Pexels
By Claire O'Connor
Agriculture is on the front lines of climate change. Whether it's the a seven-year drought drying up fields in California, the devastating Midwest flooding in 2019, or hurricane after hurricane hitting the Eastern Shore, agriculture and rural communities are already feeling the effects of a changing climate. Scientists expect climate change to make these extreme weather events both more frequent and more intense in coming years.
<p>Agriculture is also an important — in fact a <em>necessary </em>— <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/melanie-sturm/stewardship-wetlands-and-soils-has-climate-benefits" target="_blank">partner in fighting climate change</a>. The science is clear: We cannot stay beneath the most dangerous climate thresholds without sequestering a significant amount of carbon in our <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soils</a>.</p>
<p>Agricultural soils have the potential to sequester, relatively inexpensively, 250 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gasses annually — <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gases-equivalencies-calculator-calculations-and-references" target="_blank">equivalent to the annual emissions of 64 coal fired power plants</a>, according to National Academy of Sciences.</p><p>But we can't get there without engaging farmers, turning a source of emissions into a carbon sink. Here are just a few of the ways the Natural Resources Defense Council works to encourage climate-friendly farming: </p><ul> <li><strong>Creating New Incentives for Cover Crops: </strong>Cover crops are planted in between growing seasons with the specific purpose of building soil health. Despite their multiple agronomic and environmental benefits, adoption is low — only about <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lara-bryant/good-news-about-cover-crops-census-agriculture" target="_blank">7%</a> of U.S. farmland uses cover crops. NRDC is working to scale up cover cropping through innovative incentives delivered through the largest federal farm subsidy: crop insurance. We've worked with partners in <a href="https://www.cleanwateriowa.org/covercropdemo" target="_blank">Iowa </a>and <a href="https://farmland.org/let-us-celebrate-illinois-department-of-agriculture-accepts-the-crop-insurance-reward-program-for-cover-crops/" target="_blank">Illinois</a> to launch programs that give farmers who use cover crops $5/acre off of their crop insurance bill. And partners in Minnesota and Wisconsin are exploring similar options. While we're delighted at the benefit this program has for farmers in those individual states, we're even more excited about the potential to scale this program to the 350 million acres that <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/resources/covering-crops-how-federal-crop-insurance-program-reforms-can-reduce-costs-empower-farmers" target="_blank">utilize subsidized crop insurance</a> nationwide. A recent study suggests that cover crops <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/11/eaat1869" target="_blank">sequester</a> an average of .79 tons of carbon per acre annually, making cover crops one of the pillars of climate-friendly farming systems.</li></ul><ul> <li><strong>Supporting Carbon as a New "Agricultural Product": </strong>Championed by Senator Ron Wyden, the 2018 Farm Bill created a new program, the Soil Health Demonstration Trial, that encourages farmers to adopt practices that improve their soil health, and tracks and measures the outcomes. NRDC worked alongside our partners at <a href="https://www.e2.org/events/carbon-removal-a-new-american-agricultural-product-how-carbon-farming-and-building-soil-health-will-fight-climate-change/" target="_blank">E2</a> and a number of commodity groups, farmer organizations, and agribusinesses to secure passage of this provision. The Demonstration Trial will create a new, reliable income stream — farmers will get paid for the carbon they sequester regardless of how their crops turn out, and it builds the data needed for confidence in any <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lara-bryant/spring-has-come-soil-carbon-markets" target="_blank">future carbon markets</a>. USDA recently announced the first round of awards under this new program, totaling over <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/programs/financial/cig/?cid=nrcseprd1512816" target="_blank">$13 million</a> in investments to improve soil health. Senator Cory Booker has since drafted legislation that would increase funding for the program nearly 10-fold to $100 million annually; Representative Deb Haaland released a companion bill in the House.</li></ul><ul> <li><strong>Scaling up Regenerative Agriculture:</strong> <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/ellen-lee/digging-deeper-regenerative-agriculture" target="_blank">Regenerative agriculture</a> is an approach to farming that looks to work with nature to rebuild the overall health of the system. Regenerative farmers use a variety of tactics, including reduced chemical inputs, diverse crop and livestock rotations, incorporating compost into their systems, and agroforestry, among others. Our team is in the midst of interviewing regenerative farmers and ranchers to learn more about what's working for them and what challenges they've faced in their shift to a regenerative approach. We're planning to analyze our interview results and combine them with a literature review to identify what role NRDC could potentially play in helping to scale up regenerative farming and ranching systems. We'll also be sharing quotes and photos from our interviews on social media every Friday starting in January, so stay tuned for some inspiring farm footage!</li></ul><ul> <li><strong>Supporting Organic Farmers: </strong>Organic agriculture by design reduces greenhouse gas emissions, sequesters carbon in the soil, does not rely on energy-intensive chemical inputs, and builds resiliency within our food system. Practices integrated into organic production will become increasingly more important in the face of a changing climate. NRDC supports organic farmers through policy initiatives like <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/allison-johnson/organic-means-healthy-people-and-healthy-soils" target="_blank">the Organic Farm-to-School program</a> that was introduced in the California legislature last year. In the coming year, we'll continue to work to support organic farmers in California.</li></ul><ul><li><strong>Reducing Food Waste:</strong> Food waste generates nearly 3% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and NRDC is working hard to reduce that number, and improve soil health in the process. Some of our policy proposals include securing passage of <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/nrdc/confused-food-date-labels-congress-aims-set-them-straight" target="_blank">date labelling legislation</a> to eliminate confusion about whether food is still good to eat, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/food-matters" target="_blank">working with cities</a> to reduce waste and increase rescue of surplus food, and supporting efforts at all levels to increase <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/composting-way-easier-you-think" target="_blank">composting</a> of food scraps. Adding compost to soils improves their ability to sequester carbon, store nutrients, and retain water. Composting food scraps also helps to "close the loop" on organic matter and nutrients by returning them to the agricultural production cycle, rather than sending that organic material to landfills, where it generates methane (a powerful climate pollutant).</li></ul><p>Climate-friendly farming also offers a host of important co-benefits. For example, when farmers use complex crop rotations to break weed, pest, and disease cycles, they can reduce the amount of synthetic chemicals they need to use. When they use practices like <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lara-bryant/climate-change-wreaking-havoc-farms-cover-crops-can-help" target="_blank">cover crops</a>, no-till, and adding compost to protect and restore the soil, they reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers that emit greenhouse gasses. And when farmers can reinvest the oppressive amount of money they had been previously spending on expensive, synthetic inputs into the additional labor required to carbon farm, they bring new jobs to economically-depressed rural areas.</p><p>Farmers understand better than many of us the harsh realities of climate change, regardless of their opinions about what's causing those changes. And tight margins and trade wars make the potential of new value streams particularly attractive for farmers right now. By working alongside the farmers and farmworkers who tend the land, we can bring new allies into the fight against climate change, restore the health of our soil, and create a healthy, equitable, and resilient food system.</p>
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Wesley Martinez Da Costa / EyeEm / Getty Images
By David R. Montgomery
Would it sound too good to be true if I was to say that there was a simple, profitable and underused agricultural method to help feed everybody, cool the planet, and revitalize rural America? I used to think so, until I started visiting farmers who are restoring fertility to their land, stashing a lot of carbon in their soil, and returning healthy profitability to family farms. Now I've come to see how restoring soil health would prove as good for farmers and rural economies as it would for the environment.
<p>Over the past several years, I drove through small towns from Ohio to the Dakotas visiting farmers to research <em>Growing A Revolution</em>, my book about restoring soil fertility through regenerative <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/farming">farming</a> practices. Along the way, I saw a microcosm of the national economy in which run-down farms and hollowed-out towns stood in stark contrast to farms and communities thriving with renewed vitality.</p>
<p>These revitalized farms came in all sizes — hand-worked three-acre vegetable farms to horizon-spanning ranches where enormous remote-controlled contraptions seemingly cast out of Star Wars seeded and harvested fields with GPS-guided precision. Yet it was not size or technology that distinguished these places, but how they worked the land.</p><p>After the Second World War, an expanded reliance on chemicals boosted the yields from soils degraded during decades of intensive farming. At the same time, American farmers increasingly specialized in and became very good at growing a large amount of a small selection of crops. This newfound bounty manifest as a surplus of corn, wheat, and other agricultural commodities. Over time, this drove down the price farmers got for their harvest as the cost of fertilizer, diesel, and pesticides rose — squeezing farmers in the middle.</p><p>From 1960 to 1970 <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/2532/corn-prices-historical-chart-data" target="_blank">corn prices</a> rose from just over $1 to $2 a bushel — the equivalent of about $8 in inflation adjusted dollars today. In 2019, however, corn prices have stayed around $4 a bushel, so farmers are getting half of the real income for growing the same harvest as they did when we put a man on the Moon. At the same time the inflation-adjusted <a href="http://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-chart" target="_blank" title="">price of a barrel of oil tripled</a> from about $20 in 1970 to more than $60 today. Over the same period, global fertilizer prices <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/fertilizer-and-pesticides" target="_blank">roughly doubled</a>. Today's conventional farmers spend a lot more to grow crops they can sell for far less than their grandparents did.</p>
<p>The mantra became "get big or get out" as the average size of American farms grew. The number of farms declined as smaller ones were consolidated or went out of business. Small towns struggled to retain people, and economic vitality declined in rural areas as a smaller population supported fewer services and local businesses. Driving through America's heartland today, it's hard to miss the fallout: shuttered stores, closed restaurants, and half-vacant mini-malls.</p><p>Interviewing farmers who had already improved their soil, I found hope that we might turn around this almost century-long trend and economically revitalize rural America. Their practices not only restored soil health, but returned profitability to family farms in the span of a few years, as opposed to the decades you would expect.</p><p>If we restore soil health and save farmers substantial input costs, we can restore smaller farms as a means to a secure living and revive the economic viability of farming communities across small town America.</p><p>So how did those farmers do it?</p><p>The successful regenerative farmers I visited all combined three unconventional practices that cultivate beneficial soil life: They parked their plows, planted cover crops, and grew complex crop rotations. Some also reintroduced livestock to their fields, employing a shifting mosaic of single-wire electric fences to frequently move cattle and implement regenerative grazing methods. These farmers were rethinking how they saw and treated their land.</p><p>This combination of unconventional practices — no till, cover crops, and complex rotations — allowed farmers to use far less fertilizer, pesticide, and diesel to grow and harvest as much, if not more, than they did growing one or two crops under conventional farming practices. At conferences, other farmers related how it took just a couple of years for this new farming system to rebuild soil fertility enough to become more profitable than neighboring conventional farms. From then on, these regenerative farmers spent less money to grow more, a surefire recipe for a better bottom line. </p>
