Fairtrade America’s 2023 Trends Include Regenerative Agriculture

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Fairtrade America, which has a food-packaging label certifying that social justice and sustainability standards have been met, released its five key trends that will drive consumer choices and brand action in 2023.

Despite inflation and rising prices on groceries, research shows that many consumers are still making thoughtful choices while shopping, choosing products that align with their values, according to a news release.

Fairtrade America asserts that these shoppers are becoming increasingly interested in and informed about supply chains, sourcing and product sustainability. And that means fresh produce brands will need to invest in practices that drive loyalty among discerning consumers.

“Responsible shoppers in the U.S. are demanding that companies and governments drive transformation that benefits the people who grow our food and protects the planet,” Fairtrade America Director of Commercial Partnerships Carlos Urmeneta said in the release.

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Stories from the Harvest: December 2022

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We are thrilled to announce our most recent hire on the Food Access Network team: Anna Olson! Anna brings with her a deep well of personal experience – she is a first-generation descendant of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She spent her childhood on the Flathead Reservation in Western Montana, and her early experiences solidified her passion for serving Native communities. Prior to joining the Northwest Harvest team, Anna worked in statewide legal aid outreach and has a background in crime victim advocacy and prevention.

Anna’s work is guided by a genuine and intentional belief in the value of giving back to folks in Indian Country. She knows it is important to humanize people and avoid the trap of either romanticizing or demonizing them. Anna believes that we should always serve communities with respect, not reverence. People do not need to be perfect to be worthy of support.

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The Myth of No-Till: The Future is Regenerative Organic Agriculture

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The Rodale Institute’s 40-Year-Report on their Farming Systems Trial should end the myth of the toxic, GMO herbicide, no-till systems. Rodale’s scientific trials clearly show that these degenerative no-till systems are inferior to Regenerative Organic Agriculture on every key criterion. (Rodale 2022)

The Farming Systems Trial showed that the organic manure systems that used standard or limited tillage had higher levels of soil organic matter (soil organic carbon) and higher crop yields than GMO herbicide no-till. The trials produced the highest yields of maize in the tilled organic manure system and the best increases in soil organic carbon where the organic manure system used limited tillage. The limited tillage field was tilled every second year. Very significantly, 40 years of research show that organic maize yields have been 31 percent higher than conventional/industrial farming systems in drought years.

Photo credit: Unsplash

No-till does not produce higher levels of SOC

This information is consistent with a large body of science that shows that herbicide no-till systems do not produce higher levels of soil organic carbon (SOC) than tillage systems.

An earlier US  study comparing herbicide GMO no-till with an organic agricultural tillage system compared multiple parameters. The organic system found better soil quality, including SOC levels. The results found that systems incorporating high amounts of organic inputs from manure and cover crops can improve soils more than no-tillage systems despite reliance on a minimum level of tillage. (Teasdale, Coffman and Mangum 2007) .

Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 74 published studies comparing no-till and full-tillage management. They found that no-till can reduce SOC stocks, cause losses in crop yields, and cause a decline in Carbon (C) inputs depending on climate. Yields can also increase with no-till adoption in some instances. C input losses greater than 15% with the adoption of no-till lead to a loss of SOC. (Ogle, Swan and Paustian 2012)

Research from Ohio State University compared carbon levels between no-till and tillage fields and found that, in some cases, carbon storage was more significant in the tillage fields. The key is soil depth. They compared the carbon storage between no-till and plowed fields with the plow depth of 20 cm and found that the carbon storage was generally much more significant in no-till fields than in plowed fields. When they examined 30 cm and deeper, they found more carbon stored in plowed fields than in the no-till ones. The researchers concluded that farmers should not measure soil carbon based on surface depth. They recommended going as much as one meter below the soil surface to get a more accurate assessment of SOC. (Christopher, Lal and Mishra 2009)

A review of 120 papers on SOC sequestration by researchers from universities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio compared the difference between the no-till and tilled plots.  Their findings did not support SOC sequestration claims of the no-till industry. They found that the no-till subsurface layer often loses more SOC stock over time than is gained in the surface layer. (Olson 2013)

Photo credit: Unsplash

Understanding Soil Organic Matter

The push for no-till is partially the result of the multiple roles of soil organic matter being ignored by agricultural workers. The other driver has been the sale of $billion of toxic herbicides and GMOs.

