November 22, 2025

Spotlight Stories

Spotlight 1 – SeedWorld showcases the power of seeds as agriculture’s best kept climate secret. Ready the story, here.

Spotlight 2 – The Washington Post says that better bread and booze start with healthier soil. Check it out, here.

Spotlight 3 – An article in Reasons to be Cheerful describes how Midwest farms are going nuts. Take a read, here.

Industry Updates

The COP Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes (AARL) announced a surge in investments to advance production, conservation, and restoration, advancing integrated solutions to deliver resilient agrifood systems. More than 40 organizations reported $9B+ in committed investment, covering more than 210 million hectares of land, reaching 12 million farmers across 90+ commodities and 110+ countries by 2030, highlighting significant progress since the initiative was launched at COP28. AARL – launched by the COP28 Presidency, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), with support from the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions – brings together farmers, agribusinesses, financiers, and leading non-state actors to aggregate, accelerate, and amplify collective action and investments to overcome barriers to scaling regenerative landscape approaches. [link]

Replenish Nutrients has entered a three-year licensing agreement with Farmers Union Enterprises to expand the production of its patented SuperKS fertilizer in the U.S. This partnership allows Replenish to access nearly 70 million acres of cropland across five states without additional capital expenditure, enhancing its market reach and credibility in the regenerative-farming sector. The agreement is expected to generate licensing revenues and offers a scalable model for future regional expansions, marking a significant step in positioning Replenish as a leading provider of regenerative-fertilizer technologies in North America. [link]

In Ontario, Canada, the 2026 intake for Wellington County’s Experimental Acres program is now open. Launched in 2022, Experimental Acres provides farmers with support as they test regenerative agriculture practices on their operations. The program offers a range of resources, including micro-grants of up to $3,000, soil analysis, staff guidance, peer networking and community events to help reduce the financial and technical risks associated with trying something new. [link]

A new study presented at the COP30 summit in Belém has found that shifting from livestock farming to plant-based agroforestry can significantly increase the income of rural producers in Brazil. The research, coordinated by ProVeg Brazil, shows that such a transition could boost net income by up to 110% per hectare. In certain cases, especially where low-productivity cattle farming is replaced, the increase could reach up to 1,525%. Unlike livestock farming, which contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, plant-based agroforestry systems absorb more carbon than they release. [link]

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean face a unique opportunity to boost agricultural productivity to safeguard food security, improve rural livelihoods, and protect the environment, according to a new flagship report from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The study, titled “Agricultural Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean: What We Know and Where We Are Heading,“ reveals that although total output has increased nearly sixfold since 1960, recent growth has relied more on the increased use of inputs – such as land, labor, fertilizers, machinery, and water – than on productivity gains. Between 2010 and 2020, total factor productivity (TFP) – a key measure of efficiency – grew by just 0.9% per year, compared with an annual average of 1.7% over the previous 60 years. This deceleration threatens the ability to meet rising food demand in a region where 28% of the population faces food insecurity and nearly four in ten rural residents live in poverty. [link]

Ultra-processed food (UPF) is linked to harm in every major organ system of the human body and poses a seismic threat to global health, according to the world’s largest review. The findings, from a series of three papers published in the Lancet, come as millions of people increasingly consume UPF such as ready meals, cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks and fast food. A systematic review of 104 long-term studies conducted for the series found 92 reported greater associated risks of one or more chronic diseases, and early death from all causes. [link]

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and CIFOR-ICRAF have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), marking a major step forward in scaling collaboration to advance sustainable landscapes, forest restoration, and climate resilience. Building on the foundations of the 2021 MOU—which delivered impactful agroforestry initiatives in Peru—the renewed agreement elevates cooperation to a strategic global level. Both organizations share a strong track record in delivering science-based policy guidance and transforming it into large-scale investment outcomes for member countries. [link]

Honda announced that it has joined Carbon by Indigo, a leading program to help farmers across the U.S. adopt regenerative agriculture practices to improve soil health, capture carbon and increase their profitability. As part of its broader commitment to decarbonization, Honda is purchasing soil carbon removal credits through Carbon by Indigo, resulting in the removal of 1,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon by Indigo produces high-quality agricultural soil carbon credits in the U.S., providing farmers with opportunities to increase profitability while building soil health and long-term resilience. [link]

