Steve Reinhard, USB Board Chair and Ohio farmer
The initiative is funded by the United Soybean Board (USB) in partnership with Carbon A List, and USB Board Chair Steve Reinhard, an Ohio farmer who presented keynote remarks at a recent Land Use Change Summit, said the purpose is to have farmers at the table for land use change discussions as corporations consider their sustainability programs.
“We know that we have a lot of urbanization out there where a lot of good farmland is being taken up for either homes or maybe a warehouse, so that’s another definition of land use change that actually wasn’t even considered before we had this particular meeting,” said Reinhard. “It’s great being able to have farmers there to have a conversation around the table when basically before we didn’t have that option, so we kind of had to start it on our own.”
The Land Use Change Summit was held during July at McDonald’s International Headquarters in Chicago, and gathered nearly 100 experts across the food and agriculture value chain. Reinhard says the summit set out to accomplish three goals: 1) find common ground 2) set a strategic course, and 3) prepare to engage.
We’re going to continue on with our conversations that we had and a lot of good discussion that was taken from some of the breakout sessions,” said Reinhard. “And that will all be put into a next steps type program and we’ll look forward then to having another in person conference in the future.”
You can listen to learn more in this interview with Steve Reinhard:
Interview with Steve Reinhard
To receive updates or get involved, visit the Land Use Change Initiative webpage where you can find a white paper describing critical issues and gaps, and identifies where the opportunities exist for implementing change. In addition, there is a primer report and proceedings report available that were prepared for LUCI’s workshop sessions.