July 2019

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the latest edition of NACSAA News, a monthly compilation of CSA-related news. “NACSAA in Action” features the latest on the Alliance activities; “Featured News” offers some of the biggest CSA-related stories of the past month; “Other News We Are Reading” is a listing of news stories from other sources we think you will find of interest; and “Partner News and Events.” We hope this newsletter will serve to keep you, your members and other constituencies fully engaged in the growing development of climate-smart agriculture policy, programs and practices. Your feedback is welcome and appreciated. To subscribe, email info@SfLDialogue.net.

NACSAA in Action

NACSAA Pushes Science-Based Decision Making, Other Principles, in Bonn

 

Science-based decision making and putting farmers at the center of all discussions were among the guiding principles touted by representatives of NACSAA and many of its member organizations in a workshop held by United Nation’s facilitators in Bonn, Germany, on the development of an agricultural work program aimed at stemming climate change. (A compilation of our Twitter posts from Bonn can be found HERE.)

 


Negotiators in Bonn held their third in a series of at least six workshops that are being staged by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) this year to facilitate the construction of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) agreement. NACSAA has taken an active role throughout the development of this first-ever global climate agricultural work program.

 

Now in the second for what has been planned to be a three-year effort, last month’s sessions in Bonn focused on:

Joining in representing the interests of North American agriculture at the sessions in Bonn were a number of NACSAA members, including USDA, Cornell University, CropLife, The Fertilizer Institute, Environmental Defense Fund, Business for Social Responsibility and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

 

They observed a convergence of interest in integrating efforts to achieve various UN Sustainable Development Goals with a strong emphasis on climate, biodiversity and food system reform.

 

Fred Yoder

Countering throughout the workshop the contentions made by anti- technology and environmental justice representatives that the global food system is broken, NACSAA representatives and their allies promoted guiding principles that would build on current agricultural trends to insure an adequate, safe and low-cost supply of food, feed, fiber and energy in the decades ahead.

 

Specifically, NACSAA urged UN negotiators to recognize and respect in the formation of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture that:

  • Science-based decision making should be the foundation for the adoption of climate smart technologies and practices for sustainable agriculture and global food production.
  • Production and production efficiency per unit of land must increase going forward to meet the food needs of the future while incurring no net environmental cost.
  • Outcomes (rather than means) applicable to any scale of enterprise must be emphasized, without predetermining technologies, production type or design components.
  • There is no silver bullet solution for enhancing the resilience in agriculture: KJWA must embrace a systems approach that recognizes the tremendous diversity of agricultural landscapes and ecosystems and enables producers to utilize the systems, technologies and practices that best support their farming operations.
  • Farmers must be at the center of all discussions and decision-making; significant input will be needed from a wide range of agricultural stakeholders, including technical agricultural experts drawn from farmer organizations, academia, industry, and international and regional organizations, especially those outside of the UNFCCC structure.

Thanks to the hard work and contributions of its members, NACSAA has accomplished its primary objective of establishing itself as a credible, knowledgeable and respected platform for contributions from North America agriculture. Based on the success achieved in Bonn, planning is underway to expand and enhance the alliance’s presence at next Conference of the Parties (COP 25) this December in Santiago, Chile, including a possible knowledge-sharing pavilion that will function as a learning platform for information about soil health, nutrient and water management, livestock, biofuels and more.

 

NACSAA efforts are now shifting to the next submission, due Sept. 30, on improved nutrient use and manure management toward sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.

 

NACSAA Joins Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture

 

NACSAA has become the newest member of Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, a diverse group of interests that support resilient ecosystems and enhanced farmer livelihoods, during the Alliance’s summer plenary and general assembly meeting in Chicago late last month.

 


NACSAA was recognized by Field to Market leaders for its role in promoting the principles of climate smart agriculture (CSA), which enables farmers, ranchers and forestland owners to address changing climatic conditions and ensure strong agricultural output in the years ahead.

 

Field to Market membership recognizes the significance of climate related challenges and opportunities in defining, measuring and advancing the sustainability of food, feed, fiber and fuel production. Field to Market is comprised of more than 140 members representing all facets of the U.S. agricultural supply chain, with members employing more than 5 million people and representing combined revenues totaling over $1.5 trillion.

 

By joining Field to Market, NACSAA can help support opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for continuous improvements in productivity, environmental quality and human well-being.

