| | | | | | | | | Spring Fosters Fresh Perspectives For Climate-Smart Agriculture | | | Any row-crop farmer or conservationist knows the arrival of spring means it’s time—past time, really—to put the finishing touches on a busy season of field work. Climate-smart agriculture also has its busy seasons. Right now, organizations across food and agriculture, including ours here at Trust In Food, are hard at work developing project concepts for USDA’s recently announced Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity. In my role here at Trust In Food, one of the highlights of this process has been visiting with people with far more insight and expertise than myself. These leaders have innovative, creative and farmer-centered ideas for reducing the barriers producers face while helping them on their journey toward a climate-smart future. It’s inspiring to see the commitment of leaders across the value chain to helping farmers and ranchers. These fresh perspectives help drive innovation. One example of new ideas driving improvement is represented in our lead story about past and future dairy sustainability investments in Idaho. You’ll find my interview with Idaho Dairymen’s Association CEO Rick Naerebout and Dairy West Vice President Of Sustainability Marissa Watson below. I’m grateful to them for taking time out of their busy schedules to share the leadership and vision of Idaho’s dairy producers. Special thanks to our partners at the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy for bringing us together for the conversation! In that spirit of fresh ideas and productive partnership, I’d also invite you to learn about a new collaboration between our partners at Ducks Unlimited and The Wetlands Initiative to help farmers improve water quality using Smart Wetlands. This topic is of personal interest, as I spent time in my early teens in Colorado volunteering to keep up the small wetland built behind my middle school. These spaces are not only magical to look at but also ecologically vital to the well-being of waterfowl and other creatures that call rural America home. Whatever you are doing this week — whether preparing for planting, gardening or, regrettably, shoveling the (final?) snow of the season — I hope you are able to reflect on the work we are doing in climate-smart agriculture. The momentum is building, and the opportunities for farmers expand every day. Now it’s up to us to help make those new projects, products, services and support a reality for them. Until next week,
Nate Birt
Vice President, Trust In Food™ | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | ‘Smart Wetlands’ to Combat Gulf’s Hypoxia Threats | | | | By David Frabotta, manager of climate-smart ag interactive programming, Trust In Food: Through a new partnership between The Wetlands Initiative (TWI) and Ducks Unlimited (DU), the organizations will combine resources to help Illinois farmers install Smart Wetlands to combat the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxia zone – a “dead zone” of oxygen-depleted water covering more than 5,000 square miles at the Mississippi River Delta. TWI will share years of Smart Wetland modeling and technical know-how, and DU’s engineering teams will help design and implement new farm-based projects. | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | Shared by Drew Slattery, manager and lead, Trust In Beef and Human Dimensions of Change: Millennial customers desire clear, climate-positive claims on their beef, more so than other terms, including "regenerative" and "sustainable." That’s according to Ian McConnel, Director of Sustainability for Tyson Foods Australia and the newly elected President of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. Millennials are 26 to 41 years old and represent the generation with the highest consumption of goods and services in the world. They view climate and carbon as "the world's No. 1 issue" and want to make informed choices on it. "They want to see that we, more broadly as an industry, are sharing in that solution space as well," McConnel says. | | |
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| | | By David Frabotta, manager of climate-smart ag interactive programming, Trust In Food: The FBN Regenerative Agriculture Finance Fund (RAFF) will reward farmers who meet soil health and nitrogen efficiency standards. Benefits will include access to lower loan rates and fees, as well as agronomic insights to optimize the on-farm benefits of regenerative practices. RAFF credit lines will replace traditional operating loans with a one-year line of credit that includes a 0.5% discount from a farmer’s base rate. To qualify, farmers must meet environmental eligibility requirements developed by EDF and backed by peer-reviewed scientific research, including nitrogen management and soil conservation standards. | | |
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| | | By David Frabotta, manager of climate-smart ag interactive programming, Trust In Food: As carbon markets mature and proliferate, greater clarity is emerging on factors such as eligibility, contract terms, measurement and validation. On April 8, join Ecosystem Services Market Consortium, MFA International, Missouri Corn Growers and Missouri Soybean Association to explore one of the fastest growing ancillary revenue streams on the farm. Learn how to prepare your farm, ranch or forested property to participate in carbon markets with producer-focused insights from pilot projects. Register for free. | | |
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