This lack of research into organic systems has resulted in fundamental errors in understanding how the cycling of soil organic matter works to release nutrients, build soil health and assist with water capture and retention.

Cycling the labile (short-term) organic matter fraction is the key to nutrient availability. Short-term soil disturbances, like animals trampling pasture and the correct tillage systems, oxygenate the soil. This stimulates soil microbes to feed on the soil organic matter, releasing nutrients. There is a massive misunderstanding about the role of microbes that oxidize soil organic matter. A certain level of oxidization is essential to release the nutrients to feed the crops. Without oxidization, many minerals can be locked into the organic matter. The key is to correctly manage the cycles of both the short-term and long-term soil organic matter fractions. We want the labile fraction to actively cycle and continuously release nutrients to feed growing crops. This can be done while increasing the stable soil organic matter fractions. (Leu 2021b)

Labile (Short-Term) Fraction

The labile fraction is composed of decaying organic matter. This is the most crucial part of the two main soil organic matter  (SOM) cycles. This is the stage in which microbes break down the residues of crops, leaves, twigs, branches, root excretions, animal manures, and animal remains and release all of their minerals, sugars, and other compounds into the soil to feed plants and other microorganisms. This complex process is known as the soil food web or the soil microbiome.

The key to this cycle is that it needs to be continuously fed with fresh organic matter—the molecules of life—to ensure that it is active.

Some models in books and scientific papers describe this cycle and then look no deeper into the SOM cycles. These models assume that all the carbon in the organic matter has to be completely decayed into carbon dioxide (CO2) for the minerals to be released as nutrition to plants. In natural ecosystems and under good management, though, some parts of the decaying organic matter form stable soil organic matter fractions.

Stable (Long-Lasting) Fraction

The most stable organic matter fractions are humus, glomalin (from fungi), and charcoal (char). Research shows that humus and char can last for thousands of years in the soil. Other fractions are less stable (labile) and can easily volatilize into CO2.

It is the lignins of plants that form humus, the most stable and important form of SOM. These are found in mature coarse plants. The key to increasing humus and building long-term stable SOM is to allow cover and cash crops to fully mature.

Photo credit: Unsplash

The Correct Tillage Systems

Correct tillage systems stimulate the microbiome to bio-degrade the short-term SOM fractions, releasing nutrients to the cash and cover crops. When this is done properly, a percentage of this organic matter is transformed by the soil microbiome into the stable soil organic matter fraction, increasing long-term SOM levels.

In well-managed systems, there can be a short decline in SOM levels as it is consumed by the soil microbiome to release nutrients to the crop, but SOM levels do increase in the long term. The correct management systems quickly replenish and increase SOM due to the roots of high-quality cover/cash crops excreting the molecules of life into the soil. This is the carbon gift / liquid carbon pathway.

The key to ensuring that the system is increasing and/or maintaining SOM levels is to continuously feed it with fresh organic matter—the molecules of life—so that it is active. This is done by growing plants. Bare soil should be covered with plants as quickly as possible.

Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers cause a Decline in SOC

The main reason for the loss of soil carbon in farming systems is not tillage; it is synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Research shows that there is a direct link between the application of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers and a decline in soil carbon. (Khan et al. 2007, Mulvaney et al. 2009, Man et al. 2021)

Scientists at the University of Illinois analyzed the results of a fifty-year agricultural trial. They found that applying synthetic nitrogen fertilizer had resulted in all the carbon residues from the crop disappearing, as well as an average loss of around 10,000 Lbs of soil carbon per Acre (10,000 kg of soil carbon per hectare). This is around 36,700 pounds of carbon dioxide per acre (36,700 kg of CO2 per hectare) over and above the many thousands of pounds of crop residues that are converted into carbon dioxide yearly. The researchers found that the higher the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, the greater the amount of soil carbon lost as CO2. This is one of the major reasons there is a decline in soil carbon in industrial agricultural systems and an increase in organic systems. (Khan et al. 2007, Mulvaney et al. 2009)

Regenerative Organic Agriculture is the Future

It is a myth that the toxic degenerative GMO herbicide no-till systems can give higher crop yields and significant increases in soil organic carbon.

