Land Core Newsletter - July 2023
Image Credit: Lukasz Szmigiel (Unsplash)
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It has been another month of major activity here at Land Core. We have seen nearly 40 bills introduced this month that we are in the process of adding to our Soil Health Bill Tracker, we have begun expanding our work with Schmidt Center for Data Science and the Environment - (DSE), and we have more truly excellent news on the Land Core Risk Model.
So without further ado, enjoy this joyful update for July!
Warmly,
The Land Core team
Grant Announcement
We’re thrilled to share that our partners at UC Berkeley (under the leadership of PI Dr. Timothy Bowles) were awarded a USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program $800,000 grant for academic research directly related to Land Core’s risk model!
The grant is titled “A better bet for the farm: Building a predictive model to quantify how diversified cropping systems affect production and economic risks across a million fields in the Midwest” and brings our risk model project total to about $2.2M (when including the full award from the Foundation for Food & Agriculture research + matching partners).
Risk News
Published last week in the FFAR newsletter, The “Good Soil Discount” — A Game Changer for U.S. Agriculture, is an Insight by Harley Cross, Land Core co-founder and director of strategy, that explains how market-based incentives — like those for good drivers and non-smokers — for the adoption of agricultural practices like cover cropping, reduced tillage and increased crop rotations, will go a long way towards ushering in a new understanding of the true value of soil health for all producers. Thanks to the FFAR team for so generously inviting Harley to write this piece!
Press: Can no-till farming mean lower interest rates for producers? Read more in this piece featuring our co-PI, Dr. Lawson Connor, agriculture economist and researcher for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, here. This news also appeared in the High Plains Journal.
DSE Phase 2!
We are very excited to share that our initial limited collaboration with the brilliant team from the Schmidt Center for Data Science and the Environment (DSE) last month, is expanding!
They are now exploring the development of a rich, interactive visual analytics tool to make our risk model outputs (beginning in Illinois), accessible to multiple audiences. This open source tool should lay the foundation for us to build on as we continue to expand the Risk Model both in complexity and geographic scope. We cannot overstate the importance of having this caliber of front- and back-end development focused on our project - this is the functional user interface that will truly bring our modeling team’s work to life and create the opportunities for countless stakeholders, in agriculture and beyond, to see the benefits of soil health in easy to understand terms!
Risk Model Team Updates
Congratulations to Sarah Manski, Yvonne Socolar, and Ben Goldstein on successfully completing their PhDs! Sarah, Yvonne, and Ben each made invaluable contributions to our methodological approach, and model and tool development. We wish them well as they move on to new positions in their academic careers, and are grateful for their continued role as advisors to the Risk Model project.
Thank you, Katie!
After over two and a half years, our incredible Programs Manager, Katie Fettes, is moving on to the next professional adventure. Katie has been a vital part of Land Core’s growth and evolution, working with prodigious skill, an indefatigable spirit, and great care for each of our programs, partners, and colleagues. It’s been a privilege and a joy. Thank you Katie, we wish you all the best!
Hiring Update
A big thank you to everyone in our network who shared our recent job listings. We are grateful for the interest and support. The Programs Manager position is now closed, and we look forward to introducing you to our newest team member next month!
Policy Updates
Bill Introduction: We are happy to share that our partners at Regenerate America (RA) have successfully shepherded the “Streamlining Conservation Practice Standards Act” (S. 2603) to bipartisan introduction in the Senate last week! Introduced on Thursday by Senators Heinrich (D-NM), Klobuchar (D-MN), Marshall (R-KS), and Ernst (R-IA), this bill draws upon RA’s proposal to create a more transparent and accessible process for updating existing conservation practices standards and establishing new ones, which could make support for soil health practices available to producers faster. You can view a section-by-section summary here.
Bill Tracker: As mentioned in the introduction note, we have identified nearly 40 bills that have been introduced in the last few weeks, primarily as “marker bills” (i.e. hoping to make it into the final text of the Farm Bill), that are in the process of being added into our Federal Soil Health Bill Tracker. We will have a full update shortly. If you have not yet, sign up for our Bill Tracker Alert here.
What We're Reading
Congress and USDA double down on soil carbon measurement and agricultural carbon sinks
Opinion on the need for USDA to create a standardized tool to monitor and inventory soil carbon across the country.
July 14, 2023 | By: Dr. Gretchen Kroh, Agri-Pulse
Agriculture Dept. to Invest $300 Million to Measure Greenhouse Emissions
USDA announced on July 12 that it would establish a monitoring and data collection network to measure greenhouse gas emissions and determine how much carbon can be captured using certain farming practices, using $300 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. Read more on soil carbon monitoring, reporting and verification efforts.
July 12, 2023 | By: Linda Qiu, The New York Times
Inside the fall farm bill sprint
Senate aides have largely ruled out September for the upper chamber to have a final draft of their farm bill, given the jam-packed schedule. But they’re increasingly optimistic about October, pending any additional delays from the negotiations or CBO.
July 31, 2023 | By: Garrett Downs and Meredith Lee Hill, Politico Weekly Agriculture
Coalition Pushes for Timely Passage of 2023 Farm Bill
Organizations representing a variety of interests have formed a collaborative movement to advocate for getting the 2023 Farm Bill finished within the year.
July 13, 2023 | By: AgNet West
Walmart joins regenerative agriculture effort
“Partnering with PepsiCo, the retailer looks to improve farming conditions”.
July 29, 2023 | By: Bill Wilson, Supermarket News
Voters in Key Farm Bill States Support New Approaches to the Food and Farm Bill
New poll shows that 82% of voters nationally and as high as 90% in Michigan, support investing in programs that help farmers proactively adapt and protect their land and crops against losses from flooding and drought
By: July 17, 2023 | By: Kyle Ann Sebastian, Union of Concerned Scientists
Breakthrough agricultural loan rewards farmers for environmental stewardship
Results from the 2022 pilot of the “Regenerative Agriculture Financing” program, including a 0.5% interest rate rebate for farmers who achieve climate and water quality benchmarks established by the Environmental Defense Fund.
July 19, 2023 | By: Maggie Monast, Environmental Defense Fund
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