<p>I could see the difference around the countryside. In parts of the Dakotas where no-till and cover crops had been widely adopted, the landscape was dotted with new grain silos and barns. Shiny new pickup trucks streamed by on the roads. But in counties where black dirt fields still marred the view, things looked worn down and worn out, and topsoil blew across the highway. In Kansas, I was struck by the contrast between bright, well-maintained equipment dealerships in counties that had gone no-till, and sad lots of rusting gear in those counties still hitched to the plow.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/regenerative-agriculture">Regenerative agriculture</a> is not just about restoring the life of the soil. By making smaller farms profitable once again, it could bring more people back to the land and thereby boost the economy in small towns across America. </p><p>You don't have to take my word for all this.</p><p>These points are backed up by a recent paper by Claire LaCanne and Jonathan Lundgren who <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/4428/" target="_blank">compared regenerative and conventional corn fields</a> on 20 farms in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. They ranked farms from most regenerative to most conventional based on whether farmers tilled, planted cover crops, used insecticides or other pesticides, and let cattle graze off cover crops and crop stubble. They then divided them into two groups of fields: regenerative fields that were not tilled, received no insecticides, and included livestock grazing; and conventional fields that were tilled at least annually, regularly received insecticides, and had bare soil in between cash crops.</p><p>For each field, LaCanne and Lundgren measured the amount of organic matter in the soil, pest insect populations, corn yield, expenses, and profit. What they found directly contradicts key tenets of conventional agriculture. They found that pest insects (such as corn rootworms, European corn borers, Western bean cutworm, other caterpillars, and aphids) were 10 times as abundant on conventional farms that used insecticides than on farms that relied on regenerative, pest-resilient cropping systems with no insecticides. The lower pest abundance in regenerative fields was likely due to competition from greater insect diversity, and because insecticide use kills predatory insects (like ladybugs) capable of keeping pests in check. This becomes a problem because pest populations rebound before their predators.</p>
<p>LaCanne and Lundgren also found that regenerative corn fields were almost twice as profitable as conventionally managed corn fields due to lower seed and fertilizer costs, a price premium if the crops are organic, and the added value of cover crop grazing for meat production on the regenerative fields. The profitability was unrelated to grain yield, but positively correlated with soil organic matter. In other words, restoring soil paved the way to restoring farm profitability. A profitable farm was less about how much the farmer grew and more about how they treated their soil.</p><p>Other studies have also found higher economic returns from adding cover crops to no-till systems in order to improve soil health. One example comes from a four-year study of the <a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/cover-crops/cover-crop-economics" target="_blank">economic impacts of cover crops</a> conducted by the National Association of Conservation Districts and Datu Research on a farm in northwestern Missouri. Over the course of the study, cover crops averaged a positive return of $16 per acre among all fields, and reached up to $100 an acre in some places. The cost of cover crop seeds and planting was more than offset by lowering fertilizer costs by up to $50 per acre, increasing corn yields from 120 bushels to 153 bushels per acre, and raising soybean yields from 38 bushels to 52 bushels per acre.</p><p>Such results are not an anomaly. In 2019, the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program released a report on <a href="https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Bulletins/Cover-Crop-Economics/Text-Version-of-Cover-Crop-Economics" target="_blank">cover crop economics</a> based on data from several hundred farms that concluded cover crops generally provide a positive return within three years and that profit margins continued to grow for at least seven years. Corn and soybean yields were consistently higher in cover cropped fields, especially in drought years. Such examples show that spending less to grow more is a winning combination for farmers.</p><p>Whether on large commodity crop operations or on small boutique farmsteads supplying farmers markets and restaurants, the key to a more profitable farm lay in the health of the soil. And we need more small farms near cities to provide fresh foods and vegetables, much as we need regenerative grain and dairy and grazing farther afield. Bringing life back to the soil can help farm profitability across America's rural landscapes. It's time to reverse and revise the "get big or get out" mentality to "get small and get back in." Restoring the soil on smaller, more profitable farms holds the key to restoring rural communities.</p><p>The soil is the historical root of American prosperity, the foundation of our country. But since the American Revolution, our nation's soils have lost <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/3/2936" target="_blank">half their organic matter</a> — half their natural fertility. Policies that promote efforts to rebuild healthy soils offer fertile ground to help restore prosperity to family farms and farming communities. Reinvesting in our soils is a natural infrastructure program, <a href="https://theconversation.com/restoring-soil-can-help-address-climate-change-121733" target="_blank">a sound investment</a> in the foundation and future of America. This would not only put a lot of carbon in the ground, it would reduce the environmental damage from agrochemical use and help bring life back to the land and rural communities. Having more people on the land isn't the problem, it's the solution.</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/soil-farm-health-rural-community-20191018" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2641025788#/" target="_self"></a></em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Iowa’s Farmers – and American Eaters – Need a National Discussion on Transforming U.S. Agriculture
16 October 2019
Insights + Opinion
Strips of native prairie grasses planted on Larry and Margaret Stone's Iowa farm protect soil, water and wildlife. Iowa State University / Omar de Kok-Mercado, CC BY-ND
By Lisa Schulte Moore
Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses bring the state a lot of political attention during presidential election cycles. But in my view, even though some candidates have outlined positions on food and farming, agriculture rarely gets the attention it deserves.
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-6bpfYUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao" target="_blank">scientist</a> at <a href="https://www.iastate.edu/" target="_blank">Iowa's land-grant university</a>, I believe our state is at the forefront of redefining what <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture" target="_self">agriculture</a> could be in the U.S., and addressing environmental and economic challenges associated with the extensive monocultures that dominate our current system. I think these conversations should be at the forefront nationally. After all, everyone needs to eat, so all Americans have a stake in the future of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/farming" target="_self">farming</a>.</p>
<h2>As Iowa Farms, so Farms the Nation</h2><p>Iowa is a <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=IOWA" target="_blank">leading global producer</a> of corn, soy, pork, beef, eggs, ethanol, biodiesel, biochemicals and agricultural technology. Because it is home to just <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/IA" target="_blank">3.2 million people</a>, Iowa farmers export the vast majority of what they produce. Most multinational agricultural businesses have Iowa offices, and the state also has considerable influence on U.S. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-2018-farm-bill-means-for-urban-suburban-and-rural-america-89605" target="_blank">farm bill</a> legislation.</p><p>Iowans are also acutely aware of the challenges of modern agriculture, which affect their lands and livelihoods. They include <a href="https://theconversation.com/make-our-soil-great-again-76242" target="_blank">soil degradation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-diet-contributes-to-nutrient-pollution-and-dead-zones-in-lakes-and-bays-118902" target="_blank">water contamination</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-flood-risks-increase-across-the-us-its-time-to-recognize-the-limits-of-levees-118326" target="_blank">flooding</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-climate-change-report-underscores-the-need-to-manage-land-for-the-short-and-long-term-121716" target="_blank">loss of carbon</a> and habitat for native species.</p><p>Farmers understand these effects, and many are actively working to <a href="https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/15093" target="_blank">reduce them</a>, as <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/can-sustainable-farming-save-iowas-precious-soil-and-water" target="_blank">operational, financial and social conditions allow</a>. One example in which I am involved is the <a href="https://www.nrem.iastate.edu/research/STRIPS/" target="_blank">STRIPS project</a>, in which scientists, farmers, land owners and others are partnering to test the effects of seeding narrow strips with native prairie plants within and around corn and soybean fields.</p><p>Over the last 13 years, we have shown that prairie is a valuable tool for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620229114" target="_blank">protecting water supplies and providing habitat for wildlife</a>, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pollinators" rel="noopener noreferrer">pollinators</a>. Planting just 10% of farm fields – often in the least productive zones – with stiff-stemmed native prairie grasses helps hold water and sediment in place, reducing erosion and nutrient loss from fields. The strips also contain flowering plants that support birds and insects, including pollinators and natural enemies of crop pests.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a61e0b29b2957ae50d10c55c24889049"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fo13YXQY-QI?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>This approach can turn <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014009" target="_blank">low-yielding acres</a> into an opportunity to reduce use of inputs such as fertilizer and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides">pesticides</a>. Today there are nearly 600 acres of prairie strips on about 5,000 acres of cropland on 66 farms across in six Midwestern states. My colleagues and I expect these numbers to grow dramatically now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ia/newsroom/features/STELPRDB1143858/" target="_blank">supporting prairie strips as a conservation tool</a>.</p><p>Iowa State University scientists are working with industry to create <a href="https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2018/10/30/nitrogensensors" target="_blank">sensors</a> and <a href="https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/facts/" target="_blank">computer models</a> that enable farmers to manage their fields for improved outcomes. They also are developing <a href="https://news.engineering.iastate.edu/2019/09/12/isu-researchers-to-study-blockchain-technology-to-improve-sustainability-in-food-markets/" target="_blank">supply chain tracking systems</a> that will allow consumers to use a phone app to get information about the farm that grew or raised a product before they purchase it.</p><p>Many groups are involved in these efforts. The Iowa chapter of <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/iowa/" target="_blank">The Nature Conservancy</a> is working with agricultural retailers on <a href="https://www.4rplus.org/" target="_blank">improving fertilizer management</a>. Collaborations of farmers, crop breeders and food suppliers – facilitated by organizations like <a href="https://practicalfarmers.org/" target="_blank">Practical Farmers of Iowa</a> – are fueling a renaissance in the production of small grains like oats and rye.</p>
<h2>Speeding up the Transition</h2><p>A decade ago, my colleagues and I brought national, state and local leaders together for a <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss1/art10/" target="_blank">dialogue on the future of Iowa agriculture</a>. While we did not capture all the details, we largely anticipated this gradual shift toward more economically and environmentally sustainable farming methods.</p><p>As we see it, macro-scale forces are driving this transition. Global commodity markets reward efficient production, requiring farmers to do more with less. Americans are <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/232007/americans-want-government-more-environment.aspx" target="_blank">demanding stronger action</a> to protect the environment. Federal farm policies are increasingly encouraging <a href="https://www.usda.gov/topics/conservation" target="_blank">conservation</a> and <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/" target="_blank">soil health</a>. And new technologies are enabling farmers to <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2016/december/precision-agriculture-technologies-and-factors-affecting-their-adoption/" target="_blank">seed and treat crops more precisely</a> and reduce harmful impacts such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/reducing-water-pollution-with-microbes-and-wood-chips-58852" target="_blank">nutrient pollution</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As a member of Practical Farmers of Iowa, you are supporting a future where diverse farms work with nature for mutual benefits, and communities are alive with healthy food and strong connections between farmers and non-farmers.<br><br>Join today: <a href="https://t.co/dR5D45aA7M">https://t.co/dR5D45aA7M</a> <a href="https://t.co/8BlehgBALT">pic.twitter.com/8BlehgBALT</a></p>— Practical Farmers (@practicalfarmer) <a href="https://twitter.com/practicalfarmer/status/1178729974238502913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>I believe a much brighter future is possible if government officials, agricultural businesses and farm, commodity and environmental organizations can unite around a transformative goal. For example, the national, state and local leaders we gathered to discuss the future of Iowa agriculture proposed an initiative to <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss1/art10/" target="_blank">double the full value – monetary and non-monetary</a> – of our state's agricultural economy over 25 years.</p><p>With widespread support, such an effort could usher in a new era of economic and environmental wealth in Farm Belt states. It would start with investing in <a href="https://theconversation.com/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-of-the-land-again-110570" target="_blank">regenerative systems</a> – farming methods that produce agricultural goods and services while also improving soil and water resources, unique habitats and pastoral countrysides. And it would require simultaneous investments in rural infrastructure, new businesses and local and regional markets.</p>
