June 28, 2025

Spotlight Stories

Spotlight 1 – NPR dives into the experimental practice of relay intercropping and how some farmers are using this approach to prevent flooding. Check it out, here.

Spotlight 2 – Civil Eats says that American conservation work on farms and ranches could take a hit as the USDA cuts staff. Read the story, here.

Spotlight 3 – Fast Company offers a vision for America’s agricultural future, based on the healing powers of food. Take a read, here.

Industry Updates

Equitable Food Initiative celebrated Pollinator Week by launching a free toolkit with educational resources, downloadable graphics and actionable tips to raise awareness and assist with supporting pollinator populations. A toolkit focused specifically on pollinators is a first for EFI, adding to its robust library of materials designed to support safer, healthier and more sustainable food systems. The toolkit, which highlights not only honeybees and butterflies but also lesser-known pollinators like bats, beetles, birds, moths and flies, is available at equitablefood.org/pollinator-week. [link]

Potato Processor Cavendish Farms is digging into a major sustainability project at its Discovery Farm in New London, P.E.I., aiming to help Island potato growers go greener. The food giant recently unveiled the initiative, designed to make the potato industry more environmentally friendly. The research will focus on key areas like water consumption, pest and disease control, and soil management. A Farm advisory group has been established to ensure collaboration between Cavendish Farms and local growers. The goal is to share research results that will improve potato crops and protect farmland for future generations. [link]

A new study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production presents a novel approach to sustainable agricultural intensification, with promising implications for food security and land conservation in Senegal. Conducted by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the study explores how farmers’ land-use decisions can be guided by the relative risks and returns of different crops—similar to how financial investments are managed. Using Senegal as a case study, the authors show that shifting cropland expansion toward high-value crops like fruits and vegetables could reduce the need for new land conversion by up to 68% by 2030. [link]

A new European project - SOILRES - aims to regenerate soil health and strengthen the resilience of agricultural systems in Europe. The project is funded by the Horizon Europe program and is being coordinated by the University of Aarhus in Denmark among 19 international partners. SOILRES aims to develop and test innovative agricultural strategies based on the principles of regenerative agriculture—such as cover crops, strip tillage, microbial biostimulants, compost, biochar, and digital tools—to improve soil fertility, limit nutrient losses, and increase crop resilience in both organic and conventional systems. The project will be carried out at six main experimental sites in Italy, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, and Portugal, selected to represent different climatic and soil conditions across the continent. [link]

Farmers in Madagascar are installing agroforestry systems as a sustainable alternative to previous “slash-and-burn” farming and in response to more frequent droughts. Producer organizations FITAFA and FEKRITAMA are playing a key role in supporting their members to make this switch and to overcome the challenges involved. FITAFA – with support from national farmers’ organization FEKRITAMA – has been encouraging members to adopt agroforestry systems, incorporating cash crops like cinnamon, cloves, coffee and lychees, grown in the shade of the trees. Agroforestry now accounts for two-thirds of most farmers’ plots, with the rest left for rice cultivation, other crops or left fallow. [link]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has made the state the seventh in the U.S. to ban the sale of cultivated meat. He has also ordered an investigation into ultra-processed foods. Texas has become the latest state to prohibit the sale of cultivated meat, the result of an effort that began in November. SB 261 was one of the 300-plus bills signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, imposing a two-year ban that starts on September 1 this year. [link]

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has highlighted the success of its LandFlex Pilot Program, which has significantly protected groundwater and supported farmers. The program saved more than 100,000 acre-feet of water and protected over 16,500 drinking water wells in vulnerable communities. Launched in 2022 during extreme drought conditions, LandFlex helped six groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) distribute $23.3 million in funding to support small and mid-sized farms in California’s Central Valley. The goal was to stop over-pumping of groundwater while ensuring farms stayed in production. [link]

Almost half of Arizona’s cotton acreage last year was never sprayed with an insecticide, a testament to changes in pest management technologies and a message that university scientists and cotton industry representatives believe could bolster efforts to increase demand for U.S. Upland cotton. The U.S. Cotton Board, which oversees programs run by Cotton Incorporated to promote the use of American Upland cotton, is embarked on a change in strategies to bolster U.S. cotton sales by partnering with the various brands that use cotton in their products. Arizona’s cotton crop may be the cleanest in the United States when it comes to pesticide use. Last year Arizona cotton farmers averaged 1.5 pesticide applications on their crop for the entire season. [link]

In a pivotal move to enhance the sustainability and resilience of India’s rainfed landscapes, a one-day national workshop on “Agroforestry for Resilient Rainfed Landscapes” was held at the National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) Complex in New Delhi. The workshop was jointly organized by the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), the Natural Resource Management (NRM) Division of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), and the Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture (RRA) Network. The event brought together key policymakers, domain experts, researchers, and practitioners to deliberate on strategic frameworks, field innovations, and policy alignment to mainstream agroforestry in India's rainfed agriculture. [link]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced four Michigan and Ohio grant recipients will receive $3,712,124 to engage farmers and provide nutrient management technical assistance in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Nutrient runoff from agricultural land is the leading cause of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. Selected organizations include the Ohio Department of Agriculture, The Nature Conservancy, the Lenawee County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Regents of the University of Michigan. Funding is provided by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). Under the GLRI, federal agencies work with nonfederal partners to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem and to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world. [link]

The University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture has opened a third round of funding for fall cover crop planting in Missouri. About $3 million is available for Missouri producers interested in using cover crops on their cropland through the Missouri Conservation Crop and Livestock Project (CRCL). Payments are also available for planting trees under the silvopasture option. The application period for cover crop and silvopasture payments is through July 31 or whenever funding runs out. [link]

Egg company Kipster has announced that it has successfully implemented in-ovo sexing in its forthcoming flock of laying hens at their facility in Nebraska. The technology enables producers to select and remove male embryos before developing, eliminating the need for post-hatch culling, where living chicks are commonly ground up en masse. If in-ovo sexing were adopted across the egg industry in the United States, the switch would spare at least 300 million male chicks each year from culling. [link]

Jif peanut butter maker J.M. Smucker said that it would remove synthetic food colors from all consumer food products by the end of 2027. The company said this move would impact its sugar-free fruit spreads, ice cream toppings, and some sweet baked goods from its Hostess brand portfolio. J.M. Smucker said the majority of its products currently available to K-12 schools do not contain any artificial colors, and it is working with distribution partners to stop selling products with synthetic dyes to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year. [link]

International non-governmental organization Rainforest Alliance has published its 2024 Annual Report, highlighting the progress its certification program has made in regenerative agriculture. The report reveals Rainforest Alliance supports 1.8 million coffee farmers and workers across 1.9 million hectares in 29 countries, and outlines how regenerative agriculture has helped to restore nature in critical areas and strengthen rural communities. The organization is one of the world’s largest farm-to-consumer certification programs. Products with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal are available in 155 countries. According to the report, that equates to 333 million cups of coffee and 96 million bars of chocolate every day. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

In early May, Mondelez International’s impact investing arm, Sustainable Futures, made a strategic investment in eAgronom, an Estonia-based agritech startup focused on scaling regenerative agriculture across Europe. See more, here.