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 Climate Resilience / Tagged ag tech, agricultural research, conservation, crop insurance, ecosystem marketplace, ecosystems, farm bill, Farm Journal, farmers, investors, National Corn Growers Association, NCGA, Partnerships, resilience, sustainable agriculture, 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 Climate Resilience, Supply Chain / Tagged Climate, ecosystems, fertilizer, flooding, hog lagoons, hogs, lagoon covers, manure, manure digesters, manure management, open lagoon, Partnerships, rainfall, resilience, Smithfield, Smithfield Foods, sustainable agriculture | Read 3 Responses

How can we reduce losses from coastal storms? Monitor the health of our coasts.

By Natalie Snider / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: October 17, 2018

With a rapidly changing climate and more frequent extreme events like floods and droughts, comprehensive environmental monitoring will be increasingly important for coastal planners, farmers and others invested in natural resource management.

Monitoring efforts can cover the whole spectrum of environmental and socioeconomic concerns to provide a holistic picture of ecosystem health over the short- and long-term. This can help to inform future decisions and planning based on the most recent conditions and trends.

However, it can be difficult to coordinate monitoring efforts across political boundaries and agencies, and monitoring is expensive to maintain over time.

Luckily, Louisiana is already a world leader in utilizing collaborative monitoring data to inform coastal restoration and planning efforts. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged Coast, coastal communities, Coastal Master Plan, Coastal monitoring, coastal resilience, Coasts, Coastwide Reference Monitoring System, CRMS, data, ecosystems, Louisiana, modeling predictions, restoration, risk reduction, SWAMP, System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program | Read 1 Response

Lake Erie cleanup efforts highlight need for market drivers

By Karen Chapman / Bio / Published: October 12, 2018

Every year, blue-green algae in Lake Erie impacts lake tourism and sometimes elevates concentrations of a toxin that can harm human health and impair drinking water. While multiple sources contribute to this nutrient-fueled problem, fertilizer runoff from farms is the largest.

Cleaning up the lake requires farmers’ active participation, and many agricultural conservation partnerships with farmers are underway in the Lake Erie basin. For example, the Lake Erie Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) helps farmers and landowners defray the costs of setting aside land and planting grasses or wildflowers, or creating wetlands to help capture and treat nutrients leaving the farm field.

Photo credit: NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

The first wave of Lake Erie CREP contracts began to expire last month, highlighting a growing vulnerability for this conservation model: how to maintain conservation practices on marginal, less productive or flood-prone acres after the initial contract runs out.

This question is especially urgent for land in sensitive areas that provides disproportionately large ecosystem benefits like water filtration. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged algae, algae bloom, Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, ecosystems, Edwards Aquifer Protection Program, farm bill, fertilizer, Lake Erie, Ohio, Partnerships, public-private partnerships, regional conservation partnership program, runoff, sustainable agriculture, water quality | Read 1 Response

How the next Colorado governor can make good on a key water goal

By Brian Jackson / Bio / Published: October 4, 2018

Colorado voters will soon choose a new governor. Based on the candidates’ campaign statements and policy proposals, both Republican state Treasurer Walker Stapleton and Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis are committed to implementing Colorado’s Water Plan.

They’re both also receptive to a key element of the plan called Alternative Transfer Mechanisms (ATMs). Here’s why that’s a good thing for Colorado. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged agriculture, Alternative Transfer Mechanisms, ATM, colorado, Colorado's Water Plan, governor, irrigation, Jared Polis, Walker Stapleton, western water | Comments are closed

We can solve North Carolina’s manure challenges. Here’s how.

By Maggie Monast / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: October 4, 2018

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

Hurricane Florence caused more than $1.1 billion in agricultural losses, according to the latest estimates from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Row crop losses total nearly $990 million. Livestock, poultry and aquaculture damages total $23 million, and include the deaths of 4.1 million chickens and 5,500 hogs.

