Organic Farming

The Scoop Podcast: From Dairy Waste to Organic Gold, The Rise of BenVireo TerraLux

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:35:19 GMT

BenVireo TerraLux is a new product that checks just about every box for organic growers says Gina Colfer, sustainable solutions agronomy manager at Wilbur-Ellis.

“Our solutions really are focused on helping the grower be more efficient with their ag inputs,” she says. “So we really are focused in trying to find products that help growers farm more holistically and sustainably and efficiently.”

And The Scoop readers agree that BenVireo TerraLux is an example of that as they recently voted it as runner-up in The Scoop’s 19th annual New Product of the Year contest for 2025. Read more about that here.

As Colfer explains, BenVireo TerraLux gives organic growers looking for high-efficiency nitrogen solutions across a wide range of crops (specialty vegetables, nuts, fruit, and row crops). It’s a novel form of organic nitrogen consisting of 50% ammonium and 50% nitrate, which is biologically derived from a true waste stream—dairy lagoon effluent.

It’s filtered down to 1 micron; neutral pH (~7.0); low salt index, so it can be applied via drip irrigation, micro-sprinklers, foliar applications, and drone applications.

According to Colfer, four factors distinguish this product from traditional organic fertilizers:

Immediate Plant Availability: Unlike most organic nitrogen sources that require time to mineralize in the soil, BenVireo TerraLux provides 100% plant-available nitrogen. It bypasses the “guessing game” of soil mineralization, allowing for precise “spoon-feeding” during peak demand.
No Biofilm or Clogging: With a 0:1 carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, the product contains no carbon to feed microbial biofilm. This prevents the common issue of clogged drip tapes and tanks associated with organic liquids.
Improved Handling & Odor: BenVireo TerraLux has a mild, non-offensive ammonia scent and is significantly easier to handle and is a selling point.
Sustainability Profile: It transforms a problematic waste stream (dairy effluent) into a high-value input. The process also creates a secondary byproduct—a 4-4-2 dry crumble fertilizer—ensuring nearly total utilization of the raw material.

4 Biocontrol Strategies To Shrink Your Weed Seed Bank

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 16:28:04 GMT

Mother Nature has a way of balancing the scales, and for farmers looking to manage persistent weed pressure, biological control—or biocontrol—is one testament to that.

Unlike making a traditional herbicide pass with your sprayer, biocontrol isn’t about fast or even total eradication. Instead, it’s usually a long-term strategy designed to tip the scales in your favor, using living organisms to keep weed populations at a “manageable level,” according to William Curran, Penn State emeritus weed scientist.

While biocontrol methods are common in rangelands and perennial systems, Curran notes they can require more effort to adopt in row-crop settings where tillage and rotations can disrupt the very organisms farmers are trying to put to work.

Curran says if you’re interested in using biocontrol measures as part of a comprehensive weed-control program, there are four primary categories to consider, including:

The Classical Approach: This involves introducing a specific natural enemy into a weed-infested area. The goal is for that organism to establish a permanent home, feeding on the target weeds year after year to naturally suppress their growth and seed development. An example of this would be the use of a Canada thistle rust pathogen .
The Augmentative or Inundative Method: Bio-herbicides are one example of inundative methods. The intent is to overwhelm the weed population quickly. This practice often requires multiple applications to be effective.
Conservation Management: Sometimes, the best helpers are already in your fields. By adjusting your cropping system to be more “predator-friendly,” you can boost the populations of native organisms, like ground beetles, that naturally snack on weed seeds.
Grazing: One of the oldest tools in the shed is still one of the most effective. Utilizing cattle, sheep, or goats to graze down weed-heavy areas can significantly reduce seed banks and keep invasive species in check.

For more information on biocontrol weed control practices, check out a newly updated webpage , authored by Curran and released by the GROW network.

Black Soldier Fly Bioreactors Turn Food Waste into Plant Protection and Farm Resources

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 19:41:00 GMT

What if food waste wasn’t something to get rid of but a resource waiting to be tapped? Researchers at University of California, Riverside are exploring whether a small, insect-powered system could help growers close the loop, turning everyday scraps into new biological tools that support healthier plants, stronger soils and more self-reliant farms.

Black soldier fly bioreactors are gaining attention as a promising way to turn waste into resources, creating feed for poultry and fish, while also producing frass that could help strengthen plant defenses. For specialty crop growers and urban farmers, the research carries particular relevance.

