May 18, 2024

Spotlight Stories

Spotlight 1 – Forbes discusses how big-picture thinking about regenerative agriculture can help fix society’s ills. Check out the story, here.

Spotlight 2 – The American Heart Association picks up a story on how a Kansas tribe shifted to regenerative agriculture to save its soil…and transform its farms in the process. Check it out, here.

Industry Updates

Michigan State University is working on a three-year study to evaluate bloom prediction, pest control, and late-season crop management strategies for apples, blueberries, cherries, and grapes across the state, in an effort to combat new climate-related farming challenges. Four newly funded research projects will receive about $1.25 million over three years through a new partnership among MSU, the Michigan Plant Coalition, and the state Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The state of Michigan provided a one-time $5 million budget this year for these competitive grants. Results of all four studies will be shared with growers across the state through the MSU Extension program. [link]

UK supermarket chain, Waitrose, announced its commitment to support more than 2,000 British farmers moving to nature-friendly farming practices. Waitrose recently held a farming conference with more than 300 of its farmers and suppliers, in response to an industry-wide need to move towards more resilient farming methods amid greater demand from Waitrose customers. Key parts of the Waitrose plan include collaborations with LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) and the University of Reading. The company is rolling out its LEAF certification globally to all fresh produce growers by 2026. LEAF has also developed written advice for farmers covering four crucial categories - soil, carbon, biodiversity and water. The plan also includes setting up eight satellite farms in the UK on a three-year program representing a range of farming sectors including beef, dairy, pig, poultry, top and soft fruit, root vegetables and glasshouse, with an aim to produce best practice guidance to share more widely in its supply chains. [link]

A farmer in Canada has partnered with Brock University to analyze the effectiveness of wool as a soil amendment. Jennifer Osborn and her company, EcoWool Canada, believes that wool pellets could act as a natural fertilizer to improve soil health, fertility, and crop performance. Research shows wool contains carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur, which are among the elements that boost soil quality. Wool provides further benefit by aerating the soil, retaining moisture, improving water infiltration and reducing erosion. To test EcoWool’s wool pellets, Brock University is growing spinach, sweet peppers, marigolds, basil and yellow beans in pots containing either wool pellets, conventional fertilizers or nothing added to the soil at all. The work is being supported by the Government of Canada. [link]

Up to 10,000 smallholder coffee farmers in the Gusii region of Kenya are poised to benefit from training on crop diversification to maximize crop production in the highly populated area through a project dubbed Gusii Regenerative Agriculture Landscape (GuRAL). The project is supported by an international non-profit organization, Rainforest Alliance, and has undertaken a three-day training of exercises to equip a section of the farmers with knowledge and skills on how to improve production and maximize profits. The regenerative agriculture practices aim to create healthy and productive farms while restoring fragile ecosystems and boosting farmer incomes in the area. [link]

Plant-based meat company, Beyond Meat, Inc., is pivoting towards messaging based on health as it continues to bleed red ink in a challenging sales environment. Over the past three years the company has worked with groups like the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association and the Clean Label Project to ensure their products meet each group’s criteria for endorsement. Beyond Meat’s management team believes marketing messages focused on the nutrition profile of its products will provide a point of differentiation in the market. [link]

Non-profit, WWF, supported by funding from the climate-positive foundation Laudes Foundation, has launched the Regenerative Production Landscape Collaborative (RPLC) Pakistan to develop holistic solutions for smallholder farmers' challenges while addressing environmental issues caused by unsustainable practices. This work follows previous success in India, Brazil, and Tanzania on similar projects. RPLC has been described as an innovative jurisdictional model to foster agricultural ecosystems which conserve and enhance natural resources and build community resilience whilst enabling businesses to source responsibly. The collaborative aims to cover over 1 million hectares and 300,000 farmers globally, with Pakistan expected to contribute over 100,000 hectares and 50,000 farmers towards this goal. [link]

Retailer Lidl has announced the launch of a sustainability program for beef suppliers, which will see the supermarket chain partner with Liffey Meats and over 20 beef farmers around Ireland. The Lidl Sustainable Beef Program will see the retailer, Liffey Meats and Bord Bia working to implement “sustainable farming practices” to reduce carbon emissions from beef farming, Lidl said. The results of the program will be measured through AgNav, which is a software developed by Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) to help farmers implement and monitor sustainable farming practices. [link]

