Growing Returns

Top 5 priorities for USDA to support climate-smart farms and forests

By Callie Eideberg / Bio / Published: April 30, 2021

“America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners have an important role to play in combating the climate crisis and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, by sequestering carbon in soils, grasses, trees, and other vegetation and sourcing sustainable bioproducts and fuels.”

— President Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis

President Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad directed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to seek public input on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s strategy for supporting climate-smart agriculture and forestry.

Here are the top five priorities that USDA should be focused on. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged carbon markets, climate crisis, ecosystems, sustainable agriculture, tom vilsack, USDA | Comments are closed

3 ways the Growing Climate Solutions Act will help farmers and rural communities thrive

By Callie Eideberg / Bio / Published: April 27, 2021

More than forty senators have co-sponsored the reintroduced Growing Climate Solutions Act — the first major piece of bipartisan legislation to help ensure that farmers, ranchers and foresters benefit from being part of the climate solution.

The bill has a real chance of becoming law this year — a sign of hope for collaboration on climate on Capitol Hill. It advanced unanimously out of the Senate Agriculture Committee and has growing bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.

Here are three ways this bill advances agricultural climate solutions, with benefits that extend far beyond the farm. Read More »

Posted in Carbon Market, Climate Resilience / Tagged agricultural carbon markets, agricultural climate solutions, climate-smart agriculture, Growing Climate Solutions Act, sustainable agriculture | Comments are closed

As Texas drought worsens, two bills can advance sustainable, equitable groundwater management

By Vanessa Puig-Williams / Bio / Published: April 26, 2021

Drought conditions are now confronting 75% of Texas, putting more pressure on critical water supplies.

Thirty-two cities or water supply entities in Texas are under voluntary or mandatory water restrictions. Flows in a majority of river basins across South Central Texas have dropped below or far below normal. And the Edwards Aquifer, which stretches across thousands of acres in South Central Texas and serves San Antonio, has dropped nearly 10 feet below average levels for March.

Amid this grim news, state lawmakers have the opportunity to take two important steps toward more sustainable and equitable management of vital water resources.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged climate change, drought, ecosystems, groundwater, rivers, sustainability, Texas, water use, western water | Read 1 Response

Cargill and Soil Health Institute find farmer experience with soil health pays off. Here’s how.

By Vincent Gauthier / Bio / Published: April 16, 2021

Findings from a recent Soil Health Institute study add to growing evidence that soil health practices can provide financial benefits to farmers.

The Soil Health Institute, with support from Cargill, interviewed 100 farmers across nine states to measure the farm budget impacts of soil health practices.

“I believe this work is a critical area and critical question that we need to better address as we look at scaling up of soil health principles,” said Ryan Sirolli, Global Row Crop Sustainability Director at Cargill, during a webinar hosted by the Soil Health Institute. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged Cargill, farm finance, soil health, soil health institute, sustainable agriculture | Read 2 Responses

Largest ecosystem restoration project in U.S. history provides model for climate adaptation

By Steve Cochran / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: April 14, 2021

In the wake of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, President Biden’s administration has turned its sights from rescue to resilience in the newly announced American Jobs Plan that would invest $650 billion in rebuilding infrastructure nationwide.

This proposed legislation is intended not only to mitigate significant and structural economic challenges, but also to repair and strengthen the systems on which we depend. This includes natural infrastructure to make our communities and ecosystems more climate resilient.

On our coasts, revitalizing our economy must include building long-term resilience to climate change, sea level rise and hurricanes. In Louisiana, we already know exactly the kind of projects that the American Jobs Plan should support. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged American Jobs Plan, Coastal Master Plan, coastal resilience, ecosystems, flood protection | Comments are closed

3 ingredients for success in soil health

By Guest Author / Published: April 9, 2021

This blog was originally posted on Soil Health Partnership’s blog.

Profitable conservation systems don’t look the same on every farm. Growers must implement different strategies to address their specific needs, thanks to a wide range of variables including soil type, moisture availability, equipment and labor. However, just because every farmer takes a slightly different approach to soil health doesn’t mean there aren’t some consistent success factors.

In our recent report, Conservation’s Impact on the Farm Bottom Line (developed in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund and the agricultural accounting firm K·Coe Isom), we discovered that farmers who felt their soil health practices were making a difference — both in the data and anecdotally — took some similar approaches. These three “ingredients for success” increased their chances for achieving profitable conservation systems. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged conservation, farm finance, soil health, Soil Health Partnership, sustainable agriculture | Comments are closed

Farmers’ bottom lines at risk as growing conditions change

By Aurora Barone / Published: April 6, 2021

Iowa currently finds itself in a “Goldilocks climate,” with just the right measure and timing of humidity, rainfall and heat that help make the state a national leader in corn and soybean production. However, new research shows that climate change threatens to upset this balance.

Small shifts in rainfall and temperature can have considerable impacts on crops and farmer livelihoods. To better understand how these shifts could impact farmers, Environmental Defense Fund partnered with K·Coe Isom, an agricultural accounting and business advisory firm, to produce an in-depth report that quantifies the potential localized economic impacts from these shifts that Iowa corn and soy farmers could face as soon as the next 10 to 20 years.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged climate change, corn, farm finance, farm revenue, iowa, risk, soybean, sustainable agriculture | Comments are closed

4 ways North Carolina’s Legislature can build lasting flood resilience

By Will McDow / Bio / Published: April 1, 2021

As North Carolina continues to recover from a string of flooding and storm disasters, legislative leaders have recognized the opportunity for the state to not just recover from recent storms but to rebuild better before the next disaster.

This week, Environmental Defense Fund released a white paper [PDF] recommending four specific policy actions that would better protect residents and businesses from more severe flooding, create jobs and increase climate resilience.

These four policies will also help the state better compete for federal funding, build capacity within communities and equitably align solutions for those who are disproportionately impacted by disasters. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged Chief Resilience Officer, coastal protection, coastal restoration, ecosystems, extreme weather, flood risk, flooding, hurricanes, natural infrastructure, North Carolina, resilience | Comments are closed

California is facing another drought, but I’m still hopeful. Here are 3 reasons why.

By Ann Hayden / Bio / Published: April 1, 2021

It’s a daunting time to be working on water in California.

The Sierra snowpack measurement came in today at 59% of average statewide, making this the second dry winter in a row. The drought conditions led state and federal officials to announce last week painful water cuts for farmers and for municipal water systems that are already sending requests to customers to conserve water.

It’s disheartening to envision farmers again trying to make do with very limited supplies; salmon stranded in warm, dwindling rivers; and cities facing water cutbacks while wondering if the next wildfire will erupt in their neighborhood.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged agriculture, california, climate change, drought, ecosystems, groundwater, sustainability, sustainable groundwater management act, water quality, western water | Read 1 Response

Report provides guidance on repurposing California farmland to benefit water, landowners, communities and wildlife

By Anna Schiller / Bio / Published: March 25, 2021

Over the coming decades, California’s San Joaquin Valley will transition to sustainable groundwater management under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), ensuring reliable groundwater supplies for generations to come. Sustainable groundwater management and a changing climate will inevitably affect how land is used on a sweeping scale.

By some estimates, the amount of farmland that will have to be taken out of production to balance groundwater demand and supply is equivalent to the size of Yosemite National Park — a transition that could serve a huge blow to the agricultural economy, rural communities and the environment. At the same time, farmers are also facing steep declines in surface water supplies from rivers and melted snowpack, largely driven by climate change, as they learned just this week.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged california, community, land repurposing, landowners, SGMA, sustainability, sustainable groundwater management act, western water, wildlife | Read 1 Response