Farming

FARMING

The Earth's average surface temperature has increased by 1.5 °F (0.83 °C) since 1880 with the last years being the hottest. As global warming accelerates, so does extreme weather, which challenges farmers with droughts, floods, and pests. Extreme weather is the cause of 90% of crop losses in the US. And, now there are the trade wars hurtling down on soybeans.

Some fast facts:

In 2019, there were approximately 2 million farms in the US, down from 6.8 million in 1935.

Farmers and ranchers make up 1.3% of the U.S. labor force.

Farming contributes more than $100 billion to the US economy.

This FARMING section will explore how farmers are shifting their practices as they search for solutions, which protect both the climate and their ability to feed people. They are looking to the future for both new technologies and old traditions, such as regenerative agriculture to grow dying topsoil. They are re-examining the methods utilized to ease work and gain greater yields over the last seventy-five years and asking if they need to be reassessed.

Consumers are also learning. Many don’t have a full understanding of how big a role agribusiness has played in the decline of small farming communities. It is increasingly important for us to “know our farmer” and, useful for us to understand how decisions on trade can overnight decimate a rural farming community.

CURRENT NEWS

The GOP may target the climate law again — this time in the farm bill

By Maxine Joselow 06/06/23
Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! It’s that time of year again when we’re loving the “stellar” warm weather, as our friends at the Capital Weather Gang described it, but fending off the…
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Future of food production hinges on water

By Ayurella Horn-Muller 05/17/23
A team of 40+ USDA scientists has listed the most significant looming challenges facing water resources and agricultural production nationwide. Why it matters: Their newly-released plan unlocks a 30-year roadmap for mitigating some of the…
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Grasslands are critical to ecological health & economic sustainability

By Meg Chatham 05/05/23
We must protect and conserve grasslands for future generations. One way to do this is through regenerative livestock management.
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Want fiscal responsibility? Stop paying wealthy farmers.

By The Editorial Board 05/04/23
Though major inefficiencies and inequalities persist in how the United States distributes food, its fantastically productive agricultural sector has conquered the problem of supplying it. The most recent data from the Agriculture Department shows that…
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Greener Grazing – Can Beef Become Sustainable?

By Gemma Alexander 05/03/23
Food production accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. For Americans, meat is about 80% of our foodprint. Among meats, beef is second only to lamb in carbon emissions per kilogram. But we eat…
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Climate Change Is Walloping US Farms. Can This Farm Bill Create Real Solutions?

By Lisa Held 04/26/23
Increasingly, she has had to contend with extreme weather: early frosts threaten her fall crops. False springs have caused her winter crops to bolt too soon. Rain comes all at once and then not at…
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Apple TV’s ‘Extrapolations’ Connects Food, Agriculture, and Climate Change

By Donald Carr 04/20/23
Food and agriculture themes appear throughout Extrapolations’ eight episodes, which take place over a 33-year timeline. There’s an espionage-thriller style seed heist in the fifth installment. In a world where the climate conditions force everyone…
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Op-ed: We Need a New Farm Bill—for My Iowa Farm and Beyond

By Wendy Johnson 04/05/23
grew up on a farm in Iowa during the Farm Crisis of the 1980s. Back then, life here was not flourishing, but dying. I pursued a career in fashion and moved to Los Angeles, where…
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California Farmworkers Are Underwater in More Ways Than One

By Anne Marshall-Chalmers 03/29/23
Farmworkers who can’t work in flooded, damaged fields are losing out on weeks—or months—of wages.
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Congresswoman Jill Tokuda Talks Story with Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau

03/27/23
On Saturday, Feb. 25, more than 40 attendees gathered around the Grove Farm conference table for a talk story with Congresswoman Jill Tokuda about the future of Kaua‘i’s agricultural sector, hosted by the Kaua‘i County…
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Amid soaking storms, California turns to farmland to funnel water into depleted aquifers

By Ian James 03/21/23
As storms have drenched Northern California, water diverted from the swollen Sacramento River has been flowing from a canal and pouring onto 200 acres of farmland.
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The IPCC’s Latest Climate Report Is a Final Alarm for Food Systems, Too

By Lisa Held 03/20/23
The world’s top climate scientists are not pulling any punches in their latest assessment: The climate crisis is already affecting the world’s food supply and exacerbating hunger—and those impacts are going to get worse.
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KEY RESOURCES

Inflation Reduction Act Funding for Rural Development

04/06/23
In August, Congress passed the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic legislative package known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to reduce energy costs for families and create thousands of good-paying jobs for people across rural America. IRA…

 Regenerative Farmers of America

12/09/22
Find a regenerative farm near you to support or learn.

