December 9, 2023
Spotlight Stories
Spotlight 1 – GreenBiz summarizes all of the food-related agreements coming from COP28. Check out the story, here.
Spotlight 2 – Forbes writes two articles on 1) how soil, nature, and climate change are all interconnected, and 2) how conventional farming is slowly killing us and our planet. Check them out, here and here.
Industry Updates
The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Agribusiness Task Force has announced the launch of a new blended finance framework that could unlock trillions of dollars for regenerative agriculture. A Task Force of companies including Mars, McCain Foods, McDonald’s, Mondelez International, PepsiCo and Waitrose, unveiled a plan to make regenerative farming financially viable and scalable; explore implementation projects in India, the UK and the US; welcome Lloyds Banking Group to boost cross-industry support, and call for policy changes to help support its implementation. The Task Force outlined a four-lever framework to accelerate regenerative farming, which includes new funding and sourcing models, the introduction of common metrics, suggested government policy changes, and a plan to create new revenue streams for farmers. It believes that 10 suggested government policy changes could help unlock $1.2 trillion in funding for regenerative agriculture. [link]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jointly published for public comment the Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics, a strategy that outlines targeted actions by the agencies to prevent food loss and waste in order to mitigate the environmental repercussions of wasted food, including its impact on climate. The announcement was made at COP28 and sets four objectives: 1) prevent the loss of food where possible, 2) prevent the waste of food where possible, 3) increase the recycling rate for all organic waste, 4) support policies that incentivize and encourage food loss and waste prevention and organics recycling. [link]
Farmers in the UK can now benefit from the country's most comprehensive and first independent guide to selecting, establishing and terminating cover crops, co-designed by farmers with the help of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Farmer Scientist Network. The Cover Crops Guide is a free online tool (www.covercropsguide.co.uk) and is scientifically supported to give farmers the most up-to-date information and advice on cover crop varieties and their management. Cover crops are non-cash crops that add soil organic matter and nutrients, reduce soil erosion and leaching, promote moisture management, benefit biodiversity and mitigate pest and disease outbreaks, when planted between two cash crops. [link]
The Cook Government in Australia is providing more than half a million dollars in funding to farmers across Western Australia to help transform their businesses through carbon farming. Carbon farming refers to activities that help offset emissions by storing carbon in trees and soil. Carbon for Farmers Vouchers of up to $15,000 each will be provided to 43 landowners, including three properties operated by Aboriginal enterprises, to seek expert advice and develop carbon farming plans. This includes soil monitoring, implementing revegetation strategies, and undertaking a farm business analysis. [link]
Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm, announced a collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Amini, a leading innovator in space technology and artificial intelligence (AI), in an effort to increase crop insurance capacity across Africa, support smallholder farmers’ resilience and accelerate the use of nature positive practices. The collaboration intends to leverage farm-level data produced by Amini to enable Aon’s support of the African Development Bank’s Africa Climate Risk Insurance Facility for Adaptation to develop innovative de-risking solutions and build capacity to assess and monitor the changing risk environment across the continent. Farmers would then use the data to make better-informed decisions leading to greater resiliency and yield improvements. Further, the collaboration is aimed at helping Aon clients with extensive supply chains or balance sheet exposure to the agricultural sector to better manage the multi-faceted impacts of climate risk. [link]
European drug major AstraZeneca has announced a $71 million funding effort to plant and maintain an estimated 64 million plants and trees in India, primarily in the ecologically fragile state of Meghalaya. The funding is part of its global forest program, under which it has committed to plant 200 million trees across six continents by 2030. About 200,000 trees have already been planted in India and with the official project launch, soil and water conservation work is underway to enable further planting of millions of trees in 2024. The project aims to help Meghalayan farmers restore 22,670 hectares in the state, supporting biodiversity and soil conservation, as well as climate and catchment health co-benefits. [link]
At COP28 in Dubai, more than 25 leading agriculture and food players have joined forces to collectively scale regenerative agriculture through the COP 28 Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes. This initiative is led by the COP28 Presidency, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and supported by the UN Climate Change High Level Champions and brings together organizations across the value chain to translate commitments into tangible and inclusive action by 2030. The group will work to transition large-scale landscapes to regenerative agriculture by connecting farmers, value chain players, financiers and the public sector. It has committed $2.2 billion in funding with a goal of transitioning over 160 million hectares to regenerative landscapes by 2030. [link]