 

Farmers Conservation Alliance Bring Water Expertise to NACSAA

 

The Farmers Conservation Alliance (FCA), a nonprofit enterprise that works in partnership with rural communities in pursuit of water management solutions that benefit both agriculture and the environment, has joined the North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA).

 


FCA began in 2005 when the Farmers Irrigation District of Hood River, OR, licensed the Farmers Screen™ technology to FCA under the condition that the alliance take the technology to market, address institutional barriers to fish screens, and invest profits into other technologies and solutions that benefit both the environment and agriculture.

 

FCA officials said that along the way, they realized that the highest measure of mutual benefit would be to achieve agricultural resiliency. Achieving such a goal meant taking on the complete modernization of a failing irrigation infrastructure.

 

We work to keep the water flowing for farms, food and fish,” the FCA proclaims on its website. The alliance said it is a unique position to help realize the formidable goal of infrastructure modernization through trusted relationships the group has amassed through a hands-on, solutions-oriented approach with farmers and rural communities.

 

The alliance’s Irrigation Modernization Program creates a path forward for irrigation districts to upgrade their infrastructure, saving water and operating costs, while restoring streams, protecting fish, and generating green, renewable energy.

 

“The Farmers Conservation Alliance’s approach to water issues complements well the mission of NACSAA to inspire, educate and equip agricultural partners to innovate effective local adaptations that sustain productivity, enhance climate resilience, and contribute to the local and global goals for sustainable development,” said NACSAA Steering Committee Chairman Fred Yoder. “We welcome the inputs the FCA offer to our efforts to enhance the adaptive capacity of North American agriculture.”

 

The Mosaic Company Joins NACSAA

 

The Mosaic Company, the world’s leading integrated producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash, has joined the North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA). The company employs more than 12,000 people in six countries and participates in every aspect of crop nutrition development.

 


Mosaic officials note that the work of mining and processing potash and phosphate minerals is an energy- and water-intensive endeavor. They say the company works carefully to maximize efficiencies and minimize the use of energy and natural resources, and have made significant progress in reducing Mosaic’s environmental footprint.

 

Mosaic is one of the world’s largest producers of finished phosphate products. The company owns and operates mines and production facilities in North and South America which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients and phosphate-based animal feed ingredients. The North American phosphates operations have the capacity to produce 11.7 million metric tons of phosphate fertilizer. Its South American operations include five phosphates mines and five chemical and fertilizer facilities in Brazil with a capacity to produce 10.5 million tonnes of finished concentrated phosphate.

 

Mosaic is a young company rooted in history and experience. Recognized as innovators in its field, a status that the company says owes much to the combined strengths of the crop nutrition business of Cargill, Inc. and IMC Global Inc., its founding companies. Each of the companies have been recognized as worldwide leaders in the crop nutrition industry for decades.

 

In 2014, Mosaic completed its acquisition of the phosphate business of CF Industries, Inc., and Archer Daniels Midland Company’s fertilizer distribution business in Brazil and Paraguay. In 2018, Mosaic completed its acquisition of Vale Fertilizantes from Vale S.A. and became one of the leading fertilizer producer and distributor in Brazil.

 

IMC Global dates back to 1909, when entrepreneur Thomas Meadows became involved in the phosphate mining business. In 1940, the company mined 50,000 metric tons of potash from its Carlsbad, NM, plant. IMC Global mined approximately 1.7 million metric tons in the same location in 2003, helping the company earn $2.2 billion in revenue.

 

Mosaic is the 67thth farm, agribusiness, academic, governmental and sustainable development interests to join NACSAA.

 

 

Featured News

 

Prevented Planting Costs Now Expected to Top $1 Billion,

Affecting 10 Million Acres

 

The USDA said last week that it expects farmers to file insurance claims exceeding $1 billion for some 10 million acres they have been unable to plant this year as a result of the unprecedented chain of storms that have struck the Midwest and the Mississippi River Valley in recent months.

 

Photo Courtesy of Nebraska Governor’s Office

Fresh in the memory from early March are the multitude of news photos from the weather-induced disasters occurring at an unprecedented rate in multiple points across the Farm Belt. The so-called “bomb cyclone” of heavy rains and snow falling on saturated ground sent river waters soaring well above their banks, breaching more than a dozen levees and causing fatalities. Farmers lost grains when thousands of storage bins were destroyed and roads were initially damaged to the point that access to fields, much less markets, was denied.

