February 2024 ESMC Newsletter
Learn All About Eco-Harvest Project Participation with ESMC’s Producer Guide
With a few years’ experience designing, developing, and implementing Eco-Harvest projects, we have developed a Producer Guide to Eco-Harvest program participation.
This guide provides information on how producers can:
- Determine eligibility for an Eco-Harvest project
- Learn about enrollment
- Review eligible practice changes
- Understand Eco-Harvest contracts and payments
- See sample project timelines
- Read more about opportunities with transitioning to regenerative agriculture
Meet ESMC’s New Project Manager, Lisa Walsh
We are pleased to announce Lisa Walsh has joined ESMC as a new addition to our team. As a Project Manager, Lisa supports project development and oversees the planning, coordination, and implementation of Eco-Harvest Projects with ESMC’s various partners. She is thrilled to be part of a team that is harnessing sustainable agricultural practices to aid in mitigating climate change impacts. Prior to joining ESMC, Lisa served as the Agricultural Engineer for Chester County Conservation District in conjunction with the local NRCS USDA office for over 5 years. During her time there, she worked directly with producers to design and implement waste storage structures and other conservation best management practices to improve water quality and reduce soil erosion.
Lisa earned a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Biological Systems Engineering with a program focus on Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering, and a minor in Engineering for Energy Sustainability. She resides in the Greater Philadelphia area and enjoys drinking tea, attempting crosswords, and hanging out with her cats.
“I’m excited to join the ESMC team and mission to continue working with producers and partners to implement practice changes that have an environmental benefit. Targeting soil health and soil carbon sequestration is the first step in revitalizing an agricultural system that contributes to a climate solution, and the work ESMC provides in quantifying and verifying these results is essential for corporations to get involved in agriculture supply chain decarbonization.”
ESMC Is Hiring for Two Positions: A Protocol and Standards Manager & Director of Business Development
If you or someone you know would like to join our team, ESMC has two positions open, and we encourage you to apply or circulate to potentially interested parties. Find more information and application details for these two positions on our website.
Look for ESMC At…..
Regenerative Agriculture & Food Systems Summit USA 2024
12 – 14 March; Chicago, IL
Bringing together key players from across the entire food system supply chain, the Regenerative Agriculture and Food Systems Summit USA returns with one unified mission – to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture to build a more abundant and resilient food system for generations to come. ESMC’s Chief Operations Officer, Alana Pacheco, will attend. Learn more and register.
Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit
March 18; Washington DC
The 2024 Ag & Food Policy Summit will explore a wide variety of options, from local food systems to biomanufacturing, environmental markets and the potential to increase overseas demand. The summit will wrap up with a panel of policy analysts who’ll explore some of the outside influences that are impacting the future of food and agriculture’s ability to stay economically sustainable. ESMC’s Policy Engagement Director, Marcus Glassman, will attend. Learn more and register.
Mitigation and Environmental Markets Conference
April 29 – May 2; Pittsburgh, PA
“The must attend” event for those involved in, seeking solutions, or exploring environmental markets — ecosystem and ecological restoration, mitigation and species banking, outcome-based approaches, carbon, water quality, biodiversity, and related markets. ESMC’s Executive Director, Debbie Reed, will attend and participate on an Agriculture & Environmental Markets panel on May 1. Learn more and register.
ESMC Member and Funder News
USDA Announces Progress on Newly Authorized Climate Programs
USDA (February 27)
This week, the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) published the report, Intent to Establish the Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program, authorized under the Growing Climate Solutions Act (GCSA). This report justifying the Secretary’s intent to establish the program follows USDA’s earlier publication of A General Assessment of the Role of Agriculture and Forestry in U.S. Carbon Markets, which found that voluntary carbon markets offer a promising tool to achieve greenhouse gas reductions from the agriculture and forest sectors and support producer livelihoods. The USDA is an ESMC funder. Read the full article.
How PepsiCo and ADM Work with Farmers to Cut Agricultural Emissions
GreenBiz (February 26)
In September 2022, the $100 billion crop commodities powerhouse Archer-Daniels-Midland signed a 7.5-year-long contract with the $91.5 billion food and beverage giant PepsiCo. The goal: Get farmers in their shared North American supply chains to switch over 2 million acres to regenerative agriculture methods, such as planting cover crops to protect fields when they’re not in use or leaving soil untilled. The plan, the companies said, could cut 1.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and both companies can use those cuts toward their carbon reduction targets. This sort of relationship — an unusually long contract in agriculture where even two years is a stretch — needs to become more common, said executives for both companies, speaking on a panel during GreenBiz 24. ADM is an ESMC Founding Circle member. Read the full article.