Where Rice Grows

12/05/22
Each year, American rice farmers sustainably grow roughly 20 billion pounds of rice in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. Half of the rice crop is consumed in the United States, accounting for 80…

Regenerative Agriculture 101: Everything You Need to Know

11/07/22
Quick Key Facts In regenerative agriculture, the physical, biological and chemical integrity of the soil is preserved through minimal disturbance. Indigenous cultures maintain and have maintained a regenerative relationship with their natural environments, including the…

The Highest Level of Integrity for Regenerative Agriculture

09/20/22
Land to Market is working with brands around the world to heal the planet by regenerating its grasslands. We are giving a voice to the land & are the world’s first verified regenerative sourcing solution…

The nutrient density content in our food has dropped over 60%

07/13/22
Soilworks Invests, operates and incubates companies that will power the Regenerative Agriculture Revolution.

Soil Carbon Moonshot

04/18/22
3 Soil Carbon Moonshot Executive Summary Investments from the US federal government have shaped the notion of modern farming known across the country. For decades, the agriculture sector benefited from robust public research and investment…

Farm Bill Primer: What Is the Farm Bill?

02/17/22
The farm bill is an omnibus, multiyear law that governs an array of agricultural and food programs. It provides an..

Restoring Soil, Profits, Farms and Futures

01/31/22
Meet four world-renowned regenerative farming experts and learn why they formed Understanding Ag, LLC.

Regenerative Farm Map

02/06/20
Click any pin on the map to view more information about specific farms. This is the easiest way to find local farms in your area selling regenerative products.

NASA Study: Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Will Help and Hurt Crops

05/03/16
Elevated carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere may increase water-use efficiency in crops and considerably mitigate yield losses due to climate change, according to a new NASA study.

Livestock for Landscapes

01/07/20
Kathy Voth's goal is to help farmers and ranchers be more profitable by helping them use their livestock's natural behavior as an inexpensive alternative for mangaging weeds and other vegetation.

CalCAN – California Climate & Agriculture Network

08/27/19
We represent a statewide network of sustainable farmers and ranchers and allied organizations, agricultural professionals, scientists, and advocates.

Fibershed – Carbon Farming

08/27/19
The carbon cycle is a critical natural process that moves carbon through Earth’s atmosphere, biosphere, pedosphere, lithosphere and oceans.

Carbon Cycle Institute

08/27/19
The Carbon Cycle Institute’s mission is to stop and reverse climate global change by advancing science-based solutions that reduce atmospheric carbon while promoting environmental stewardship, social equity and economic sustainability.

Land Trust Alliance

08/27/19
The Land Trust Alliance is the voice of the land trust community. As the national leader in policy, standards, education and training, we work passionately to support land trusts so they can save and secure…

A Greener World

08/27/19
Real transparency in food production from the farm right through to the plate.

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

08/27/19
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is an alliance of over 116 member groups that work collectively with NSAC's Washington, D.C.-based staff to promote and enhance sustainable food and farm policy at the federal level.

David Suzuki Foundation

08/27/19
Always grounded in sound evidence, the David Suzuki Foundation empowers people to take action in their communities on the environmental challenges we collectively face. We’re One Nature.

Eco-Farm

07/31/19
The Ecological Farming Association (EcoFarm) is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to nurture safe, healthy, just, and ecologically sustainable farms, food systems, and communities by bringing people together for education, alliance building, advocacy, and…

MORE NEWS

This Farm Bill Really Matters. We Explain Why.

By Lisa Held   03/20/23  
A version of this article originally appeared in The Deep Dish, our members-only newsletter. Become a member today and get the next issue directly in your inbox. In 2020, Common Ground received just under $300,000…
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Farmers are mobilizing for action. It’s not the first time

By Michael Stewart Foley   03/16/23  
Last week, hundreds of farmers and their allies came to Washington to take part in a three-day mobilization called “Farmers for Climate Action: A Rally for Resilience.” This broad coalition of farm groups held a…
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Farmers March for Urgent Climate Action in DC

By Lisa Held   03/09/23  
This week, another nascent movement appeared to be coalescing at Freedom Plaza, just steps from the White House. There, farmers and their advocates gathered to bring attention to the urgency of the climate crisis at…
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There’s a push underway to help more US farms save big with clean energy

