Climate change is already impacting farmers, both through extreme weather events and more variability in temperature, rainfall and pests. At the same time, farmers and the broader agricultural system can provide climate solutions and build resilience to reduce climate-related risk.
This dual opportunity has implications for the entire agricultural system, including the agricultural lenders who finance farms. Read More
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
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
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.
This blog was originally posted on Soil Health Partnership’s blog.
When it comes to cover crops, patience combined with realistic expectations is often the name of the game. Unlike the immediate cost savings that often come with conservation tillage, cover crops have annual costs as well as efficiencies and soil health benefits that can take time to achieve.
These are some of the reasons why in our report, Conservation’s Impact on the Farm Bottom Line, we found experienced cover crop users were more profitable when compared to new adopters. Read More
This blog was originally published by Dr. Maria Bowman on Soil Health Partnership’s blog.
When farmers consider implementing a soil health or conservation practice on their farm, one question they inevitably ask is: what will the financial impacts be?
In an effort to answer this question, we recently released Conservation’s Impact on the Farm Bottom Line — a report developed in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund and the agricultural accounting firm K·Coe Isom — to better understand the benefits, opportunities and limiting factors associated with common conservation practices. Read More
Managing risks presented by extreme weather conditions such as heat and drought is a top priority of farmers and policymakers, as researchers predict that higher temperatures and reduced precipitation could reduce yields by up to 30% over the next 50 years.
Farmers are already experiencing these impacts and becoming increasingly dependent on the Federal Crop Insurance Program to manage the resulting yield risks. As of this February, 2020 crop insurance indemnities totaled $7.7 billion, with just over 60% of the average crop insurance premiums covered by the taxpayer. Read More
Soil health practices can provide many public environmental benefits including reduced soil erosion, increased soil organic carbon and improved water quality. However, adoption of soil health practices such as no-till and cover crops only represent 26% and 4% of U.S. farmland respectively.
Still, we know farmers can be rapid adopters of new technologies, including new seed varieties and equipment, when presented with a profitable solution. Read More
Missouri-based ag retailer MFA Incorporated is a regional farm supply and marketing cooperative representing 45,000 farmers and ranchers. It has 130 locations throughout Missouri and in parts of Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas. The co-op’s priority is neither “sales first” nor “conservation first,” but “member success first.”
With this priority in mind, MFA Inc. and three state conservation agencies — Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), Missouri Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Missouri Department of Natural Resources — teamed up to help farmers manage for both profitability and environmental sustainability.
The innovative public-private partnership is featured in a new report prepared for Environmental Defense Fund by Datu Research, Helping Farmers Find Profit and Sustainability: A Case Study of MFA Inc. Shows How Conservation Can Support the Bottom Line. Read More
Climate change poses a multitude of financial risks and financial leaders are increasingly calling for the measurement, disclosure and mitigation of these risks.
The Federal Reserve recently highlighted climate change in its annual financial stability report, warning that climate-driven weather events could cause price instability and other significant financial system vulnerabilities. The Fed’s report adds momentum to a growing wave of attention being paid to climate-related financial risk. Read More
