Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held his last official press conference of his tenure at USDA on Wednesday, announcing the publication of an interim rule on Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks. The interim rule establishes guidelines for quantifying, reporting, and verifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production of biofuel feedstock commodity crops …
DWFI Podcast 39 – Navigating Climate Change in Nebraska
Navigating climate change: impacts on water stress and agricultural production in Nebraska Nebraska, located in the U.S. “Corn Belt,” is well known for its agricultural and livestock production, generating around $31.1 billion in agricultural cash receipts in 2023. But how will climate change impact long-term agricultural production, and how can we adapt to changes to ensure water security and food …
AgGateway Tackles Environmental Reporting
Environmental reporting was a big topic of discussion at the recent AgGateway annual meeting in Austin. The opening keynote session featured a panel discussion moderated by Executive Vice President Jeremy Wilson featuring three retail representatives working on the challenges and opportunities in data gathering for environmental reporting in sustainability and carbon programs. He was joined by Brian Henze from Growmark, …
Climate-Smart Soybeans Mark Milestone in U.S. Market
An Illinois-based processing facility successfully completed its first run of climate-smart soybeans this fall, marking a significant milestone in the initiative to bring climate-smart commodities to market. These food-grade soybeans are now poised to enter the soy milk market as part of the Transforming the Farmer to Consumer Supply Chain project (Transform F2C) leads the effort, funded by a U.S. …
USDA Celebrates $3 Billion for Climate-Smart Commodities
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack traveled to Pennsylvania to celebrate investing over $3 billion in 135 projects under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities since its creation in September 2022. Among the projects Secretary Vilsack highlighted during his address in Hershey were: A project led by Farm Journal that is expanding climate-smart markets for specialty crops, beef, pork and other commodities …
USDA Working on Tracking Carbon Intensity
USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie is confident that sustainable aviation fuels hold great promise for American agriculture if we can get the rules right. “This is a real opportunity for American agriculture to create a marketplace that will reward them from the for the stewardship they have been doing and the stewardship they are and …
Grants Available for Climate Smart Sheep Producers
The American Lamb Board (ALB) is offering grants for 150 sheep producers to participate in its Climate Smart Sheep program. Producers enrolled in the program will be paid up to $7,000 to develop and implement Climate Smart Sheep management practices and measure and report emissions and life cycle analysis. Examples of Climate Smart practices to be implemented include prescribed grazing, …
Rivulis Opening New Micro Irrigation Manufacturing Facility
Global irrigation leader Rivulis today announced the opening of the largest ever micro irrigation production facility in North America to increase production capacity to meet the expanding market while adhering to quality and sustainability measures across its supply chain. The 160,000-square-foot site in Tijuana, Mexico, was designed with the future in mind to not only meet today’s customer needs, but …
World Without Cows?
Can you image a world without cows? I can’t. But I’m sure there are some people who may think differently. To get some facts and answers to the question, a feature-length documentary is in final stages and made possible by Planet of Plenty – World Without Cows. Here’s some information about the production. World Without Cows is an incredible journey …
DWFI Podcast 34 – Impacts of Climate Change in the US
The Fifth National Climate Assessment is federally mandated by Congress and released every four years to serve as the foremost review of research on the current and future impacts of climate change in the United States. In this episode of the Water for Food Podcast, DWFI Director of Communications and Public Relations Frances Hayes discusses key findings of the report …