<h2>An Alternative Future</h2><p>What would this transformed system look like? By the 2028 Iowa caucuses, dynamic public-private partnerships of farmers, landowners and others could be working to increase crop diversity and rotations, expand conservation practices and develop necessary markets and infrastructure, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/reaching-rural-america-with-broadband-internet-service-82488" target="_blank">rural broadband</a>.</p><p>More farmers would be planting cover crops like winter rye to help their fields retain nutrients, <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/" target="_blank">improve soil health</a> and control weeds. Those who raise corn and soybeans could partner with neighboring livestock producers to grow <a href="https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Building-Soils-for-Better-Crops-3rd-Edition/Text-Version/Cover-Crops/Types-of-Cover-Crops" target="_blank">winter crops</a> for grazing, leaving fewer fields bare.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMTk5NzUwNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MzM4MTkyMn0.drxZ4X2U9AGJY0obdhZe4Auv99Rc-Zfpk2s05c_Zw3E/img.jpg?width=980" id="5141f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5d9bb95c38369ed0f7437b60a738d161" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Cattle grazing on cover crops in Sac County, Iowa. NRCS / SWCS / Lynn Betts
<p>Surveys show that Americans are willing to pay for initiatives that <a href="https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/soc_las_reports/1/" target="_blank">provide multiple benefits from farmlands</a>. Reinvestments in agriculture, renewable energy, rural development and conservation programs could be funded philanthropically and through the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-2018-farm-bill-means-for-urban-suburban-and-rural-america-89605" target="_blank">U.S. farm bill</a>.</p><p>By the 2048 caucuses, Iowa and other farm states where farmers mainly raise commodity crops like corn and soybeans could be producing a wide variety of goods and services, including annual and perennial grains, fiber and biomass crops, livestock, wind and solar energy, ethanol, biodiesel, fruits, vegetables, nuts and hops. Managing farm landscapes for carbon, nutrients, water and wildlife could be as central to farming as crop management is today.</p><p>Easy access to rural broadband, plus advances in <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25059/science-breakthroughs-to-advance-food-and-agricultural-research-by-2030" target="_blank">sensors, artificial intelligence and robotics</a>, would enable highly precise nutrient management, pest and disease control and manure handling.</p><p>Small towns could be ringed with <a href="https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2019/08/22/middlebrook-iowa-agrihood-cumming-des-moines-country-rural-urban-real-estate-home-purchase-land-farm/2062279001/" target="_blank">agrihoods</a> – planned communities built around working farms and community gardens. They would be vibrant and desirable places to live, offering high-tech jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, an affordable cost of living and outdoor recreation opportunities.</p>
<h2>A National Conversation</h2><p>Agriculture is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.12.007" target="_blank">always changing</a>. U.S. elected leaders hold substantial influence over this process through their public platforms and ability to make policy.</p><p>A decade ago, my colleagues and I saw a choice for U.S. agriculture: incremental improvement, or a push for transformational change that would improve communities and landscapes in farm country. The incremental approach is not moving quickly enough, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-of-americas-rural-areas-are-doomed-to-decline-115343" target="_blank">rural communities and landscapes are suffering</a> as a result.</p><p>Tranformational change could look like the future I have described. How do we make it happen? Iowa and other farm states are ready for that conversation.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"We know that to solve the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/climate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#climate</a> crisis, business as usual will not cut it. Not in electricity production. Not in industry. Not in transportation. And certainly not in agriculture." <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EcoWatch</a> <a href="https://t.co/dmpuyeIRZe">https://t.co/dmpuyeIRZe</a></p>— Dr. Bronner's (@DrBronner) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrBronner/status/1153691503459332096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<em>Lisa Schulte Moore is a professor of natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State University.<br/>
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Disclosure statement: Lisa Schulte Moore has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (FSA, NIFA, SARE), the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, Walton Family Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Iowa State University, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, USDA Forest Service, National Science Foundation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bayer Crop Science, The Nature Conservancy, Syngenta, Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance, DuPont-Pioneer, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Ornithological Union, and Iowa Native Plant Society. She is on the boards of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and Iowa Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.<br/>
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<em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/iowas-farmers-and-american-eaters-need-a-national-discussion-on-transforming-us-agriculture-114902" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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New Initiative Aims to Mobilize the Restaurant Industry to Fight Climate Change
09 October 2019
Food
A Buddha bowl vegan meal with kale, quinoa, green sprouts and season greens. fortyforks / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Lindsay Campbell
Anthony Myint believes that you can use food to fight climate change.
The San Francisco chef has a new project in the works. In January, Myint hopes to formally launch Restore California, a joint initiative with the State of California that will enlist the golden state's restaurant industry to support climate-beneficial farming practices.
<p>"If you can imagine a scientist at Exxon discovering a fuel additive that made it so burning gas had no emissions and in fact it subbed emissions out of the atmosphere to make more gas, that would be an amazing discovery," Myint says. "In some ways, it feels like food and farming are actually offering that same opportunity to actually solve and reverse the problem and almost nobody is aware of it or taking advantage of that opportunity."</p><p>Participating restaurants will add an optional one-percent surcharge to customer's bills. Customers will be able to choose whether to pay the surcharge, and these funds will go directly to Californian farmers implementing practices that will sequester carbon.</p><p>Myint says there are better ways to farm, but he believes the current food system rewards conventional practices.</p><p>So far, he's had 33 restaurants join the initiative. But he says he's aiming to get one percent of California's restaurants to sign up for the surcharge in its first year. He estimates this would generate about $10 million a year to help farmers sequester carbon.</p><p>Restore California will offer a funding boost to the state's Healthy Soil Program, which already pays farmers to implement practices that improve <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soil</a> health, sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Myint says that the program hasn't yet received sufficient funding to make an impact.</p><p>He's hopeful that if his initiative takes off, it will certainly benefit state efforts.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">An interesting idea: A new initiative asks restaurants that opt into the program to add a 1% surcharge (a voluntary fee) to each bill. The money will go to a state fund supporting sustainable agricultural practices that reduce <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GHGemissions?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GHGemissions</a>. <a href="https://t.co/RJOLcak65x">https://t.co/RJOLcak65x</a></p>— Center 4 Food Safety (@CFSTrueFood) <a href="https://twitter.com/CFSTrueFood/status/1123320488443301888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2019/10/new-initiative-aims-to-mobilize-the-restaurant-industry-to-fight-climate-change/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Modern Farmer</a>.</em></p>
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Water protectors of all persuasions gathered in talking circles at Borderland Ranch in Pe'Sla, the heart of the sacred Black Hills, during the first Sovereign Sisters Gathering. At the center are Cheryl Angel in red and white and on her left, Lyla June. Tracy Barnett
By Tracy L. Barnett
Sources reviewed this article for accuracy.
For Sicangu Lakota water protector Cheryl Angel, Standing Rock helped her define what she stands against: an economy rooted in extraction of resources and exploitation of people and planet. It wasn't until she'd had some distance that the vision of what she stands for came into focus.
<p>"Now I understand that sustainable sovereign economies are needed to replace the system we support with our purchasing power," she said. "Our ancient teachings have all of those economies passed down in traditional families."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDY2NTA1Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjA5MTM0MH0.6jWWsl2idJhvGV8ZVjWAQX883hbmBSVbjWweJpG8b6c/img.jpg?width=980" id="84ccc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fa9c5224cada80976996c078d534bb79" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Tracy Barnett <p>Together with other front-line leaders from Standing Rock, including Lakota historian LaDonna Brave Bull Allard and Diné artist and activist Lyla June (formerly Lyla June Johnston), Angel began acting on this vision in June at Borderland Ranch in Pe'Sla, the grasslands at the heart of the Black Hills in South Dakota. Nearly 100 Indigenous water protectors and non-Indigenous allies met there for one week to take steps to establish a sovereign economy.</p><p>The first annual Sovereign Sisters Gathering brought together women and their allies to talk about how to oppose the current industrialized economy and establish a new model, one in which Indigenous women reclaim and reassert their sovereignty over themselves, their food systems and their economies.</p><p>"When did we as a people lose our self-empowerment? When did we wait for a government to tell us whether or not we could have health care? When did we wait for them to feed us?" Allard asked. "When did we wait for laws and policies to be created so that we could have a community? When did that happen?</p><dl><dd></dd></dl>
Cheryl Angel leads a group on pilgrimage at Black Elk Peak, one of four Lakota sacred sites that were visited during the Sovereign Sisters Gathering.
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDY2NTA1NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTYyODcxNn0.dpL5h9IfaLEkR8VS99qya4NPx1hwt1cyUc91MMi2m4g/img.jpg?width=980" id="389fa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f04798ab0dbb511de1ab0dce8fd7ffc0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Sovereign Sisters drove to Rapid City, South Dakota during the gathering to join a protest and court hearing of the Riot Booster Act, a bill introduced by Governor Kristi Noem aimed at criminalizing pipeline protestors.
Tracy Barnett
<p>"We've given our power over to an entity that doesn't deserve our power," she added, referencing the modern corporate industrial system. "We must take back that empowerment of self. We must take back our own health care. We must take back our own food. We must take back our families. We must take back our environment. Because you see what's happening. We gave the power to an entity, and the entity is destroying our world around us."</p><p>Allard, June and Angel shared a bit about the work they've been doing to establish sovereignty, each in her own way, since the Standing Rock encampments.</p>LaDonna Brave Bull Allard: Planting Seeds
<p>As the woman who established the first water protector encampment at Standing Rock — called Sacred Stone Camp —and issued a call for support that launched a movement, Allard learned a lot about sovereignty and empowerment during the battle against the Dakota Access pipeline.</p><p>As the camps began to dismantle in the last weeks of the uprising, she frequently fielded the question: "What do we do now?"</p><p>Allard's response was simple: "Plant seeds."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDY2NTA1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODQ0ODk0N30.56ZmBSTYLbOy4p-bzxn7tqdTUs8r0Bt5GkkOHNvAsg4/img.jpg?width=980" id="1e8b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f0fd24a9128b4b3f1ed36f45ad705a39" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Lakota Elder LaDonna Brave Bull Allard joined a van full of fellow Sacred Stone Village residents who made the five-hour drive from Standing Rock to join the Sovereign Sisters Gathering.