By Kathiann Kowalski   03/06/23  
Drew Bowman’s free-range turkeys don’t use much electricity. Getting their meat to customers, though, from slaughter and processing to packaging and chilling, is an extremely energy-intensive process.
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America’s agroforestry renaissance

By Ayurella Horn-Muller   03/02/23  
Investment in agroforestry — an ancient land management method that integrates the growth of trees with crops or livestock — is emerging with renewed fervor across the U.S.
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As Emissions From Agriculture Rise and Climate Change Batters American Farms, Congress Tackles the Farm Bill

By Georgina Gustin   03/01/23  
When Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) took to the stage at a recent conference in Washington, he made an urgent plea—a call for transformation that he framed as a moonshot.insi
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Inflation Reduction Act provides additional $19.5B for ‘green’ ag

By AGDAILY Reporters   02/13/23  
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is making 19.5 billion in funding available for agricultural producers and forest landowners nationwide to participate in voluntary conservation programs and adopt “climate-smart” practices.
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Fertiliser emissions could be cut to ‘one-fifth of current levels’ by 2050

By Orla Dwyer   02/09/23  
Fertiliser emissions could be reduced to approximately one-fifth of current levels by 2050 without the need for developing new technologies, a new study finds.
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Storm flooding compounds misery for California farms and workers

By Dorany Pineda and Brittny Mejia   01/21/23  
He pointed to a 40-foot storage container that Santa Clara River floodwaters had swept off a neighboring farm and deposited before him. Overturned tractors and fertilizer bins were strewn about like toys, while the deep…
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CNN

USDA toughens up regulation of organic products for first time since 1990

By Carma Hassan   01/19/23  
The US Department of Agriculture is taking steps to improve the transparency and standards for products that are currently considered organic.
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Soil in Midwestern U.S. eroding 10 to 1,000 times faster than it forms

By Isaac Larsen   01/10/23  
In a discovery that has repercussions for everything from domestic agricultural policy to global food security and plans to mitigate climate change, researchers at the University of Massachusetts have found that the rate of soil…
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Indoor farming isn’t just for the rich

By Ayurella Horn-Muller   01/06/23  
Historically costly indoor hydroponic farms are becoming more accessible to small-scale U.S. farmers.Why it matters: While extreme weather exacerbated by climate change hurts crop yields, some small farmers are turning to ag-tech solutions that have…
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USDA Rural Development distributing millions of dollars in Vermont and New Hampshire

By John Hawks   12/16/22  
he Vermont and New Hampshire United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development distributing millions of dollars to rural communities through climate initiatives. “If we can reduce our energy bills, people have more money to spend…
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GreenField GrassBots Aim To Eliminate Weeds (and Chemicals) From Farmers’ Fields

By Jeff Kart   12/10/22  
The robots are coming for you, weeds of Kansas. Up next: bigger bots and more locations, says Clint Brauer, CEO of GreenField Inc., a third-generation, farmer-owned company in Kansas.
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Shrinking Colorado River could trigger an ultimatum for alfalfa

By Jennifer Yachnin   12/06/22  
At an Arizona forum, water managers said the time is ripe to reexamine the water consumption of the thirsty crop.
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A tiny Wisconsin town tried to stop pollution from factory farms. Then it got sued.

By John McCracken   12/05/22  
The small community of Laketown, Wisconsin, home to just over 1,000 people and 18 lakes, is again at the center of a battle over how communities can regulate large, industrial farming operations in their backyards.
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Vermont’s dairy farms recede, giving way to shrimp, saffron and new ideas

By Laura Reiley and Zoeann Murphy   12/02/22  
There was a time when Vermont’s landscape was dotted with weathered red barns full of dairy cows, and every country store was chockablock with local maple syrup and candies. The barns are there still, as…
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State, federal solar incentives help Illinois feed mill slash energy costs

By Kari Lydersen   11/21/22  
The semi-trucks stream in and out, more than 60 a day, delivering mounds of corn and soybeans and departing full of feed pellets ready to fatten pigs across Illinois and Missouri.
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Analysis: U.S. House Republican farm bill approach may test Biden hunger, climate goals

By Leah Douglas   11/19/22  
U.S. President Joe Biden's pledges to slash emissions from farming and to end American hunger by 2030 may be harder to realize now that Republicans flipped the House of Representatives with a thin majority. Biden's…
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Waterlogged wheat, rotting oranges: five crops devastated by a year of extreme weather

By Cecilia Nowell   11/01/22  
From Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, to flooding in eastern Kentucky and a record dry summer as the western US entered its 22nd year of a once-in-a-millennium megadrought, the US has already seen more than two…
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Will Agrivoltaic Farming Have a Role in Our Food and Energy Future?

