June 28, 2024
Spotlight Stories
Spotlight 1 – Food Navigator writes about AI’s impact on crop development. Check out the story, here.
Spotlight 2 – South Dakota State University explores farmers’ interest in carbon markets. Check it out, here.
Spotlight 3 – Mongabay says that chocolate lovers should also come to love agroforestry. Read the article, here.
Industry Updates
American Farmland Trust is holding Advanced Soil Health Training, a series of courses focused on adaptive soil health management funded by the USDA through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program. Partnering with Truterra/Land-O’ Lakes, AFT will sponsor and train soil health mentors who will share their knowledge and expertise with their communities. This program is designed to deepen soil health understanding of corn, soybean, wheat, and dairy farmers and farm advisors who have an interest in improving soil health and who will share their expertise with their clients, communities, and the next generation of farmers. The hands-on curriculum combines one day of classroom time with a half-day visit to innovative local demonstration farms to see soil health practices in action. [link]
The US has reportedly urged the EU to delay its Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is set to come into force in December, because the new rules would hurt US producers of cocoa products, timber and other forest-risk commodities. The Financial Times revealed that the Biden Administration had sent a letter dated May 30 to the European Commission (EC) warning the law posed “critical challenges” to US businesses and should be delayed until the challenges have been addressed. The EUDR would require companies to provide a “due diligence” statement supported by geolocation data to confirm their products have not come from deforested land after 2020. The regulation impacts various supply chains, including cocoa, soybeans, coffee, palm oil and beef. It is set to be reviewed in June 2028. [link]
The CEA Alliance says it has released the industry’s first sustainability framework developed by indoor growers for indoor growers. CEA Alliance says the framework will drive credibility, transparency and continuous improvement through standardized approaches for sustainability measurement, guiding indoor growers through both key impacts to measure and metrics for measuring them. This new framework includes 60 metrics that support 20 key performance indicators across a variety of environmental and social aspects of indoor growing, including natural resource and climate impacts, pesticide use, waste generation, food safety, employment practices, community engagement, and food security impacts. [link]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced an investment of $70 million in seven creative and visionary agricultural projects to transform the U.S. food and agricultural system and sustainably increase agricultural production in ways that also reduce its environmental footprint. The program focuses on a broad range of research, education and Extension solutions – from addressing agricultural workforce challenges and promoting land stewardship to addressing climate change impacts in agriculture and filling critical needs in food and nutrition. Awards of $10 million will be used for coordinated agricultural projects (CAPs), which promote collaboration, open communication, information exchange and reduce duplication efforts by coordinating activities among individuals, institutions, states and regions. [link]
Despite sharp deceleration in food inflation since a post-pandemic peak, US consumers deem current food pricing as unpalatable, according to new research from the Purdue University College of Agriculture’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability (CFDAS). In the Purdue CFDAS May 2024 Consumer Food Insights (CFI) survey, 56% of more than 1,200 US shoppers said food prices rose the most over the past 12 months versus other common household expenses. That perception isn’t borne out by inflation data, however. The May 2024 Consumer Price Index for food shows a year-over-year gain of 2.1% (+1% for food at home, +4% for food away from home), compared with 20.3% for vehicle insurance, 4.9% for childcare, 4.7% for utilities, 4.6% for housing, 4.3% for home insurance, 3.1% for health care, 2.9% for transportation, 1.3% for entertainment/leisure and -2.5% for household items, based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. [link]
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland released new information for 2023 that shows the area of new forestry planted by farmers accounted for 47% of total afforestation during the year, however trees planted by farmers have been on a downward trend since the early 2000s. In 2007, trees planted by farmers made up over 90% of total afforestation rates that year. Last year, Irish farmers planted 773 ha (1,855 acres) of trees while non-farmers planted 877 ha (2,105 acres). Generally, non-farmer tree plantings have been on the uprise in Ireland since the early 2000s. There were 287 afforestation parcels planted in 2023, with an average size of 5.8 ha (14 acres). [link]