Tracy Barnett
Lyla June: The Forest as Farm
<p>A Diné/Cheyenne/European American musician, scholar and activist, June has gravitated toward a focus on food sovereignty through her work to revitalize traditional food systems. Currently, she's in a doctoral program in traditional food systems and language at the University of Alaska, where she works with Indigenous elders around the country to uncover the genius of the continent's original cultivators.</p><p>"I think there's a huge mythology that Native people here were simpletons, they were primitive, half-naked nomads running around the forest, eating hand to mouth whatever they could find," she said. "That's how Europe portrays us. And it's portrayed us that way for so many centuries that even we start to believe that that's who we were.</p><p>"The reality is, Indigenous nations on this Turtle Island were highly organized. They densely populated the land, and they managed the land extensively. And this has a lot to do with food because a large motivation to prune the land, to burn the land, to reseed the land, and to sculpt the land was about feeding our nations. Not only our nations, but other animal nations, as well."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDY2NTA2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODk1NTgwNX0.M9hy_efezDelfqYbTxcV1p0thYUozgqAf5M1T3G21XI/img.jpg?width=980" id="a3367" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="41f81dd00529b8677bd12c2909f417c7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Musician, public speaker, and scholar Lyla June on recovering traditional food systems: "What we're finding… is that human beings are meant to be a keystone species… what [we're] trying to do is bring the human being back into the role of keystone species, where our presence on the land nourishes the land."
Tracy Barnett
<p>June is intrigued by soil core samples that delve thousands of years into the past; analysis of fossilized pollen, charcoal traces and soil composition reveals much about land use practices through the ages. For example, <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5276203.pdf" target="_blank">in Kentucky</a>, a soil core sample that went back 10,000 years shows that about 3,000 years ago the forest was dominated by cedar and hemlock. But about 3,000 years ago the whole forest composition changed to black walnut, hickory nut, chestnut and acorn; edible species such as goosefoot and sumpweed began to flourish.</p><p>"So these people—whoever moved in around 3,000 years ago — radically changed the way the land looked and tasted," she said.</p><p>So did the colonizers, but in a much different way. The costs to the food system as a result of colonization, she said, is becoming clear, and the mounting pressure of the climate crisis is making a shift imperative.</p><p>"When did we start waiting for others to feed us? That's no longer going to be a luxury question," June said.</p><p>Besides the <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/society/how-crop-monocultures-are-threatening-our-food-supply/" target="_blank">vulnerability of monocrops</a> to extreme weather events, these industrial agricultural crops are also dependent on pesticides and herbicides. Additionally, pests are adapting, producing chemical resistant insects and superweeds.</p><p>"We're running out of bullets in our food system, and it's quite precarious right now," she said. "The poor animals that we farm are also on the precipice … so we're in a state where we should probably start asking ourselves that question now, before we're forced to, and remember the joy of feeding ourselves."</p><p>That's June's intention: to take what she's learned from a year of apprenticeships with Indigenous elders in different bioregions, then return home to Diné Bikéyah — Navajo territory — to apply it, regenerating traditional Navajo food systems in an interactive action research project aimed at both teaching and learning, refining techniques with each year.</p><p>"I'm hoping at the end of three years, or four years, we will be fluent in our language and in our food system," June said. "And we will be operating as a team — and we will have a success story that other tribes can look to and model and be inspired by."</p><p>The long-range goal, she said, is to create an autonomous school that teaches traditional culture, language and food systems that can be a model for other Indigenous communities.</p>Cheryl Angel: Creating Sovereign Communities
<p>To Angel, sovereignty is best expressed in creating community — the temporary communities created at gatherings, like at the Sovereign Sisters Gathering, but also more permanent communities, like at Sacred Stone Village.</p><p>Part of being sovereign lies in strengthening and rebuilding sharing economies, she said. And part of it lies in reducing waste, rejecting rampant consumerism and the harmful aspects of the modern industrial system, like single-use plastics and toxic chemicals.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDY2NTA2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjY1MDg2MX0.laTyW2zNhVA8itQAhR83QAbPWeLmpIuuUfn_S2h83Ts/img.jpg?width=980" id="24782" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b0765fe7cc8df10d1bc17fa48aee6c86" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em><em>Tracy L. Barnett wrote this article for </em><a href="http://yesmagazine.org/" target="_blank" title="">YES! Magazine</a><em>. Tracy is a freelance writer based in Mexico and the founder of </em><a href="https://www.esperanzaproject.com/" target="_blank">The Esperanza Project</a>.<em> Interviews with Cheryl, LaDonna and Lyla June are featured in the magazine's </em><a href="https://www.esperanzaproject.com/?s=%22women+of+standing+rock%22" target="_blank">Women of Standing Rock</a><em> series.</em></em></p>Cheryl Angel in a late-night talking circle, sharing reflections about her Lakota ancestors: "We were never into entitlement; that's why we didn't have kings. We were into revering, honoring, relating to everything around us. All of these living spirits around us… That's the system nobody is talking about, that needs to be protected."
Tracy Barnett
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For a Sustainable Climate and Food System, Regenerative Agriculture Is the Key
16 August 2019
Insights + Opinion
A couple works in their organic garden. kupicoo / E+ / Getty Images
By Kristin Ohlson
From where I stand inside the South Dakota cornfield I was visiting with entomologist and former USDA scientist Jonathan Lundgren, all the human-inflicted traumas to Earth seem far away. It isn't just that the corn is as high as an elephant's eye — are people singing that song again? — but that the field burgeons and buzzes and chirps with all sorts of other life, too.
<p>Instead of the sunbaked, bare lanes between cornstalks that are typical of conventional <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture" rel="noopener noreferrer">agriculture</a>, these lanes sprout an assortment of cover crops. These are plants that save <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil" rel="noopener noreferrer">soil</a> from wind and water erosion, reduce the evaporation of soil moisture and attract beneficial insects and birds. Like all plants, these cover crops convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into a liquid carbon food, some for themselves and some to support the fungi, bacteria and other microscopic partners underground. A portion of that carbon stays there, turning poor soil into fragrant, fertile stuff that resembles chocolate cake.</p><p>The field rustles with larger life forms, too. Lundgren was visiting this particular field to meet up with a group of his grad students splayed among the plants, sucking insects into plastic tubes to be later identified and counted. Lundgren launched a research institute called Ecdysis back in 2016 to conduct comparative studies between conventional agriculture and regenerative agriculture, which is generally defined as agriculture that builds soil health and overall <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer">biodiversity</a> and yields a nutritious and profitable farm product. Regenerative farmers avoid tilling so that they protect the community of soil microorganisms, the water-storing pores they create underground and the carbon they've stashed there. They encourage plant diversity and plant cover that mimics nature in their fields, avoid farm chemicals and let farm animals polish off the crop residue.</p>
<p>All of us are familiar with conventional agriculture: the miles upon miles of farmland growing only one crop, the destructive tillage that wafts soil and its stored carbon into the air and into our waterways; the use of hundreds of chemicals including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" rel="noopener noreferrer">pesticides</a> like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chlorpyrifos" rel="noopener noreferrer">chlorpyrifos</a> that have been found to cause brain damage in children; the confined facilities that are both cruel to animals and make their impact on the earth an assault rather than a gift.</p><p>This is the kind of agriculture targeted in the most recent report, released Aug. 8, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in which a panel of 100 scientists concur not only that the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08082019/ipcc-agriculture-report-food-system-overhaul-climate-change-deforestation" target="_blank">food system contributes 37% of greenhouse gases</a>, but also that a more sustainable agriculture can help address <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" rel="noopener noreferrer">global warming</a>.</p><p>Reading through the report, I can't help but wonder whether any of those 100 scientists have visited the kind of agriculture that can turn this mess around or whether they've just read about it in studies. Whether they've ever smelled the soil that comes from these farms or seen the incredible variety of birds and insects thriving alongside the crops. Whether they've ever talked to the farmers who are discovering how to grow healthy food and healthy landscapes at the same time.</p>
<p>I first started writing about those farmers back in 2011, when there were more amazing anecdotes than studies, but that has changed. Lundgren himself published a study with his former student Claire LaCanne in 2018. <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/4428/" target="_blank" title="">The study followed 10 cornfields</a> per farm on 20 farms over two growing seasons, half of which were regenerative and half conventional. The study tracked soil carbon, insect pests, corn yield and profits.</p><p>The results give the imprimatur of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/" rel="noopener noreferrer">science</a> to the successes regenerative farmers have reported for years. Lundgren and LaCanne found that there were <em>more</em> pests in the conventional cornfields that were treated with insecticides and/or used GMO seeds than in the pesticide-free regenerative fields, presumably because the cover crops attracted battalions of predator insects that decimated crop pests — and because there were no insecticides to kill off those beneficials.</p><p>And while the regenerative farms used older, lower-yielding corn varieties without fertilizer and had lower yields, their overall profits were 78% higher than the conventional farmers'. Partly, this was because the regenerative farmers' costs were so much lower, with no cash outlays for costly insecticides and GMO seeds. They also "stacked enterprises" and had two or more sources of income on the same acre — in this case, they grazed their cattle on corn residue after harvest and got a premium price for pastured beef. What was the primary factor correlating with farm profitability? The amount of carbon and organic matter in the farmers' fields, not their yields.</p><p>The venerable soil scientist Rattan Lal was one of the first people to connect the loss of soil carbon caused by destructive farming to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In a 2018 interview with Soil4Climate, Lal said that he and his colleagues <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/Soil4Climate/permalink/2280436375561437" target="_blank" title="">estimated that regenerating landscapes</a> — farms, forests, coastlands and so on — could restore up to 150 gigatons (a gigaton equals 1 billion tons) of carbon to the world's soil in 80 years. All the extra vegetation grown to put that carbon in the soil would store 150 to 160 gigatons more, resulting in a terrestrial biosphere holding an additional 330 gigatons of carbon, equal to a drawdown of 150 to 160 parts per million of CO2 from the atmosphere. "We should encourage the policy makers that this process of restoring degraded soils and ecosystems is a win, win, win option," Lal says. "It's a bridge to the future."</p><p>Several of the Democratic presidential hopefuls have added agriculture to their climate platforms — most notably Rep. Tim Ryan, who proposes policies to support <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/us/politics/tim-ryan-farming-agriculture.html" target="_blank">regenerative agriculture and soil carbon sequestration</a>. Just this week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren added to her climate platform a <a href="https://medium.com/@teamwarren/a-new-farm-economy-8db50fac0551" target="_blank">sweeping plan</a> to overhaul agricultural policy, while Sen. Cory Booker announced he would propose the <a href="https://civileats.com/2019/08/08/cory-booker-wants-to-pay-many-more-farmers-to-practice-carbon-farming/" target="_blank">Climate Stewardship Act</a> to the Senate in September; both would pay farmers for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" rel="noopener noreferrer">conservation</a> practices.</p><p>And farmers of the future are ready to take it on.</p><p>"Agriculture is perfectly poised to play a major role in the solution to the climate crisis," says Bilal Sarwari, membership and communications manager of the National Young Farmers Coalition. "By helping young farmers gain access to land, everyone can help play a role."</p><p>I can't help but believe that the 100 scientists would become hopeful themselves knowing this, hopeful that humanity can turn away from the dire environmental path we've been treading.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Business as usual won't solve our climate crisis. We must transition to organic regenerative agriculture. Here's how it works. <a href="https://t.co/jLIzzE5LUM">https://t.co/jLIzzE5LUM</a></p>— Regeneration Int'l (@regeneration_in) <a href="https://twitter.com/regeneration_in/status/1148275553264459778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/soil-farming-greenhouse-IPCC-2019-08102019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.</em><a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/soil-farming-greenhouse-IPCC-2019-08102019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></p>
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A field of crops grows in Brawley, California. Florence Low / California Department of Water Resources
By Tara Lohan
Despite the warning signs — climate change, biodiversity loss, depleted soils and a shrinking supply of cheap energy — we continue to push along with an economy fueled by perpetual growth on a finite planet.