Professor Kerry Mauck has been studying how black soldier fly systems influence plants, and one of the most intriguing concepts is what she describes as a “vaccine-like” effect. Insects, fungi and other organisms that commonly interact with plants contain chitin, a structural polymer. When tiny fragments of chitin from the insects’ exoskeletons show up in soil, plants recognize the signal.

Mauck explains that the bits of chitin become “a molecular signature of something that the plant might want to ramp up its defenses to fight off.” Because frass contains both chitin and microbes that help break it down into smaller pieces, plants can respond as if they are preparing for attack, thus switching on natural defense systems before any threat arrives.

“It’s like activating those defenses without the attack that comes right after,” Mauck says. “If something else does come in, the plant is ready for it.”

Black soldier fly adults sunning themselves on the walls of the greenhouse housing the bioreactor.

(Photo courtesy of Mauck Lab BSF Team)

Built With Small and Specialty Growers in Mind

While large commercial systems exist, Mauck’s team intentionally designed a small, adaptable setup.

“Ours is one of the first that’s been tested and published that would operate on a small scale,” she says. The goal was to make it feasible for small and medium-sized farms and growers with limited space. The main requirement is an enclosed area with some temperature control — such as a greenhouse or a simple building with windows.

The footprint can be as modest as a single bin, roughly a meter and a half square, but growers can add additional bins in a row as their operation grows. Importantly, most of the materials are common agricultural supplies.

“The bins are like bins you might use to harvest fruit,” she says, noting buckets, shovels and hardware-store materials made up most of the system’s needs.

Urban farmers might find the flexibility attractive, although Mauck cautions that community gardens could face coordination challenges around who maintains the system week-to-week. In the university trial, undergraduate workers were able to keep the system running with about five to 10 hours per week of labor.

BSF larvae eating food waste from the UCR dining hall.

(Photo courtesy of Mauck Lab BSF Team)

Beyond Feed: Soil Biology and Plant Resilience

Beyond producing feed for poultry and fish, Mauck sees some of the greatest potential benefits happening underground.

The chitin and organic matter appear to encourage beneficial bacteria that help keep soil-borne pathogens in check.

“The other great thing about the materials that are in the frass … is that a lot of microbes that are beneficial, that can actually suppress diseases in the soil, thrive on these materials,” she says.

Her team is now exploring whether even small doses of frass could build healthier soil ecosystems while keeping application costs low.

“We’re trying to see what’s the smallest dose … that can still be effective,” Mauck says.

For specialty crop farms, the research suggests several takeaways:

Closed-loop opportunity: Waste streams can become feed and soil amendments instead of disposal costs
Plant-defense potential: Frass might “prime” crops to better respond to pests and disease
Scalable design: Systems can start small and expand
Labor remains a factor: Clear responsibilities and training are essential, especially in shared garden settings

As scientists learn more about how frass shapes soil biology and plant defenses, this insect-powered approach could become one of the simplest ways to close the loop on nutrients.

Planting Big Dreams: America’s Youngest Farmer Growing More Than Produce

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 19:01:54 GMT

At just 10 years old, Kendall Rae Johnson is the youngest certified farmer in the U.S., and her hard work has already earned her a full scholarship to South Carolina State University.

Johnson’s journey started in her family’s backyard in Georgia when her great-grandmother taught her to grow collard greens from clippings. That simple tradition sparked a love of farming that quickly grew into something bigger.

Johnson’s accomplishments grew quickly, and by the time she was 6, she was recognized as the youngest certified farmer in the U.S. At 9, she received a full-ride scholarship in agriculture from South Carolina State University — the youngest to receive this honor as well. She’s gone on speaking tours, written a book and is about to publish an accompanying workbook, launched a marinara sauce and plans to create a natural skincare line. Then in 2023, a Georgia resolution declared that March 23 would be recognized as Kendall Rae Johnson Day. All by the ripe old age of 10.

When asked how it felt to receive the news of the scholarship, Johnson says, “Well, I just felt happy and excited that someone believed in me enough to give me a full-ride scholarship to college at only 10 years old.”

As a USDA National Urban Agriculture Youth Ambassador, Johnson says she wants to share her experience to help other youth achieve their dreams.

“I want them to know they can dream big and with the right tools and support, we can make those dreams come true,” Johnson says.

Kendall Rae Johnson’s journey is proof that age isn’t a barrier in agriculture. With vision, passion and help from parents and community, you can plant seeds of change — and watch them bloom.

Your Next Read: How the Youngest Certified Farmer in the U.S. Earned Her Full Scholarship

New Tool Helps Farmers, Ranchers Identify Conservation Incentive Programs

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:49:38 GMT

Conservation incentive programs that fit your farm and specific agronomic practices and/or livestock are not always easy to identify and sign up for online.

