February 21, 2026

Spotlight Stories

Spotlight 1 – Owatonna People’s Press reports on the five federal policy focus areas for 2026 from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Ready the story, here.

Spotlight 2 – Civil Eats hosts a Q&A with agroecologist and professor, Liz Carlisle, on the power of perennial agriculture. Check it out, here.

Spotlight 3 – Mongabay discusses how agriculture is on the cusp of a new revolution based on biology rather than chemistry. Take a read, here.

Industry Updates

The global regenerative meat market is set for strong growth over the next decade, driven by rising consumer demand for sustainable and ethically produced protein. According to a new report by Polaris Market Research, the market is projected to expand from $1,431 million in 2025 to $5,207 million by 2034, registering a robust CAGR of 15.7% during the forecast period. Regenerative meat is produced through regenerative agriculture practices that prioritize soil health, biodiversity, ecological balance and animal welfare. Techniques such as rotational grazing, pasture-based rearing and cover cropping aim to restore ecosystems while producing nutrient-dense meat. [link]

A recent report from Health, Environment, Agriculture, and Labor (HEAL) Food Alliance argues that precision agriculture is “a costly distraction” from real climate solutions, and cautions policymakers against overreliance on it to solve agricultural challenges. Precision agriculture (PA) refers to technologies including GPS, drones, robotics, and AI, used to efficiently apply chemical inputs on specific areas of a field. Public sector investments in PA technologies have been increasing–amounting to about $11.1 billion in 2021, according to the HEAL Alliance–as corporations and lawmakers suggest that technologies can boost agricultural automation and productivity. But HEAL’s report calls PA a “false solution that diverts attention and resources away from proven solutions.” They believe that regenerative farming methods such as intercropping, agroforestry, and silvopastoralism are more climate-resilient, and more accessible to small and mid-sized farms. [link]

McDonald’s Corporation has joined the Responsible Commodities Facility (RCF) to support deforestation- and conversion-free soy production in Brazil’s Cerrado, targeting soy embedded in chicken feed sourced outside the United States and Canada. The investment strengthens the company’s sustainable sourcing strategy while helping protect forests and native ecosystems in one of the world’s most critical agricultural regions. The RCF, created by BVRio and managed by Sustainable Investment Management (SIM), provides low-interest credit lines to soy farmers who commit contractually to deforestation- and conversion-free production. [link]

Smithfield Foods plans to build a large hog slaughterhouse in South Dakota, marking the first new facility built by America’s top pork producer in decades. Virginia-based Smithfield said it will spend about $1.3 billion over three years on a new facility in Sioux Falls, S.D. When in operation, the plant is expected to employ about 3,000 workers and be able to slaughter about 20,000 hogs a day. The new project replaces Smithfield’s existing, more than 100-year-old facility in the city. [link]

The European Commission has approved a package of just over €1bn for the Danish government, to be used to pay farmers for using their land for nature restoration projects. Denmark first announced plans to launch the subsidy scheme in 2024, as part of its ambition to convert 15% of farmland into forests and other natural habitats. Farmers will be able to claim up to 100% of the costs of investing in non-producing land, as well as compensation for the loss of income. They will also be able to apply for costs relating to administrative and legal processes, as well as technical consultancy assistance. The scheme will run until the end of 2030. [link]

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) has reopened its no-cost soil sampling initiative as part of Indiana’s Mississippi River Basin Soil Sampling Program. This program, in collaboration with the Gulf Hypoxia Program, aims to promote better nutrient management practices. The program targets row crop fields, pastures, hay, and specialty crops within Indiana’s Mississippi River Basin, excluding hobby gardens and private lawns. Interested landowners can sign up online starting Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, until Wednesday, April 8, 2026, or until funds run out. [link]