<p>We'll need to reckon with this discrepancy.</p><p><span></span>Much has been written about when and how that should be done. One of the organizations looking for solutions is the nonprofit <a href="https://www.postcarbon.org/" target="_blank">Post Carbon Institute</a>, which for years has talked about <em>better</em>, instead of <em>bigger </em>growth, and what a transition to a less carbon-intensive energy system could look like.</p><p>Its latest effort is a report by board president <a href="https://www.postcarbon.org/our-people/jason-bradford/" target="_blank">Jason Bradford</a> called <a href="https://www.postcarbon.org/publications/the-future-is-rural/" target="_blank"><em>The Future Is Rural: Food System Adaptations to the Great Simplification</em></a>.</p><p>The report contains a premise that many may find surprising: New technologies and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/renewable-energy">renewable energy</a> will not be able to fully replace <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" rel="noopener noreferrer">fossil fuels</a> — or not as quickly as we will need them to. While some kinds of energy are more easily substituted by renewables, like solar and wind standing in for fossil-fueled electricity, others are not. Running heavy equipment, tractors and massive cargo ships that have relied on liquid fuels is a much more challenging task. As a result, the reasoning goes, we'll need to learn how to use less energy and use it differently.</p><p>If true this would have major impacts on every facet of our lives, including our food system —which today, in the U.S., relies on fossil fuels and long trade networks.</p><p>"We must face the prospect that many of us will need to be more responsible for food security," Bradford writes in the report. "People in highly urbanized and globally integrated countries like the U.S. will need to re-ruralize and re-localize human settlement and subsistence patterns over the coming decades to adapt to both the end of cheaply available fossil fuels and climate change."</p><p>We talked to Bradford, who has worked for years in sustainable agriculture, about what changes he thinks are ahead and what we can do to prepare for them.</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://therevelator.org/local-food-bradford/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em><em></em></p>
You refer to the age you see coming up when there’s less cheap energy available as the “Great Simplification.” Where does that term come from and what does it mean?
<p>The idea for this report first came from a series of guest lectures I did for a class at the University of Minnesota taught by [energy and systems expert] <a href="https://www.postcarbon.org/our-people/nate-hagens/" target="_blank">Nate Hagens</a> [a Post Carbon Institute board member]. Great Simplification is the term he was using in his class, but it ties well to anthropological work looking at social complexity in relationship to energy.</p><p><span></span>Societies that have less energy available organize themselves differently, and so the Great Simplification is this idea that as energy becomes more dear we'll need to use less of it. And our highly complex and globally integrated societies will begin take on forms that are simpler over time. That means less complex trade networks, less specialization in jobs, less bureaucratic hierarchies.</p>When I try to envision what this Great Simplification would look like, I think of either preindustrial society or at least pre-World War II. What does it look like to you?
<p>I remember traveling through Europe and seeing the contrast between a modern European city and someplace like a World Heritage site that is still a living city, but it was built centuries ago and there never was a suburban expansion around it. And so you basically see this countryside that you can walk to from the city center.</p><p>That's how people lived prior to the industrial revolution in most parts of the world. And if you go to somewhere such as rural Bolivia, that's what it still looks like. I think that's maybe what the long-term consequences of fossil fuel depletion will look like. But what happens in the messy middle is much harder to figure out.</p><p>To think about that, the report looks at places that have already started getting abandoned in the upper Midwest because they lost the industrial clout they used to have from the steel industry and the auto industry. So you can sort of see this process unfolding already. You may have a partial abandonment of some areas and then maybe also reclaiming of them partly for food production. Big suburban houses may instead have more people living together to share expenses and share work.</p>It seems like today in the United States very few people know much about farming or producing food in general. How do we start to close that knowledge gap?
<p>I feel like we have two kinds of threads going right now. On the one hand, there are a lot of school gardens and farms taking off and there's more being done for horticulture programs, shop programs and home economics. There's a bit of a skills revival happening. But on the other hand, there's also a big focus on teaching every kid how to code, or kids being on their personal entertainment devices all the time instead of getting outside in nature.</p><p>Part of what I hope the report does is to make people aware of this skills gap and try to prioritize learning not just about self-sufficiency but how communities can work together.</p><p>I don't expect the people reading the report will suddenly perform voluntary simplicity and try to find a commune to live on somewhere. But what I do hope is to inspire people to become change agents — to be ready for when the energy system forces a transition and start setting up systems that are pre-adapted to an energy-scarce world.</p>What are some of the ways that people can support this kind of transition work and re-localization without being an actual farmer or food producer?
<p>If you're a rural landowner there's a big opportunity. Farmers on average own only half the land they use. So, if you own that land, who do you choose to lease to? Are you actively trying to find a farmer who's oriented towards more regenerative, more organic, more local and regional systems?</p><p>If you have money there are also lending clubs that can help support local food systems and entrepreneurs. Then there might be people who are politically connected and know folks on the city council or in the planning department and can push for changes in codes or policies, like for instance, if there's a local law that doesn't allow you to capture rainwater or have a front yard garden.</p><p>Maybe you can support the local soil and water conservation district or the local conservation group that's trying put biodiversity back on farmlands. Farms are full of amazing habitats that can be great places to rebuild ecosystem services, protect watersheds, get insect, bat and bird populations back up — that will serve food production in the long run.</p>It seems like these kinds of changes that you’re talking about could seem scary to a lot of people. What are the parts that inspire you the most or you think will be most exciting about re-localization?
<p>I think that these coming times of great challenge and stress will force people to work together in ways where they have a shared sense of purpose, [like the veterans] at the American Legion Hall who had some experience together 40 years ago when they were in their 20s that bonded them and they know deep down that this person sitting next to them is someone they can trust.</p><p>Even though it's going to be difficult, we will find tremendous meaning in our shared experience that could be wonderful. And that's something people are missing right now.</p>
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Adrian V. Floyd / CC BY 2.0
By Karen Perry Stillerman
What's for breakfast? Maybe it's a bagel and cream cheese, or toast and coffee, or eggs (or not). For millions of Americans, though, cereal is a breakfast mainstay. There's a mind-boggling array of ready-to-eat cereal brands on offer, and everyone has their favorites.
<p>But what really goes into your cereal of choice? What impact does that have on the planet? What can cereal-makers — and those of us who buy their products — do to lessen that impact? These are questions UCS asked in a <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/food-agriculture/champions-of-breakfast" target="_blank">new report</a>, <em>Champions of Breakfast: How Cereal-Makers Can Help Save Our Soil, Support Farmers, and Take a Bite out of Climate Change</em>.</p><p>Breakfast cereal is mostly grain … and in many cases, a whole lot of sugar, but that's <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/deborah-bailin/5-steps-to-decode-a-cereal-box-or-where-hidden-added-sugar-lies-589" target="_blank">another topic</a>. For this report, we looked at some of the top-selling cereal brands, the particular grains that go into them, the way most of those grains are grown now and the alternative ways these could be grown if farmers had different incentives. Lead author Marcia DeLonge summarizes our number-crunching (see what I did there?) and the top takeaways <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/marcia-delonge/a-spoonful-of-science-in-your-surprisingly-powerful-cereal-bowl" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>But what does it all mean for conscientious consumers who also happen to love cereal?</p><ul><li><strong>Your favorite flakes aren't always so <em>g-r-r-r-reat</em> for farmers and the environment.</strong> Many popular breakfast cereals have corn as their main ingredient. Not just the eponymous cornflakes (both plain and <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/188737/top-ready-to-eat-cereal-brands-in-the-united-states/" target="_blank">top-selling Frosted Flakes</a>), Corn Chex and Corn Pops, but also such brands as Froot Loops, Kix and Trix. While most of it doesn't end up in your cereal, U.S. farmers grow a lot of corn: in 2017, more than 89 million acres worth, an area larger than the state of New Mexico. Most of that corn is grown in environmentally damaging ways. Much of the <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2019/06/20/nitrates-iowas-drinking-water-may-tied-cancer-study-says/1487951001/" target="_blank">nitrate in Iowa's drinking water</a> is due to corn. <a href="https://www.ocj.com/2019/07/large-algae-bloom-in-lake-erie-predicted-for-2019/" target="_blank">Toxic algae in Lake Erie</a> is largely due to corn. Coastal "<a href="https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/how-your-diet-may-be-contributing-to-dead-zones-in-lake-erie-and-the-chesapeake-bay-analysis/" target="_blank">dead zones</a>" — especially the one in the Gulf of Mexico that is <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-forecasts-very-large-dead-zone-for-gulf-of-mexico" target="_blank">forecast to be the size of Massachusetts</a> this summer — are largely due to corn. While it wasn't part of our analysis, a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/04/01/708818581/growing-corn-is-a-major-contributor-to-air-pollution-study-finds" target="_blank">recent study</a> revealed that corn is also a major source of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a>. Today's dominant corn production system damages our <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">soil</a>, pollutes our <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water" target="_self">water</a>, releases heat-trapping gases and misses the opportunity to store carbon in the soil. And lately it <a href="https://www.dailyyonder.com/farmings-economic-troubles-go-much-deeper-floodwaters/2019/07/15/32803/" target="_blank">isn't working out so well for farmers</a>, either. In other words, there's a lot of room for improvement.</li></ul><ul><li><strong>Those little O's could have big impact.</strong> But maybe you're like <a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/mouth-tiny-cheerios-rFszYhpBiR0Xu" target="_blank">this guy</a>, and Cheerios are your thing. Those O's, whether plain or honey-nutted, are mostly whole oats; other oat-based cereals include Honey Bunches of Oats and Lucky Charms. U.S. farmers used to grow a lot of oats, but they've been replaced by other crops (see "corn," above). Now, oats are seen as a key to diversifying Corn Belt landscapes. A long-running <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30608148" target="_blank">Iowa State University study</a> has shown that rotating oats and other crops with corn and soybeans can dramatically reduce soil erosion and pollutant runoff while maintaining farmer profits.</li></ul><ul><li><strong>What about wheat?</strong> Our analysis didn't include a scenario for wheat cereals like Wheaties, Raisin Bran, Cinnamon Toast Crunch or my personal favorite, the <a href="https://www.grapenuts.com/our-story/" target="_blank">oddly-named</a> Grape-Nuts (which contain neither grapes nor nuts, but rather wheat and barley). Like corn, wheat is grown across large swaths of the country, with similar effects on the soil. But there are soil-health building practices available to these farmers, too. For example, Montana farmers have found that crop rotations that include lentils — a legume requiring little moisture — have helped build soil health and increase farm resilience in that arid region, with <a href="https://www.montana.edu/news/15554/msu-scientists-find-higher-economic-returns-when-grain-growers-use-pulse-crops-instead-of-fallow" target="_blank">added economic benefits</a>.</li></ul>
