Growing Returns

Four near-term market and policy opportunities for increasing agricultural resilience

By Suzy Friedman / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: October 30, 2018

Every day farmers across the U.S. face unprecedented pressures from a variety of factors, including policy and regulations, markets and trade, and variability in input costs. With extreme weather becoming a new normal and the global population climbing toward 11 billion people by 2100, it is imperative that we build a food and agriculture system that can absorb and recover from these stresses.

This summer, Environmental Defense Fund, National Corn Growers Association and Farm Journal Foundation convened a stakeholder dialogue about the challenges facing the agriculture industry and recommended paths forward.

A new white paper [PDF] summarizes key findings from the discussion, which also included ideas for better equipping farmers with the tools and incentives they need to identify and adopt climate-smart solutions.

Here are four policy and market opportunities that can help boost agricultural resilience. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged ag tech, agricultural research, conservation, crop insurance, ecosystem marketplace, farm bill, Farm Journal, farmers, investors, National Corn Growers Association, NCGA, resilience, USDA | Comments are closed

How one company’s sustainability goal is poised to change an entire industry

By Maggie Monast / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: October 26, 2018

Read an update on methane, manure and community impacts in North Carolina

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, has committed to a major increase in manure-to-energy projects. The company will invest in infrastructure and provide farmer incentives to install manure lagoon covers and digesters on 90 percent of its total hog finishing capacity, a standardized measurement that excludes sow and nursery farms, in North Carolina, Missouri and Utah over the next ten years.

This is a major step forward for the hog industry. Open lagoon and sprayfield systems of manure management are predominant in North Carolina and raise concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, odor and resilience to extreme rainfall.

There are currently only a few manure-to-energy projects in North Carolina. This commitment from Smithfield means they will become the new status quo.

The company’s largest source of greenhouse gases is methane emitted from open manure lagoons. Here’s how this commitment will turn that liability into an asset – and how we can ensure that it delivers the full potential benefits of the change. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged Climate, flooding, hog lagoons, hogs, lagoon covers, manure, manure digesters, manure management, open lagoon, rainfall, resilience, Smithfield, Smithfield Foods | Read 3 Responses

Trump attacks vital conservation tool for threatened and endangered species, misses real problem

By Holly Pearen / Bio / Published: September 19, 2018

Critical habitat designations are an essential tool in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) toolbox. They are the primary mechanism Congress created to accomplish the goal of the act, “to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved.”

Critical habitat is the science-based determination of specific areas that are essential for a species’ survival. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service designate critical habitat for threatened and endangered species, like the marbled murrelet and piping plover, to signal to federal agencies, landowners, industries and conservationists where habitat protections should be prioritized and impacts avoided. Photo credit: Kathy1006

Because habitat loss and fragmentation is currently the leading cause of extinction, it’s vital to protect areas that currently contain the physical and biological features that are essential for species survival today.

Supporting imperiled species also requires that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (Services) identify and protect historic ranges that can be restored or rehabilitated, provide key features or dynamic forces essential to species, or potentially become suitable habitat due to climate change. Critical habitat designations are the tool the Services use to do this.

As important as they are, critical habitat designations don’t come without controversy. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged climate change, conservation, critical habitat, dusky gopher frog, endangered species act success stories, National Marine Fisheries Service, piping plover, polar bear, red-cockaded woodpecker, regulation, Supreme Court, Trump, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wildlife | Comments are closed

As much as Trump would like, economics do not trump science. These laws say so.

By Holly Pearen / Bio / Published: September 7, 2018

The Trump administration has made several attempts to remove science-based decision-making at multiple federal agencies, including those responsible for keeping the American public and our nation’s vital ecosystems healthy.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

The latest proposal to insert economic considerations into Endangered Species Act (ESA) decisions is not only illegal – prohibited by the act itself – it’s also a misplaced attempt at incorporating economics where they simply do not belong.

It’s the latest in this administration’s politicization of science and, if successful, will ultimately interfere with efforts to craft durable, realistic solutions to public and ecosystem health. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged Clean Air Act, donald trump, economic considerations, endangered species act success stories, ESA, ESA reform, Fish and Wildlife Service, FWS, listing decisions, National Marine Fisheries Service, NMFS, Trump | Comments are closed

Climate change will force us to make tough decisions. Adaptive management can help.

By Natalie Snider / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 23, 2018

In the face of climate change, it can be difficult to balance environmental, economic and community needs, but it’s a challenge we must overcome to adapt, survive and thrive.

To do this, professionals from multiple sectors across the globe are increasingly incorporating adaptive management techniques into resource planning for all kinds of essential ecosystems – from major watersheds like the Mississippi River Delta to high food production regions like the Corn Belt.

