a local BNG partnership, or by buying statutory credits from the government. [link]
More than 55 speakers from 35 countries took part in the first International Forum and Exhibition for Sustainable Agriculture, which opened this week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event aimed to improve knowledge sharing between researchers and experts in the field, aid the development of closer relationships and professional networks, and nurture innovation. The broad agenda focused on maximizing the use of natural resources in agricultural production, the idea of digital agriculture, and the marketing and creation of sustainable food value chains. [link]
Global subsidies for agriculture have reached record levels as governments try to shield consumers and producers from high inflation and international crises. A new OECD report calculates that the organization’s 54 members paid $851 billion in agricultural subsidies each year from 2020-22, a 2.5-fold increase compared to two decades ago. That support is concentrated in a few large economies, with China responsible for 36%, India 15%, the United States 14% and the European Union 13% of the total support provided. The report calculated that just under half of the support was in measures that had the greatest potential for market distortions, such as border tariffs and subsidy payments based on output. [link]
The Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) has developed a new standard for sustainable cotton that helps cotton farmers be more resilient in the face of climate change while helping companies withstand future climate challenges. Called the Regenerative Cotton Standard (RCS), it combines the successful AbTF cotton standards with new approaches to regenerative agriculture and engaging with rural communities. In addition to providing small farming communities with optimal market access, the RCS helps support opportunities for collective, educational agricultural projects. Farmers managing fields according to the RCS guidelines learn to rotate crops, optimize the use of biomass and use cover crops in addition to learning about agroforestry. This regenerates depleted soil, increases fertility and enhances climate resilience. [link]
ADM has announced an expansion of its global regenerative agriculture efforts with the launch of its program in Brazil. The Brazil program aims to promote and support sustainable agricultural production with a focus on soil health, biodiversity protection, improved soil fertility and resilience, and increased farm productivity. Initially, the program in Brazil will focus on fertilizer use efficiency + increased use of biological inputs, no-till farming, and cover crops across 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres). Ultimately, ADM and its partners will target 120,000 regenerative hectares in Brazil by 2027. [link]
PepsiCo has announced the third year of its global agriculture program, the Positive Agriculture Outcomes (PAO) Accelerator, by backing eight new innovation projects across nine countries. PepsiCo's PAO Accelerator offers local farming communities co-investment to accelerate diverse and results-driven Positive Agriculture projects, as well as funding for ag-tech start-ups that offer proven products or technology with the potential to scale. This year's innovations will build resiliency through climate related analysis, improve soil health, and strengthen farms' climate resilience – engaging farmers in Australia, Colombia, Egypt, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, and the United Kingdom. [link]
Scientists from Cornell University and Purdue University have identified a previously undiscovered mechanism triggered by calcium when it’s added to soil, which could lead to more strategic use of the mineral in agriculture. Researchers found that by adding calcium to soil, they could change the community of microbes in the soil and the way that these microbes process organic matter, ultimately retaining more carbon in the ground. Soils that contain more carbon are generally healthier and more resistant to erosion, better able to hold on to water in drought conditions, and better able to deliver nutrients more efficiently to plants and promote plant growth. [link]
As volatile weather has increasingly led to drought conditions, local farmers in the Carolinas have been finding ways to help their seasonal crops survive, including using irrigation systems to keep water flowing to the soil. Members of the western North Carolina-based nonprofit Utopian Seed Project are hoping to find a more long-term solution, experimenting with crops they hope will withstand the changing weather. [link]
Cropland values rose by 7.2% in the northern Plains this summer, according to agricultural bankers in a quarterly survey by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. Land values rose even as farm income declined from last summer, due to high production costs and lower commodity prices, with a decline expected for this fall, too. While the value of unirrigated cropland rose by 7.2%, irrigated cropland surged by 12.8%. Ranch and pastureland values grew by 2.1%. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve district covers Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Wisconsin, and the upper peninsula of Michigan. [link]
Irish farmers have committed to planting over 400,000 trees under the Agri-Climate Rural Environmental Scheme (ACRES) tree planting measure, according to the Irish Agroforestry Forum. Roughly 3,200 farmers have chosen to plant 409,800 trees. Some 2,053,789 meters of new hedgerows are to be planted, 100,387 trees will be planted in riparian buffer zones, and 121 farmers committed to planting 36.7 hectares as a tree-belt for ammonia capture. [link]
The womenswear label ba&sh has partnered with Nativa for its Regenerative Agriculture Program in Uruguay, further strengthening its commitment to developing and financing regenerative agriculture projects. As part of this collaboration, ba&sh will continue to provide funding to farms in Uruguay that are transitioning to a regenerative approach and introduce regenerative wool into its collections. The ba&sh-funded program has helped three farms transition to a regenerative approach, with around 8,000 hectares of land currently undergoing regeneration. Ba&sh has set a goal for 30% of its wool to be regenerative, or transitioning to regenerative, by the end of 2025. [link]
The European Union (EU) is providing €19 million to enhance the resilience and sustainability of food systems in the Caribbean, promoting food and nutrition security, particularly for groups in vulnerable situations. This is part of the EU’s larger €600 million effort to step up support to the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific countries hit by the global food crisis. [link]
In Case You Missed It…
Earlier this month, Beyond Meat announced that it would conduct a strategic review of its global operations. Check out the story, here.