But those hurdles could soon be problems in the past, thanks to a new online platform, the Conservation Connector, which was just launched this week by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC)

The new tool allows farmers, ranchers, and farm advisers to easily evaluate conservation incentive programs and connect with technical support at one online site, according to Ryan Heiniger, CTIC executive director.

As a fourth-generation farmer, Heiniger says he knows firsthand how challenging it can be to identify programs, companies and the individuals in charge of them who can provide more details in a phone call or an email.

“You might visit four or five government offices and a dozen websites, only to collect bits and pieces of information on those programs that would be a good fit for you. Our goal with the Conservation Connector is to bring all of that under one roof, so to speak, to help farmers, ranchers and advisers more easily find what is available in their area and fits with their needs,” Heiniger says.

The platform currently has around 500 programs and service providers in the Midwest that are participating, Heiniger says. He notes the tool is continually updated with the latest program offerings from trusted agencies, organizations and conservation partners. In addition, Connector.ag has no associated costs for farmers, ranchers and advisers to use.

“I want to underscore that it’s free for farmers; none of the information is behind any kind of paywall,” he says. “It’s also free for people who want to create a listing.”

The Conservation Connector is easy to navigate – it’s searchable by geography, commodity, incentive type, and/or management practice.

“We’ve made it easy for people who are on a specific mission to filter through,” Heiniger says. “You might be in New York looking for help with pasture renovation, and you don’t want or need to see what programs are available in Iowa. So, you can default right to New York. Or, you can default to a specific crop. The filters can help you ratchet down to the specific information you want to dive deeper into.”

Heiniger says the idea for Conservation Connector originated from Houston Engineering, the Nature Conservancy, and Open Team, and the CTIC invested the past 18 months in developing it.

CTIC invites farmers, ranchers, technical service providers, and conservation partners across the country to explore the platform at Connector.ag . You can provide feedback about your experience to help inform future iterations of the platform here .

Two Verdesian Products Receive Certifications

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:00:42 GMT

Verdesian announces two of its products have received industry certifications.

One of the newer designations for the crop input industry, last year The Fertilizer Institute announced its Certified Biostimulant label to confirm how products meet guidelines for efficacy, composition and safe use. Only a handful of products have received the certification, and the latest is Verdesian Primary ALPHA.

Primary ALPHA is a phosphite-free nitrogen management biostimulant with a proprietary blend of nitrogen, potassium, sulfur, boron, manganese and zinc co-developed with Los Alamos National Laboratory and UC Riverside. It’s designed for us in cereals, pulses, vegetables, grapes and tree nuts as a foliar or soil-applied product.

“This certification is a powerful endorsement of the science behind Primacy ALPHA,” said Amber Harrison, Product Marketing Manager at Verdesian Life Sciences, in the news announcement. “It reflects our commitment to proven, sustainable technologies that help crops thrive—especially under stress.”

Crop+ Organic received OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) certification. Crop+ Organic is a foliar biostimulant to plants tolerate abiotic stress such as drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures. Field trials have shown a 11% performance increase when Crop+ is used due to increased growth, enhanced nutrient uptake, and stronger root development.

“Organic growers need tools they can trust, not just for certification, but for performance in the field,” said Harrison, in the news announcement. “This certification is a major step forward in expanding Crop+ Organic’s reach and impact across organic systems.”

Specialty Grains Might Boost Profits

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 13:33:54 GMT

There are two ways to boost your profit margin during farming’s inevitable cycles of low prices, says Farm Journal field agronomist Ken Ferrie: You can cut costs or raise your selling price.

Surveying his clients, Ferrie compiled a list of ways farmers have increased their profit margin, and gleaned tips to help those practices succeed.

“Through thinking outside the box, growers have found specialty crops that net higher prices than conventional corn and soybeans,” he says.

Possibilities include popcorn; non-GMO corn and soybeans; seed corn and soybeans; food-grade corn and soybeans; and organic crops.

Seed Production Benefits

“Contracts are harder to get for corn than soybeans,” Ferrie says. “But if you can get one, producing seed corn boosts profit several ways: You probably will net more per acre (based on a formula), and there is no cost for seed, drying or harvesting. You’ll have a better chance to get, and keep, a seed corn contract if you have irrigation.”

On the downside, field passes — planting the male and female rows and detasseling — must be made on schedule and not necessarily when soil conditions are ideal.