The fact is that we have enough high-quality studies now to show that Regenerative Organic Agriculture has the highest yields and the best increases in soil organic carbon.

Scaling up Regenerative Organic Agriculture can reverse climate change, increase biodiversity, improve water capture and retention, stop soil loss, be more profitable for farmers and ranchers, and very significantly nourish the world with high yields of healthy non-toxic food.

References:

           Christopher S. F, Lal R and Mishra, U, 2009. Long-term no-till effects on carbon sequestration in the Midwestern U.S. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 73: 207-216.

            Khan, S.A., R.L. Mulvaney, T.R. Ellsworth, and C.W. Boast. 2007. The myth of nitrogen fertilization for soil carbon sequestration. Journal of Environmental Quality 36:1821-1832. \

            Leu A 2013, Commentary V: Mitigating climate change with soil organic matter in organic production systems. TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT REVIEW, 2013, WAKE UP BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, Ed. Ulrich Hoffman, UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2012/3 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION  ISSN 1810-5432

            Leu A  2014, THE POTENTIAL FOR MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE WITH SOIL ORGANIC MATTER INCREASES IN ORGANIC PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. Acta Horticulturae. 1018, 75-82

            Leu A 2021a, Our Global Regeneration Revolution: Organic 3.0 to Regenerative and Organic Agriculture https://regenerationinternational.org/2021/07/12/our-global-regeneration-revolution-organic-3-0-to-regenerative-and-organic-agriculture/

            Leu A 2021b, GROWING LIFE, REGENERATING FARMING AND RANCHING, Acres USA, Greeley Colorado, USA, December 2021

            Mulvaney, R.L., S.A., Khan, and T.R. Ellsworth. 2009. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers deplete soil nitrogen: A global dilemma for sustainable cereal production. Journal of Environmental Quality 38:2295-2314.

            Man, M., B. Deen, K.E. Dunfield, C.Wagner-Riddle, and M.J. Simpson. 2021.Altered soil organic matter composition and degradation after a decade of nitrogen fertilization in a temperate agroecosystem. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 310:107305.

            Ogle SM, Swan A and Paustian K. 2012,  No-till management impacts on crop productivity, carbon input and soil carbon sequestration, Agriculture, Ecosystems &Environment,

Volume 149, 1 March 2012, Pages 37-49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.12.010

            Olson K R 2013, Soil organic carbon sequestration, storage, retention and loss in U.S. croplands: Issues paper for protocol development. Geoderma, 2013; 195-196: 201 DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2012.12.004

            Rodale 2022, Farming Systems Trial 40-YEAR REPORT, Rodale Institute, https://rodaleinstitute.org/science/farming-systems-trial, Accessed December 8, 2022

            Teasdale JR, Coffman CB and Mangum RW (2007). Potential long-term benefits of no-tillage and organic cropping systems for grain production and soil improvement. Agronomy Journal, Sept–Oct, 99 (5): 1297-1305.

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquín Receives the 2022 Eco-Ag Achievement Award

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The Eco-Ag Achievement Award is given out annually in early December by Acres U.S.A., the Voice of Eco-Agriculture, to a practicing leader in the eco-agriculture industry. Starting in 1994, past winners include Gabe Brown, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Gary Zimmer, André Leu and dozens of others still actively working today.

“This year, our award winner is a man that goes by many names, literally and figuratively,” said Sarah Day Levesque, GM of Events and Media at Acres U.S.A., in her introduction of the award. “Those who listen to him speak know him as a passionate visionary whose dedication to pushing for smart, regenerative change is unmatched.”