 

The weather onslaught continued as the year progressed. Days of deadly, severe thunderstorms late last month brought widespread damage across the southeastern and central United States. The threat of flooding and violent thunderstorms continues in much of the U.S. farm belt.

 

While factors at play in extreme weather events are complex, scientists say that what the nation – and the world – has been experiencing are consistent with the indicators of climate change.

 

Not all symptoms of a changing climate are as severe as those seen in recent months. But they do include higher, drought-inducing temperatures, wetter conditions, inconsistent growing seasons and other production altering events. The implications of the record-setting weather events that have occurred in recent months have driven home the need for adaptive management strategies like those advocated by the North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA).

 

Meanwhile, local USDA offices are calling on farmers to plant cover crops on acres where they have been unable to plant corn, soybeans and other program crops. Cover crops on acres where program crops are unable to be planted are eligible for minimal payments under an upcoming round of the Market Facilitation Program, a trade-assistance offering put in place by the Trump administration to help farmers during U.S. trade disputes and embargoes with major trading partners, including China.

 

The Agriculture Department says farmers planting cover crops also may be eligible for cost-share assistance from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program operated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

 

Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota are among states that have started special signup dates for farmers who could not get into their fields this spring. Sign-up deadlines vary by state and farmers are urged to consult with their local NRCS office. USDA field agents can also offer guidance on what qualifies as a cover crop. The department says that for this year only, farmers will be allowed to plant cover crops on prevent plant acres to be used for hay or grazing as soon as Sept. 1, well ahead of the normal date of Nov. 1. But USDA officials assert that no cover crops can be harvested for seed or grain.

 

On June 6, President Trump signed a $19.1 billion disaster relief package the includes help for those communities devastated by the catastrophic flooding, as well as financial assistance for areas hit by wildfires and hurricanes.

 

The measure provides $3 billion for farmers to help cover crop losses; $720 million for the U.S. Forest Service to help cover wildfire suppression efforts; $558 million for the Emergency Conservation Program  to help farmers restore storm-damaged land; $480 million for the Emergency Forest Restoration Program; and $435 million for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, which assists landowners and communities in restoring culverts, stream banks, levees and other infrastructure.

 

The Congressional Budget Office says that the agriculture spending in the bill is expected to total $5.5 billion.

 

EPA Drops Biomass Co-Firing as Compliance Option in Final ACE Rule;

Offers RFS Rule That Would Increase Use of Cellulosic Biofuel Only

 

Biofuels are taking a hit on two policy fronts being mounted by the Trump administration, with the EPA removing biomass co-firing as a compliance option in its final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule issued June 15, and offering a minimal increase in next-generation cellulosic biofuels only in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) targets proposed Friday by the agency for 2020 and, for biodiesel, 2021.

 


EPA officials say that while they hold burning biomass for power is carbon neutral, the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act precludes efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions “beyond the fenceline” of any regulated power facility. Biomass gains its GHG advantages through its ability to regrow. But because that regrowth occurs beyond the confines of the power plant, it is ineligible for designation as a means of compliance, EPA says.

 

The exclusion of biomass diverges from an August, 2018, version of the ACE plan which rejected the co-firing of coal with natural gas, but said then the co-firing of biomass would be an allowed compliance option that states could consider.

 

The final rule issued last month says, “Although biomass co-firing methods are technically feasible and can be cost-effective for some designated facilities, these factors and others (namely, that any potential net reductions in emissions from biomass use occur outside of the regulated source and are outside of the control of the designated facility, which is incompatible with the interpretation of the EPA’s authority and the permissible scope of [the Best System of Emission Reduction, or BSER] as set forth [in this rulemaking]) are the considerations that prevent its adoption as the BSER for the source category.”

 

The agency uses similar reasoning in rejecting biomass co-firing as a compliance option with language that critics say could undercut other EPA efforts to define the fuel as carbon neutral.

 

“While the firing of biomass occurs at a designated facility, biomass firing in and of itself does not reduce emissions of [carbon dioxide] emitted from that source,” the final rule says. “Specifically, when measuring stack emissions, combustion of biomass emits more mass of emissions per [British thermal unit] than that from combustion of fossil fuels, thereby increasing [carbon dioxide] emissions at the source. Recognition of any potential CO2 emissions reductions associated with biomass . . . relies on accounting for activities not applied at and largely not under the control of that source, including consideration of offset terrestrial carbon effects during biomass fuel regrowth.”

