Growing Returns

Selected tag(s): farming

Carbon markets in agriculture are the next big thing

By Robert Parkhurst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: January 24, 2016

I knew I wanted to focus my career on protecting the world’s great places, says Robert Parkhurst, pictured snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.

In 2006 California passed AB 32, legislation requiring the state’s Air Resources Board to develop market mechanisms to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. It was a watershed moment, and I was lucky enough to be at the event where Governor Schwarzenegger signed the bill.

Even back then I saw the potential for environmental markets to improve climate stability by engaging, rather than penalizing, business. That’s why I’ve spent the past 10 years – seven with electric and information technology companies and the most recent three at Environmental Defense Fund – working to make agricultural GHG reduction programs a reality.

But my passion for conservation started long before passage of AB 32. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I spent nearly all my free time outdoors, largely through Boy Scouts where I became an Eagle Scout. The moment I earned merit badges for water and soil conservation, I knew I wanted to focus my career on solving environmental challenges and protecting the world’s great places. I’ve been extremely fortunate to spend Thanksgiving atop Mount Kilimanjaro, Christmas on the Great Barrier Reef, and New Year’s Eve soaking in the natural beauty of New Zealand.

I believe carbon markets are the best tool we have for limiting emissions from agriculture, maintaining yields, and ensuring a food secure future.

These days my camping excursions involve my son and daughter, who are lobbying me to buy a plug-in electric car. Seeing my kids share that same excitement for solving environmental challenges brings a smile to my face like nothing else can.

That’s why I’m working to build a $2 billion market for agricultural greenhouse gas reductions by the end of 2020. I believe carbon markets are the best tool we have for limiting emissions from agriculture, maintaining yields, and ensuring a food secure future. Read More »

Posted in Carbon Market, Climate Resilience, Supply Chain / Also tagged agriculture, california, California Air Resources Board, Carbon Offsets, Climate, climate change, conservation, ecosystems, environment, environmental defense fund, farmers, farms, fertilizer, food production, GHG mitigation, nutrient efficiency, Partnerships, resiliency, stewardship, sustainable agriculture | Comments are closed

Why grasslands can bring in the green for growers

By Rebecca Haynes / Twitter profile / Published: January 13, 2016

Rebecca Haynes is a High Meadows Fellow with EDF’s Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Markets program.

Next week, hundreds of ranchers, landowners, land trusts, and environmental groups will gather in Stockton, California, for the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition’s annual summit. The event isn’t new, but the enthusiasm from attendees is unprecedented and palpable.

Why such a bustle in the grasses? Because of two recent landmark developments that reward ranchers for avoiding the conversion of grasslands to croplands:

In August, the Climate Action Reserve (one of the offset registries that oversees carbon credit development) approved a new voluntary grasslands protocol that offers payment for conservation activities.
In September, the Climate Action Reserve received a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) from the USDA to create a pilot grasslands project in coordination with EDF. This project will assist participating landowners in generating carbon credits. If adopted by the California Air Resources Board in the future, these credits could be sold in the California cap-and-trade market.

These two developments are part of a rapidly growing trend that offers landowners payments for conservation measures. Protecting grasslands means big wins for the planet and for ranchers, who have been committed partners in conservation and now have the opportunity to receive additional incentives to protect their landscapes. Here’s how it all works. Read More »

Posted in Carbon Market, Climate Resilience, Wildlife Protection / Also tagged california, carbon credit, carbon market, carbon offset, climate change, conservation, cropland, ecosystems, farm, grasslands, grasslands protocol, grazing, greenhouse gases, landowners, Partnerships, rangelands, sustainable agriculture, water quality | Read 2 Responses

Meet the young Smithfield agronomist who’s turning the feed grain industry on its head

By Maggie Monast / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: January 7, 2016

EDF's Katie Anderson (left), Rachel Carr (center), and EDF's Maggie Monast (right) explore how Smithfield can use SUSTAIN in their Midwest sourcing areas.

EDF’s Katie Anderson (left), Rachel Carr (center), and EDF’s Maggie Monast (right) explore how Smithfield can use SUSTAIN in the company’s Midwest sourcing areas.

Forty million acres of U.S. land are dedicated to growing corn for animal feed. That’s roughly the land equivalent of the state of Florida. As the global demand for meat swells, so does the demand for feed grains.

Growing this corn requires a lot of fertilizer, yet up to 50 percent of fertilizer applied is lost, leading to air and water pollution as well as high costs for farmers.

MBGro, an innovative sustainability program developed by Smithfield Foods’ Hog Production Division, is helping solve this problem. MBGro offers free agronomic consultation to farmers, with a goal of keeping more nitrogen in fields and out of waterways, while maximizing profits along the way.

As a story in today’s Farm Journal noted, “Smithfield … hopes 75% of its grain sourcing acreage in the Southeast and Midwest will participate in [MBGro] by 2018.”

At the heart of MBGro is 25-year old agronomist Rachel Carr. I asked Rachel to tell me about her passion for sustainable agriculture, why she believes MBGro is a model for other protein companies, and about how cover crops played a role in her recent engagement. Read More »

Posted in Supply Chain / Also tagged agronomy, animal feed, ecosystems, EDF, feed grains, fertilizer, Murphy Brown, North Carolina, Smithfield Foods, SUSTAIN, sustainable agriculture, United Suppliers | Read 1 Response

Nature inspired my career in conservation, but farmers and family keep me going

By Suzy Friedman / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: December 15, 2015

My husband and 10-year old twins – keeping me dedicated to a sustainable future.

