January 31, 2026
Spotlight Stories
Spotlight 1 – The Conversation reviews how too much phosphorus in America’s farmland is polluting the country’s water. Ready the story, here.
Spotlight 2 – An article in Nature Communications shows that long-term agricultural diversification increases financial profitability, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Check it out, here.
Spotlight 3 – The Packer interviews a soil scientist and finds that soil health is the secret ingredient for sustainable food. Take a read, here.
Industry Updates
A new “Trees on Farm” guide has been launched with the support of The Royal Countryside Fund’s patron, King Charles III. The guide shares stories from farmers across the UK who are proving how trees can boost farm profitability while improving resilience against the climate crisis. The author says that trees provide vital shelter for livestock from harsh winds and shade during increasingly hot summers, reducing stress and improving animal welfare. Trees enhance biodiversity, support natural pest control and improve soil health through deeper roots that help with drainage and reaching nutrients. They also offer new income streams through timber, fruit and nuts, while helping farms access environmental funding schemes. [link]
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) have signed an agreement under the project “Conservation and Genetic Enhancement of Local Almond Varieties in Jordan for Sustainable Agricultural Development.” The agreement marks an important step toward protecting and promoting Jordan’s local almond varieties, which hold significant agricultural and cultural value. NARC will now begin implementing a set of specialized technical activities, including field surveys, sample collection, and conducting morphological analyses of local almond varieties across various regions of the Kingdom. [link]
The Center for International Forestry Research–International Center for Research in Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), will host TREESCAPES 2026, the first South Asian Agroforestry & Trees Outside Forests (TOF) Congress, from February 5 to 7, 2026, in New Delhi. Billed as a landmark regional platform, the three-day congress aims to position agroforestry and Trees Outside Forests as scalable, mainstream solutions for climate-resilient landscapes, sustainable livelihoods and economic growth across South Asia. Policymakers, scientists, industry leaders, civil society organizations, farmers and youth from across the region are expected to participate. [link]
Senate Ag Committee leaders led the signing of a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins insisting that the USDA restore a type of prevented planting coverage removed by a recent federal rule. The Expanding Access to Risk Protection (EARP) rule from USDA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) was published near the end of last year, removing the ability of farmers to buy up coverage on prevented planting acres. The senators said the change impacts more than 67 million acres across all 50 states and all covered commodities in 2025 alone, and argued that ad hoc assistance is not something farmers can rely on. They asked that the department reverse the decision and “allow producers access to the additional prevented plant coverage … to help provide a layer of certainty when disasters beyond their control render them unable to plant a crop.” [link]
Olive growers in Albania are strengthening their skills and practices through the expansion of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation’s (FAO) Farmer Field School approach, supporting a more sustainable and competitive olive oil value chain. At the heart of the initiative is the Farmer Field School model, a practical, farmer-led learning approach in which producers learn side by side in their own fields. By observing, experimenting and sharing their experiences, farmers develop solutions grounded in local realities, turning sustainability into a practical tool for better yields, quality and market access. By aligning local production practices with European Union standards, FAO aims to strengthen the environmental resilience and market readiness of Albania’s olive oil production. [link]
Children’s food manufacturer Once Upon a Farm has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO). The offering is expected to be priced between $17 and $19 per share, and the company has applied to be listed on The New York Stock Exchange (SEC) under the symbol “OFRM.” The money raised through the IPO will be used to pay down debt, purchase equipment and make certain payments conditioned on the offering and for general corporate purposes, according to the company. [link]
Sparkling water brand Spindrift and frozen food maker Amy’s Kitchen are among the first food and beverage brands to receive certification that their products are not ultra-processed under the Non-GMO Project’s new verification program. The Non-UPF Verified Standard is designed to help consumers easily identify products that avoid the core characteristics of ultra-processing, according to a program description. Instead of focusing on certain ingredients, the standard looks at how foods are processed. The certification, which is now open for enrollment following a six-month pilot, comes as consumers grow increasingly skeptical of ingredient lists and highly processed foods. [link]
Amazon.com is closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores in a shift to focus on its online same-day delivery service and expand its Whole Foods Market business. The e-commerce giant said that its branded stores failed to deliver a distinctive customer experience with an economic model that could be scaled up successfully. The closures will include 57 Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go locations. The company said some of its shuttered Amazon-branded bricks-and-mortar stores would be converted into Whole Foods stores. [link]