 

Friday’s announcement of EPA’s proposed Renewable Volume Obligation (RVOs) drew criticism from biodiesel producers for what they say is the agency’s failure to recognize the sector’s increased production capabilities. And ethanol producers slammed the proposal for failing to take into account the huge revenues the sector lost to a flurry of hardship waivers granted to refiners in recent years that have cost the sector millions in lost revenues.

 

As proposed by EPA, 20.04 billion gallons of biofuels, including ethanol and biodiesel, would be required in 2020, up from 19.92 billion gallons this year. The increase is entirely due to an expected 122-million-gallon increase in the production of cellulosic biofuels. The RVOs for 2020 include 5.04 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, which take in the higher cellulosic ethanol amount as well as biomass-based diesel, and 15 billion gallons of conventional corn ethanol.

 

 

The EPA proposed to keep the biodiesel RVO, which is set for a year ahead of other regulated biofuels, at 2.43 billion gallons, the same as it was set last year for 2020. Biomass-based diesel includes biodiesel, typically made from soybean oil, and renewable diesel, a form that is chemically similar to petroleum diesel.

 

Kurt Kovarik, the National Biodiesel Board’s vice president of federal affairs, said the proposed RVOs “would turn the RFS program on its head. It is likely to reduce America’s use of cleaner, lower-carbon biodiesel and renewable diesel for transportation over the next several years, encouraging more petroleum use. The proposal sends a chilling signal to America’s biodiesel and renewable diesel producers of EPA’s intent to limit market growth for cleaner fuels.”

 

Kovarik said that by repeating the previous biomass-based diesel volume of 2.43 billion gallons for 2021, the agency has failed to analyze the industry’s ability to achieve higher volumes.

 

The Renewable Fuels Association says that by neglecting to “prospectively reallocate small refinery exemptions and blatantly ignoring a court order to restore improperly waived gallons,” EPA’s RVOs “betra President Trump’s commitment to uphold the integrity” of the RFS.

 

“As long as EPA continues to dole out compliance exemptions to oil refiners without reallocating the lost volume, the agency may as well start referring to the annual RFS levels as ‘renewable volume suggestions’ rather than ‘renewable volume obligations,'” said Geoff Cooper, RFA’s President and CEO. “It is a complete misnomer to call these blending volumes ‘obligations’ when EPA’s small refinery bailouts have essentially transformed the RFS into a voluntary program for nearly one-third of the nation’s oil refineries.”

 

CA Legislature Funds CMA Programs, But CalCAN Says It’s Not Enough

 

The California legislature last month approved a state budget that included$1.4 billion in climate change investments. The results were mixed for the state’s suite of Climate Smart Agriculture programs. Under the programs, farmers and ranchers receive financial and technical assistance to adopt management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon sinks and provide multiple benefits to farms and the environment.

 


The California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN), a coalition of the state’s leading sustainable agriculture organizations, advocates for the investment in multiple-benefit Climate Smart Agriculture. The silver lining in the budget was the boost to the Healthy Soils Program, which went from $15 million to $28 million in FY 2019-20.

 

The program funds farmers to adopt new soil management practices like cover crops, compost, mulch, conservation tillage and more to increase carbon sinks and lower greenhouse gas emissions overall.

 

Earlier last month, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced its latest round of Healthy Soil Program grants, distributing $12.48 million throughout the state. CalCAN greeted the announcement with praise, noting that the amount making up the 217 grants to farmers and ranchers across the state “almost triples the reach of the program to California producers, and represents the largest investments in the country in building healthy agricultural soil as a climate mitigation strategy.

 

However, while the boost in the program’s funding by the legislature comes as welcome news, CalCAN says it falls short of the annual investment of $50 million the alliance says is needed to reach the state’s goal of a million acres under Healthy Soils management by 2030.

 

Other Climate Smart Agriculture programs did not fare as well. The State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) was zeroed out, despite being the most popular of the Climate Smart Agriculture Programs and the only state incentive for on-farm water conservation.

 

Finally, CalCAN says the state’s most popular dairy methane program saw its budget cut by two-thirds. The Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP) funds dairies and livestock operations to turn wet manure into dry manure to reduce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Most of the AMMP projects are turning manure into compost, an important resource for the Healthy Soils Initiative.

 

This year 91 dairies and livestock operators applied for the program, seeking $55 million in funding. Instead, the legislature cut AMMP funding to just $7 million. CalCAN says the cut will not only hurt methane reduction efforts in the state, but it will also hurt industry efforts to address water quality issues at a time of steep declines in dairy prices.