A report from certification body Regenagri suggests that regenerative agriculture is becoming more and more prevalent in global farming. The regenagri program now supports more than 230,000 farms and 855 supply chain operators globally, with the area of land under its certification tripling in 2023 to 1.46 million hectares (3.5 million acres) compared to 487,000 hectares in 2022. Looking ahead, Regenagri aims to double its impact in 2024 by expanding its program to cover two million hectares of land, supporting 500,000 farms across the world. [link]
McCain Foods announced the expansion of its Innovation Hub farms in North America, adding four new farms across three different regions as part of its initiative to implement regenerative agriculture practices across its global potato fields by 2030. Its new hubs will be located on potato farms in Alberta, Wisconsin and Maine, with an additional hub on an onion farm in Idaho. The Innovation Hubs are designed to conduct commercial-scale research trials that are specific to the local growing conditions. This approach allows McCain to test and refine sustainable agricultural practices, such as cover cropping, crop diversity and advanced irrigation techniques. [link]
Three leading players in the food ingredients industry – Raffinerie Tirlemontoise, Beneo and Puratos –have joined forces to launch the 'Climate Farming Project,' supporting Belgian farmers to adopt more sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. The initiative, which will run until 2025, involves 15 pilot farms across Belgium cultivating sugar beet, wheat and chicory in an area equivalent to over 1,100 football fields. The farmers will implement a range of regenerative techniques, including reducing mineral nitrogen fertilization and pesticide use, enhancing biodiversity by planting flower strips and hedges, and improving soil health by increasing the biomass of cover and catch crops. [link]
Dairy farmers in Denmark face having to pay an annual tax of 672 krone ($96) per cow for the planet-heating emissions they generate. The country’s coalition government agreed this past week to introduce the world’s first carbon emissions tax on agriculture. It will mean new levies on livestock starting in 2030.
The tax, expected to be approved by Denmark’s parliament later this year, will amount to 300 krone ($43) per tonne (1.1 ton) of CO2-equivalent emissions from livestock from 2030, rising to 750 krone ($107) in 2035. A 60% tax break will apply, meaning that farmers will effectively be charged 120 krone ($17) per tonne of livestock emissions per year from 2030, rising to 300 krone ($43) in 2035. In the first two years, the proceeds from the tax will be used to support the agricultural industry’s green transition and then reassessed. [link]
The Nigerian Federal Government said it is investing in climate-smart agriculture to enhance food production and promote agroforestry and conservation agriculture amidst challenges posed by climate change and its impacts on food security. Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, made the remark at a high-level event on ‘Partnering to Scale up Climate Actions in Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations – Zooming in on Food Security’ held in the Embassy of UAE in Rome. Lawal failed to mention how much money will be allocated to these efforts but said Nigeria is taking concerted efforts to address climate change and its impact on the country's food security. [link]
CIBO Technologies, the climate software company for agriculture, announced a multi-year strategic partnership with The DeLong Co., Inc., a privately-owned and family-run enterprise based in Clinton, Wisconsin with 38 grain, agronomy and export locations throughout the United States. Through this collaboration, CIBO Impact will help farmers within The DeLong Co., Inc.'s grower network find, qualify for and enroll in regenerative agriculture incentive programs backed by the USDA and private companies with Scope 3 emissions targets. [link]
ADM's Golden Peanut processing subsidiary will collaborate with The J.M. Smucker Co. and the National Black Growers Council (NBGC) to support the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across 20,000 peanut acres in the southeast United States. As with ADM's other regenerative agriculture efforts spanning the globe, Golden Peanut's work with Smucker will feature direct financial support for farmers; easy processes and cutting-edge technologies to ensure low barriers to entry; and a broad range of support and guidance for farmers from both internal and third-party experts, including the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District. Regenerative practices covered by the program will include continuous living roots (cover crops), improved fertilizer and pesticide efficiency and use of reduced tillage practices. [link]
In Case You Missed It…
In late April, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it was considering requiring food manufacturers to put new labels on the front of packages to better inform Americans of related health risks. See more, here.