Growing Returns

Selected tag(s): farmers

How to overcome big data’s barriers

By Robert Parkhurst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: October 7, 2015

As I wrote earlier this week, data analytics technology has the potential to dramatically change the way we produce food, making it more abundant and sustainable. But a number of obstacles remain.

Here’s how we can address some of the biggest challenges and hasten ag’s big data revolution for the benefit of people and the planet.

1. Protecting privacy

Many growers have told me they are willing to share data – if they know exactly where it’s going and how it will be used, and if they can benefit from the data analysis that occurs. However, big concerns remain about data being used for regulatory compliance purposes, given to rival farmers, or shared with seed and fertilizer companies that would gain a competitive advantage. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, big data, food production, food security, soil health, sustainability, technology, United Suppliers, USDA | Comments are closed

Ag’s big data explosion can benefit the environment too

By Robert Parkhurst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: October 5, 2015

Credit: United Soybean Board

Almost daily, I see new stories on how agribusinesses, entrepreneurs, and traditional technology companies are making big investments in precision agriculture tools and digital platforms that collect data from farms.

These data include information such as fertilizer rate, prescription accuracy, yield by square foot, seed type, and soil type. When analyzed at a large scale, the data can determine best practices for farm operations to maximize yield and minimize input costs.

This is an exciting trend, with big and small companies alike getting into the data game, and the tools used to collect this data becoming ubiquitous. And although these technologies weren’t necessarily started with sustainability in mind, they have tremendous potential to benefit the environment. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, air pollution, big data, Climate Corporation, DuPont, environment, farming, GHG mitigation, Monsanto, nutrient efficiency, precision agriculture, software, sustainability, technology, Trimble Ag, USDA, water pollution | Read 1 Response

Why one Kansas farmer is leading a soil health revolution

By Sara Kroopf / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 28, 2015

Kansas farmer Gail Fuller

Soil health wasn’t always this sexy. The United Nations has named 2015 the International Year of the Soils, the National Corn Growers Association created the Soil Health Partnership, and the Telegraph newspaper is claiming that we can only ignore the soil crisis for so long, and that “just a handspan of topsoil lies between us and oblivion.”

But Kansas farmer Gail Fuller has been at the forefront of soil health measures since the early 1980s. Just last month, he hosted the fourth annual “Fuller Field School,” a soil health workshop that was attended by growers from across the globe.

I asked Gail, who operates a diversified 1,000 acre farm in Emporia, Kansas, to tell me why soil health is so important for our food system, and why other growers should get on board. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, agronomist, conservation tillage, cover crops, drought, erosion, farms, fertilizer pollution, flood, growers, kansas, no-till, soil health, soil management, sustainability | Comments are closed

3 reasons food companies should track emissions from their supply chains

By Maggie Monast / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 17, 2015

Few professions require as close attention to the weather as farming. Extreme temperatures, floods, drought, and storms are the quickest way for a promising crop to turn into a total loss. That’s why it is surprising that a new report from the environmental data organization CDP shows food companies largely ignore their agricultural supply chains when making climate commitments. Less than 25 percent of the companies reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) data are accounting for indirect emissions from fertilizer, manure, or deforestation.

There are various reasons why so few food companies extend climate commitments to their full supply chains – global supply chains are complex and it can be difficult to trace product components back to their origins.

But failure to account for agricultural emissions is problematic. As the CDP report noted, at least 10 percent of global GHG emissions are unaccounted for, meaning food companies are lacking important insight into climate risks in their supply chains.

Here are three reasons why food companies should invest the time and energy required to take this step: Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, CDP, climate change, emissions, food, food production, GHG mitigation, greenhouse gas, Smithfield Foods, supply chain, transparency | Comments are closed

Why a “Godzilla” El Niño won’t end California’s drought

By Ilissa Ocko / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 9, 2015

The original version of this post appeared on EDF’s Voices blog.

An El Niño advisory is now official, and scientists suggest there is a greater than a 90-percent chance that it will arrive this winter.

They also believe the developing El Niño could become one of the most powerful on record – rivaling its 1997-98 predecessor, which sent California twice as much rain and the Sierra Nevada double the snowpack it usually gets.

So news of another El Niño may sound like a blessing for California farmers, who help make the state the world’s eighth-largest economy, as they suffer through the worst drought in more than a millennium. Read More »

Posted in Water / Also tagged aquifers, california, Climate, drought, El Niño, greenhouse gas emissions, Sierra Nevada, water use | Comments are closed

Powerful business: the lever for change across the ag supply chain

By Elizabeth Sturcken / Bio / Published: September 3, 2015

A longer version of this post was first published on EDF+Business.