Many farmers and friends have confided to me that flooding from Florence has been worse than the flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd, which until now had been North Carolinians’ point of reference for agricultural devastation wrought by too much water. Florence also followed on the heels of 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, which caused flooding that many communities in North Carolina’s coastal plains had only just recovered from.

The losses for farmers, their families and rural communities are staggering. This devastation underscores the need for action. Solutions exist to help the agricultural sector build resilience and long-term prosperity, but the private and public sectors can’t delay implementing them any longer. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged biogas, coastal plains, digester, ecosystems, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, farms, flood, floodplain, hurricane, Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Matthew, lagoons, manure, methane, North Carolina, Optima, pigs, resilience, Smithfield, sustainable agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA | Read 3 Responses

3 urgent steps for North Carolina to build back stronger and smarter

By Will McDow / Bio / Published: October 2, 2018

Hurricane Florence’s arrival so soon after Hurricane Matthew serves as an urgent reminder that new, effective and rapidly implementable solutions are required to meet the challenges of a new normal of extreme weather.

“It’s clear that we’re going to have to build back not only stronger, but smarter. When you have two so-called 500-year floods within a 23-months period, you know we’re not talking about 500-year floods. We’ve got to work to make sure we make smart decisions.”
– North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper after surveying extreme flooding from Hurricane Florence

It’s time to invest in three proven approaches to flood preparedness and economic development so that our communities can bounce forward to a more prosperous, safe and resilient future. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged buyout, climate change, Coasts, ecosystems, extreme weather, flood storage, flooding, governor, Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Matthew, legislature, North Carolina, policy, resilience, roy cooper | Read 1 Response

Coastal communities must plan for the future instead of planning from the past

By Devyani Kar / Published: September 28, 2018

Ecosystem restoration planning has traditionally been based on a desire to restore a system to some historic condition – even as conditions are constantly evolving because of climate change. Rather than planning for the future, we often look back at what the system once was and try to replicate it. But in a rapidly changing world, this model is not sustainable.

A paradigm shift, from restoration projects that solve past problems to those which address future conditions, is necessary if we’re to continue living in coastal areas.

Photo Credit: USGS

Where I work in Louisiana, the Mississippi River Delta is facing an ongoing land loss crisis, due to a host of man-made and natural causes that is further exacerbated by the increasing effects of climate change.

To face this challenge, my Restore the Mississippi River Delta coalition colleagues and I, in collaboration with Tulane University, University of New Orleans and The Water Institute of the Gulf, began an effort to improve the future performance of coastal restoration projects. We started by identifying approaches and investment opportunities that support the long-term viability of the ecosystem – and the communities and industries that depend on it.

It’s our hope that this work will help Louisiana and other coastal areas around the country better plan for the future. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged Coastal Master Plan, coastal protection, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, coastal resilience, Coasts, Louisiana, Louisiana Coastal Master Plan | Comments are closed

Water missed the main stage at the Global Climate Action Summit. It should be front and center.

By Maurice Hall / Bio / Published: September 25, 2018

When thousands converged in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit earlier this month, it was no surprise that the focus centered on reducing emissions.

But as speakers noted at a two-day Water Pavilion, an affiliate event at the summit, the majority of natural disasters and impacts from climate change are related to water – either too much of it (think of those in North Carolina suffering from devastating floods from Hurricane Florence), or too little (as we’ve seen in across the Southwest, with multiple states experiencing record-setting years-long droughts). These extremes are also recurring around the globe, from Hong Kong and the Philippines to Cuba and Australia.

Put simply, water is the blade of climate change that will cut most deeply.

As a result, it’s time to elevate water issues at major climate change events, such as this week’s tenth Climate Week NYC and the UN Conference of Parties climate conference in Poland in December. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged Climate Week NYC, Edward Norton, Global Climate Action Summit, Henk Ovink, International Water Affairs, proposition 68, SGMA, sustainable groundwater management act, UN Conference of Parties, Water Pavilion, western water | Comments are closed

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 Uncategorized / Tagged climate change, conservation, critical habitat, dusky gopher frog, ecosystems, Endangered Species Act, 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