June 1, 2024

Spotlight Story

Spotlight – An article in Fast Company discusses strategies for impact and innovation in agriculture. Check out the story, here.

Industry Updates

Elanco and dsm-firmenich announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its review of Bovaer (3-NOP), a first-in-class methane-reducing feed ingredient, and determined the product meets safety and efficacy requirements for use in lactating dairy cattle. Bovaer works by suppressing the enzyme in the cow’s rumen that forms methane. Feeding one tablespoon of Bovaer per lactating dairy cow per day can reduce methane emissions about 30% annually, while creating opportunity for dairy farmers to be financially rewarded for reducing their dairy’s carbon footprint. Elanco and dsm-firmenich have agreed to expand Elanco’s commercialization of Bovaer across North America. In addition to the U.S., Elanco will also now have the right to market Bovaer in Canada and Mexico, where the product is already available for use in beef and dairy cattle. [link]

Farm machinery companies, DeLaval and John Deere, have co-launched a digital ecosystem to help dairy farmers become more sustainable and efficient. The cloud-based Milk Sustainability Center is a brand-neutral interface that lets producers remotely streamline their operations by monitoring nutrient-use efficiency for nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and carbon dioxide equivalent. The program can give recommendations to reduce nutrient losses. It also can simulate theoretical scenarios using new technologies or strategies, outputting projected nutrient-use efficiency, carbon footprint and profitability. [link]

Switching food and drink purchases to very similar but more environmentally friendly alternatives could reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from household groceries by more than a quarter (26%), according to a new Australian study from The George Institute for Global Health and Imperial College London published in Nature Food. To make this happen will require on-pack labelling of greenhouse gas emissions for every packaged food product so that consumers can make informed choices. Researchers calculated the projected emissions of annual grocery purchases from 7,000 Australian households using information on ingredients, weights and production life cycles in The George Institute's FoodSwitch database and global environmental impact datasets. More than 22,000 products were assigned to major, minor and sub-categories of foods (e.g. 'bread and bakery', 'bread' and 'white bread', respectively) to quantify emissions saved by switching both within and between groups. [link]

A group of researchers from the US, UK, Kenya, Nigeria, and Colombia scrutinized the reliability of the information and professional advice provided by the popular chatbot ChatGPT to farmers in Africa and identified inaccuracies that could lead to agricultural missteps and crop losses. In their article for Nature Food, they caution against the unmediated use of generative AI models in agriculture, fearing that farmers might implement flawed recommendations that could trigger food crises. Instead, the researchers recommend a more optimal development process for AI models in agriculture that includes thorough monitoring and testing before these models are widely implemented. [link]

A new University of Michigan study concludes that nearly half of the food waste, about 620 million metric tons, could be eliminated by fully refrigerated food supply chains worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia have the greatest potential for reductions in both food losses and related emissions through increased cold-chain implementation, according to the study. And in many situations, developing more localized, less industrialized "farm-to-table" food supply chains may yield food savings comparable to optimized cold chains. [link]

Opportunities to advance sustainable cotton farming in the United States are growing thanks to a nationwide partnership led by the Soil Health Institute's United States Regenerative Cotton Fund (USRCF). The fund's holistic approach to advance economic insights, soil health measurement, and education has made significant progress in the U.S. Cotton Belt since its establishment, now engaging more than 1,000 cotton farmers and their advisors. Launched in 2021, USRCF is a farmer-facing, science-based initiative to support long-term, sustainable U.S. cotton production, with the goal of eliminating one million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere by 2026. [link]

A new tool developed by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison could help relieve the tension that exists when farmers and landowners decide whether to produce food or energy from their land. Led by Yanhua Xie and Tyler Lark, researchers with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center used machine learning to map nearly 30 million acres of United States cropland abandoned since the 1980s, creating a tool that could guide decisions about how to balance production of energy and food. Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, include the most detailed mapping of previously cultivated land in the U.S. to date. Lark, who studies land use change and its impacts on land and water resources, says that understanding could be used to direct clean energy investments where they have the least competition with other beneficial uses. [link]

Purdue University and the University of Kentucky are collaborating on a transformative project to expand sustainable maple syrup production. The study will take place in Indiana and Kentucky’s central hardwood region, focusing on sustainable, low-carbon syrup production. The project is directed toward developing a model for “green” maple syrup cooperatives such as energy-efficient production and sustainable forest management. [link]

Research published in this week's Nature says that extensive lab and field trials show that naturally derived bacteria can reduce nitrous oxide emitted off farms into the atmosphere without disrupting other microbes in the soil. The bacteria survived well in soil tests and would be relatively cheap to produce, according to researchers associated with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Farmers’ heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer drives up the amount of N2O produced in soil, and in 2022 it accounted for 6% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. [link]

The EPA could soon face a lawsuit for not protecting farmers from PFAS “forever chemicals.” Few states regulate PFAS in biosolids fertilizer, but farmers in the northeast are now calling for federal standards. Biosolids are a type of treated sewage byproduct that make a nutrient-rich fertilizer, but PFAS are slipping through the cracks of wastewater treatment and could be contaminating millions of acres of farmland. Sarah Alexander leads the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, which filed the notice against the EPA. She said the federal government needs to step up and ensure biosolids are safe. The EPA is expected to release a risk assessment on PFAS in biosolids later this year. [link]

I.P.Cert and Regrow Ag announced a partnership to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across Ukraine. The partnership will facilitate a wide-reaching sustainable farming program that rewards farmers for climate-smart practices and generates scope 3 insets. It aims to help Ukraine’s agricultural communities adopt regenerative practices by incentivizing farmers to grow resilient crops while offering them access to new profit opportunities via scope 3 insets. [link]

China's flagship food group COFCO International landed its first cargo of deforestation-free soybeans for domestic use on May 31, marking what industry players say is a milestone for a country that has prioritized price over sustainability in its farm imports. China is a top buyer of agricultural goods, including soybeans and beef, which are drivers of global deforestation, but has lagged western peers in demanding that produce including palm oil not be sourced from land linked to deforestation or conversion of natural habitats. That is slowly changing, with state-run COFCO International as well as China Mengniu Dairy Company and Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group in the past year asking suppliers and consultants for sustainable soybeans, traders and sustainability experts told Reuters. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

In early May, UK supermarket chain, Waitrose, announced its commitment to support more than 2,000 British farmers moving to nature-friendly farming practices. See more, here.