September & October 2024 ESMC Newsletter

ESMC Transitions, by Debbie Reed

ESMC continues to grow and evolve as the agricultural supply chain and production space within which we operate, learn and collaborate also evolves. This year we have welcomed new board members, thanked departing Board members who have supported ESMC for years and recruited new skilled and talented professionals to our team. ESMC is excited and prepared to continue its collaborative leadership role in the complex regenerative agricultural/supply chain space with our many passionate members, collaborators and stakeholders.

At our October 17 annual in-person member meeting (see the synopsis in the next article), I publicly announced that I am retiring. We have been planning the transition internally for some months, and I am grateful that ESMC’s tremendous bench of talent will continue to lead the organization going forward. As I pass the baton, I want to share some thoughts that give me hope for our collective futures, and the confidence that I can turn to other priorities in my life at this time. New generations of passionate professionals, practitioners and leaders are bringing innovative ways of imagining and transitioning agricultural and food systems – as well as the world in which we live. The changes I have seen in just the past few years are tremendous, particularly compared to the four decades that have quickly passed since the 1980s when I finished graduate school and moved to the DC area to start my first job at the National Institutes of Health.

It is not just technology that has changed in these years, though that has been remarkable. What stands out to me more are the changes, expectations and graces associated with how we live and operate in this global society. We are progressing to live in greater harmony with each other and nature. Previously denoted economic externalities such as natural resources and the environment are now recognized and economically valued as the very underpinnings of our fragile existence on a fragile planet. This alone is significant – but there is more. We increasingly celebrate our differences rather than ignore or demean them. Balance and harmony are more intentional endpoints in many of our personal and professional relationships and objectives. These changes give me hope and knowledge that the generations demanding and ushering in these changes will help us address not just environmental ills, but also some of the social and communications challenges that limit our ability to collaborate and effect change for good at the speed and scale needed to overcome some of our greatest challenges. My optimism lies with the people making change happen, and ESMC is a change agent being led and supported by the people who are and will continue to rise to the challenges we collectively face and must collectively address.

I am personally filled with gratitude for the friendships, professional networks, experiences, challenges, and achievements while at ESMC, and in fact my entire career in the food and agricultural space. ESMC and our partners and collaborators, members, Board of Directors, stakeholders and supporters have achieved significant milestones in progressing knowledge, skills and programmatic advances in the scope 3/supply chain space in a way that recognizes the complexities and challenges of agricultural production systems, and the farmers and ranchers who work the land. I am proud of our collective impact and how far we have come as an organization and appreciate the spirit of collaboration that made it all possible.

Our talented and passionate board and staff will carry on our mission. I’m pleased to announce that our current COO, Alana Pacheco, is stepping into the role of Executive Director effective today, November 1. We will soon launch a search for a CEO to work with Alana, the Board and team to take ESMC and our Eco-Harvest program to the next level. I will work in an advisory capacity for several months to support the leadership transition.

Thank you to ESMC’s team, past and present Board of Directors, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture (FFAR), our members, and the wider community in which we operate. Your commitment to ensuring a sustainable future for food and agriculture and the world is inspiring. I look forward to following ESMC’s continued evolution and progress.

With gratitude, admiration and great optimism,

Debbie

Highlights of ESMC’s Sixth Annual In-Person Member Meeting

On Thursday October 17, ESMC staff, board, members, and special guests united at World Wildlife Fund’s Green Headquarters in Washington DC for a day of engaging and insightful conversations around the future of sustainable agriculture and Scope 3 ecosystem service markets. The meeting reinforced the importance of cross-sector partnership, technological advancement, and systemic flexibility to meet sustainability goals in agriculture.

In partnership with a dynamic group of key stakeholders across the food and beverage, public sector, environmental NGO and ag producer focused organizations, ESMC curated candid discussions on the rapidly evolving strategic, scientific, social & regulatory landscapes of Scope 3/supply chain efforts and agricultural production systems. Attendees shared perspectives, analyzed challenges, and weighed solutions to challenges and concerns around Scope 3/agricultural supply chain accounting & reporting, inclusion & racial justice, and collective achievement of scaled outcomes and impacts.

