June 8, 2024
Spotlight Story
ASU News describes the hidden cost of the American food system. Check out the story, here.
Industry Updates
Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension recently received a $1 million grant to improve soil health, crop production, and water quality across the commonwealth. Led by Virginia Tech researchers and Virginia Cooperative Extension specialists, the project seeks to improve farming practices through a comprehensive strategy focused on farmer mentoring and widespread implementation of soil health best practices. The project builds on four soil health principles that the Natural Resources Conservation Service and state partners have promoted to conservation and farming communities for nearly 10 years, including: keep soil covered, minimize soil disturbance, maximize living roots, and energize with diversity. [link]
Environmental groups and farmers called for a transition to a sustainable agri-food system, climate action, and the approval of the stalled nature restoration law during a demonstration in Brussels. This protest, organized by NGOs Good Food Good Farming and Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, took place in the final week of the European Parliament election campaign. Agricultural policy has taken an unusually high profile in the pre-election period, influenced by large-scale farmer protests that have spread across almost all EU countries since January. [link]
Congressional representatives have introduced the Capital for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Act in the House and the Senate, directing the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to develop a multi-year operating loan pilot for beginning farmers to finance initial assets and the development of production and management systems. These expenditures can include intangible business infrastructure for crop records, payroll, and regulatory compliance, investments to increase soil fertility, and more. The new Act would enable direct and guaranteed FSA loans with a repayment term between 3 and 10 years; reduced interest rates between zero and 3%; flexible principal repayment; and robust technical assistance for development loan borrowers, among other benefits. [link]
Sri Lankan tea producer, Dilmah, is set to inaugurate its agroforestry program in Rilhena, in collaboration with Kahawatte Plantations and the Dilmah Agricultural Innovation Nucleus. The launch will be marked by the planting of trees, carefully selected to thrive in the local landscape, including species of commercial value for non-timber use. The company aims to contribute to land restoration while protecting against desertification and drought. The project site was chosen following a feasibility analysis utilizing available maps and plantation data, where approximately 1,000 hectares of abandoned land have been identified within Kahawatte Plantations as being suitable for agroforestry. Commercial crops such as Garcinia, Pepper, Durian and Rambutan are among the species to be planted. [link]
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded a grant of up to $21.1 million to non-profit, CIMMYT, for a groundbreaking initiative to mitigate the environmental impact of agriculture, by developing new wheat varieties that are capable of reducing agriculture's nitrogen footprint. As the global population approaches the 10 billion mark, the reliance on fertilizers to boost agricultural production has become an essential, yet environmentally challenging practice, causing severe ecological stress. The leaching of nitrogen into natural ecosystems, coupled with the release of greenhouse gases, is pushing the Earth's environmental limits to a critical threshold. The new grant will fund research associated with biological nitrification inhibition (BNI), which has the potential to reduce nitrogen fertilizer usage by 20%, on average. Rooted in a seed-based genetic strategy, BNI leverages a plant's innate ability to suppress soil nitrification through the release of natural compounds. [link]
Syngenta Group, one of the world’s largest agricultural technology companies, will provide rights to selected genome-editing and breeding technologies for academic research globally, as part of its commitment to foster innovation and drive sustainability in agriculture. The rights to certain intellectual property are related to optimized CRISPR-Cas12a as well as to gene-editing enabled breeding tools. Through CRISPR gene-editing, it is possible to deliver an improved plant that does not include DNA from a different species – more quickly and efficiently than otherwise possible in nature or through conventional breeding methods. [link]
Indonesia plans to set up a digital dashboard by August to track its agricultural commodities, its economics ministry said, as the world's top palm oil exporter looks to monitor $6.5 billion worth of products that face a new EU anti-deforestation rule. The dashboard aims to increase the transparency of the supply chain of agriculture commodities such as palm oil, coffee and rubber, and better promote sustainability standards in the country. The ministry hopes to help Indonesian exports navigate the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR), set to be implemented at the end of 2024, which will ban imports of commodities linked to deforestation. [link]
Argentina is implementing a new certification process to raise climate-friendly beef. Approved earlier this year, the certification is a collaboration between Argentina's National Agricultural Technology Institute, the National Industrial Technology Institute, and the private sector, alongside third-party verification from the International Environmental Product Declaration System. This certification system relies on silvopasture, which involves raising livestock in forests with native grasslands and pastures using agricultural technologies to produce higher forage yields. [link]
Asset manager Mirova and the non-profit Rainforest Alliance have signed an agreement to scale up regenerative agriculture and sustainable land use projects across Africa, Latin America and Asia. Mirova, a sustainability-focused unit of French investor Natixis Investment Managers, said funding for the projects would come from its previously announced Mirova Sustainable Land Fund 2 fund, which aims to raise 350 million euros ($381 million). The tie-up comes as policymakers across the world tighten rules governing companies' supply chains as part of efforts to combat climate change and protect and restore biodiversity loss. The fund aims to invest in the equity or debt of 10-20 projects for up to 10 years to give companies time to transition, with the Rainforest Alliance tracking the environmental impact of the projects. [link]
More than 400 researchers, academics, entrepreneurs, producers and communicators from Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Italy, Honduras and Cuba will participate in the upcoming International Agroforestry Convention Cuba 2024, to be held July 1 to 5. In a press conference, Pedro Pablo Henry Torriente, general director of the Institute of Agroforestry Research (INAF by its Spanish acronym) and president of the Organizing Committee, said that after seven years without being held, the traditional scientific event is back. The event will present results and progress from innovative projects, some with international collaboration, and will learn about the experiences and knowledge of nations that are world leaders in the production of coffee, cocoa and honey. [link]
British milk cooperative, First Milk, is inviting the public to its inaugural Festival of Regenerative Farming to celebrate sustainability and connect with nature. The event will take place in multiple locations within Britain during different dates across July and early August. First Milk will demonstrate its climate and biodiversity efforts through engagement activities and displays on-farm and in factories. [link]
Heineken has received its first harvest of barley produced on land where regenerative agricultural practices have been adopted at scale. The brewing giant has worked with farming and food processing cooperative VIVESCIA, based in France, to support hundreds of farmers to adopt more sustainable farming practices. Changes to processes were selected on a science-based basis to deliver co-benefits for soil health, biodiversity, water stewardship, climate impact and climate resilience. [link]
In Case You Missed It…
In mid-April, mayonnaise company, Hellmann’s, launched a “Save Our Sandwiches” (S.O.S.) campaign to spread awareness around regenerative farming practices for growing crops like soybeans, a key ingredient in its products. See more, here.