<h3>Consumers have power in the cereal aisle … but big companies have more.</h3><p>As UCS showed with this <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/food-agriculture/supermarket" target="_blank">interactive feature</a> earlier this year, we have choices when we go to the supermarket (though <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/strengthen-healthy-farm-policy/the-farm-bill.html" target="_blank">public policies</a> and corporate actions largely create and prop up those choices). To improve the impact of your cereal habit, the best option right now is probably to choose an <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/organic" target="_self">organic</a> brand. Grains grown organically avoid a lot of environmental damage, and while farmers can pursue <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sustainability" target="_self">sustainable</a> practices without being certified organic, the USDA organic label is currently the best signal to consumers that packaged food ingredients are <a href="https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Organic%20Practices%20Factsheet.pdf" target="_blank">grown in better ways</a>.</p><p>Then there's oatmeal. I wrote about <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/karen-perry-stillerman/how-oats-could-save-iowas-farmers-and-fight-pollution" target="_blank">its power</a> a couple of years ago, and our new report bears out that sustainably grown whole oats have even more soil-saving, pollution-preventing potential than formulated oat-based cereals, simply because there are more oats per serving. (Although personally, I won't return to my favorite organic oatmeal until <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/erika-spanger-siegfried/this-weekends-heatwave-is-the-future-of-extreme-heat-3-things-you-should-know-and-do" target="_blank">this heat</a> breaks in the fall.)</p><p>Beyond that, clearly sustainable cereal choices are pretty limited. The biggest cereal companies could take steps to change this, however. There are four of them, and you know their names: General Mills, Kellogg Company, Post Consumer Brands and Quaker Oats (a division of PepsiCo). Together, these companies account for 86 percent of the $8.5 billion U.S. breakfast cereal market; many of their brands are household names, and they make more than just cereal. These companies have begun to take steps to improve the sourcing of their ingredients (check out some of their initiatives <a href="https://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/Overview" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://crreport.kelloggcompany.com/" target="_blank">here</a>), but there's plenty of opportunity to do more. By investing in more supply chain improvements, defining and improving sustainability standards and raising consumer awareness, these companies can play a major role in expanding opportunities for sustainable U.S. grain farmers, setting the wheels in motion for larger-scale market shifts.</p><p>In the heart of corn country, the <a href="https://practicalfarmers.org/" target="_blank">Practical Farmers of Iowa</a> (PFI) are ready to work with these companies. They've been coaching farmers to grow cover crops and incorporate oats and other crops into rotations. But PepsiCo's Quaker Oats, which has a large plant in Iowa, <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2017/10/05/iowa-has-worlds-largest-cereal-plant-but-states-farmers-lack-market-oats/690998001/" target="_blank">reportedly doesn't buy oats from there</a>. And while General Mills also uses a lot of oats, is based in the Midwest and has <a href="https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/general-mills-aims-to-drive-regenerative-agriculture-on-1-million-acres-by-2030" target="_blank">committed</a> to shifting a million acres of farmland to more <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/regenerative-agriculture" target="_self">regenerative</a> practices by 2030, the company hasn't — so far —committed to buying oats from diversified farms close to home. And it's precisely this <a href="https://wcfcourier.com/business/local/iowa-farmers-lack-market-for-oats-despite-large-cereal-plant/article_c876ea36-a51d-556b-9a6a-f7c8263f229a.html" target="_blank">lack of market certainty</a> that is holding Iowa farmers back, according to PFI.</p><p>It's clear the big cereal companies can do more. And with our new report in hand, my colleagues and I will be thinking about how organizations like UCS — and all of us as eaters — can help make that happen.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Breakfast?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Breakfast</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cereals?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cereals</a>: Healthy or Unhealthy? <a href="https://t.co/5IkCiPd43s">https://t.co/5IkCiPd43s</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Healthline?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Healthline</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Healthy_Child?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Healthy_Child</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1110300404338823170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Karen Perry Stillerman is a senior communication strategist and senior analyst in the Food & Environment Program at the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org" target="_blank">Union of Concerned Scientists</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Unfair Food Pricing Is Killing Family Farms and Regenerative Farming
09 July 2019
Insights + Opinion
Carbon farming on an organic farm. A cover crop of buckwheat in flower on permanent beds with grass strips between the beds to reduce tillage and provide habitat for beneficial insects. Elizabeth Henderson
By Elizabeth Henderson
In February, a dairy farmer friend sent me a note confiding that a few farmers she knows are living on cereal until their milk checks arrive. Yet, the recently released census of agriculture shows that the number of young farmers is growing even as the average age of farmers also increases, and there are uplifting articles about young black farmers connecting with the land and enjoying the self-empowerment that comes with being an independent farmer.
<p>Meanwhile, voices are rising about the <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/a-green-new-deal-must-prioritize-regenerative-agriculture/" target="_blank">central role that regenerative and organic farming can play in a Green New Deal</a>, a program to mobilize all possible forces to prevent <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate</a> disaster.</p><p>How can we make sense of these conflicting currents? What policies and programs will create a just transition for family-scale farmers? What changes will enable farmers to maximize the potential of photosynthesis for <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/one-solution-to-climate-change-no-one-is-talking-about/" target="_blank">putting carbon in the soil</a> to supplement reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in mitigating climate disaster?</p><p>Farmers who are constantly worrying about financial viability have little bandwidth for new practices or long-term improvements that take initial investments. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/opinion/farmers-climate-change-government-global-warming.html" target="_blank">As Robert Leonard and Matt Russell noted in an opinion piece in The New York Times</a>:</p><p>"Government programs like the current farm bill pit production against <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>, and doing the right thing for the environment is a considerable drain on a farmer's bank account, especially when so many of them are losing money to low commodity prices and President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a>'s tariffs."</p>
<p>The farm debt crisis of the 1980s never completely went away and has now <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farms-perdue/u-s-farm-debt-soars-to-levels-seen-during-1980s-farm-crisis-agriculture-secretary-idUSKCN1QG24Y" target="_blank">resurfaced with a vengeance</a>. In 2017, <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40152.pdf" target="_blank">aggregate farm earnings were half of what they were in 2013</a> due to vast overproduction of basic commodities, and farm income has not recovered. The North American Free Trade Agreement resulted in the <a href="https://www.iatp.org/nafta-renegotiation" target="_blank">loss of mid-sized and smaller farms</a> in all three signatory countries as integrated production and marketing favored larger farms.</p><p>Since 1950, the U.S. has gone from 5.4 million farms <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/index.php" target="_blank">to just over 2 million</a>, a loss of more than 3 million farms, with important shifts from many smaller integrated farms to fewer large, more specialized farms that grow even larger. For dairy farms in particular, these have been hard times as illustrated by the losses in the two top dairy states. New York State has <a href="https://www.nyfb.org/news/news-articles/new-ag-census-shows-drop-ny-farms" target="_blank">lost 20 percent</a> of its dairy farms in the past five years. Wisconsin <a href="https://www.milkbusiness.com/article/wisconsin-loses-another-53-dairy-farms-december" target="_blank">lost 691 </a>dairy farms in 2018.</p><p>While the persistence and shrewd maneuvering of organizations like the <a href="http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/2018-farm-bill-commodity-subsidies-crop-insurance/" target="_blank">National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition</a> and the <a href="https://www.nationalorganiccoalition.org/blog/2019/2/16/spending-bill-averts-shutdown-and-boosts-funding-for-organic" target="_blank">National Organic Coalition</a> meant that programs that support <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/organic">organic</a> and sustainable farming fared remarkably well in the 2018 Farm Bill, the bulk of the more than 500-page bill carries on with business as usual, even making it easier for big farms to get bigger by failing to cap the payments any one farm can receive and allowing more relatives to cash in on programs in the bill.</p><p>Both mainstream parties advocate the neoliberal, free-trade policies that the ever more aggregated seed, food and chemical corporations have imposed upon the U.S. since World War II to the detriment of family-scale farms all over the world. The dairy farmers who got through the winter eating cereal and the new farmers who are eagerly starting out are in urgent need of radical change.</p><p>Why is this happening? Political economist and author Eric Holt Giménez would <a href="https://foodfirst.org/publication/the-capitalism-in-our-food/" target="_blank">say</a> this is just capitalism working as it is supposed to. Faced with slim margins in the race to cover farm expenses, farmers produce more, and that drives prices down even further. The beneficiaries are the ever-larger corporations that have <a href="https://openmarketsinstitute.org/reports/food-power-addressing-monopolization-americas-food-system/" target="_blank">consolidated their dominance in the food sector</a>. The result? Shoppers pay more, and a shrinking portion of what they pay goes to farmers.</p><p>At first, this mainly hit conventional farms; then in 2017, organic processors started <a href="https://nodpa.com/news/newsfile_833_Organic_Dairy_in_Crisis_where_do_we_go_from_here.pdf" target="_blank">limiting the amount of milk</a> they purchased from organic dairies and cut the price paid below the cost of production. As a result, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/american-food-giants-swallow-the-family-farms-iowa" target="_blank">family-scale farms of all kinds are going out of business,</a> and tragically, there are increasing <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-farmers-rising-suicide-rates-plummeting-incomes/" target="_blank">reports of farmer suicides</a>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTgxMTY1MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDQzODgzOX0.-e4awU0F_Ibns81o6BJZlL0-fEzhyPwEwj2zJ8qfQ5o/img.png?width=980" id="e5fa5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="86bfe70d6fc5f94e1dab4431c9ec4d4f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTgxMTY1NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjUwNDQ4N30.ibP8ENwuiwmlWvwZ-vJA9GU4zNsTXA9rNiatbVh4UXc/img.png?width=980" id="369bb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="26ed57d1fa9c37b30dc2d9fe215ccf3b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTgxMTY2Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NjY2Mjc3NH0.rTuh7OBFKeU3vV5G30QYRiMLUpqI6rmyUXYHdVVYADk/img.png?width=980" id="9a59b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3f4833e4a0c933258697f66e2359a092" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Graphic source: Agricultural Economic Insights (used with permission)
<p>If you juxtapose the <a href="https://aei.ag/2018/02/12/2018-net-farm-income-another-tough-year-ahead/" target="_blank">Agricultural Economic Insights chart</a> with the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/farm-household-income-historical/" target="_blank">United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) chart</a> above showing the declining number of farms, it is clear that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/us/politics/trump-trade-war-wisconsin-dairy.html" target="_blank">loss of farm income corresponds with the loss of farms</a>. <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-sector-income-finances/highlights-from-the-farm-income-forecast/" target="_blank">More than half of</a> U.S. farm households lost money farming in recent years, according to the USDA, which estimated that median farm income for U.S. farm households was <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-sector-income-finances/highlights-from-the-farm-income-forecast/" target="_blank">negative $1,553 in 2018.</a></p><p><a href="http://www.startribune.com/farm-bankruptcies-are-on-the-rise-and-bankers-worry-that-far-more-are-on-the-way/501157191/" target="_blank">Farm incomes have dropped</a> despite record productivity on U.S. farms because oversupply drives down commodity prices. Through a plethora of racist policies, black farmers have lost land at <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y4zajnn8" target="_blank">more than five times the rate</a> of white farmers from the peak of black farmland ownership in 1910 until the 1990s. Meanwhile, profits in consolidated food businesses (farm inputs, retail stores) <a href="https://csimarket.com/stocks/KR-Return-on-Investment-ROI.html" target="_blank">remain high</a> with <a href="https://www.quarterly-report-2018-q2.bayer.com/management-report/sales-earnings-and-financial-position.html" target="_blank">returns on investment ranging from 8 to 35 percent</a>. Clearly, there is plenty of money in food: It just does not get apportioned fairly to the people who do the actual work.</p><p>Programs to train new farmers, especially veterans, get media attention and funding, but as the <a href="https://www.youngfarmers.org/land-access/" target="_blank">National Young Farmers Coalition repeats tirelessly</a>, land in most parts of the country is too expensive for a farmer to buy with farm earnings. USDA data show that <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-sector-income-finances/highlights-from-the-farm-income-forecast/" target="_blank">farm families have a middle-class income,</a> but only on the largest farms growing a few commodities is that income from farm earnings.</p><p>So, while presidential candidates and Green New Dealers are putting bold proposals on the table for public discourse, farmers, farmworkers and concerned eaters should take the opportunity to hammer out proposals that will solve the structural issues that have turned U.S. farming into a problem instead of the win-win-win solutions that are possible.</p><p><a href="https://elizabethwarren.com/issues/" target="_blank">Declaring that she wants</a> "Washington to work for family farmers again," Sen. Elizabeth Warren promises to take some steps in the right direction by breaking up vertically integrated trusts, allowing farmers themselves to repair the equipment they purchase, ensuring that contracts for livestock farmers are fair, reinvigorating country of origin labeling, and restricting foreign ownership of farmland.