Key Meeting Takeaways 

• Evolving Accountability Standards: The need for standardized, yet flexible, reporting frameworks tailored to agricultural production system complexities, especially for Scope 3 C/GHG emissions, remains a top priority. Collaborative leadership approaches between organizations like Verra, SustainCERT, and ESMC can continue to inform and further benefit corporate reporting of impacts in transparent and credible ways that reflect corporate investments and activities.
• Corporate Investment in GHG Emission Reductions: There is strong momentum for corporate-driven climate and ecosystem initiatives, but industry leaders expressed concerns about SBTi’s offset allowances within value chains, as it could dilute accountability and measurable impact and overlook progress made in supply chain accounting and reporting to date.
• Inclusion of Historically Underserved Producers: Tailored engagement with historically underserved producers remains critical. Building capacity and ensuring equitable participation requires time, flexibility, resources, and a strong foundation of trust and relationship building.
• Market-Driven Solutions for Agriculture: Advances in quantification and modeling tools, such as RuFaS, provide critical support for data-driven, scalable solutions in agriculture. However, transparency, ease of use and producer-specific interfaces are paramount to gain producer buy-in.

Welcoming Ashley Barber, Director of Research & Development

We are pleased to introduce Ashley Barber as our new Director of Research & Development. In this role, Ashley will oversee the strategic development and growth of ESMRC’s innovation and R&D programs and partnerships. Additionally, she will provide strategic leadership and oversight for ESMRC research and innovation directives and programming to promote market expansion. Prior to ESMC, Ashley worked in the agricultural technology start-up space focusing on commercialization, scaling efforts, and building customer engagement programs and systems. She specializes in designing business processes intended to pivot products and programs from R&D to market-ready. Ashley received her degree from the University of California, Davis in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems.

ESMC Has Two Positions Open – a Protocols & Standards Manager and Executive Assistant

Look for ESMC At….

ESMC in the News

ESMC’s Eco-Harvest Project Partners with AGI to Improve Farmer Data Services for Scope 3 Agricultural Carbon Outcomes
ESMC (October 23)
Wheat farmers participating in an Eco-Harvest project on more than 60,000 acres in south central and southwestern Kansas are on the front lines of regenerative agriculture and innovative technology. By participating in Eco-Harvest and implementing conservation practices such as reduced tillage and cover crops, farmers earn income for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and increased soil carbon. To ensure outcomes are accurate, ESMC is partnering with Ag Growth International (AGI) to streamline data collection by installing passive uplink connection (PUC) tools on farm machinery. The AGI Farmobile® PUC® is a plug-and-play device that automatically captures field-level, agronomic and machine data. As farmers work, the device streams data via cellular networks from the cab to the cloud where AGI’s DataEngine platform organizes, standardizes and delivers data directly to ESMC’s measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) platform. Read the full release.

Learnings from the First-Ever Application of Regenerative Cotton Protocols in the US During the 2022/23 Growing Season
Forum for the Future (October 2024)
How can the transition to a regenerative cotton system in the US equitably and effectively support cotton growers and contribute to ecosystem regeneration and just outcomes for producers and their communities? Through this on-farm, producer-centric pilot project in the Southeastern US, Forum for the Future (an ESMC member) and ESMC tested how best to finance the transition in the cotton sector to regenerative production practices. This marked the first-ever application of regenerative cotton protocols in the US, along with the development of a specific monitoring and verification system to track, quantify, and verify carbon outcomes on farms using state-of-the-art MMRV and bio-geochemical modeling. Read the article and download the report.

General Mills and Ahold Delhaize Team Up to Transition 70,000 Acres to Regenerative Agriculture
Ag Funder News (September 19)
CPG General Mills and food retailer Ahold Delhaize USA (ADUSA) are partnering to transition more acreage within their shared supply chain to regenerative agriculture. The two companies will co-invest in “priority supply sheds” — geographic regions where they source ingredients — by helping farmers in those areas transition to regenerative agriculture. Farmers will receive technical and financial support to implement regenerative agriculture practices such as cover cropping and nutrient management. “This supply shed approach supports change at the farm-level, which benefits all companies and stakeholders connected to the landscapes and works to create positive environmental impacts,” says Jay Watson, director of regenerative agriculture at General Mills. ESMC, a nonprofit that compensates farmers for switching to regen ag practices, will facilitate the work on the ground, says Watson, including quantifying measurement impact and partnering with an independent certifier to verify greenhouse gas reductions and soil carbon sequestration. Read the full release.