Kraft Heinz is looking to sell Oscar Mayer, the big maker of hot dogs, cold cuts and bacon. It recently tapped Bank of America and Centerview Partners to gauge interest in the business, which could fetch something in the neighborhood of $3 billion to $5 billion. Under new Chief Executive Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Kraft Heinz is working to rejigger its portfolio as consumer interest in health and nutrition grows. Kraft Heinz is in the midst of a multiyear effort to improve the nutrition of supermarket staples such as its ketchup and juice drinks, aiming to offer healthier options amid rising concern over ultra-processed foods, obesity and chronic diseases linked to diet. [link]

A local group is calling on America’s largest berry grower to cease the use of pesticides on farm fields located near schools. The Campaign for Organic & Regenerative Agriculture (CORA) will hold a press conference and community gathering on May 21 to ask Driscoll’s to change the way the company applies pesticides to its crops. According to former farmer and CORA member Woody Rehanek, there are about 50 conventional and 15 organic farms within a quarter-mile miles of several local schools. [link]

A Purdue University interdisciplinary team is establishing a network of organic farmers to improve soil health. The effort will formalize the Indiana Organic Network (ION) as part of a statewide initiative to assess soil health at regional and farm scales. The project is supported by a grant of nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. ION is intended to assist certified organic farms and farms that are going through the USDA-mandated transition process.

The project will include conducting the first statewide soil health census on organic farms in Indiana. The results will offer insights into soil health status of organic farming systems and the impact of various organic practices. [link]

AC Foods recently released the brand, betterful, a line of Regenerative Organic Certified blueberries to the market. The company's betterful blueberries are available in select Whole Foods, Sprouts, Bi-Rite, NewLeaf, Berkeley Bowl Marketplace and Oliver’s locations. They are proudly grown in California and Oregon. The brand’s mission is to enhance every stage of the growing, harvesting, and delivery process to provide berries that are tastier, fresher, and healthier for our planet. [link]

USDA-certified Organic, 100% grass-fed beef company, Spring Lake Ranch, is working with EarthOptics and Merge Impact (MI) to get third-party insight on its regenerative agriculture program, build credibility for its brand and educate the industry on the benefits of regenerative agriculture. Spring Lake Ranch said that the term “regenerative” is gaining in popularity in the meat industry, but the brand wants to prove the benefits through science and quantifiable data. EarthOptics will assess all three of Spring Lake Ranch’s diverse ecosystems across its ranch — Meadowlands, Uplands (Sandhills), and Choppy Sands — and create baseline measurements of key environmental improvement indicators, including the following: carbon sequestration, soil organic matter, soil temperatures, species diversity (above and below ground), functional group diversity, canopy heights. [link]

The solar storm that caused the northern lights to erupt in the nighttime skies over Iowa, shimmering in waves of reds, greens, purples, pinks and blues, disrupted satellite connections to global positioning systems that guide planting tractors and played havoc with farmers planting during the early part of the week. Farmers reported losing their GPS signals continuously as they went out into fields. This compounded problems for farmers that have been waiting to plant in the face of frequent rainstorms this spring. [link]

Despite overall satisfaction with their diets, rural and urban consumers are divided on agriculture's role in climate change and the health attributes of various products like plant-based milk, Purdue University shared in its latest research. Purdue University surveyed more than 1,200 rural and urban consumers about their perception of several food and beverage claims and where they shop the most. The majority of consumers (87%) are rather or very happy with their diets, up from 81% in January 2024. However, almost half (49%) of urban consumers said agriculture is a significant contributor to climate change compared to 40% of rural consumers. Similarly, half of urban consumers said eating less meat is better for the environment compared to 38% of rural shoppers. [link]

Noble Research Institute, the nation’s largest nonprofit agricultural research organization, has been given a 2024 Regenerative Agriculture Research Grant from the Greenacres Foundation to advance its ongoing pecan-focused research. The $295,000 grant was awarded to aid the organization’s study of pecan silvopasture and measuring improved soil health’s impact on building profitable and resilient systems. In line with Noble’s goal of regenerating 164 million acres of U.S. grazing land by 2040, this three-year project will contribute to the continuing research focused on the impact of implementing regenerative practices for achieving a balanced and resilient ecosystem. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

In early April, ThriveAgric launched a strategic partnership with Acorn Rabobank in a project committed to sustainable agroforestry practices and carbon market development in Nigeria. See more, here.