</p><p>Sen. Bernie Sanders <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/revitalizing-rural-america/" target="_blank">goes much further</a>, outlining a program that would completely <a href="https://foodfirst.org/publication/parity-and-farm-justice-recipe-for-a-resilient-food-system/" target="_blank">restructure the food system</a> so that farmers can make a living and afford to pay living wages to employees. These are the policies this country needs if we hope to keep family-scale farming.</p><p>When farmers can afford to adopt <a href="https://www.realorganicproject.org/2019-symposium-jean-paul-courtens/?utm_source=Real+Organic+Project&utm_campaign=bd254a9473-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_31_04_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a85995503-bd254a9473-62730971" target="_blank">regenerative organic practices</a>, they will take more carbon out of the air and put it in the soil where it builds soil health, making the people and livestock who eat those crops healthier. The original New Deal's parity pricing also fueled the soil conservation that ended the dust bowl.</p>Farmers can focus on carbon farming if the price they receive in the marketplace <a href="https://www.morningagclips.com/the-dirt-on-soil-loss-from-the-midwest-floods/" target="_blank">covers the costs</a> of running their farms. Family-scale farmers and the people who want to eat locally grown food all need a fair Green New Deal for the 21st century.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Learn about The Green New Deal and the impact that food choices can have on combating climate change. <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EcoWatch</a> : <a href="https://t.co/Rp1tAXcwl8">https://t.co/Rp1tAXcwl8</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/greenewdeal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#greenewdeal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/foodchoices?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#foodchoices</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/climatechange?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#climatechange</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sustainability?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sustainability</a></p>— EdibleSchoolyardNYC (@ESYNYC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESYNYC/status/1101474813313540098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Elizabeth Henderson farmed at Peacework Farm in Wayne County, New York, for more than 30 years. Peacework CSA was one of the <a href="https://www.oeffa.org/news/" target="_blank">first community-supported agriculture farms</a> in New York State. She is a member of the Board the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) of New York, and represents the NOFA Interstate Council on the Board of the Agricultural Justice Project. Elizabeth is the lead author of <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Sharing-Harvest-Community-Supported-Agriculture/dp/193339210X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Sharing+the+Harvest%3A+A+Citizen%E2%80%99s+Guide+to+Community+Supported+Agriculture&qid=1561933054&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><em>Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture</em></a> (Chelsea Green, 2007), with a Spanish language e-book edition in 2017. She maintains the blog <a href="https://thepryingmantis.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Prying Mantis</em></a>.</em></p><p><em>This article was produced by <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" target="_blank">Earth | Food | Life</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and originally published by <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/unfair-food-pricing-is-killing-family-farms-and-regenerative-farming/" target="_blank">Truthout</a></em><em>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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In addition to a long list of incredible benefits for farmers and their crops, regenerative agriculture practices help us fight the climate crisis by pulling carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the ground.
<p>We know that to solve the climate crisis, business as usual will not cut it. Not in electricity production. Not in industry. Not in transportation. And certainly not in agriculture.</p>
<p>The agriculture sector is one of the biggest emitters of CO2, the greenhouse gas (GHG) most responsible for the changes we are seeing in our climate today. Together with forestry and other land use, agriculture is responsible for just under <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter11.pdf" target="_blank">25 percent</a> of all human-created GHG emissions.</p><p>But it also has a vital role to play in helping us end this crisis, and create a safe, sustainable future without carbon pollution. One where we can provide our booming world population with fresh, healthy food grown in a sustainable soil ecosystem.</p><p>Sure, it may seem like a contradiction. So don't take it from us – <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter11.pdf" target="_blank">take it from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)</a>: "Leveraging the mitigation potential in the [Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use] sector is extremely important in meeting emission reduction targets."</p><p>But how?</p><p>We've got two words for you: regenerative agriculture.</p>
How it Works
<p>In short, regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management, fertilizer use, and more. It is a method of farming that "improves the resources it uses, rather than destroying or depleting them," <a href="https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/rodale-white-paper.pdf" target="_blank">according to the Rodale Institute</a>.</p><p>A great deal of emphasis is placed on looking holistically at the agro-ecosystem. Key techniques include:</p><ul> <li>Conservation tillage: Plowing and tillage dramatically erode soil and release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They also can result in the kind of bare or compacted soil that creates a hostile environment for important soil microbes. By adopting low- or no-till practices, farmers minimize physical disturbance of the soil, and over time increase levels of soil organic matter, creating healthier, more resilient environments for plants to thrive, as well as keeping more and more carbon where it belongs.</li></ul><ul> <li>Diversity: Different plants release different carbohydrates (sugars) through their roots, and various microbes feed on these carbs and return all sorts of different nutrients back to the plant and the soil. By increasing the plant diversity of their fields, farmers help create the rich, varied, and nutrient-dense soils that lead to more productive yields.</li></ul><ul> <li>Rotation and cover crops: Left exposed to the elements, soil will erode and the nutrients necessary for successful plant growth will either dry out or quite literally wash away. At the same time, planting the same plants in the same location can lead to a buildup of some nutrients and a lack of others. But by rotating crops and deploying cover crops strategically, farms and gardens can infuse soils with more and more (and more diverse) soil organic matter, often while avoiding disease and pest problems naturally. Always remember, bare soil is bad soil.</li></ul><ul><li>Mess with it less: In addition to minimizing physical disturbance, regenerative agriculture practitioners also often seek to be cautious about chemical or biological activities that also can damage long-term soil health. Misapplication of fertilizers and other soil amendments can disrupt the natural relationship between microorganisms and plant roots.</li></ul><p><em style="">The overriding theme: If you take care of your soil, it will take care of you.</em></p><p><a href="https://kisstheground.com/regenerative-agriculture-partone/" target="_blank">According to Kiss the Ground</a>, a nonprofit organization devoted to sustainable farming practices that improve soil health, "If regenerative means: 'renewal, restoration, and growth of cells, organisms, and ecosystems,' or 'renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or biological system (as in a forest) after injury or as a normal process,' then regenerative agriculture is agriculture that is doing just that."</p><p>The benefits of doing so are numerous: Regenerative agriculture practices increase soil biodiversity and organic matter, leading to more resilient soils that can better withstand climate change impacts like flooding and drought. Healthy soils beget strong yields and nutrient-rich crops. It also diminishes erosion and runoff, leading to improved water quality on and off the farm.</p><p>Importantly, regenerative agriculture practices also help us fight the climate crisis by pulling carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the ground. <em>(More on that below.)</em></p>
The Climate Connection
<p>The health and vitality of soil everywhere, from the smallest backyard garden to the largest Midwestern farm, plays an integral role in food production — and it's threatened by the climate crisis.</p><p>In addition to rising temperatures that are themselves changing where and how things can be grown, the climate crisis has fundamentally altered the water cycle around the world. The result is shifting precipitation patterns and increased evaporation that causes more-frequent powerful rainfall events and more severe droughts. In many areas, rainfall has become either increasingly abundant or in desperately short supply, relative to longtime averages. It's a classic case of feast or famine.</p><p>Extreme downpours can lead to polluted runoff and erosion because the ground simply isn't able to absorb the precipitation at the rate it's falling. And at a certain point of inundation, plants can drown. On the other end of the spectrum, less stable precipitation together with increased heat is causing more and more drought, and in extreme circumstances near-desertification, leading to a complete loss of farm production in some areas.</p><p>So, when it comes to agriculture, climate change is doing what it does best: exacerbating existing problems to the point of crisis. But if a farmer is using regenerative methods and not disturbing the soil, he or she is instead mitigating climate change effects by building organic matter. And the more organic matter you have in the soil, the more water-holding capacity you have.</p><p>Not only does adopting regenerative agriculture practices help farmers deal with current climate change impacts by making their farms more resilient and adaptive to what is happening around them now; it allows them to take action to fight it long-term by being part of a larger solution to the crisis, through carbon sequestration.</p>Farms Are Making the Switch
<p>Regenerative agriculture allows farmers to play an active role in mitigating an existential threat to their livelihoods.</p><p>"We don't have to wait for technological wizardry: regenerative organic agriculture can substantially mitigate climate change now," <a href="https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/rodale-white-paper.pdf" target="_blank">Rodale Institute writes</a>.</p><p>When plants photosynthesize, they take carbon dioxide from the air and — using the sun's energy, water, and nutrients from the soil — transform it into carbon the plant uses to grow leaves, stems, and roots. The excess carbon created through this process is transported down the plant and is stored in the surrounding soil, sequestering the carbon in the ground. This carbon in the soil is known as soil organic carbon and it feeds microbes and fungi, which in turn provide nutrients for the plant. Soil organic carbon is the main component of soil organic matter, providing more structure to the soil and allowing it to store more water.</p><p>Carbon can remain stored in soils for thousands of years — or it can be quickly released back into the atmosphere through farm practices like plowing and tillage, where soil is prepared for planting by mechanical agitation methods such as digging, stirring, and overturning.</p><p>For farmers, regenerative agriculture is thus a win-win — it's an approach that leads to better, more resilient crops grown using sustainable methods that at the same time fight a crisis that presents a threat to all agriculture.</p><p>And that's why some of the biggest brands in the world are going all in.</p><p>General Mills, makers of some of your favorite cereals, granola bars, and other foods, is <a href="https://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/Sustainability/Regenerative-agriculture" target="_blank">taking a multipronged approach</a> to its support of regenerative agriculture. They've partnered with other organizations to develop resources and training to help farmers work toward the widespread adoption of soil health practices, including plans for "2 and 3-day soil health academies where famers will receive education from leading technical experts" and a verified regenerative sourcing program for some of its brands that will "allow consumers to easily identify food that has been sourced from farms verified to increase water, soil, and climate health."</p>Learn More
<p>In the end, <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2018/04/practicing-regenerative-agriculture/" target="_blank">Modern Farmer sums it up best</a>: "This is how land should be taken care of and food should be grown – with benefits for the environment and the consumer."</p><p>It's just that simple.</p><p>Read more about the climate crisis' effect on the health of our soil – and the future of our food – by downloading our free e-book, <a href="https://www.climaterealityproject.org/content/right-under-your-feet-soil-health-and-climate-crisis" target="_blank"><em>Right Under Your Feet: Soil Health and the Climate Crisis</em></a>. In it, we get you the facts on:</p><ul> <li>The impact of climate change on soil health.</li></ul><ul> <li>What's at stake.</li></ul><ul><li>What you can do to support a world where we can provide people with fresh, healthy food grown in a sustainable soil ecosystem.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.climaterealityproject.org/content/right-under-your-feet-soil-health-and-climate-crisis" target="_blank">The climate changes, <em>but these facts don't</em>. Download our free <em>Soil Health and the Climate Crisis</em> e-book now</a>.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Photos courtesy of Apricot Lane Farms
By Courtney Lindwall
Growing your own juicy tomatoes or crisp peppers sounds idyllic. But in practice, backyard farming can be daunting. Many gardeners dealing with pests, weeds and unpredictable weather quickly find themselves questioning whether they are working with nature or against it.
