Weekly News Recap (7/11-7/17)

Spotlight 1 – Aspen Public Radio looks into how regenerative agriculture practices are helping western Colorado farmers cope with the warmest winter on record. Ready the story, here.

Spotlight 2 – Food Dive explains the multi-faceted benefits that arise from conservation practices on farmland. Check it out, here.

Spotlight 3 – A new article published in Nature shows how healthier diets would transform global agriculture. Take a read, here.

A new Minnesota state audit found weaknesses in a farm program designed to protect water quality. The report raises questions about oversight of incentives for farmers enrolled in the program. [link]

The Maryland Department of Agriculture awarded $670,000 in grants to support soil health and agroforestry practices. The funding will help farms and organizations adopt conservation practices that benefit climate, soil, and water quality. [link]

Syngenta and Groundwork BioAg announced a strategic partnership to market mycorrhizal fungi technology to farmers. The collaboration aims to expand access to biological products that improve soil and crop health. [link]

General Mills, ADM, and Walmart announced a new collaboration to accelerate regenerative agriculture across 40,000 acres of Midwest wheat farmland. The partnership continues efforts by major food companies to scale regenerative practices across supply chains. [link]

Puratos announced a major expansion of its regenerative agriculture program across its U.S. wheat supply chain. The bakery and chocolate ingredients company is accelerating adoption of regenerative practices among its wheat suppliers. [link]

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture will gather public input on the socioeconomic impact of large-scale dairies in the state. The review comes as the state considers how large dairy operations affect local communities and economies. [link]

A $96 million project will expand agroforestry and sustainable forest management in Vietnam. The initiative aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen the country’s forest carbon framework. [link]

USDA-supported regenerative conservation practices have grown more than 360% over the past decade, according to a new American Farm Bureau Federation analysis. Nearly 40 million acres were enrolled in regenerative conservation practices by fiscal year 2023. [link]

The world’s longest-running soil experiment suggests that even stable soil carbon can break down as temperatures rise. The finding indicates rising temperatures could release additional CO2 from soils long considered a reliable carbon sink. [link]

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute will host its Annual Alternative Crops Field Day on August 5. The event will feature crops including millet, buckwheat, mung beans, and kernza. [link]

Shredded lettuce supplied to Taco Bell by Taylor Farms has been linked to a parasitic cyclosporiasis outbreak infecting thousands of people across five states. The FDA is further investigating the source of the outbreak. [link]

Pladis, maker of McVitie’s, Turtles, and Godiva, launched a new sustainability initiative to support farmers adopting regenerative practices. The program aims to strengthen the company’s agricultural supply chains. [link]

In mid-June, Nestlé announced that it was teaming up with Wildfarmed to use the UK miller’s “regeneratively farmed” wheat in its KitKat bars. See more, here.

Check us out on our homepage or come connect with us on LinkedIn.

We’re an investment fund that raises money from long-term investors and then pays farmers and landowners to plant trees on their properties alongside crops and/or animals, returning nutrients to the soil and our food while delivering attractive, uncorrelated returns to investors.