Partnerships are the lifeblood of successful conservation programs. The ability to secure funding, design programs, reach and enroll farmers, provide technical support and implementation expertise, and validate outcomes is spread across a spectrum of engaged stakeholders working toward a common goal.

These partnerships allow each of us to achieve more than we could do on our own, and they infuse magnitudes of knowledge and experience into projects that lay the foundation for success. This formula of intentional collaboration spurs innovation, and forming meaningful partnerships is one of the most exhilarating things we do at Trust In Food.

We’ve created the Trust In Food Symposium to be a platform to advance our collective work, and we’re proud to announce our 2024 Trust In Food Symposium will take place Feb. 7-8 at the Loews Kansas City Hotel.

We’re working to make this seventh-annual event the best possible laboratory for ideas, arena for successful case studies and incubator for new partnerships and collaboration. Mark your calendars to engage with the full food and agriculture value chain from R&D companies in agribusiness, precision ag leaders, retailers and implementers to innovative finance and insurance companies, commodity groups and CPGs. Our multidisciplinary audience brings vertically aligned stakeholders together to put real change in motion.

One major theme we’ll be exploring is how to enroll farmers in programs. Hint: It starts with putting farmers and ranchers at the center of everything we do to cultivate value and trust in conservation practices and programs. Producers must have a clear understanding of the financial, agronomic and operational alignment of programs to generate interest and enrollment. We’ll be sharing some of our research and best practices to address one of the biggest needs for conservation ag today.

We’re looking forward to bringing the food and agriculture community together in Kansas City in February. In the meantime, as we continue to build a meaningful experience for attendees, we’d love to hear from you about sessions, speakers and workshops you’d like to be part of.

Your suggestions are encouraged, and you can ping me any time at acole@farmjournal.com. 

Yours in Regenerative Ag,

Amy Skoczlas Cole

President, Trust In Food

By David Frabotta, director of climate-smart content Trust In Food: U.S. Representative Frank Lucas has been one of the strongest voices for farmers in Congress for almost three decades representing parts of 32 Oklahoma counties that constitute almost half of the state’s land and one of the largest agriculture regions in the country. He has had a hand in writing every Farm Bill since 1996, served as Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture from 2011 to 2015 and was pivotal in crafting the landmark 2014 Farm Bill.

Public funding is a valuable tool that helps pave the way to technology investments, technical support and voluntary cost-sharing for conservation practices. Through the years, Lucas has been instrumental in widening access to Farm Bill programs, some of which, like EQIP, often have more demand than funding.

Trust In Food sat down with Rep. Lucas to discuss current Farm Bill negotiations and how he is staying focused on what policies are needed to meet producer needs.

By Tess Wadsworth, 2023 Andy Weber Explore Ag Media Intern, Farm Journal: Vegetable farmer Rachel Summers began her regenerative journey with an actual road trip that started by selling her house and buying a van to travel across the country to work on farms and learn from other producers.

During her two years on the road, she saw agronomic benefits of regenerative agriculture practices, including healthier soils and improved plant health, and she began to see a link between increased consumption of fresh produce and positive human health outcomes, too. Now she’s an everyday part of the formal healthcare system that is increasingly evaluating the economic and health benefits of physician-prescribed produce programs.