<p>Just ask John and Molly Chester, who bought a sandy, barren plot of land in Southern California eight years ago in the hopes of starting the farm of their dreams. New to farming, the couple relied on holistic, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/regenerative-agriculture" target="_self">regenerative</a> practices (and a lot of trial and error) to revive <a href="https://www.apricotlanefarms.com/about-us/" target="_blank">Apricot Lane Farms</a>. Through their hard work, the 214 acres are now a lush, largely regenerating ecosystem with fertile soil, diverse animal life and an abundant orchard with well over 75 varieties of fruit trees. Better yet: The farm never uses toxic, synthetically derived <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" target="_self">pesticides</a>, which can kill <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil" target="_self">soil</a> microorganisms, harm pollinators and other <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>, pollute waterways and make us sick.</p>
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John and Molly Chester
Yvette Roman
<p>The Chesters' story, recounted in the documentary <a href="https://www.biggestlittlefarmmovie.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Biggest Little Farm</em></a>, is a testament to the wisdom of nature's own fine-tuned systems — and the remarkable rewards that gardeners will reap if they follow its lead. Here's how to cultivate a bit of Apricot Lane Farms' success in your own backyard.</p>
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<h4>Feed Your Soil</h4><p>When the Chesters arrived at Apricot Lane Farms, the ground was dry, hard and mostly devoid of life. They knew they'd need to convert dead dirt back into soil before they could grow any crops. "When it's biologically diverse, soil is like this alchemizer of death into life, but you have to feed it," John said. Feeding the soil means building its biota — its below-the-surface ecosystem of microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, which break down decaying organic matter and infuse the soil with nutrients for the next cycle of plant life.</p><p>If you find yourself with similarly unhealthy soil, the Chesters recommend worm compost tea: worm waste steeped in water to make a liquid fertilizer teeming with beneficial microorganisms. At Apricot Lane Farms, the couple built an entire vermicomposting (worm composting) facility, but you can make do at home. Just put some worm castings, i.e. the black earthy-looking particles in your compost bin (you can also purchase a bag of castings) into a bag made from old panty hose, cheesecloth or a porous T-shirt. Add the tea bag to a pitcher or bucket of water. "Brew" your tea by adding a sugar supply like molasses for the bacteria (which will feed and multiply) and a small aerator (like a bubbler you'd add to a fish aquarium), which will concentrate the beneficial aerobic microorganisms. Let it bubble for one to two days, stirring occasionally, until a layer of foam develops — a good sign of active microorganisms. Apply to your soil within 48 hours. (If you'd like more information before brewing your own, step-by-step <a href="https://www.popsci.com/brew-worm-tea" target="_blank">recipes</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCZDFjtoJ3E" target="_blank">video tutorials</a> on making worm tea abound.)</p>
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<h4>Plant Cover Crops</h4><p>Cultivating native grasses, or simply refraining from ripping out last year's garden plants, will help you <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/pa/soils/health/?cid=nrcseprd1200408" target="_blank">maximize the number of living roots</a> in the ground, which offers many benefits to your soil. But by far the best means of nourishing and building up your soil is by planting cover crops. Farmers often plant them after the primary crop has been harvested or in areas that would otherwise be bare. And as John and Molly can attest, they're a critical component of any holistic farming practice. Not only do they protect exposed soil from the baking sun, which can kill critical fungal communities and other important microorganisms, but they also prevent erosion, naturally suppress weeds, improve soil quality, sequester carbon from the atmosphere and minimize flooding.</p>
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<p>Cover crops can also enrich your backyard garden. Many gardeners plant them in the fall, in order to protect the soil through the winter and into the spring. Cover crops can also carry nitrogen from the air down into the soil, eventually making it available for the roots of other plants. Come spring, you can then turn these plants into "green manure" by mixing them into the soil and letting them decompose, which releases beneficial nutrients. "Cover crops are protecting this complex universe beneath the ground," John said. "They're also creating soil structure with their roots and increasing oxygen so that you get healthy, aerated soil that is filled with aerobic bacteria instead of anaerobic." At Apricot Lane Farms, cover crops include a "cocktail of grasses and legumes," though the best species for your backyard will depend on climate and your garden's specific needs, be it weed resistance or soil regeneration.</p><p>A few common cover crop varieties to investigate:</p><ul><li>Hairy vetch: This legume is hearty, resilient and a powerful nitrogen fixer. Its long roots also help break up soil.</li><li>Buckwheat: Known as a "smotherer," this cover crop will naturally help keep weeds at bay while attracting pollinators. It can then easily be tilled into the soil.</li><li>Clover: The many species of this legume are known to be versatile and powerful nitrogen fixers.</li><li>Alfalfa: This crop's long roots help aerate and bring up nutrients deep within the soil.</li><li>Peas: These legumes taste good, yes, but they also fix nitrogen and crowd out weeds, too.</li><li>Marigold: Well known for its vibrant flowers, this plant also naturally controls pests like insects, frogs, fungi and weeds.</li></ul>
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<h4>Maintain Habitats for Pollinators and Other Native Wildlife</h4><p><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">Biodiversity</a> rules at Apricot Lane Farms. By planting hundreds of plant species with a wide variety of roles, the Chesters have invited in diverse animal life. "Think about an ecosystem as the planet's immune system," John said. "You're trying to imitate that biodiversity." In other words, a diverse ecosystem has better odds of being able to heal itself. Keeping as many pieces as possible of that ecosystem intact provides a natural check on any one plant, animal or disease running amok.</p><p>Here are some biodiversity boosters for your own backyard:</p><ul><li>Introduce native flowering species that provide food for visiting pollinators.</li><li>Hang a bee nesting box somewhere it can get sunlight and warmth.</li><li>Provide green, leafy plants for caterpillars to eat, such as <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/dont-stop-planting-milkweed" target="_blank">milkweed for the monarch butterfly</a>.</li><li>Set up a small wood pile, using brush or old logs, as shelter for lizards, fungi and snakes (the latter can eat other pests, like slugs or rodents).</li><li>Plant trees or shrubs that provide plenty of nesting and cover for birds, or set up a bird house.</li><li>Add a barn owl box or just a simple roosting perch to a pole. Owls and hawks help with rabbits and gophers.</li><li>If you have the space, create a reliable water source in the form of a pond or container garden, which will make your yard more attractive to birds, frogs and dragonflies. Stem the problem of mosquitoes by including goldfish or guppies, which eat the bugs.</li><li>Plant a diversity of cover crops. Instead of just using clover, for instance, mix your clover seeds with some hairy vetch, legumes and more to help your soil reap a diversity of benefits.</li></ul>
<h4>To Manage Pests, Play Detective, Then Look to Nature to Help Crack the Case</h4><p>Over the years, the Chesters have dealt with everything from snail infestations in the orchard to hungry coyotes picking off their chickens. But the challenges have only made them better problem solvers, says John. He suggests that every gardener facing an intrusion — whether by pest, predator or disease — ask a few questions before attempting to control it, especially through artificial means like pesticides or other harsh chemicals.</p><p>For starters, understand the source of the problem and what might be fueling it, he says. Then look at what its food is, and in turn what eats it. Finally, ask what conditions it does not like and what conditions benefit its predators.</p><p>With those answers, you may find a nature-friendly solution. <a href="https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/natural-slug-control/" target="_blank">Take slugs</a>, the bane of many a gardener. If they're chomping down on too many of your leafy plants, think first of what could provide a natural check. Toads and beetles will snack on the slugs if given the proper habitat themselves, potentially ridding you of your problem without requiring use of chemical pesticides. You can also address what snails don't like — sharp, rough ground — and put a layer of crushed eggshell around your plants, which act as a natural deterrent.</p><p>"You start to frame the complexity and context of the things you're trying to coexist with," John said. "It's not harmony you want," he added, but a "comfortable level of disharmony."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How (and Why) to Be a Seed Savior <a href="https://t.co/WLiyx5DXbY">https://t.co/WLiyx5DXbY</a></p>— APS (@plantdisease) <a href="https://twitter.com/plantdisease/status/1002958089178542082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Looking to take the next step? Consider connecting with a </em><em><a href="https://www.ahsgardening.org/gardening-resources/master-gardeners" target="_blank">master gardener program</a> </em><em>in your home state. These programs will not only help you hone your own green thumb but also set you up to train others in your community who want to make a difference in their backyard or garden plot.</em><span></span><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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