 

“Today’s budget vote is a mix of wins and losses for advancing agricultural solutions to climate change,” said CalCAN Policy Director Jeanne Merrill. “We must continue to invest in our farmers and ranchers to support Climate Smart Agriculture that keeps producers on the land, our communities healthy and our food security thriving.

 

Congressmen Call on EPA to Process RFS Apps, Including Electricity

 

A letter sent by a bipartisan group of 21 House members last month called on EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to “expeditiously review and approve worthy pending applications to produce RFS-certified fuels, permitting them to proceed to market.”

 


The lawmakers, led by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), specifically highlighted the contributions of electricity from biomass, biogas and other qualifying forms of renewable energy to rural economies. They cited the need for the EPA to include these and other pathways in the RFS “to allow approved pathways the market access that Congress intended them to have.”

 

“We are extremely grateful to the 21 signers of this letter to the EPA articulating the EPA’s violation of implementing Congress’ intentions by not including electricity in the RFS,” said Bob Cleaves, president and CEO of Biomass Power Association, one of three founding organizations of the RFS Power Coalition. “As of today, it’s been 11 years and 174 days since Congress passed RFS2, which included electricity.

 

“As the letter points out,” Cleaves continued, “the EPA’s refusal to process electricity applications has an impact far beyond our individual power producers; entire supply chains including farms, forests, loggers and local governments are suffering due to the EPA’s failure to act.”

 

Patrick Serfass, executive director of American Biogas Council, extended his organization’s thanks for to the sponsoring lawmakers.

 

“We hope this is the wakeup call that EPA needs to include electricity in the RFS” ahead of the agency’s release of release of the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligation.”

 

Crop Pests More Widespread Than Previously Known: Research

 

Insects and diseases that damage crops are probably present in many places thought to be free of them, largely attributable to foreign trade and likely climate change, new research shows.

 


Pests that have not been reported in a certain area are usually assumed to be absent, but analysis by the University of Exeter shows many pests are “currently unobserved, but probably present” – at a likelihood of more than 75 percent.

 

The study identified large numbers of pests in this category in China, India, southern Brazil and some countries of the former USSR. The researchers used data for 1,739 pests in the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) pest distribution database.

 

“Our model allows us to quantify the risk that a certain pest is present in a certain place,” said Dr Dan Bebber, of the University of Exeter. “Our trick for testing model accuracy was to use pest observations from China published in the Chinese literature, which have not yet been incorporated into global pest databases.

 

“A lot of species that people are worried about finding in certain places are probably already there,” Beber continued. “That early stage is crucial if we want to stop the spread – so these are the pests we should be focusing our efforts on.”

 

The discovery of crop pests and pathogens in new areas has accelerated in recent years, driven primarily by global trade, but also potentially by climate change. Targeting areas where new pests are probably present – or are highly likely to arrive – could be a key aspect of tackling their spread and reducing the resulting crop damage.

 

“Prior studies have often assumed that unreported pests in a global distribution database represent a true absence,” Bebber said. “Our analysis provides a method for quantifying these ‘pseudo-absences’ to enable improved distribution modelling and risk analysis.”

 

CalBio, Dairies Partner with Chevron on Dairy Biomethane Fuel Projects

 

Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and California Bioenergy LLC (“CalBio”) have made a joint investment in a holding company with California dairy farmers to produce and market dairy biomethane as a vehicle fuel in the state.

 


The holding company, CalBioGas LLC, secured funding from Chevron to build infrastructure for dairy biomethane projects in California’s San Joaquin Valley, adding to the investment from dozens of dairy farmers. Chevron will also provide services to bring this product into the California vehicle fuels market.

 

CalBio officials say the company is the leading developer of dairy digesters generating renewable electricity and vehicle fuel in California. Founded in 2006, CalBio has worked closely with the dairy industry and state agencies to develop programs to help the state achieve its methane reduction goals while delivering a new revenue source to California dairies.

 

Officials with all of the parties involved say the combination of Chevron, CalBio and California dairy farmers working together to produce and market dairy biomethane demonstrates a commitment of all to find creative, cost-effective solutions to achieve compliance with California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).

 

Manure storage on dairy farms results in the release of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas. CalBio brings technology, operational experience and capital to help dairy farmers build digesters and methane capture projects to convert this methane to a beneficial use as renewable natural gas (RNG).