By Jane Marsh   10/20/22  
Many people in the agriculture sector and elsewhere balk at opportunities to do things differently unless they have strong assurances those changes will bring benefits. An Oregon State University team investigated the effects of co-developing…
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Changing This One Thing Would Make Solar Power Perfect

By Will Lockett   10/17/22  
Solar power is fantastic. It is by far the cheapest energy we have ever had at only $0.06 per kWh and has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any energy source at only 6g/kWh.…
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Throwing Shade Is Solar Energy’s New Superpower

By Adam Minter   10/02/22  
In rural America, the shoulder-high corn is increasingly competing with a new cash crop: solar power. Acres of solar panels shine brightly in fields along interstates and rural byways, signaling a change in how America's…
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Gotham Greens just raised $310M to expand its greenhouses nationwide

By Brian Heater   09/12/22  
That’s not a typo. $310 million, with a zero at the end. This latest round brings Gotham Greens’ total funding up to $440 million since its 2009 launch. The nine-digit raise was led by BMO…
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Wsj

California Drought Leaving Rice Farmers Dry

By Jesse Newman and Others   09/10/22  
Rick Richter has spent the past 43 years flying biplanes over California’s Sacramento Valley, dropping rice seeds into vast, flooded fields that churn out grain for consumers across the globe. In a typical year, Mr.…
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U.S. Farmers Struggle Through Drought To Bring Food To The Table But Face More Challenges Ahead

By Chloe Sorvino   09/02/22  
Lack of summer rain forced Nebraska farmer Kevin Fulton to go underground to find water for his crops. Not a perfect solution: the Ogallala Aquifer, where Fulton tapped in, has pumping restrictions in some areas,…
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Night-time heat is killing crops. Scientists are rushing to find resilient plants

09/01/22  
As the sun sets outside with temperatures in the high 80s, where they’ll stay most of the night, several varieties of potted rice plants grow in two sections of a greenhouse on the roof of…
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CNN

American farmers are killing their own crops and selling cows because of extreme drought

By Vanessa Yurkevich   08/18/22  
Nearly three quarters of US farmers say this year's drought is hurting their harvest -- with significant crop and income loss, according to a new survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation, a lobbying group…
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How the Inflation Reduction Act Affects Food and Agriculture

By Tom Philpott   08/11/22  
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, whose Senate passage makes its enactment likely, contains a multitude of provisions. It’s the “biggest climate bill that any country has ever passed,” gushed Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), lauding…
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The Field Report: What the Historic Climate Bill Means for Farmers and the Food System

By Lisa Held   08/09/22  
On Sunday, after a marathon session that spanned the weekend, Democrats in the U.S. Senate passed the country’s most significant climate bill to date. While lawmakers made controversial concessions that will expand oil and gas…
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Rodale Institute set for Pennsylvania to become the Silicon Valley of organic farming

By Keith Dmochowski   07/13/22  
Pennsylvania is poised to become the Silicon Valley of organic farming, thanks to spiking consumer demand and state-funded resources for farmers looking to grow organic, according to Jeff Tkach, chief information officer with the Rodale…
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The Johnny Appleseed of Sugar Kelp

By Charity Robey   06/10/22  
When Michael Doall was a teenager, he hated seaweed, and so did everybody else he knew on Long Island. It was an icky nuisance that brushed against your legs at the beach, fouled your fishing…
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A Wild, Windy Spring Is Creating a Soil Erosion Nightmare for Farmers

By Virginia Gewin   06/08/22  
When he saw a roiling thunder bank of black clouds blowing into Salem, South Dakota, last month, farmer Kurt Stiefvater thought it would take 20 minutes to reach his property. It took five. “I couldn’t…
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Why The World Is Running Out Of Soil

06/05/22  
Critical topsoil is eroding at an alarming pace due to climate change and poor farming practices. The United Nations declared soil finite and predicted catastrophic loss within 60 years. The world needs soil for farming,…
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Are Sheep a Crucial Ingredient for Vineyards and Ecosystems?

