Land Core Newsletter - April 2024
Image Credit: Unsplash
Dear friends and colleagues,
We have quite a bit of news to share from this past month! First, Farm Bill proposals are (finally) being released, which is creating renewed momentum and opportunity. Below, we've provided an overview of the Senate and House versions of the bill, as well as Land Core's soil health-related priorities that were included in the Senate leadership bill. We’re also pleased to share our recently submitted FY25 Agriculture Appropriations request.
Secondly, we have some exciting Risk Model team updates, including a long-awaited look at the pre-print of our team's first academic manuscript! We’re incredibly proud of the work, and hopeful for what’s to come as we expand our research and the related modeling tool.
Read on for more, including events on our radar and a list of what we're reading.
Warmly,
The Land Core Team
Policy Updates
Farm Bill Updates
The long-awaited Farm Bill is finally here! Yesterday, the Senate Agriculture Committee leadership released a detailed summary of their proposed text, while the House Agriculture Committee Chairman Thompson released a much shorter overview, with a markup expected on May 23. The Senate Minority version is expected to be released after the House markup.
The Senate’s Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act puts emphasis on “keeping farmers farming, families fed, and rural communities strong” and contains over 100 bipartisan bills. Some of the key elements of the text include supporting farmers through disaster relief and improvements to crop insurance, support for beginning farmers through insurance premium discounts and improvements to education and training programs, and strengthening organic farming, urban agriculture, and specialty crop competitiveness. You can view a section-by-section overview of the text here, and a shorter summary here.
On the House side, key elements include increased support for risk coverage programs, enhancements to conservation programs, addressing trade and infrastructure barriers, modernization of agricultural research facilities, and improvements to financing options for farmers. The title-by-title overview can be found here.
Land Core’s Farm Bill priorities included in Senate bill:
We are proud to highlight the following Land Core priorities, both recent and long-standing(!), that have been included in the Senate version that we alongside countless partners, have worked to champion, including:
Sec. 11103: In crop insurance, offer additional performance-based discounts for practices that can be demonstrated to reduce risk, including cover crops and crop rotations (based on our work on the SOIL HEALTH Practices Act, and the Cover Cover Flexibility Act)
Sec. 2306: Doubles the funding for On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials from $25 million to $50 million for each fiscal year and directs that 50% of the funding be used for Soil Health Demonstration Trials (and other historic investments in NRCS conservation programs, prioritizing “climate-smart” soil-building practices)
Sec. 2502: Major improvements to the delivery of technical assistance, including farmer-to-farmer networks (S.2614); streamlining the process of NRCS conservation practice standards (S.2603); and increasing capacity of third-party service providers (S.1400)
Sec. 12516. Develops a standardized methodology to directly measure soil carbon consistently over time for research and conservation purposes (S.2241)
While we recognize that significant political challenges remain, both amongst Committee leadership and in the wider Congress, we’re glad to take today to celebrate this progress and recognize the collective efforts of farmers, families and advocates across the country.
Stay tuned for more updates and action opportunities in the coming weeks and months.
Ag-Appropriations
We recently submitted our FY25 Ag-Appropriations request! Supporting America’s farmers and ranchers in building soil health is critical, not only to avert imminent food supply issues, but also to reverse soil loss, safeguard food security, improve farm profitability and productivity, revive rural communities, and mitigate the on-farm impacts of severe weather.
By showing up for the annual appropriations process, and by supporting voluntary financial incentives that complement existing conservation programs, farmers can be encouraged to adopt practices that prioritize soil health and long-term sustainability.
Check out our mini-blog part two here for an overview of the appropriations process, a recap of FY24 funding, and Land Core’s requests, including report language and program funding, for FY25!
Bill Tracker
Although the introduction of new legislation slowed down as the House & Senate Agriculture committees narrowed in on their top priorities, we are still tracking relevant bills as they are introduced or updated. We are currently working on summarizing bills introduced in March and April and adding them to our Federal Bill Tracker, and we are excited to see the breadth of topics they cover - from reducing the need for ad-hoc disaster support, to ensuring risk management funding for specialty crops, to water rights, and livestock grazing for wildfire prevention.
You can view all soil health bills on our Tracker, and sign up to get Bill Tracker updates directly to your inbox here.
Risk Model News
First Manuscript Under Peer Review!
We are thrilled to announce that our team’s first academic manuscript, titled “Diversified crop rotations mitigate agricultural losses from dry weather,” has been submitted for peer review!
You can read the pre-print on agriRxiv.