 

Chevron has signed an agreement to provide funding for as many as 18 digesters across three geographic “clusters” in Kern, Tulare and Kings counties. Once complete, these projects will significantly mitigate the dairies’ methane emissions and help make them among the most environmentally efficient and sustainable in the world.

 

The clusters of digesters have been awarded California Department of Food and Agriculture grants, which must be augmented with additional capital to complete the projects.

 

Firm Launches Plan to Cut One Trillion Tons of CO2 From Atmosphere

 

A company that says it is “dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet,” announced last month the launch of The Terraton Initiative™, a project designed to accelerate carbon sequestration at an unprecedented scale.

 


Noting that for the first time in human history, Indigo Agriculture says that atmospheric carbon dioxide has exceeded 415ppm, representing an increase of one trillion tons – or, a teraton – of atmospheric carbon dioxide since pre-industrial levels of 280ppm.

 

Utilizing the potential of agricultural soils, The Terraton Initiative seeks to remove one trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

 

“With Indigo’s integrated approach to agriculture, and partnerships with representatives from across the value chain, The Terraton Initiative will unlock the most scalable, immediate, and affordable opportunity to address climate change that exists today,” the company said.

 

Among the steps cited by Indigo are regenerative farming practices – management techniques that sequester carbon, while restoring soil health and resiliency – which the company notes are currently implemented by a small percentage of growers. Minimal tillage, cover cropping, crop rotations and perennial cropping, among other practices, increase soil’s carbon content, water permeability and water retention, the company notes. The practices also increase a crop’s ability to withstand drought and flooding.

 

“If implemented on the 3.6 billion acres of farmland across the globe, regenerative farming practices, combined with increased scientific understanding and new technologies, have the potential to return the carbon levels in agricultural soils from an average of ~1 percent back to ~3 percent,” Indigo says. “This shift is enough to account for the sequestration of one trillion tons of carbon dioxide.”

 

To catalyze The Terraton Initiative, Indigo is creating Indigo Carbon™, a market providing growers with the financial incentive to implement regenerative farming practices and remove carbon from the atmosphere. In partnership with the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) and other organizations, Indigo will use its digital agronomy capabilities and satellite imagery analysis to measure and verify soil carbon sequestration and on-farm emission levels.

 

The other side of the market will be made up of food companies looking to offer products that are climate positive, businesses seeking to be carbon neutral, not-for-profit organizations seeking to maximize the impact of their sustainability investments, investors and insurance companies seeking to hedge climate risks, and individuals that want to contribute to climate change solutions.

 

Growers who join Indigo Carbon within the first twelve months are eligible to receive a minimum of $15 per metric ton of carbon dioxide sequestered. The market price will ultimately be set by supply and demand, but at $15-$20 per metric ton, Indigo Carbon says it offers the most economical price to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while providing substantial incentives to farmers.

 

Partnering initially with the Soil Health Institute, The Rodale Institute, and a network of grower partners, Indigo is launching The Terraton Experiment, the world’s largest atmospheric carbon sequestration experiment. The goal of the experiment, which will include tens of thousands of farms followed for a decade or more, is to quantify farming practices that maximize soil carbon sequestration and understand the impact of these practices on farm profitability and crop nutrition.

 

Officials say the results of the experiment will form the blueprint for maximizing soil carbon sequestration. Indigo says it will make the data from the study available to other research institutions.

 

Additionally, Indigo is launching The Terraton Challenge, calling on innovators and entrepreneurs to develop technologies for maximizing soil carbon sequestration rates, improving soil carbon measurements, and reducing the need for chemical and fertilizer inputs. Winning innovations will be awarded $1M contracts by Indigo.

 

 

 

Other News We Are Reading…

Breathe Easier: States are Passing a Buttload of Clean-Energy Bills (Grist)

 

Climate victories are thundering down from statehouses like hail in a spring storm. Two weeks ago, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed 11 carbon-pollution slashing bills and rolled out his plan to get the state to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2050. The week before that, Maryland and New Jersey each passed laws requiring those states to get half of their electricity from renewables by 2030 while studying a path to get all of its energy from carbon-free sources in the following decades. Meanwhile, Oregon appears to be welding down a carbon cap of its own. And all this comes on the heels of laws passed over the past year in Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, and California to squeeze all the greenhouse gases from their electrical systems. It’s a remarkable pileup. Read more…

 

Could RFS Move Toward Low Carbon Program Like LCFS?

