#120 - EU, UCC, IOWA, NICK

This Week in Regenerative Agriculture
Wednesday, August 20th

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As Britain heads toward its hottest summer on record and nearly three-quarters of England sits in drought, English farmer Sam Squier’s regenerative pastures have stayed lush without irrigation, with soil holding an estimated 400,000 extra litres of water per acre and earthworm populations rising from 80 million to 680 million since he switched practices eight years ago. The shift is drawing serious institutional money — losses from June’s heatwave alone could hit €2.3 billion across the EU and UK — with Soil Capital citing data showing regenerative farms cut drought-related yield losses by at least 10% in 85% of cases, while McDonald’s has pledged over $1 billion toward supply-chain resilience and Lloyds Bank has launched a pooled fund with water and insurance companies.

Link

Japanese coffee giant UCC has launched a regenerative agriculture pilot in Vietnam’s coffee-growing regions, testing whether practices like biochar application and reduced synthetic fertilizer use can boost soil carbon storage, cut emissions, and help crops withstand rising temperatures and erratic rainfall. The trial, run with Atlantic Commodities Vietnam (a subsidiary of ECOM Group), feeds directly into UCC’s pledge to source all own-brand coffee sustainably by 2030 and hit carbon neutrality by 2040, and follows the company’s recent addition of Brazilian cooperative Cooxupé and Mitsui & Co. Coffee Trading Brazil, bringing its sustainable-sourcing partner network to 12.

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With Iowa posting the nation’s second-highest cancer rate, Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn is campaigning on regenerative agriculture as a fix, arguing that “any discussion about cancer rates that doesn’t include water isn’t a genuine discussion” and pointing to nitrate-laden runoff as a driver of colon cancer, one of the disease’s deadliest forms. Backed by RFK Jr.’s MAHA Action PAC, which brands him a chemical-free regenerative farmer, Lahn is proposing incentives for conservation practices, antitrust action against agrochemical companies, and funding for the long-dormant IWILL clean-water program — contingent on a state sales tax hike.

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Actor and Wendell Berry devotee Nick Offerman will join a panel on regenerative agriculture at this year’s World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue, running Oct. 20-22 in Des Moines, an event known as agriculture’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Offerman brings notable credibility to the topic beyond his acting résumé — he’s produced two regenerative agriculture documentaries, “Look & See” and “A Fork In the Road,” and narrated audiobook versions of Berry’s farming-focused writing, including “The Unsettling of America.”

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Agricultural equipment dealers are shifting from simple machinery sellers into sustainability consultants, helping farmers navigate rising input costs, labor shortages, and climate variability through precision agriculture tools like GPS guidance, variable rate application, and telematics. Dealers such as H&R Agri-Power illustrate this shift by pairing deep regional expertise with robust parts and service infrastructure, ensuring practices like cover cropping, reduced tillage, and no-till drilling — which depend on functioning equipment during narrow planting windows — don’t stall out from downtime.

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1. SEAP FIT Call for Nature-Based Forest Projects [LINK]

2. Waitrose and National Geographic Launch Youtube Campaign [LINK]
   

Groundbreaking Organizations.

Green America drives regenerative agriculture through its Center for Sustainability Solutions and its Soil & Climate Initiative (SCI), which since 2019 has helped transition farms into regenerative management by offering farmers technical assistance, agronomic expertise, soil testing, and a clear framework for measuring regenerative progress. That work hit a major milestone in January 2026 when Whole Foods Market approved SCI as a regenerative agriculture certification program, expanding market opportunities for farmers and suppliers committed to soil health and climate resilience.

GreenAmerica.com

This Week In Regenerative Agriculture is published by Why Regenerative. It is compiled by Jackson Baris with ChatGPT. Sign up for our newsletter here.