General Mills and Unilever Join Forces with the Harvest Initiative to Advance Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture Practices Worldwide
Harvest SARA (February 13)
General Mills and Unilever, global leaders in consumer food and packaged goods, have joined the Harvest Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture (SARA) Initiative as its founding sponsors. Led by the University of Maryland team behind NASA Harvest and NASA Acres — respectively NASA’s global and U.S.-focused agriculture and food security consortia — the initiative uses satellite data with other Earth observations and models to build a robust evidence base for SARA management practices, and provides science-based, pre-competitive good practices for quantifying environmental, economic, and social outcomes associated with their adoption. General Mills is an ESMC Founding Circle member and funder. Read the full announcement.
The State of Gender Equity in U.S. Agriculture
American Farmland Trust (January 2024)
This report is a synthesis of research on the status of gender equity in U.S. agriculture conducted by the Women for the Land team at American Farmland Trust (AFT) between 2021 – 2023. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that agriculture is among the most gender-unequal occupations in the U.S. Women for the Land’s research shows that disparities persist for women in agriculture in terms of access to financial and technical resources and key information networks, especially for Black, Indigenous, Latina, Asian, and Queer women. AFT is an ESMC Legacy Partner member. Read and download the report.
Other News of Note
New Study Is First Step in Predicting Carbon Emissions in Agriculture
Phys.Org (February 22)
For the first time, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that it is possible to provide accurate, high-resolution predictions of carbon cycles in agroecosystems, which could help mitigate the impacts of climate change. The study’s findings published in Nature Communications are a critical first step in developing a credible Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MMRV) of agricultural emissions that can be used to incentivize the implementation of climate-smart practices while boosting rural economies. Read the full article.
Report Makes Five Recommendations to Promote Regenerative Farming
Phys.Org (February 22)
In a new report, researchers at Ivey Business School offer evidence-based research, best practices, and critical recommendations for farming that supports ecosystems through natural agricultural principles, a method known as regenerative agriculture. The researchers point out that implementing regenerative practices is also not a quick fix with clear timelines, a particular challenge in a profession reliant on timing. The transition from implementation to consistent yield may span multiple years, which is costly for farmers without substantial investments. Read the full story.
Which State Tops the List for Precision Ag Use?
Farm Journal AgWeb (February 16)
In late January, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study on the benefits and challenges for technology and its adoption. While using precision agriculture technologies can be beneficial for efficiency, profitability and the environment, high up-front costs can be a barrier for some farmers. The report highlights those states which have the largest number of acres in precision agriculture. Read the full article.
Micro Solar Leases: A New Income Stream for Black Farmers in the South?
Civil Eats (February 14)
EnerWealth Solutions wants to bring the benefits of renewable energy to Black farmers and landowners in the Carolinas. Although some governmental and nonprofit groups, such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Florida-based Black Farmers’ Collaborative, have worked to bring solar to rural communities of color, EnerWealth may be the Southeast’s only business specifically focused on that goal. Read the full article.
The Earth Is Getting Greener. Hurray?
Vox (February 7)
In the last four decades, the extent of green vegetation — i.e., the amount of leaves in a given area — has substantially increased across the planet, according to a number of recent scientific studies based on satellite data. There’s actually more green space today, not less. And this “global greening” phenomenon is not just occurring on land. Large parts of the oceans are getting greener, too, research shows. The changing color isn’t so much a sign that forests and other ecosystems are regrowing but that humans are altering the environment on a truly planetary scale — often, with dire consequences. Read the full article.
The Newest Biodiversity Reporting Standard: What You Should Know
GreenBiz (February 1)
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), one of the leading sustainability reporting standard setters, has published a revised version of its biodiversity standard: “GRI 101”. It will help companies reporting through GRI understand and disclose their biodiversity impacts. With the new standard, GRI has responded to the growing corporate interest in nature conservation, which has rapidly advanced following the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in 2022. Read the full article.
Bridging the Regenerative Agriculture Financing Gap
Yale Center for Business and the Environment (February 2024)
There may be no hotter topic in agriculture today than ‘regenerative’ agriculture. Food companies, investors, multinational institutions, and governments are making pledges to invest billions of dollars in regenerative agriculture. Yet in the midst of a stream of funding and interest, farmers themselves are being left behind. Whether its outdated funding structures, cultural disconnects, or outsized expectations, both investors and farmers have struggled to find the right partner for their goals. This issue brief examines the varying definitions of regenerative agriculture and proposes a foundation for financing regenerative farms. Read the article and download the report.
