Land Core Expanding Engagement to Health and Human Services (HHS)
Land Core has long stayed singularly focused on soil health and the farmers and ranchers who are on the ground doing the work.
Our efforts to advance programs and policies that positively impact those farmers and ranchers has been primarily directed towards the agencies and offices that align with that constituency directly, namely the US Department of Agriculture.
At USDA, we’ve engaged with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) which promotes and funds soil health programs, the Farm Service Agency (FSA), which gives loans to farmers (and could be doing more to assess the value of soil health practices as part of their valuation and credit extension). We’ve also worked to identify opportunities at the Risk Management Agency (RMA), the agency that runs the federal crop insurance program, to look at how we might better assess soil health related risk reduction.
When it comes to rangelands and pasture, we’ve engaged the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which regulates when and how ranchers can work on public lands, noting the opportunity to advance soil health while promoting the economic interests of ranchers through systems of regenerative grazing.
Across these agencies and others—as well as with members of Congress, whose work shapes their funding and priorities—we strive to ensure that the value of soil health is consistently and appropriately assessed, and that producers investing in resilience through soil improvement are seen, supported, and their work appropriately valued.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been slightly tangential to Land Core’s focus in the past. Although the intersection of human health and soil health is clearly reflected by a growing body of scientific work, showing correlations between soil health practices and positive health outcomes, as an organization, we have stayed in our relatively narrow lane.
However, with the arrival of Secretary Kennedy at HHS, there is a clear indication of support for the idea that soil health is foundational to human health. In response, Land Core will be expanding its engagement with HHS in the years ahead, supporting the individuals and institutions working to ensure that this emerging soil-centered vision is meaningfully implemented. The potential to reshape national health outcomes through improved food systems grounded in soil health is significant and deserves serious attention.
Land Core’s success to date has been due in no small part to our relatively disciplined focus. That strategic clarity remains unchanged. We will continue to concentrate on what enables farmers and ranchers to build and sustain healthy soils. What is evolving is our recognition of a new institutional partner—one with immensely influential programs and policy levers (like the U.S. Dietary Guidelines)—to drive widespread adoption of soil health practices. HHS’s interest in this space opens promising pathways: the expansion of markets, the creation of new opportunities for producers, and the alignment of agricultural resilience with improved public health outcomes.
Land Core is a 501(c)3 organization that works closely with the USDA, legislators, producers, scientists, NGOs and financial institutions across the country to develop policy recommendations that build healthy soils, resilient farmers and national food security. This includes guiding the successful passage of language in both the House and Senate supporting soil health outcomes at the USDA and helping to secure over $50M in federal investment in Soil Health in the 2018 Farm Bill.
Resources: The Land Core Soil Health Bill Tracker is a comprehensive tool designed to monitor and analyze legislation related to soil health and resilience. It can be used to support bills that align with the priorities of strengthening American agriculture, promoting energy independence, and revitalizing rural communities.