The lessons learned from past management decisions in these places will help shape resilience strategies for communities and industries around the world as they prepare for a new normal. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged Adaptive management, agriculture, climate change, Coastal Louisiana, ecosystem resilience, infrastructure, Louisiana, Mississippi River Delta, Missouri River Adaptive Management Plan, navigation, recreation, water supply | Read 2 Responses

How a farmer ‘think tank’ is shaping agricultural sustainability, far beyond the field

By Suzy Friedman / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 10, 2018

One of the best parts of my job at Environmental Defense Fund is working with our farmer advisory network – a group of 19 producers who farm across the Corn Belt and Great Plains on operations ranging in size from about 5,000 acres to 30,000 acres.

EDF’s advisers farm across the heartland, from Minnesota to Texas, and from Idaho to Ohio.

They’re brilliant business people who know how conservation can benefit their bottom line. With their guidance, we’re making real progress aligning economic and environmental outcomes for agriculture.

Here’s how this unique partnership came about, and three of the most important areas of progress we’ve made through our collaboration over the past eight years. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged Ag Retailers Association, agriculture, American Society of Agronomy, conservation, Corn Belt, farm bill, farmers, Field to Market, Great Plains, National Corn Growers Association, nutrient management, NutrientStar, sustainability | Comments are closed

4 ways drones are helping people and nature prepare for climate change

By David Festa / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 2, 2018

Drones have taken off in popularity, as updates in technology have made them more affordable and maneuverable. These advancements are allowing researchers to capture high-resolution data with accuracy, precision and ease, making drones a valuable tool for understanding how the world around us is changing, and how we can manage this change.

My Environmental Defense Fund colleagues are exploring ways drones can help us build ecosystem resilience, from corn fields in the heartland to wetlands along our coasts.

Here are four inspiring examples. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged aerial imaging, agriculture, conservation, data, drones, drought, farmers, fourth wave, groundwater, resilience, restoration, technology, wildlife | Comments are closed

Trump’s ESA overhaul won’t give Americans what they want. Here’s what will.

By David Festa / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: July 26, 2018

We are observing the most coordinated set of attacks on the Endangered Species Act since it was signed into law nearly a half century ago.

Bald eagle soars thanks to endangered species act

The bald eagle – our nation’s symbol – would have likely gone extinct if not for the protections of the Endangered Species Act. Learn how our nation’s symbol soared back from the brink. Photo Credit: Bob Jensen

The latest series of assaults – from legislation introduced in Congress to proposed changes by the Trump administration – fall into the increasingly perilous partisan trap that pits industrial and economic interests against the environment and public health.

This two-sided narrative consistently drowns out moderate voices in national media coverage and has created an illusion of broad disagreement around the ESA that simply does not exist.

Recent surveys show that 83 percent of Americans support the ESA, including 74 percent of conservatives.

That’s a lot of bipartisan support. Yet House legislators and the Trump administration are pushing extreme proposals that cater to the political whims of a few special interests.

Americans deserve better. Here are six actions that will improve protections for wildlife, preserve our outdoor heritage and strengthen local communities. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged bald eagle, Congress, conservation, ESA reform, landowners, monarch butterfly, Trump, wildlife | Read 2 Responses

The market for grassland carbon credits is on the rise. Here’s why.

By Robert Parkhurst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: July 19, 2018

A new study from UC Davis found that “grasslands and rangelands are more resilient carbon sinks than forests in 21st century California.”

While forests remain vital to global climate mitigation efforts, the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires has heightened the need to explore additional carbon sinks in fire-prone regions. Grasslands lock carbon into the soil, and they don’t release it during wildfires.

Photo credit: Nicole Rosmarino, Executive Director of the Southern Plains Land Trust

It’s because of this resilient carbon-capturing power that grasslands and rangelands are essential to meeting climate goals. Unfortunately, these ecosystems are being converted into croplands at the highest rate in decades. Landowners converted 1.6 million acres of long-term grasslands – those that have existed for 20 years or more – into croplands between 2008 and 2012.

Record high land rental values make land conversion a compelling economic choice, but a new market opportunity may soon change this calculus. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged American Carbon Registry, carbon market, carbon sink, climate action reserve, climate change, colorado, grassland, grassland project protocol, grasslands protocol, greenhouse gas emissions, Microsoft, rangeland, Southern Plains Land Trust, wildfire | Comments are closed

Elite food consumers won’t make sustainable ag the norm. Here’s what will.

By Josette Lewis / Bio / Published: July 13, 2018

I recently participated on a panel discussion with a provocative title: “Elite Food Consumers: A Force for Environmental Good?” The panel was moderated by The Washington Post columnist Tamar Haspel and organized by the Breakthrough Institute.

It was a great discussion because there is no doubt that consumer preferences are changing food – and not just for elite consumers. Even the larger and more affordable food retailers are responding to new consumer demands for how food is produced, what ingredients it contains and how products are marketed. But consumer choices alone won’t reshape the food system.

Minimizing the environmental footprint of agriculture – in ways that don’t hurt farmers’ profitability or consumers’ pocketbooks – will require additional levers. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Tagged farm bill, organic, USDA, water quality | Read 1 Response