Member and Funder News

FFAR’s Dr. LaKisha Odom Selected for Two Prestigious Agriculture Industry Awards

FFAR (October 29)
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) Scientific Program Director Dr. LaKisha Odom has been awarded two prestigious agriculture industry awards. The American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America (also known as the Tri-Societies) has selected Dr. Odom and FFAR as their 2024 ASA Presidential Award recipient. According to ASA, the award “is given to individuals or teams who have influenced agronomic sciences or crop production practices so greatly that the impact of their efforts will be enduring on future science. The fundamental criterion is that their influence be so lasting and important in agronomic sciences that their impact will be long lasting.” Additionally, the DLG (German Agricultural Society) and Women in Ag Magazine have also selected Dr. Odom as a recipient of the 2024 Women in Ag Award. Odom was selected from more than 100 candidates from 34 different countries as the third-place winner in the Technology and Research category for “her achievements in the development of local, national and international agriculture.” FFAR is an ESMC R&D funder. Read the full announcement.

Join Freedmen Heirs Foundation for an Upcoming Webinar: “From the Soil Up: Making the Case for Regenerative Agriculture” 
The webinar will feature on Dr. Timothy Bradford, Jr., Director of Strategic Partnerships at Vayda, who will cover soil health’s emerging role in agricultural production and how cover crops can unlock a field’s potential. This session will dive into the science behind how regenerative agriculture influences healthy soils while addressing common challenges like compaction, nutrient management, cover cropping, and erosion. The webinar will take place November 6, 2024, via Zoom at 1:30 pm CST/2:30 pm EST. Register here.

Other News of Note

Companies Pledge Action to Stop Biodiversity Loss in New Initiative
Wall Street Journal: Sustainable Business (October 30)
Kering, GSK and Holcim are adopting science-based targets aimed at protecting land and water globally. Read the full article.

Why Farmers Use Harmful Insecticides They May Not Need
Civil Eats (October 30)
Neonicotinoids coat nearly all the corn and soybean seeds available for planting. Agrichemical companies have designed it that way. Read the full article.

Make Farming Fun Again with Cover Crops & Regenerative Agriculture
No Till Farmer (October 21)
No-Till Legend Steve Groff says regenerative agriculture allows him to have fun with cover crop mixes and build soil health at the same time. Read the full article.

Hidden in Midwestern Cornfields, Tiny Edens Bloom
New York Times (October 3)
Farmers in the heartland are restoring swaths of the prairie with government help. The aim is to reduce nutrient runoff from cropland and help birds and bees. Read the full article.

USDA Doubles Its Funding for Climate Mitigation Projects
Successful Farming (October 3)
There is record interest in USDA’s stewardship programs “and we’re confident that we can continue to get the support out to conservation-minded producers,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the announcement. Read the full article.

Conservation Adoption Research Highlights Regional Variability
Brownfield Ag News (September 23)
An environmental sociologist says USDA surveys aren’t capturing the impacts of weather and crop rotation on conservation adoption. Sandy Marquart-Pyatt with Michigan State University has been studying row crop farming practices since 2017 across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Her research found farmers were using cover crops at least twice as often as reported by USDA, but use could vary with challenging weather. Read the full article.

From Field to the Cloud: How AI Is Helping Regenerative Agriculture to Grow
Reuters (September 18)
Nearly all the major agriculture and food companies are focusing on developing sustainability programs but there isn’t one agreed standard for what counts as regenerative agriculture. Nor are there consistent standards for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of soil carbon to create offsets or “insets”, where companies reduce emissions in their own supply chains. Modelling offers a means to cut down on the amount of soil sampling required, by making predictions about how particular agricultural practices will impact soil carbon, depending on (for example) weather. The models are calibrated on actual soil samples. Read the full article.