Haslett-Marroquín has been a strong leader in the movement for developing innovative poultry-centered regenerative agriculture systems around the world. He is the founder and board president of the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance, and co-founder/CEO of Tree-Range Farms. He is also a practicing regenerative farmer at Salvatierra Farms in Minnesota.

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Regenerative Agriculture Seen As Answer to Averting Africa’s Growing Food Crisis

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More than 65% of Africa’s land is considered degraded, and the risk of further desertification grows by the day. Crops now wither in the once fertile fields of northern Ghana, as prolonged droughts dry up water courses, while the mountain forests of Kenya, known as its “water towers”, have been stripped back and denuded by agriculture and logging. In Sudan, the arid climate and poor irrigation mean that more than 500,000 hectares are now affected by salinisation.

A vicious circle of unsustainable farming, which exacerbates climate change and leads to further extreme weather events, is behind the degradation of Africa’s soils. Western farming techniques, which may have yielded crops and vast profits for the last century or more, are now being found wanting, as more and more inputs are needed to repair soils that have become barren and eroded.

Livestock and poor soil management continue to increase agriculture’s carbon footprint, too. It is an environmental catastrophe that also brings human misery: according to the World Economic Forum, 228 million people in Africa face chronic hunger.

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The Distorted Lies About Sri Lanka’s Organic Pathway

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Recently there have been a series of articles stating that Sri Lanka’s economic chaos was caused by the government forcing the country to go organic.

These articles’ familiar false narratives, untruths, and language style show that they were written by spin doctors from a PR company employed by pesticide/big agriculture cartels. They were cut and pasted by poor-quality journalists who did not fact-check.

The narrative was that the government forced farmers to become organic by banning chemical fertilizers.  This caused crop failures and food shortages which caused the riots, causing economic chaos.

This is a distortion of the truth by falsely connecting the dots. The economic chaos was not caused by the country going organic, as it hadn’t gone organic. The government was only planning to do so in the future.

Sri Lanka’s Economic Troubles

Sri Lanka was in severe economic trouble due to the build-up of financial debt caused by a combination of factors that began with the crippling financial drain, infrastructure damage, and social disruption of the decades-long civil war.  The crisis was exacerbated in April 2019 due to church suicide bombings destroying the international based tourism industry, which was a significant provider of foreign currency for the country.  The value of its currency fell and made it more expensive for industry and the government to import essential goods such as fuel.

On top of this, tax cuts in 2019 reduced government revenue and deepened that country’s national debt. The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic decimated the tourism industry. All these factors caused a significant increase in inflation, contributing to shortages of food and essential goods and increasing food insecurity in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was in severe economic and social trouble by the beginning of 2021.

The Import and Export Control Department banned the importation of chemical fertilizers on April 27, 2021, because they contributed over $400 million to the trade deficit. This was the start of a range of measures that would be proposed to create an economic recovery.

The following month on May 10, 2021, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave a directive to form the Presidential Task Force for creating a Green Sri Lanka with Sustainable Solutions for Climate Change. This Task Force had the aim to turn Sri Lanka into a world leader in “the benefits that could be derived nationally and internationally by the launch of a programme for improving biodiversity in Sri Lanka and eco-friendly houses by utilization of organic and natural fertilizer and the potential for sustainable development by minimizing climate changes and through a green economy.”

Organic Agriculture was not the Cause of Sri Lanka’s Economic Chaos.

The ban on chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals was not to turn Sri Lanka into an organic country; it was to reduce Sri Lanka’s crippling national debt. A presidential task force was formed to develop a green, climate change-resilient economy of which organic agriculture was one aspect.

Sir Lanka never implemented a national organic transition program, so the campaign to blame the collapse of its economy on organic agriculture is pure misinformation based on a series of lies fed by a PR company to poor-quality journalists who did not fact-check.

