August 9, 2025

Spotlight Stories

Spotlight 1 – Agropages puts a spotlight on microencapsulation, noting that it could drive the future of responsible agriculture. Check it out, here.

Spotlight 2 – The World Economic Forum writes that food finance must be on the table in the face of rising climate risks. Read the story, here.

Spotlight 3 – Offrange says that the theft of American farm machinery is increasingly big business. Take a read, here.

Industry Updates

Backed by the milk industry, a bipartisan group of US senators has reintroduced the Dairy Pride Act, asking the FDA to crack down on “misleading” plant-based labels. Four senators have revived the Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, milk, and cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday (Dairy Pride) Act. They’re asking the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the use of ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, ‘yoghurt’ and other such terms on non-dairy alternatives. Currently, the FDA’s guidance allows plant-based milk brands to use ‘milk’ on their product labels. As for vegan dairy products, it recommends placing an emphasis on the plant-based sources that form their base. [link]

Kenya has been hailed as a continental leader in climate-smart agriculture by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), spotlighting the country’s regenerative farming efforts in its 2024 Annual Report. The report attributes Kenya’s success to a strong multi-stakeholder approach that is transforming dryland agriculture and strengthening food security for smallholder farmers. Through the Sustainable Transitioning of Agriculture for Resilient and Adaptable Kenya (STRAK) project, Kenya has made significant strides in climate-smart agriculture. Kenya’s progress is also attributed to enabling policies at both national and county levels. In 2024, the government integrated regenerative agriculture into broader climate action and development strategies and took steps to address double taxation and trade barriers, boosting market efficiency. [link]

In a step toward advancing sustainable agriculture, Clemson University is launching a pioneering research initiative to enhance water use efficiency and crop productivity across the southeastern U.S. Backed by the USDA’s Research Capacity Fund (Hatch), this 5-year initiative addresses challenges farmers face in the region, including water scarcity, extreme weather events and saltwater intrusion. The project will deliver science-based, regionally tailored tools to support irrigation scheduling, crop planning and long-term field management. At the core of the project is a multiscale modeling framework (MMF), pulling together many types of information like current and predicted weather, satellite and drone images, soil details, crop performance and results from both greenhouse experiments and field tests. The MMF uses artificial intelligence and process-based models, such as crop and hydrologic models, to help make sense of all this data. [link]

FarmTogether and MyLand have integrated MyLand’s Soil as a Service technology into four high-value apple orchards in Washington state, supporting efforts to enhance efficiency, reduce input costs and advance regenerative agriculture practices. FarmTogether is a part of MyLand’s Washington State Program — a $4.8-million initiative supported by Washington State’s Climate Commitment Act. The program is designed to accelerate the adoption of regenerative soil health practices across 9,000 acres of farmland, promoting carbon sequestration, improving water efficiency and supporting climate resilience throughout the region. MyLand extracts live, native microalgae from soil directly from the field, cultivates optimal microalgae in a closed-loop environment and reintroduces the living biomass back into the soil. This process is designed to enhance biological activity, support nutrient cycling, and promote more resilient soils over time. [link]

The first attempt to use AI to validate the effect of regenerative farming in potato production will take place in the UK. The project, led by agricultural AI pioneer Cropin and funded by a €700,000 (£605,000) grant from the EU’s EIT Food innovation agency, is thought to be the first to apply ‘big data’ to regenerative practices. It will look at whether practices such as reducing fertilizer and cover crops could increase yield and dry matter content, and reduce water use, using real-time field data, computer models and predictive analytics, as well as satellite imagery and sensors. [link]

The Ohio State University at Lima will host its 2025 Soil Health and Water Management Field Day event on August 28 at its campus in Lima, OH. Regenerative agriculture with the help of no-till, cover crops and water management technology and conservation practices will be the focus of a field day at the school’s Regenerative Agriculture Farm. Ohio State Lima's regenerative farming initiative started in 2020 and aims to provide research and educational opportunities focused on regenerative farming practices. The field day will feature talks by leading experts, industry representatives and testimonials from practicing farmers. [link]

Scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, partnered with Pie Ranch, an educational farm in Pescadero, to study the sustainability payoffs of fertilizing plants with water removed from aquaculture, an age-old practice. Since October, UC Santa Cruz researchers have filtered water, or “backwash,” out of aerated, recirculating tanks filled with 200 swimming rainbow trout—and then used that water to irrigate native plants at the farm. The team is investigating why the backwash might especially help the plants to grow, building on limited scientific literature on the topic. They plan to share findings next spring. [link]

A local farmer-led learning center is set to host a soil health conference next month in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. Fields of Sinsinawa will hold its second annual Soul of the Soil Conference Sept. 5 and 6 at Sinsinawa Mound, 585 Grant County Z in Sinsinawa. The conference will include outdoor field demonstrations, keynote speeches and workshops. Speakers will include Anne Biklé, author of “What Your Food Ate;” Kelly and Deanna Lozensky, diversified crop farmers from North Dakota; and Inga Witscher, host of “Around the Farm Table.” [link]

The SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) has called for a united regional push to advance regenerative agriculture practices across South Asia. The call came during a three-day Regional Consultation Meeting titled “Promotion of Regenerative Agriculture in SAARC Member States” held virtually from August 4 to 6, 2025. The event brought together distinguished delegates from six SAARC countries, agricultural research institutions, universities and international agencies to foster cooperation and formulate strategies for sustainable agricultural development. [link]

A new report from the U.S. federal government says that ultra-processed foods make up the majority of calories that Americans are eating, but that there are signs this consumption might be declining. Sandwiches, baked goods, salty snacks and other ultra-processed foods accounted for 55% of the calories Americans age 1 and older consumed from August 2021 to August 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics study. That proportion is getting smaller. For adults, the mean percentage of calories consumed from ultra-processed foods fell 3 percentage points to 53% since 2018 and for children and teens, it fell nearly 4 percentage points to 61.9%, the report found. [link]

A group of Nebraska farmers is digging into the future of soil management with the launch of the new Nebraska Soil Health Coalition — a grassroots effort focused on improving farm resilience from the ground up. Founded in 2023 as a nonprofit affiliated with the Nebraska Community Foundation, the coalition is farmer-led and aimed at helping producers improve soil function while managing risk and cost. The group’s first big event will be held on August 13th in Bladen, NE and will be a hands-on soil health field day that aims to show producers how building organic matter and improving infiltration can pay off in real-world economics. [link]

To better understand the planet’s topsoil, an international team of scientists, including University of Florida researchers, created the first high-resolution global maps of key soil properties. Their assessment, published in the journal The Innovation, could influence everything from agricultural management and sustainable use of resources to water and food security. The study integrates more than 150,000 soil observations — including private research data — to reveal soil health properties like organic carbon stock, clay content, pH and bulk density. It uses advanced Earth observation technologies and machine-learning models to generate maps with a 90-meter resolution. That level of detail is finer than any previous global soil dataset. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

In mid-July, Chinese researchers announced the development of a groundbreaking method to convert methanol into sucrose, bypassing traditional agriculture. See more, here.