Whether I’m out shopping, preparing a meal for my husband and 10 year-old twins, or visiting a farm with one of our agricultural partners, I’m continually reminded of why I’m so passionate about agriculture. The food supply chain touches all parts of our lives, and my job gives me the opportunity to make sure the farm to plate journey is as sustainable as possible.

Growing up in Connecticut, I spent a lot of time exploring the outdoors and I’ve always had a deep love for animals. Although most of my time in nature is now spent protecting it, I still find the time to run outside every morning before I wake up my kids. Along with all of the farmers and partners I work with, my children – and their cousins (also twins, born on the same exact day as mine) – are the ones keeping me dedicated to building a sustainable future.

Here’s why I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else. Read More »

Posted in Supply Chain / Also tagged agriculture, climate change, conservation, ecosystems, environment, farmers, farms, food production, food security, Partnerships, Princeton, Smithfield, sustainability, sustainable agriculture, United Suppliers, USDA, water quality | 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 Carbon Market, Climate Resilience / Also tagged agriculture, air pollution, big data, Climate Corporation, DuPont, ecosystems, environment, farmers, GHG mitigation, Monsanto, nutrient efficiency, precision agriculture, software, sustainability, sustainable agriculture, technology, Trimble Ag, USDA, water pollution | Read 1 Response

It’s official! Rice farmers now eligible for carbon offset payments

By Robert Parkhurst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: June 25, 2015

Credit: Brian Baer Photography

The door is officially open for crop-based farmers to participate in carbon markets and earn new sources of revenue. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) just approved a new protocol for rice growers, representing the first ever carbon offset protocol for crop-base agriculture in a compliance market.

This means rice growers who implement conservation practices to reduce methane emissions can create and sell a greenhouse gas credit, commonly referred to as a “carbon credit.” Regulated California companies needing to reduce their emissions under California’s cap-and-trade program can now buy rice growers’ carbon credits.

The rice protocol milestone marks a new chapter for sustainable farming and shows the central role agriculture can play in solving the climate challenge.

ARB can now move forward in developing other agricultural offset protocols. The most interesting is a nutrient management protocol that would reward farmers who reduce nitrogen fertilizer losses to the air.

This “fertilizer protocol” has enormous potential for farmers and the environment – more than 400 million acres of cropland could be eligible for participation, and growers could contribute millions of tons of greenhouse gas reductions.

Here’s how the rice protocol works. Read More »

Posted in Carbon Market, Climate Resilience, Wildlife Protection / Also tagged agriculture, Air Resources Board, california, cap and trade, carbon offset, Carbon Offsets, climate change, conservation, credit, crops, data, drought, emissions, fertilizer, growers, methane, nitrous oxide, protocol, rice, rice cultivation, sustainable agriculture, water use, western water | Comments are closed

What a trip to rural Thailand taught this Idaho farmer

By Suzy Friedman / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: April 14, 2015

Dick Wittman and his family in the Chiang Mai region of Thailand.

Last time you went to the grocery store, did you notice that your pineapple was from Costa Rica, your pears from Argentina, your edamame from China, your salmon from Scotland, and your rice from Thailand?

To address the true environmental impacts of agriculture, we’ll need to think beyond our borders. And to alleviate environmental impacts in countries around the globe, we need to first understand the context of farming in these places.

I asked Dick Wittman, who manages a 19,000-acre dry land crop, range cattle and timber operation in northern Idaho and runs a farm consulting business, to tell me what he and his wife learned about farming and environmental challenges on their recent trip to Thailand. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged agriculture, crop, drought, ecosystems, fertilizer, food production, monsoon, nutrient pollution, recycling, rice, soil health, sustainability, sustainable agriculture, thailand | Comments are closed

Collaborative conservation: A ripe example from America’s farms

By Ann Hayden / Bio / Published: February 19, 2015

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been working with farmers and ranchers for more than a decade to transform business as usual by providing incentives for conservation. As EDF’s 2014 strategic plan notes, “we’ve seen some encouraging things.”

EDF staff join farmers and other conservation collaborators in the field to track outcomes for habitats and species.

With proven success in the field, we are now looking to take these programs to scale to boost food production while maintaining profitable farms, a safe environment and healthy people. Read More »

Posted in Carbon Market, Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Also tagged birds, california trout, central valley, central valley habitat exchange, Chinook salmon, conservation, ecosystems, floodplain, garter snake, habitat exchange, habitat. california, john brennan, knaggs ranch, sustainable agriculture, waterfowl | Comments are closed

Farmers know: You can’t manage what you don’t measure

By Maggie Monast / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: December 9, 2014

It is no surprise that information has value in the technology age. A recent article in the New York Times spotlights an Indiana farming family to show how information is shaping 21st century agriculture.

Kip Tom, a seventh-generation farmer, is riding the wave of agricultural consolidation that, since the 1980s, has led to bigger farms, bigger technology, and now, bigger data.

Bigger revenues have come along with this transition. Tom says better data analysis has raised his return on investment over seven percent – from 14 percent to 21.2 percent.

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged agriculture, big data, environment, fertilizer, innovation, nutrient efficiency, Partnerships, sustainable agriculture, United Suppliers, water quality | Comments are closed