News

Dear friends & colleagues,

Spring has a way of reminding us what's at stake and what's possible. As soil temperatures rise and planting decisions are made across millions of acres, we’re continuing our work to advance federal soil health policy and support farmers nationwide.

It’s been a busy month for agriculture policy. The House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the Farm Bill out of committee in early March with notable bipartisan support. In addition, agriculture appropriations requests are already being submitted for FY27.

In agriculture, financial survival depends not simply on harvest size, but on revenue: what a field produces, multiplied by what the market will actually pay for it. These two forces do not move independently, and in most Midwest counties, when local harvests are poor and supply tightens, prices tend to rise, offering farmers a partial natural cushion. Even so, commodity price swings contribute roughly three to four times more uncertainty to farm revenue than yield variability does, meaning that market risk, not weather, is the dominant threat to a farm's bottom line. 

Thank you to everyone who signed on to the Letter of Support for the SOIL HEALTH Practices Act. We are grateful for the incredible response across the food and agriculture community. Signatories ranged from farmers and ranchers to food companies, insurance, finance, and ag-tech leaders, conservation groups, and farmer coalitions, representing the broad, cross-sector alliance that believes soil health policy is a cornerstone of a resilient agricultural future. 

Last week, Land Core submitted our official funding requests to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture for FY27. 

Across all of our work, we view soil health as a foundational component of agricultural productivity, resilience, and long-term profitability. Our appropriations priorities focus on select USDA agencies and programs that directly support the work farmers and ranchers do on their land, and which we believe are important targets for sustained investment. 

Earlier in February, Land Core Co-Founders Aria and Harley joined Michael Dimock on Roots of Change’s “Flipping the Table” podcast to discuss how their business backgrounds shape Land Core’s approach to federal soil health policy. The episode digs into how market-based tools and incentives can drive resilient land management and why soil health resonates with bipartisan stakeholders. 

On Friday, February 13, 2026, House Agriculture Committee Republicans released the text of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, a draft of the long-overdue farm bill that has the potential to significantly shape US agriculture, conservation, funding, and research policy for the next five years. What follows is a brief summary, organized by Farm Bill Title, of key sections impacting soil health and resilient agriculture systems.

Complete this Google Form to sign on to the Letter of Support for the SOIL HEALTH Practices Act.

The letter advocates for USDA to oversee research on the risk reduction associated with cover cropping, reduced tillage, diversified rotations, managed grazing, and other soil health practices over a 3-5 year timeline. If the research indicates reduced risk, USDA would be required to recommend appropriate discounts or incentives for producers.

We commend FCIC for expanding eligibility through the EARP Rule and encourage continued efforts to make crop insurance resources accessible to all producers. We appreciate the opportunity to provide these recommendations and stand ready to support FCIC in strengthening risk management tools that serve farmers nationwide. Land Core believes that federal crop insurance is a cornerstone of a modern agricultural economy and the farm safety net. By shifting incentive structures, farmers can build resilience, taxpayer costs can be reduced, and we can realign financial incentives with land management practices that protect both farm profitability and our nation's food and national security. 

Without a doubt, 2025 will be one for the record books—bringing enormous changes, from the scope and scale of government policies impacting farmers to the emergence of soil health as a focus at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as regenerative agriculture becoming more widely recognized and incorporated into USDA conservation initiatives. Between shifting trade dynamics, the growth of Food as Medicine initiatives, and the release of several groundbreaking studies on the economic benefits of soil health, it was a pivotal year.

Dear friends and colleagues,

As we’ve progressed toward the end of the calendar year, Congress continued to introduce (and reintroduce) a range of agricultural bills with implications for soil health. While the longest government shutdown in U.S. history slowed the regularity of presented legislation in October and November, as evidenced by the number of new marker bills introduced in this area, bipartisan support for soil health-focused legislation remains consistent.

Land Core is pleased to share findings from a recently released paper by Dr. Gina Pizzo, which directly informs our ongoing risk modeling work, and was written as part of our FFAR and USDA AFRI-funded project examining how soil health practices reduce risk. 

The research summarized below advances Land Core’s ongoing work to quantify how known soil health practices build resilience in agricultural systems.

Following the longest shutdown in the history of the United States federal government, a long-awaited and highly debated funding package, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, was signed into law on November 12, 2025. 

The legislation provides a full year of agriculture and FDA funding for FY26 Appropriations, along with a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, in lieu of the long-overdue five-year farm bill. The bill makes significant funding adjustments for key agricultural agencies and programs, many at lower levels than Land Core’s prior recommendations to strengthen support for soil health. 

Dear friends and colleagues,

Throughout the summer, Congress continued to introduce (and reintroduce) a variety of agricultural legislation with both direct and indirect implications for soil health. While tensions between political parties grew following the signing of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill into law on July 4, 2025, bipartisan efforts to advance soil health-focused legislation remained ongoing.

Land Core previously identified four key policy recommendations in response to the Make Our Children Healthy Again: Assessment released on May 22, 2025. We noted that any public policy to address the chronic disease crisis and increasing nutrition insecurity should consider the soil from which food is grown.