The economic chaos, not the decline in rice yields, was the cause of the riots. The traditional withholding of rice stocks and the artificial increases of prices that the rice miller oligarchies do every year after the primary harvest season created artificial shortages that contributed to the riots. Other contributing factors were the result of fuel and essential items shortages and excessive inflation, making everything more expensive and unaffordable.

Transitioning to Organic

The sudden reduction of fertilizer caused a decline in rice production. However, this was not because the country went organic. It takes three years to transition a farm to organic and decades to transition a country or region, as in the cases of the successful transitions of Bhutan and Sikkim. Just stopping chemical fertilizers does not make a farm organic.

The national and international organic sectors advised the Sri Lankan Government against doing this because it would lead to a sudden drop in yields. We develop plans to manage the transition to organic and advise against the sudden cessation of fertilizers and agrochemicals for this reason. A plan was never developed for Sri Lanka, although a few proposals were started to begin the process that would require decades to implement.

Organic agriculture is not a system of neglect. Stopping chemical fertilizers and toxic agrochemicals do not make a farm organic. Organic agriculture has a variety of management systems to increase soil fertility and effectively manage weeds, pests, and diseases. These take years to develop, requiring three years to get organic certification.

Higher Yields with Organic Agriculture

Transitioning to organic does not have to decrease yields. Best practice organic systems are getting equal to higher yields than industrial and agricultural systems, especially in developing countries like Sri Lanka.

Noémi Nemes from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) analyzed over 50 economic studies. She stated that the data: ‘… demonstrates that, in most cases, organic systems are more profitable than non-organic systems. Higher market prices and premiums, lower production costs, or a combination of the two generally result in higher relative profits from organic agriculture in developed countries. The same conclusion can be drawn from studies in developing countries, but there, higher yields combined with high premiums are the underlying causes of their relatively greater profitability.’

The critical issue here is that organic agriculture provides a higher income and higher yields in developing countries. Significant increases in yields can be achieved by teaching farmers to add science-based regenerative and organic practices to their traditional methods by adopting:

  • Better soil nutrition through recycling soil organic matter (SOM) and correct mineral balance
  • Improved pest and disease management
  • Water use efficiency – by increasing soil organic matter
  • Better weed management methods
  • Eco-function intensification: increasing the diversity of systems

A report by the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that reviewed 114 projects covering 2 million hectares and 1.9 million farmers found that organic agriculture increases yields in Africa. ‘…the average crop yield was … 116 percent increase for all African projects and 128 percent increase for the projects in East Africa.’

Increases in Rice Production

Rice is the most important staple food crop in Sri Lanka. There is ample evidence that rice production and profitability can increase with regenerative and organic agriculture based on the science of agroecology.

A research project conducted in the Philippines by MASIPAG found that the yields of organic rice were similar to industrial systems. Very significantly, the research project compared the income between similar-sized industrial and organic farms and found that the average income for organic farms was 23,599 Pesos compared to 15,643 Pesos for industrial farms.

While the rice yields are similar, the most significant information that came from this study was when the average family living expenses were deducted from the net income. It showed that at the end of the year, on average, the organic rice farmers had a surplus income of 5,967 pesos, whereas the industrial rice farmers had a loss of 4,546 pesos.

The improvements in the science and practices of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) using regenerative and organic systems are getting impressive yields higher than the average.

Professor Uphoff from Cornell University states: “SRI methods have often enabled poor farmers to double, triple, or even quadruple their yields, not just individually but on a village level, without purchasing new varieties or agrochemical inputs.”

The Future

The new Sri Lankan Government is working with their national organic movement to develop a plan to implement organic agriculture. The national organic movement is in contact with the organic program managers in Bhutan, who have successfully transitioned most of their country into organic agriculture.

The transition program is essential because of the current exceptionally high prices for synthetic fertilizers and the poor exchange value of the Sri Lankan currency; most farmers cannot afford these fertilizers. They are going into deep debt when they use them or have reduced yields by not using them because they haven’t been taught effective alternatives.