New research led by Stanford University was presented at COP30 in Brazil, showing that school meal programs could reach 8 million more children for the same cost with regeneratively grown staple foods (like rice, wheat, maize, and soy). The analysis draws on data from the Global Survey of School Meal Programs, country food basket data from the FAO, and regional weather and agricultural production data. In addition to demonstrating how regeneratively grown staples farmed in ways that restore soil health also improve lives and livelihoods, the report provides recommendations for countries to build greater resilience into food systems through school meal programs, while identifying the “hidden costs” of failing to act. [link]

The University of Hawaii is a key partner in the new Central Oahu Agriculture and Food Hub that recently broke ground in Wahiawa. Led by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) and the Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC), the project brings together the UH Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR) and the UH Community College System with other state agencies. A complex in Whitmore Village will serve as an innovation base to provide manufacturing and industry services at a commercial scale, boost local food sustainability, and enable local entrepreneurs to export globally. [link]

New analysis by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reveals that agrifood systems, critical to addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and global hunger, are receiving a fraction of international climate-related development finance, with much of the funding failing to reach the countries and communities that need it most. The data shows that while overall climate-related development finance grew by 12 percent between 2022 and 2023 across sectors, finance for agrifood systems stagnated with a mere one percent increase. Their share of the total climate-related development finance almost halved between 2009–2023. This stands in stark contrast to the estimated USD 1.3 trillion investment gap, roughly twelve times current funding, needed to transform agrifood systems toward sustainability, resilience, and inclusivity, and to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. [link]

Friends of the Earth has released a new report, Feeding Concentration: How USDA’s Commodity Food Purchasing Favors Industrial Agriculture, which analyzes the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) $4.8 billion in food procurement for Fiscal Year 2024. The report finds that nearly half of all USDA food spending went to just 25 companies, with poultry giant Tyson Foods receiving the largest share despite a history of workplace safety, labor, environmental, and food safety concerns. The findings emphasize that USDA’s purchasing practices continue to concentrate power among a small number of multinational corporations, limiting opportunities for independent producers and undermining goals of fair competition, sustainability, and public health. [link]

Ten countries have announced their support for an innovative new Brazil-led accelerator that will unite governments and investors behind a shared goal: restoring the world’s farmland to strengthen food security, tackle climate breakdown, and protect biodiversity. The Resilient Agriculture Investment for net-Zero land degradation (RAIZ) accelerator will assist participating governments to unlock and strategically allocate public and private investment for the restoration of degraded agricultural land at scale. Led by Brazil and supported by the governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Uruguay and the United Kingdom, the accelerator was officially launched at a Ministerial Event at UNFCCC COP30 in Belém on Wednesday. [link]

The American Egg Board (AEB) introduced its new Incredibly Sustainable reporting tool during this week’s Sustainable Ag Summit in Anaheim, Calif., marking a breakthrough in how egg farmers capture and communicate the outcomes of their sustainability efforts. By combining a streamlined survey, a greenhouse gas calculator and visual impact reports, the tool enables farmers to clearly and efficiently share the results of their sustainability practices with customers and stakeholders, strengthening transparency and demonstrating their ongoing commitment to sustainable agriculture. The Incredibly Sustainable tool took more than a year to develop through extensive collaboration with egg producers and leading retail, restaurant and CPG buyers, incorporating their feedback through multiple rounds of pilots, testing and refinement to ensure accuracy and usability. [link]

Tate & Lyle has announced a new regenerative agriculture program aimed at helping corn growers in France farm more sustainably. Developed in partnership with local cooperatives and Regrow Ag, the initiative will allow farmers to adopt practices that improve soil health and resilience to climate change while enabling the company to track environmental improvements across thousands of acres. Participating farmers will be encouraged to adopt methods such as low- and no-till farming to reduce soil disturbance, cover cropping to enhance soil quality and nitrogen management to cut reliance on synthetic fertilizers. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

Earlier this month, British retailer Waitrose announced a commitment to nature-friendly farming via a £1 million investment alongside project partnerships with Soil Association Exchange and Regenified. See more, here.