The paper explores the ability of more diverse crop rotations to protect against corn yield loss in drought conditions in the midwestern US, and how this soil health practice can be used as a risk-mitigation tool.
A big congrats and thank you to the co-authors and the entire team for their continued hard work and dedication to create a more resilient agricultural system.
Thank you as well to our funders, including Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, USDA-AFRI, and our network of family foundation supporters, for making this work possible.
Risk Model team members to present at the Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources Conference
Two Risk Model team members will be presenting at the Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources Conference in Ames, IA on May 15! Gina Pizzo, PhD Candidate at Michigan State University, will give a talk titled “Farm revenue uncertainty: a Bayesian study for corn in the US Midwest” and Tyler Bagwell, PhD Candidate at Rice University, will give a presentation titled “Constructing interpretable and robust statistical crop yield prediction models using field-level data.“
Welcome, Victor!
We are excited to share that we will be welcoming Victor Funes Leal to the team in the role of Farm Management Economist Postdoctoral Research Associate! Victor is currently finishing his PhD work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he is studying Agricultural and Consumer Economics. Victor will work under the technical supervision of Dr. Lawson Connor at the University of Arkansas; we look forward to the expertise and enthusiasm that he will bring to the team.
Upcoming Events & Deadlines
Below you will find a selection of upcoming gatherings related to agriculture and soil health on our radar, as well as upcoming enrollments and deadlines for funding opportunities.
May 4, 2024 - Soil Festival 2024 - Atlanta, GA
Led by Food Well Alliance, this family-friendly event supports urban agriculture, local food, and food leaders. Proceeds will benefit local farms, community gardens, and orchards. More information can be found here.
May 21-25, 2024 - Southern Regional Cooperative Soil Survey Conference - Lafayette, LA
This year’s conference theme is “Our Soils, Our Heritage.” Attendees will be able to connect with soil scientists, hear about the National Cooperative Soil Survey, and learn about soil landscapes in Louisiana. More information and registration details can be found here.
Funding Opportunity - Equipment Grant Program
The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Equipment Grant Program (EGP) provides funding to higher education institutions and cooperative extension systems to increase access to special equipment/instruments that are important for food and agriculture research.
The deadline to apply is Friday, May 3. More information on the program and how to apply can be found here.
ICYMI - Recent Events
April 13, 2024 - Earth Commons, Berkeley Climate Change Network
Land Core’s Executive Director and Co-Founder, Aria McLauchlan, recently spoke on a panel at Earth Commons. Aria spoke alongside Fera Zero founder Lauren Turk, in a session titled “How Impact Measurement Helps Build Resilient Systems.” She discussed how quantifying the risk-reducing benefit of soil health management practices can unlock new partnerships and incentives that can support farmers in building soil health and more resilient, profitable agricultural systems.
What We're Reading
Seeds From Wild Crop Relatives Could Help Agriculture Weather Climate Change
A look at how the hardy wild cousins of domesticated crops can teach us how to adapt to a hotter, more unpredictable future.
April 22, 2024 | By: Samuel Gilbert, Civil Eats
Nestlé’s top tip for communicating regen ag in dairy? ‘Show, don’t tell’
Setting up regenerative agriculture practices is no mean feat, but communicating the benefits to consumers may be even tougher.
April 18, 2024 | By: Flora Southey, Food Navigator
America’s Young Farmers Are Burning Out. I Quit, Too
Both congressional Democrats and Republicans have maintained that encouraging young people to farm is of utmost importance in ensuring the stability of our food system. But getting young people into farming may not be the problem. Keeping them on the farm may be the hardest part.
April 16, 2024 | By: Eliza Milio, Time Magazine
EPA finalizes the nation’s first PFAS limits in drinking water
Although there are thousands of forever chemicals, the new regulation targets six of the most pervasive ones.
April 16, 2024 | By: Joseph Winters and Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, Grist
Why Regenerative Farming Needs Organic Certification-And Vice Versa
One of the leading lights in the regenerative movement is Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC), a three-tiered framework encouraging continuous improvement upon a Certified Organic baseline.
April 16, 2024 | By: Errol Schweizer, Forbes
Voice of the US farmer 2023–24: Farmers seek path to scale sustainably
A McKinsey survey finds that 90 percent of farmers are aware of sustainable-farming practices, but holistic adoption remains low; they seek more operational and financial support.
April 9, 2024 | By: David Fiocco et al, McKinsey
Can soil health management get you into the field earlier?
An extension report on how soil health practices can help farmers get into the field earlier despite diverse weather conditions.
April 2, 2024 | By: Anna Cates et al, UMN Extension
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