Adopting best-practice organic and regenerative systems based on the science of agroecology will ensure good yields and higher incomes for farmers without these expensive and toxic chemicals.

Regeneration International will continue supporting the Sri Lankan organic movement in achieving this critical outcome.

Regenerative Agriculture 101: Everything You Need to Know

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Quick Key Facts

  • In regenerative agriculture, the physical, biological and chemical integrity of the soil is preserved through minimal disturbance.
  • Indigenous cultures maintain and have maintained a regenerative relationship with their natural environments, including the soil, for thousands of years.
  • Regenerative farming helps build healthy soil and increases plant diversity.
  • Through regenerative agricultural practices like using cover crops and no-till farming, nutrient-dense, chemical-free foods are produced.
  • Healthy soils maintained through regenerative farming trap water and nutrients and maximize the efficiency of water use.
  • Regenerative agriculture improves water quality and helps to restore and protect rivers, lakes and streams.
  • In the 1980s, Pennsylvania’s Rodale Institute began using the term “regenerative agriculture”; its founder, Bob Rodale, wanted to not only incorporate sustainability into farming, but regeneration.
  • Regenerative soil practices can reverse climate change by restoring the degraded biodiversity of soils and rebuilding organic matter, resulting in increased carbon sequestration and a healthier water cycle.
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Regenerative Agriculture Seen As Answer to Averting Africa’s Growing Food Crisis

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A vicious circle of unsustainable farming, which exacerbates climate change and leads to further extreme weather events, is behind the degradation of Africa’s soils. Western farming techniques, which may have yielded crops and vast profits for the last century or more, are now being found wanting, as more and more inputs are needed to repair soils that have become barren and eroded.

Livestock and poor soil management continue to increase agriculture’s carbon footprint, too. It is an environmental catastrophe that also brings human misery: according to the World Economic Forum, 228 million people in Africa face chronic hunger.

A raft of initiatives and projects continue to try and halt the erosion of Africa’s ability to feed itself, from philanthropic foundations to corporate interventions, with many are now coalescing around regenerative agriculture as a crucial solution.

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Big Food Companies Commit to ‘regenerative Agriculture’ but Skepticism Remains

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Will Cannon does more to sequester carbon than the average U.S. farmer.

After he harvests his corn and soybeans, he plants cover crops, which sequester carbon all winter long, on his entire 1,000-acre operation in Prairie City, Iowa. He’s avoiding tilling, or plowing, his soil as much as possible, which helps keep carbon stored in the ground.

“I’ve kind of had a passion for conservation all my life,” he says. “We’ve always been pushing the envelope on what we’re trying to do.”

Cannon is getting help to finance this climate-friendly way of farming, which costs him thousands of dollars for additional machinery and seed, from the kinds of companies that ultimately buy his product. Footing the bill in his case is PepsiCo and Unilever, which own food brands ranging from Lay’s and Gatorade to Hellman’s and Ben & Jerry’s.

This kind of cross-supply chain partnership could become increasingly common. A consortium of 12 food companies, including Mars, PepsiCo and McDonald’s, announced a plan to scale up the amount of regenerative farmland. The plan was released just days before the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt.

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Regenerative Agriculture’s Critical Role in Stabilizing Our Climate

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It is no exaggeration to suggest that combating climate change has become the most important human endeavor of the 21st century. Driven by the confluence of rapid population growth and the industrialization of societies across the globe, increased levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are contributing to consistently higher temperatures, melting icecaps, rising seas, and more frequent natural disasters that threaten our way of life on Earth.

A 2021 study by the World Meteorological Organization found that the number of weather-related disasters to hit the world has increased five-fold since 1970. These disasters have included hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, wildfires, and other extreme events. The collective loss of human lives, destruction of property and natural habitats, and economic impacts of the events have been staggering, and scientists have warned that things will continue to worsen before they can get better. Without swift, decisive, and coordinated action by world leaders, businesses, industries, and the public, the long-term effects of climate change could prove utterly catastrophic.

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