Sometimes when a problem seems too big, too ugly and too complex to handle, you need a lever to help move things along. All of the big environmental problems we currently face fall into this category.

When it comes to tackling our planet’s biggest problems, there is a full spectrum of approaches and many different leverage points. A thriving planet and a thriving economy, farmers included, don’t have to be at odds. EDF is focusing on helping businesses make their supply chains cleaner, more efficient and more profitable.

By collaborating with decision makers at every point in the agricultural supply chain – from retailers and food companies to agribusiness and farmers – we are building demand for and increasing the supply of sustainably produced grains.

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, consumer products, deforestation, FedEx, food production, greenhouse gas, McDonald's, supply chain, sustainability, Walmart | Comments are closed

Why wastewater treatment plants are investing in farmers

By Karen Chapman / Bio / Published: September 1, 2015

Wastewater treatment plant. Credit: Flickr user Florida Water Daily.

The Des Moines Water Works lawsuit represents one of the most contentious challenges in modern-day agriculture: who should pay for protecting water quality from excessive nutrient loads?

Excess nutrients in streams and watersheds can cause algae blooms as well as air and water pollution. Whether due to excess fertilizer runoff from agriculture, urban sewage, stormwater runoff, or air depositions of nitrogen, wastewater treatment facilities often bear the primary responsibility of nutrient removal in many watersheds. Under the Clean Water Act, these facilities are charged with cleaning water to a certain standard, which can be increasingly hard to meet – and to pay for – when excess nutrients are present.

But there are some interesting solutions in the works.

I asked Pat Sinicropi, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs at the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), to tell me about the collaborative approach her organization is taking to solve the problem – by working with farmers. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, Clean Water Act, conservation, sewage treatment, sustainable, water, water quality | Comments are closed

Cutting food waste to support farmers and the famished

By Peyton Johnson / Published: August 11, 2015

Surplus food at the Food Donation Connection. Photo Credit: USDA.

Food waste affects more than just our wallets. Approximately one-third of all food produced in the world gets thrown away every year, leading to 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions. At 2.6 trillion pounds, that’s enough sustenance to feed three billion people, or almost all people living in poverty worldwide today.

That’s why, last week, when I attended a Q&A session for ag interns at the U.S. Department of Agriculture with Secretary Tom Vilsack, I was intrigued when a fellow intern asked a question regarding food sustainability and what the U.S. can do to ensure that there will be enough food to feed the 9 billion people expected to populate the world by 2050.

The Secretary’s answer? Reduce food waste.

Posted in Agriculture, Food / Also tagged agriculture, emissions, farm, feeding forward, food, food and agriculture organization of the united nations, food bank, food chain, food companies, food waste, greenhouse gas, grocery store, homeless shelter, poverty, produce, producers, secretary tom vilsack, supply chain, sustainability, sustainable, teens opposing poverty, united states department of agriculture, USDA, waste no food | Read 1 Response

Grasslands protocol opens another carbon market for farmers

By Robert Parkhurst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 10, 2015

Growers with grasslands on their property have a new reason to leave that land untouched.

On July 22, the Climate Action Reserve, a non-profit organization that creates offset standards and serves as one of the offset registries for California’s cap-and-trade program, approved a new protocol that rewards farmers for avoiding the conversion of grasslands to cropland.

The new “grasslands protocol” highlights a growing trend in agriculture: farmers being paid for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, American Carbon Registry, California Air Resources Board, cap and trade, carbon credit, Carbon Offsets, climate action reserve, environmental defense fund, grasslands protocol, greater sage-grouse, greenhouse gas emissions, lesser prairie-chicken, methane, ranchers | Read 1 Response

More reasons to embrace food sustainability

By Suzy Friedman / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: July 13, 2015

Credit: Flickr user Ruben Holthuijsen

There is no shortage of news about the contamination of drinking water sources caused by fertilizer run-off from agriculture. And there is no shortage of regulatory responses to these events: Ohio and Michigan’s commitment to reduce phosphorus levels in Lake Erie by 40 percent; the nitrate lawsuit in Des Moines, Iowa, and Monday’s ruling on the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to enforce total maximum daily load specifications for the Chesapeake Bay.

In addition, food companies wanting to source sustainably grown grains to meet that consumer demand and reduce their own supply chain risks are sending the same signal, further shining the spotlight on the growing demand for improved environmental outcomes from how we produce food.

If farmers can help meet these demands by being increasingly efficient with nutrients and protecting their soils, they will see nearer term benefits and possibly stem future regulations. Here’s why:

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, Des Moines, EPA, farms, food production, Lake Erie, nutrient efficiency, regulation, soil health, SUSTAIN, sustainability, United Suppliers | Comments are closed