September 13, 2025

Spotlight Stories

Spotlight 1 – Cosmos Magazine details the climate change challenge facing food production. Check it out, here.

Spotlight 2 – The New Hampshire Bulletin says that as state summers grow drier, farmers are evolving to cope with the situation. Read the story, here.

Spotlight 3 – Farm Progress writes about the cost pressures starting to pile up on U.S. producers. Take a read, here.

Industry Updates

The Mexican government has banned the use, production, commercialization, and importation of 35 pesticides as part of an effort to ensure safer and more sustainable agricultural practices for both farmworkers and consumers. Among the prohibited pesticides are substances such as Aldicarb, Carbofuran, Endosulfan, and DDT - prohibited in most of the world since the 1970s but still produced and used in Mexico until now. A second list of prohibited pesticides will be published in 2026, followed by a third in 2027. [link]

A new Rabobank report says that the 2026 profitability prospects for farmers look similar to 2025, with farmers likely continuing to face a twin squeeze of historically low crop prices and elevated costs for fertilizers and other key inputs. Agriculture’s difficult economics also pose challenges and risks for farmers trying to adopt more sustainable practices, according to the bank. These practices are aimed at generating long-term productivity and value but can reduce short-term performance, which highlights the need for adaptive, transition-focused federal programs. [link]

A new study led by North Carolina State University has aggregated data from two long-term ecological research sites in Michigan and Texas, analyzing performance within future climate models to provide a comprehensive outlook on how agricultural management influences soil health. Notably, the findings underscore that no-till farming combined with residue retention substantially enhances soil organic carbon (SOC) storage at both locations under a baseline emission scenario. However, the effectiveness of climate-smart agricultural strategies diminishes under a high-emissions scenario in the future. The intensified climatic stressors modeled in this scenario diminished the gains observed in soil carbon sequestration and in greenhouse gas mitigation. [link]

The Rainforest Alliance has announced the introduction of the Regenerative Agriculture Standard, a new certification aimed at supporting coffee farmers while restoring ecosystems in tropical regions. Under the new Regenerative Agriculture Standard, starting early next year, products that meet the requirements will carry a unique seal, signaling to shoppers that they come from farms and companies dedicated to improving soil health and rural livelihoods. The Rainforest Alliance’s new framework gives producers a clear, science-based way to measure progress in five areas, including soil fertility, climate resilience, biodiversity, water management, and livelihoods. Although coffee is the first crop covered, the nonprofit plans to extend the certification to cocoa, citrus, and tea by 2026. [link]

The Make America Healthy Again Commission released the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, a sweeping plan with more than 120 initiatives to reverse existing policies that have fueled America’s childhood chronic disease epidemic. Key focus areas of the strategy include: expanding NIH and agency research into chronic disease, nutrition, food quality, environmental exposures, autism, gut microbiome, precision agriculture, rural and tribal health, vaccine injury, and mental health; reforming dietary guidelines; defining ultra-processed foods; improving food labeling; closing the GRAS loophole; raising infant formula standards; removing harmful chemicals from the food supply; increasing oversight and enforcement of direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising laws; improving food served in schools, hospitals, and to veterans; reforming Medicaid quality metrics to measure health outcomes; streamlining organic certification; easing barriers to farm-to-school programs and direct-to-consumer sales; restoring whole milk in schools; supporting mobile grocery and processing units; modernizing FDA drug and device approval; accelerating EPA approvals for innovative agricultural products; Surgeon General initiatives on screen time; prioritizing pediatric mental health; expanding access to reliable nutrition and health information for parents; promoting awareness of healthier meals at restaurants; soil health and land stewardship, and community-led initiatives. [link]

A farm belonging to the University of Leeds is taking part in a project to research and test ways of reducing agricultural emissions. The site, which is between Leeds and York, is one of 10 across Europe taking part in the Climate Smart Research project. The university hopes it can find ways to reduce the farm's carbon footprint by 55% over the course of the five-year project. The university said it would test methods such as managing emissions from manure and slurry, and monitoring the ways in which features such as hedgerows can prevent greenhouse gasses from entering the atmosphere. [link]

PepsiCo, Mars and ADM are collaborating in a new regenerative agriculture initiative working with Polish farmers to boost sustainable practices like rotational agriculture for improved wheat crops and rapeseed cultivation. The partnership — hailed as having a “holistic, landscape-level approach” — will see 24 farmers using sustainable practices across crop rotations, covering land where crops are grown for big players’ F&B brands like Lay’s and Doritos, as well as pet food lines such as Whiskas and Pedigree. The land being cultivated in this project totals 5,454 hectares, 3,359 of which are for Mars’ pet care brands, while 2,160 hectares are designated for PepsiCo’s rapeseed cultivation. The partners say the regenerative practices include strengthening soil health and water management and enhancing long-term agricultural resilience. [link]

Foodtech company Edacious and the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA) have launched a four-year-long partnership to test the nutritional makeup of “regenerative organic certified” (ROC) foods and highlight the value of regenerative organic practices in agriculture. The ROC certification uses the USDA’s Certified Organic as a baseline, then adds additional criteria based on three regenerative-organic pillars: soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness. Products that meet this criteria can bear the ROC certification on packaging labels. ROA and Edacious will use the latter’s rapid testing and data insights platform to analyze more than 200 food products bearing the ROC designation. [link]

The US Food and Drug Administration has added a proposed rule to its spring 2026 agenda that would eliminate the current provision of companies self-affirming their ingredients as safe. The regulatory body has suggested an amendment to the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) rule in its Unified Agenda for spring 2026. The proposal would force companies to submit GRAS notices for food ingredients for FDA review, eliminating the self-affirmation process that many companies currently use to enter the market. The latter pathway allows manufacturers to independently determine their ingredients as safe for use, which RFK Jr has called the provision a “loophole”. [link]

Marks & Spencer (M&S), which sources from more than 10,000 British farms, announced new commitments to British producers, including a £7 million investment in sustainability and innovation over the next five years. The company also called on the government to set legally binding targets to increase the proportion of British food eaten in Britain. The £7 million investment includes £2.5 million available in grants over five years through the Plan A Accelerator Fund to support innovation projects tackling agricultural emissions. [link]

The Trump administration is exploring whether food packaging should disclose whether products contain gluten, one of a litany of policy ideas in a long-awaited “Make America Healthy Again” strategy report released on Tuesday. The FDA will make recommendations about requiring food packaging to state when products contain ingredients “that impact certain health conditions, such as gluten for those with Celiac disease, and other established food allergens.” The proposal was one of the few potential regulations outlined in a White House report to improve children’s health. The 20-page report largely stressed voluntary action and expanded consumer education on issues including ultra-processed foods and artificial dyes. [link]

UC Merced and the Almond Board of California signed a five-year memorandum of understanding this week, launching a partnership focusing on agriculture sustainability, innovation, and workforce development in the Central Valley. The partnership will provide hands-on opportunities for students, new research for faculty, and forward-looking solutions for almond growers facing climate and resource challenges. The MOU also includes the creation of new almond-focused demonstration plots at UC Merced’s 40-acre Experimental Smart Farm. [link]

In Case You Missed It…

In mid-August, Mars announced that it was partnering with the gene editing firm, Pairwise, to rapidly develop cocoa varieties with improved resilience to disease, climate stress, and supply chain volatility. See more, here.