(OPIS Blog)

 

The idea of revising the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to operate more like the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) appears to be getting a fresh look. The rise in prices for  California’s LCFS credits may be a motivating factor. Just two-and-a-half years ago, when changing the RFS to an LCFS-like program was under consideration by the Clinton campaign, alarms were set off  within an ethanol industry that had spent much of the previous eight years fending off efforts by the oil industry and some in the environmental community to change the RFS. But two-and-a-half years later, the idea of making the RFS look more like an LCFS program seems to be getting a reprise, including from some in the biofuels industry. Though it would be easy to overstate the level of interest in the idea, it’s clear that LCFS-type programs are expanding at a time when the RFS appears to be increasingly embattled. Read more…

 

Bipartisan Legislation Aims to Level Playing Field for Clean Energy

(Office of Sen. Chris Coons)

 

Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Ron Estes (R-KS) re-introduced last month bipartisan legislation aimed at leveling the energy playing field by giving investors in a range of clean energy projects access to a decades-old corporate structure whose tax advantage is currently available only to investors in fossil fuel-based energy projects. Sponsors say the Financing Our Energy Future Act would amend the federal tax code by allowing a class of energy-generation and renewable fuel companies to form master limited partnerships. Sponsors say the measure would combine the funding advantages of corporations and the tax advantages of partnerships. “Clean energy technologies have made tremendous progress in the last several decades, and they deserve the same shot at success in the market as traditional energy projects have experienced through the federal tax code,” Coons said. “By updating the code, the [legislation] levels the playing field for a broad range of domestic energy sources – clean and traditional alike – to support the ‘all-of-the-above energy’ strategy we need to power our country for generations to come.” The sponsors note the measure is supported by lawmakers from both parties, as well as think tanks, business leaders and investors. They say the bill would update the tax code to help increase parity and ensure that the new energy technologies can permanently benefit from the incentives that traditional energy sources have depended on to build infrastructure for more than 30 years. Read more…

 

Blue States Roll Out Aggressive Climate Strategies. Red States Keep to the Sidelines (The New York Times)

 

At a time when the country is already deeply fractured along partisan lines, individual states are starting to pursue vastly different policies on climate change with the potential to cement an economic and social divide for years to come. A growing number of blue states are adopting sweeping new climate laws – such as New York’s bill, passed this week, to zero out net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – that aim to reorient their entire economies around clean energy, transforming the way people get their electricity, heat their homes and commute to work. But these laws are passing almost exclusively in states controlled by Democrats, while Republican-led states have largely resisted enacting aggressive new climate policies in recent years. At the same time, the Trump administration is rolling back federal climate regulations, which means many red states now face even less pressure to shift away from coal power or gas-guzzling vehicles. Read more…

 

One Man Is Trying to Save the World from Climate Change

by Mobilizing an Unlikely Team: Iowa’s Farmers

(Food and Environment Reporting Network)

 

In early March, just a week before the Midwest was inundated by catastrophic flooding, a dozen farmers gathered at the First Presbyterian Church in Grinnell, Iowa, for an event billed as a conversation about “Faith, Farmers, and Climate Action.” “How is God calling you to use your farm to improve the world?” asked the evening’s facilitator, Matt Russell. “We’ve got this narrowing window of time in which we can act,” he said. “When we think about climate action are you feeling any call to that?” Russell directs the Iowa branch of Interfaith Power and Light, a nonprofit that promotes a religious response to global warming. A fifth-generation farmer who runs a livestock operation with his husband in nearby Lacona preaches that America’s farmers-a demographic seen as religious and conservative-are a secret weapon in the climate fight. Russell thinks growers care about global warming in “far bigger numbers than past polling, research, and conventional wisdom recognize.” Read more…

 

Medical Groups Warn Climate Change a ‘Health Emergency’ (AP)

 

More than 70 medical and public health groups aligned on June 24 to push for a series of consensus commitments to combat climate change, bluntly defined by the organizations as “a health emergency.” The new climate change agenda released by the groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association, comes amid early jostling among Democratic candidates over whose environmental platform is more progressive. The health organizations’ policy recommendations, while a stark departure from President Donald Trump’s approach, represent a back-to-basics approach for an internal Democratic climate debate that has so far revolved around the liberal precepts of the Green New Deal. “The health, safety and well-being of millions of people in the U.S. have already been harmed by human-caused climate change, and health risks in the future are dire without urgent action to fight climate change,” the medical and public health groups wrote in their climate agenda. Read more…

