Growing Returns

Selected tag(s): farms

No-till farming can reduce input costs and improve soil health

By Karen Chapman / Bio / Published: January 29, 2015

No-till expert Barry Fisher. Credit: NRCS

Everyone agrees that no-till farming should be used in conjunction with other practices to maximize soil health – but in reality, “no-till” means different things to different people across the agricultural world.

To clarify what exactly is involved in no-till farming, a key topic of discussion at this week’s Soil Health Partnership (SHP) summit in St. Louis, I asked one of Indiana’s leading tillage experts, Barry Fisher, an agronomist and soil health specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, conservation, cover crops, farmers, nutrient efficiency, soil health | Comments are closed

Full Belly Farm: The model for innovation during drought

By Ann Hayden / Bio / Published: January 22, 2015

Full Belly Farm owners in the pepper field

Credit: Paulo Vescia

It’s not always easy to incentivize private landowners to voluntarily implement water efficiency and conservation measures, particularly when there’s a drought. When drought hits, farmers desperately need water to grow thirsty crops and remain profitable. In the near term, it’s a lot easier, as “60 Minutes” recently reported, to keep drilling deeper and deeper to access quickly dwindling groundwater – at any cost.

As the “60 Minutes” story notes, groundwater is like a savings account that should primarily be used in times of need to supplement surface water supplies. With the most severe drought ever on record and surface water supplies at an all-time low, farmers all across California are pumping groundwater in record amounts – putting the state in serious risk of widespread groundwater overdraft.

That’s why the case of Full Belly Farm, a 400-acre, 30-year old certified organic farm located in Northern California – and recent winner of the prestigious Leopold Conservation Award – is especially impressive.

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged #compost, agriculture, california, drought, farmers, food production, food security, soil health, water quality, water use, wildlife | Comments are closed

An agricultural marriage made in heaven: state programs & private sector initiatives

By Eileen McLellan / Bio / Published: January 14, 2015

At last week’s State Ag and Rural Leaders’ summit in Florida, legislators from across the U.S. discussed sustainability initiatives in the food supply chain. The conversations and presentations were informative for all – but what was missing from the conference was discussion about the role the private sector can play in supporting public sustainability initiatives.

State programs to support farmers

State programs can go a long way towards supporting farmers’ conservation efforts without economic downsides (and potentially increased revenues). Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged agriculture, farmers, food production, food security, nutrient efficiency, private sector, sustainability | Read 2 Responses

Setting the table for more sustainable food in 2015

By EDF Staff / Published: December 29, 2014

2014 was a milestone year for sustainable agriculture across the United States and around the world. In the U.S., we saw food companies and agribusiness like United Suppliers step up to the plate to meet Walmart’s new demand for sustainable grains, and EDF’s launch of the new Sustainable Sourcing Initiative. We also saw the launch of the United Nations’ Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, which aims to enable 500 million farmers worldwide to practice sustainable farming.

On the Colorado River, countless stakeholders including U.S. and Mexican policymakers, conservation organizations and farmers came together to orchestrate and witness the Colorado River Delta pulse flow – the temporary release of water across the United States-Mexico border that brought relief and restoration to the dry, empty river delta ecosystem – an historic accomplishment for people and the environment.

Posted in Water / Also tagged agriculture, California Air Resources Board, Carbon Offsets, climate change, compost protocol, food security, GHG mitigation, habitat exchange, water quality, water use | Comments are closed

What is climate-smart agriculture?

By Rebecca Shaw / Bio / Published: September 25, 2014

You may have heard by now about “climate-smart agriculture.” It’s the catchphrase that came out of the United Nations Climate Summit this week and the reason I was in New York to participate in a panel discussion on how to achieve food security for a growing population in a climate-changing world.

More than 20 governments and 30 organizations announced they would join the newly launched Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, which aims to enable 500 million farmers worldwide to practice climate-smart agriculture. This is wonderful. But what does it mean in practice?

My colleagues and I have been asking ourselves this question since the concept was originally introduced by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in 2010. Over the past four years, we’ve done some hard thinking on which practices, precisely, will get us to a point where we can keep pace with the food demands of a growing global population and increase the resiliency of our food systems to the harsh impacts of climate change.

“Growing” habitat can help agriculture and wildlife weather the drought

By Ann Hayden / Bio / Published: September 11, 2014

The California drought is putting the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers at serious risk. Without a reliable water supply, many fields are going fallow. This not only threatens the state’s world-leading agricultural economy, it significantly impacts wildlife species that depend on agricultural lands for survival.

A pioneering program under development in California’s Central Valley, however, may offer farmers and wildlife some relief. It’s called the Central Valley Habitat Exchange, and while it wasn’t conceived for the express purpose of helping growers in times of drought, it can reward producers who provide habitat by growing less water-intensive crops. Here’s how.

Read More »

Posted in Agriculture, Water / Also tagged agriculture, alfalfa, American Rivers, Audubon, California drought, Chinook salmon, food production, habitat, rice, sandhill crane, Swainson's hawk, Trout Unlimited, water use, wildlife | Comments are closed

Climate change a risky business for America’s agriculture

By Rebecca Shaw / Bio / Published: June 30, 2014

Economists estimate that Texas’ continuing drought has cost farmers up to $8 billion so far. [ScottOlsson/Getty]

Nobody escapes climate change, especially not farmers.

The report released this week by a group of prominent and politically diverse business leaders and public officials stood out, in part, because of the alarming losses it forecasts for America’s agricultural industry.

This matters to all of us, because commodity agriculture is big business in the United States, putting food on our plates every single day.

Read More »

Posted in Agriculture / Also tagged climate change, climate report, cover crops, crop yields, drought, food production, no-till, rebecca shaw, riparian buffer, risky business, wetland buffer | Comments are closed