Six of the world's largest dairy companies will soon begin disclosing their methane emissions as part of a new global alliance launched at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai this week. The six members of the Dairy Methane Action Alliance - Danone, Bel Group, General Mills, Lactalis USA, Kraft Heinz and Nestle - will begin reporting their methane emissions by mid-2024 and will write methane action plans by the end of that year. Methane is nearly 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, making it a major focus of attempts to curb global warming. [link]
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced $6.3 million in new grants to help agricultural producers implement voluntary conservation practices on farms and ranches across 14 U.S. states. The grants will generate $4.95 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of more than $11.25 million. The grants were awarded through the Conservation Partners Program, a partnership between NFWF and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Cargill, The J.M. Smucker Co. and Nestlé, with additional support from a recently announced collaboration between General Mills, Walmart and Sam’s Club. The program supports efforts to accelerate the adoption of voluntary conservation practices and regenerative agriculture principles on private working lands through the delivery of financial support and technical assistance. [link]
Cooks Venture, an American poultry processor that marketed the environmental sustainability of the products it produced, has ceased operations and closed facilities in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Since September, the company has been engaged in discussions to raise additional financing for its operations, however it was unable to reach an agreement. Founded in 2019, Cooks Venture combined regenerative agriculture with transparency and had the goal of improving the agricultural supply chain. [link]
The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced important updates to the definition of Good Farming Practices (GFPs), removing a longstanding obstacle to the adoption of Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)-approved conservation practices and enhancements for insured producers. Previously, the Good Farming Practices Handbook recognized NRCS conservation practices as GFPs “provided” that practices did not negatively impact a crop’s ability to make normal progress toward maturity or affect yields in any way. It is, however, customary that farmers experience temporary yield drags when adopting a new conservation practice. The updated handbook removes this condition, affirming the appropriate use of USDA-approved conservation practices as Good Farming Practices for crop insurance. [link]
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 133, now Wisconsin Act 42, relating to expanding farmland preservation agreements and increasing farmland preservation tax credits. Act 42 decreases the minimum required length of a farmland preservation agreement between the Wisconsin department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and a farmland owner from 15 years to 10 years. It also increases the amount of credit that may be claimed per eligible acre and creates a new category of eligible farmland. [link]
The European Commission has adopted guidelines on how to design sustainability agreements in the field of agriculture using a novel exclusion from EU competition rules in place to protect consumers. Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union generally prohibits agreements between companies that restrict competition, such as those between competitors that lead to higher prices or lower quantities. However, Article 210a of Regulation 1308/2013 establishing a common organization of the markets in agricultural products excludes certain restrictive agreements in the agricultural sector from that prohibition, when those agreements are indispensable to achieve sustainability standards going beyond the mandatory EU or national rules. [link]
Agroforestry is a key climate solution with huge potential to simultaneously improve food security and nutrition and alleviate poverty, while halting deforestation, conserving biodiversity, building resilience, and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In opening remarks at a "Scaling Up Agroforestry" event on the sidelines of the 174th Session of the FAO Council, Director-General QU Dongyu highlighted the need for scaling up agroforestry while emphasizing its vital importance for millions of smallholder farmers. According to the FAO's State of the World's Forests report in 2022, agroforestry can help restore over one billion hectares of degraded agricultural land, to increase soil fertility and agricultural productivity, while enriching ecosystem services and livelihoods. [link]
In Case You Missed It…
In early November, grain storage company Bartlett announced that it has launched a sustainability project with Campbell Soup Co. to support the implementation of regenerative farming practices. Check out the story, here.