Michigan State University AgBioResearch leaders have announced the launch of the Growing Healthy Together Initiative, a new grants program designed to bring together MSU scientists from across campus and partners to solve complex health challenges through transdisciplinary research. A request for proposals has been released to MSU researchers. A maximum of three projects, which are funded for two years, will be granted $100,000 each. Awards will be announced in early June. The Growing Healthy Together Initiative targets a variety of health challenges across the human, animal, plant and environmental spectrum, from soil health and water quality to nutrition, chronic disease and food access. [link]

Bayer is making a new multibillion-dollar push to resolve a yearslong legal nightmare over Roundup weedkiller. The German pharmaceutical and agriculture conglomerate said it proposed to settle a nationwide class-action lawsuit to resolve claims that its flagship herbicide causes cancer. The settlement plan includes setting aside more than $7 billion to fund payments over 21 years. Law firms representing tens of thousands of plaintiffs filed a motion seeking approval of the settlement. The proposal requires court approval in Missouri, where the bulk of Roundup cases are outstanding. [link]

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to promote the domestic production of phosphorus and the weedkiller glyphosate, which he said is critical to both defense and food security. Glyphosate is often targeted by supporters of the Make America Healthy Again movement as a harmful chemical. Trump aligned with the MAHA movement after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the 2024 election. [link]

In a legal case pitting an individual consumer against the restaurant chain, Buffalo Wild Wings, a judge in Illinois ruled that a boneless chicken wing doesn’t need to come from a wing. Judge John Tharp Jr. in Illinois’s northern district denied the customer a victory in his quest to hold the chain accountable for describing chicken-breast pieces as wings. Aimen Halim had sued Buffalo Wild Wings in 2023 for misleading him about its boneless wings and demanded about $10 million in damages. The judge said Halim’s claim had “no meat on its bones.” [link]

The global agroforestry market size is anticipated to reach $115.6 billion by 2033 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.1% from 2026 to 2033, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expanding as farms treat tree integration as a profit and risk-management tool, not a conservation add-on. Combining trees with crops or livestock improves land productivity, stabilizes yields, and diversifies revenue across seasons. Asia Pacific holds the largest revenue share because agroforestry is deeply embedded in commercial farming and tree-crop value chains that serve large domestic markets and exports. The region has strong throughput in fruits, nuts, bamboo, timber, and botanicals, supported by processing ecosystems that improve price realization. [link]

Food industry giant Cargill has teamed up with Kokomodo to advance cell-based chocolate solutions, with financial support from the EU. The collaboration is partly funded by the Proof-of-Concept Co-Financing Instrument of EIT Food, the EU’s food innovation organization. This initiative enables startups and corporations to jointly validate and scale transformative agrifood innovations. The two companies will evaluate how cell-based cocoa ingredients perform in real-world applications, with a focus on elevated functionality, sensory experience and scalability. The goal is to accelerate research to fast-track these products’ market entry. [link]

The investment downturn in alternative proteins continued in 2025, falling by 20% and totaling under $1B for the first time since 2018. The alternative protein category only attracted $881M last year, falling below the $1B mark for the first time in seven years, according to the Good Food Institute’s (GFI) analysis of data from Net Zero Insights. Overall, this industry has raised $19.4B over the previous decade. [link]

Sugar prices have tumbled to their lowest level in more than five years as weight-loss drugs accelerate a drop in demand by pushing consumers to ditch sweet treats in favor of protein. Traders say the move reflects a sharper than forecast slowdown in consumption in the US and other wealthy economies, while demand in developing countries is growing at a slower pace than expected. So-called GLP-1 weight-loss injections have been a crucial driver of reducing cravings for sweet flavors. GLP-1s are the basis of medications including Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound. The top-20 per cent of consumers account for around 65 per cent of sales of products like cookies and ice cream, according to Stephen Geldart of the sugar merchant, Czarnikow. If those ‘super users’ end up on GLP-1 drugs, you get a non-linear reduction in sales, he says. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

Earlier this month, a new study out of the University of Connecticut found that local schools in the state are overwhelmingly dedicated to food sustainability. See more, here.