February 1, 2025

Spotlight Stories

Spotlight 1 – RealAgriculture discusses lessons learned from nearly 10 years trying to bridge the rural-urban divide. Read the story, here.

Spotlight 2 – Food Tank publishes its list of 25 books guiding us towards more regenerative food systems. Check it out, here.

Spotlight 3 – Nature Magazine writes about why farmers are beginning to take their governments to court over climate change. Take a read, here.

Industry Updates

Michigan’s first-ever grant program aimed at strengthening the state’s middle-of-the-supply-chain agri-food systems is now taking applications. The new Farm-to-Family Food Hubs and Farm Stops grant program is designed to support innovative models that deliver locally produced and healthy food to Michiganders, while creating economic opportunities for Michigan farmers. Food Hubs and Farm Stops grants will provide up to $50,000 to eligible applicants to support a range of activities, including expanding processing capacity, sourcing, transportation infrastructure, distribution service, or other relevant functions that increase the vibrancy of and access to Michigan’s food systems. [link]

The University of Idaho is offering grants to farmers who adopt climate-smart agricultural practices under its "Innovative Agricultural and Marketing Partnership" program until Feb. 21. The partnership is a statewide project focused on reducing climate impact within Idaho’s top commodities including potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, barley, hops, chickpeas and beef. It aims to prevent 31,000 to 70,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents from entering the atmosphere annually while replenishing cropland soil carbon. The program will enroll more than 200 farms, with at least 30% of participants representing underserved populations. Grants range from $38 to $74 per acre, or $1 per head per day for grazing cover crops on enrolled acreage. Partners include county soil conservation districts, The Nature Conservancy, Desert Mountain Grass-Fed Beef, and the Nez Perce and Coeur d’Alene tribes, available to help producers implement these projects. [link]

Mitsubishi has announced a strategic partnership with CH4 Global to help the company scale production and commercialization of its Methane Tamer product, which reduces methane emissions from livestock. This powdered supplement, designed to be mixed into livestock feed, can reduce the amount of methane produced by farm animals by up to 90%. Mitsubishi has committed to helping CH4 navigate regulations in the Asia and Pacific market, to help it increase production of its Asparagopsis seaweed feedstock and to help it boost its commercial adoption in markets around the world. The sustainable cultivation of Asparagopsis, the core ingredient in Methane Tamer, is another important part of the partnership. Mitsubishi's vast experience in aquaculture is instrumental in identifying and establishing potential production sites throughout Southeast Asia. [link]

Nudging consumers with carbon footprint labeling and product categorization motivates online shoppers to select plant-based foods, according to new research published by agricultural economists at Purdue University and the University of Kentucky. One of the study's lead researchers says that a lot of research has been conducted on point-of-purchase nudges in a physical setting, however not much has been done in the growing domain of online grocery shopping. The team generated their results using the Open Science Online Grocery platform. The platform simulates a typical online grocery shopping experience by listing more than 11,000 food products across all product categories, from produce to beverages. More than 2,350 U.S. residents took part in the study. Participants selected from an array of products in the meat, milk, yogurt and cheese categories. Of the 8,320 grocery items the group checked out in their virtual carts, 5,200 were plant-based products. [link]

Research with smallholder farmers in Kenya shows that tree-planting schemes like agroforestry must account for complex local issues and preferences. The new study – led by the University of Exeter – examined the factors that enable or prevent Kenyan smallholders from increasing the diversity of trees and shrubs on their land. Kenyan farmers in the study were generally positive about increasing the diversity of trees on their farms – but the study identified several barriers. Farmers were worried about negative consequences such as the risk of attracting harmful wildlife and harming the soil, farms being too small, lacking time and knowledge, and following local beliefs about trees. To promote agroforestry that benefits people, nature and the climate, policies should address these barriers and support enabling factors raised by the farmers. [link]