Nestlé has announced two new global collaborations to help scale regenerative agriculture and support the next generation of farmers. The company is working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Goodwall to make progress on these goals. Nestlé and TNC seek to build on the existing impactful work of the two organizations in co-developing the industry-leading Nestlé Agriculture Framework, which is Nestlé’s plan to help farmers grow better crops, earn more, and care for nature at the same time. Its work with Goodwall - a global youth learning platform - will enable Nestlé to tap into the Goodwall app and help build its agriculture curriculum, using gamification to raise young people’s awareness and understanding of regenerative agriculture, equip them with practical skills, and empower them as agripreneurs. [link]
A new study by Wesley Zebrowski, PhD, at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Environmental Sustainability, found cautious signs of progress toward greater equity in federal farm payments. In a recent paper published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Zebrowski examined whether racial and ethnic disparities persist in the distribution of U.S. government farm payments, more than two decades after the landmark Pigford v. Glickman (1999) lawsuit exposed widespread discrimination against Black farmers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Across matched farmers, Zebrowski found no consistent evidence of broad, ongoing racial disparities in total federal farm payments. Zebrowski is careful to emphasize that the research does not capture every farmer or every mechanism through which bias may operate, and the results do not mean discrimination has disappeared. [link]
Non-profit Coffee Watch has teamed up with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza , or CATIE) to create the Coffee Agroforestry E-Library. Completely free to access, the Coffee Agroforestry E-Library is “the world’s first comprehensive online database dedicated to scientific literature on shade-grown coffee.” Hosted on Zotero, the Agroforestry E-Library contains nearly 1,300 articles providing science-backed evidence and best practices for the implementation of shade-grown coffee at the farm level. Topics include: climate change adaptation and carbon sequestration in coffee systems, biodiversity benefits of shade-grown coffee, farmer income diversification and food security through agroforestry, soil health, water conservation, and soil moisture, and policy frameworks and certification approaches supporting agroforestry. [link]
Farmers interested in strengthening soil health, improving long-term productivity, and exploring new approaches to crop and livestock integration will have an opportunity to learn from University of Minnesota Extension educators later this winter. A “Making the Most of Each Acre” workshop is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at the Dassel History Center and Ergot Museum, hosted by University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota Grazing Lands Conservation Association. The workshop will cover the benefits of incorporating livestock into crop systems, with an emphasis on soil health, economics, and cover crop use. [link]
Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is leading a $102.5 million initiative to protect forests, promote sustainable agriculture, and enhance rural livelihoods inside the country. The initiative, titled “Achieving Emission Reduction in the Central Highlands and South-Central Coast of Viet Nam to Support National REDD+ Action Program Goals” (RECAF), is being funded with help from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). RECAF will address forest loss and ongoing environmental pressures by supporting farmers to adopt climate-smart agroforestry practices, strengthening natural forest protection, and promoting deforestation-free value chains that contribute to sustainable economic growth. [link]
North Dakota is creating a pilot program to encourage landowners to convert less productive agricultural land into grass habitat for wildlife. The program aims to improve soil health, reduce erosion, and enhance water quality. The initiative will involve five-year agreements between landowners and the state. The base annual payments to landowners will be determined by the average rental rate in the county. Additional payments could include a flat $100 per acre payment to help cover seeding costs, a $10 per acre reduction for crop insurance premiums, and $15 per acre incentive if the landowner chooses to allow public hunting access to the property. The initial funding is sufficient for up to 10,000 acres to be replaced with grass habitats. [link]
Whole Foods Market has approved the Soil & Climate Initiative (SCI) as a regenerative agriculture certification program, unlocking market opportunities for farmers and suppliers dedicated to soil health and climate resilience. The natural and organic food retailer has added SCI, a nonprofit regenerative agriculture program, to its slate of approved certifications, welcoming more growers and brands into the regenerative marketplace while striving to bolster accountability and transparency. SCI joins Regenerative Organic Certified, Regenified, Ecological Outcome Verification and Certified Regenerative by AGW in Whole Foods’ roster of certifications. [link]
General Mills and French agricultural cooperative Euralis have joined forces to accelerate regenerative agriculture across Green Giant sweetcorn crops. The move will see 250 Euralis producers in southwest France adopt agroecological practices designed to improve soil health, protect water resources and strengthen farm resilience. General Mills is backing the shift with financial support, including co-funding cover crops between corn rotations to boost soil protection and biodiversity. [link]
In Case You Missed It…
Earlier this month, private equity firm, L Catterton, announced that it was taking a majority stake in cottage cheese brand, Good Culture, as more Americans load up on the protein-rich food. See more, here.