 

World Population Growing at Slower Rate; Poses Implications for SDGs

(UN)

 

The world’s population is expected to increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050, according to a recent United Nations report, The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights. However, the report also says the world’s population is growing older due to increasing life expectancy and falling fertility levels, and that the number of countries experiencing a reduction in population size is growing. The resulting changes in the size, composition and distribution of the world’s population, the report states, have important consequences for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the globally agreed targets for improving economic prosperity and social well-being while protecting the environment. Published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the study concluded that the world’s population could reach its peak around the end of the current century, at a level of nearly 11 billion. Read more…

 

Testing Ways to Make Aspen-Dominated Forests Resilient to Climate Change

(University of Michigan)

In an aspen-dominated hardwood forest at the northern tip of the state’s Lower Peninsula, University of Michigan scientists are testing ways to make the region’s forests more resilient to climate change. About 12,000 mature trees – mostly aspen – are being cut on 77 acres at the U-M Biological Station, a 10,000-acre research and teaching facility just south of the Mackinac Bridge, near the town of Pellston. The idea of the UMBS Adaptive Aspen Management Experiment is to replace some of the century-old aspen with a mix of tree species and age groups that may be better equipped to handle a warming climate, extreme weather events, and stresses such as insect pests. Read more…

 

Moody’s Analytics Says Climate Change Could Cost $69 Trillion By 2100

(The Washington Post)

The consulting firm Moody’s Analytics says climate change could inflict $69 trillion in damage on the global economy by the year 2100, assuming that warming hits the two-degree Celsius threshold widely seen as the limit to stem its most dire effects. Moody’s says in a new climate change report that warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, increasingly seen by scientists as a climate-stabilizing limit, would still cause $54 trillion in damages by the end of the century. The firm warns that passing the two-degree threshold “could hit tipping points for even larger and irreversible warming feedback loops such as permanent summer ice melt in the Arctic Ocean.” The new report predicts that rising temperatures will “universally hurt worker health and productivity” and that more frequent extreme weather events “will increasingly disrupt and damage critical infrastructure and property.” Read more…

 

 

Partner News and CSA Events

 

CTIC’s 2019 Conservation in Action Tour Set for Aug. 20-21

 

The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) will hold its 2019

Conservation in Action Tour Aug. 20-21 in central Iowa. From the starting point in Des Moines, the tour will examine a wide range of edge-of-field systems, in-field solutions, and management practices.

 


The 2019 event is the CTIC’s 12th annual Conservation in Action Tour and officials say this year’s event will be the best tour ever. True to the tour’s theme,

Conservation at the Leading Edge, this year’s event will explore how Iowa farmers are at the leading edge of conservation practices – from the heart of the state’s rich cropland to the edges of its fields and the banks of its rivers.

 

The conservation farming systems to be seen are scientific, reasonable and cost-effective, helping farmers protect the environment and strengthen relationships with their non-farm neighbors, while also improving the economics of their operations, the CTIC says.

 

The agenda will include:

 

Tuesday, August 20

5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Evening Social, World Food Prize Hall of Laureates, Des Moines

 

Wednesday, August 21

7:00 a.m. Tour Check-In, Embassy Suites Des Moines Downtown

7:30 a.m. Breakfast, Embassy Suites

8:15 a.m. Depart Embassy Suites by bus (private vehicles will not be permitted on the tour)

 

Tour stops include the Couser Cattle Company in Nevada, IA; New Century FS, Melbourne; LICA Demonstration Farm, Melbourne; Tesdell Century Farm, Slater. For more information on the tour stops, click HERE.

 

Dinner and a keynote speech will be held at the Jester Park Lodge in Granger.

 

Click here to register. Registration for the tour is quick and easy. The $175 registration fee includes transportation, stops and all meals, as well as the Evening Social on Aug. 20. Registration is also available by calling CTIC at (765) 494-9555. The organizers urge participants to register soon due to limited spots

 

A room in Des Moines can be booked through the tour lodging page, where rooms can be booked at a special conference block rate of $129 per night at the Embassy Suites Des Moines Downtown.

 

Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Crystal Hatfield at [email protected] to discuss how your organization can support the tour.

 

We encourage our NACSAA partners and other stakeholders to share with us any organization news or events highlighting your role in climate smart agriculture. We look forward to including your information in our monthly newsletter. Simply send your news or event notices to info@SfLDialogue.net.

NACSAA Newsletters