By Eric Asimov   05/13/22  
This dusty town in San Benito County, about an hour by car southeast of Santa Cruz, is the site of Paicines Ranch, an experiment in creating a diverse ecosystem dedicated to regenerative agriculture and soil…
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Placing a Bet on Italian Grapes in California

By Eric Asimov   04/28/22  
The 10 acres of nebbiolo growing on this remote ridge about 25 miles west of Geyserville and 10 miles from the Pacific in northern Sonoma County, make the vineyard unusual enough in California. The other…
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US Taxpayers Are Spending Billions to Keep Farms on Flooded, Unproductive Land

By Georgina Gustin   03/31/22  
The vast Mississippi River watershed contains famously fertile soil, making the cropland of the American Midwest some of the most valuable and productive in the world. The watershed is also projected to flood more frequently…
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A Regenerative Grazing Revolution Is Taking Root in the Mid-Atlantic

By Lisa Held   03/30/22  
In western Maryland this March, the proverbial lion and lamb seemed to be running circles around each other. Instead of warming up gradually, the temperature rose and fell unpredictably. Warm sun alternated with freezing rain.…
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California’s drought is strangling the farming industry

By Scott Wilson   03/21/22  
Westside Elementary opened its doors nearly a century ago here in the San Joaquin Valley, among the most productive agricultural regions on earth. As recently as 1995, nearly 500 students filled its classrooms. Now 160…
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Soil Proof: The Plan to Quantify Regenerative Agriculture

By Twilight Greenaway   03/07/22  
It’s an unseasonably warm February day near Turlock, California, and farmer-researcher Jonathan Lundgren is handing out tiny white balls of clay. A group of us have gathered at the edge of the almond orchard at…
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How Does Carbon Credit Revenue Impact Ranchers?

By Kevin Silverman   03/04/22  
Last week, Soilworks portfolio company Grassroots Carbon announced its first tranche of rancher payments for delivered soil carbon credits, the first of its kind for delivered credits to ranchers (various groups have provided transition finance…
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Upping the Acre

03/03/22  
Farmers and ranchers play a central role in the health of our climate and planet. Today, they face more and more pressure from climate change, and one solution — soil carbon sequestration — has the…
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California conservationists and farmers unite to protect salmon

By Daniel Trotta and Nathan Frandino   02/10/22  
In an experiment a decade in the making, biologists are releasing hatchery salmon onto flooded Northern California rice fields, seeking to replenish endangered fish species while simultaneously benefiting the farmers' business model.
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Land to Market Surpasses More Than 2.5 Million Acres of Land Monitored

01/11/22  
Land to Market, the world's first verified sourcing solution for regenerative agriculture, today announced that more than 2.5 million acres of land around the world are being monitored for regenerative outcomes. Land to Market works…
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Black Farmers Are Rebuilding Agriculture in Coal Country

By Natalie Peart   01/10/22  
While most people associate West Virginia with coal mining, the hills and valleys are also suited for agriculture. And as coal production wanes, farmers are seeing growing opportunities to expand their sector.
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Regeneratively Grazed : As Nature Intended

01/04/22  
200 years ago, massive herds of bison would number in the thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of head. Constantly on the move, these massive bison herds would leave behind a path of devastation and…
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A frenzy of well drilling by California farmers leaves taps running dry

By Maria L. La Ganga, Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee and Ian James   12/16/21  
Vicki McDowell woke up on a Saturday morning in May, thinking about what she would make her son for breakfast. He was visiting from Hayward, and she wanted to whip up something special. Biscuits and…
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Kelp Farming Gets a Boost in Suffolk

By Christopher Walsh   12/09/21  
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Tuesday permitting Suffolk County to lease underwater lands previously ceded to it by New York State for the purpose of kelp and other seaweed cultivation.
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Solar and crop production research shows ‘multi-solving’ climate benefits

By Martin Bonzi and Sarah Spengeman   12/01/21  
Stabilizing the climate demands a rapid transition to 100 percent carbon-free power, which will require large increases in solar power generation. In the U.S., the Biden administration has outlined a plan to power 40 percent…
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The Latest Farm Product: Carbon Credits

By Elizabeth G. Dunn   11/23/21  
Eight years ago, Kevin Prevo started making changes to the land in southern Iowa that his family has farmed for five generations. Mr. Prevo stopped tilling the fields between crop cycles and started planting cover…
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