Venture capital investment in agtech startups dropped off precipitously in 2024 as a broader downturn in the agricultural sector led to a retrenchment among investors, according to a new Pitchbook report. Agtech deal values fell 25.6% over the previous year while deal counts decreased 24.3%, Pitchbook said. Despite the decline in activity, the median deal value reached a record high of $3.6 million in 2024 driven by increased focus on late-stage startups. While agtech investment remained depressed throughout 2024, dealmaking picked up significantly in the last quarter of the year. Deal activity grew to $1.8 billion across 149 deals, an 8.9% increase from the third quarter. [link]

The University of New Mexico College of Population Health has marked a significant milestone with its first-ever U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) education grant, establishing an innovative program to train the next generation of conservationists. The Partnership for Agricultural Sustainability and Education (PASE) program is a three-year, $700,000 project funded through the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The primary aim is to create a professional certification program to promote the adoption of climate-smart conservation and traditional agricultural practices, support small-scale farming and local food systems, and educate students and farmers on NRCS technical assistance and resources. [link]

Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) unveiled its latest report, Sustainable Finance Flows to India’s Agriculture Sector, offering a comprehensive analysis of financial flows that can help transform India’s agriculture into a sustainable and climate-resilient sector. Annual financial flows to sustainable agriculture averaged INR 22,393 billion (USD 301 billion) during FY 2020-22, with private finance accounting for 67% of total flows. Domestic sources of capital dominated, representing 99.5% of financial flows. The report recommends a four-pillar framework to enhance sustainable agriculture finance in India: 1) establish a unified sustainable agriculture taxonomy, 2) enhance monitoring and reporting systems, 3) boost and diversify financial flows, and 4) build capacity to equip stakeholders with knowledge and resources. [link]

States, local governments, and project developers were left scrambling after the White House paused hundreds of billions in federal grants, loans and other financial assistance-programs, pending a review by the Trump administration. The White House later rescinded its order, however funds were left unavailable in many instances. The federal government spent more than $3 trillion on federal assistance, such as grants and loans, in the fiscal year 2024, according to the original White House memo, which didn’t say where that figure came from. The original order required each federal agency to complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their federal financial-assistance programs “to identify programs, projects and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders,” the memo said. [link]

Pork giant, Smithfield Foods, returned to the U.S. stock market this week as a public company, following over 10 years as a private company. It now trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker "SFD". Since late 2013 Smithfield has been a subsidiary of China-based, WH Group, whose $4.7 billion deal was one of the largest takeovers of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm at that time. Smithfield’s ties to its parent company and the Chinese market remain strong. Hong Kong-based WH Group is retaining a roughly 90% stake in Smithfield after the listing. While Smithfield remains based in the Virginia town whose name it shares, WH Group can nominate the majority of board directors. [link]

During his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said that he wants to help farmers transition to no-till and reduced chemical usage. Much of the hearing focused on issues with little connection to agriculture, such as Kennedy’s statements on vaccines that many scientists say are inaccurate. However, when prompted by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Kennedy said he was worried about farmers getting cancer and Parkinson’s disease from exposure to ag chemicals, and he said Europe has stopped accepting exports of U.S. food. Kennedy also said some farm chemicals destroy the soil microbiome, reducing water infiltration and causing erosion. No-till supporters typically attribute these outcomes to tillage rather than to chemicals. [link]

MyLand, a leading innovator in soil health, has announced that it has closed $23 million in funding in a round led by Proterra Investment Partners LP. This influx of capital will support MyLand’s rapid, contracted growth with both new and existing growers across the U.S. and into international markets, underscoring the importance of soil as the foundation of sustainable agriculture. MyLand’s innovative service harnesses the power of live, native microalgae to rejuvenate soil health, improving productivity, profitability, and sustainability for growers. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

In late-November, a study in the journal, Frontiers in Environmental Science, said that global land is sufficient to provide a sustainable supply of food and ecosystem services throughout this century, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions in alignment with a 1.5C warming goal. See more, here.