“That means you’ll have compaction to deal with,” Ferrie says. “You must maintain pollination buffers around the field edges, and you might have more weed pressure because more sunlight reaches the soil surface with short detasseled plants. All that said, I don’t recall anyone I know giving up a seed corn contract once they get one.”

“I don’t recall anyone I know giving up a seed corn contract once they get one.” ~Ken Ferrie

Seed soybeans can net a premium of up to 70¢ per bushel for the crop, 30¢ to 50¢ per bushel for quality premiums and 15¢ per bushel for storage, Ferrie says. Non-GMO seed bean contract premiums can hit $2.50 per bushel.

Seed companies need growers who do a good job of cleaning combines, carts and augers to prevent contamination of the seed crop and store their crop and deliver it when needed.

“When companies decrease acres because of an overabundance of seed, they tend to hang onto their best growers and those with irrigated acres,” Ferrie says.

Non-GMO Crop Premiums

Non-GMO conventional corn nets a premium of 20¢ to 35¢ per bushel, Ferrie reports. Non-GMO white waxy corn brings 40¢ to $1 per bushel more than genetically modified varieties. On top of that, you’ll save $30 to $40 per acre on seed by not buying the GMO insecticide trait, and if you don’t have a rootworm problem, you might not need an insecticide.

“Fall-delivery corn contracts are rare, so you need storage,” Ferrie says. “Most growers work with a merchandiser, who contracts with farmers and grain buyers. When a barge arrives for corn, the merchandiser notifies his growers their time frame to deliver their grain.”

Non-GMO soybeans net premiums of $1.85 to $2.50 per bushel, Ferrie says. Seed cost runs about 20% less than conventional soybeans.

Without GMO traits, weed control late in the season might be a challenge because of limited herbicide options. “It might help to narrow rows and push populations,” Ferrie says.

Think twice about planting non-GMO beans behind a GMO variety, though.

“If volunteer GMO beans emerge in the growing non-GMO crop, there’s no way to kill them, and they’ll contaminate your sample,” Ferrie says.

The non-GMO soybeans you deliver must be 99.5% pure.

“It’s a good idea to test your seed for purity and save a sample,” Ferrie says. “As with seed soybeans, equipment must be thoroughly cleaned.”

Time to Go Organic?

Organic soybeans sell for $18 to $20 per bushel, and corn for $6 to $9.

“The drawback is that it takes three years to become organically certified,” Ferrie says. “You’re likely to see reduced return on investment during that period.

“With tight margins, it might not be a good time to work on getting certified. However, if you’re already established in organic farming and have the know-how, equipment and a market, expanding organic acres might be an option.

“If you decide to enter organics, start small and find a successful local organic grower who’s willing to serve as a mentor,” Ferrie adds.

Wanted: On-Time Delivery

With specialty varieties, seed soybeans and non-GMO grain, reliable delivery to a terminal is vital, emphasizes Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist. “That means despite winter weather or during planting season, so your bins must be located on roads that won’t be posted with seasonal weight limits,” he says.

“One grower I know got his non-GMO white waxy corn contract doubled just by proving he could deliver grain right after a blizzard, when no one else could get to the terminal in the allotted time,” Ferrie adds.

Your Next Read: Illinois Farmer Says EPA’s New Herbicide Strategy Is A Course Change But Doable

Shockingly Cool: This Startup Makes Fertilizer From Electricity

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 22:42:42 GMT

If you happen to pop into a Chipotle in California’s Central Valley, there’s an off chance you’ve consumed something downright futuristic: produce grown with fertilizers derived entirely from electricity, water, and air.

Nitricity, a climate-smart fertilizer startup founded by Stanford PhDs and postdocs, is proving its environmentally friendly concept with every scoop of lettuce or side of spicy red salsa. And there’s even bigger plans for 2024.

Its liquid fertilizer blends – sustainably produced via an ingenious process CTO and co-founder Dr. Joshua McEnaney likens to catching lighting in a bottle – are slated for trialing this spring with ag food giant, Olam (OFI). And Chipotle just dropped an investment into Nitricity at the end of 2023.

“We use a plasma-based process that splits nitrogen molecules from air, reacts the nitrogen with oxygen, and forms nitrate fertilizers in water,” he explains. “We capture that fixed nitrogen in an irrigable aqueous form, and we can make many kinds of nitrate-based fertilizers.”

For those thinking to themselves, ‘Wait, what did I just read?’ the same basic process occurs in nature during a lightning storm. These storms produce 1% of total nitrogen fertilizers globally, but they are just not efficient or predictable enough to rely on. Nitricity is taking that process into a controlled environment and ramping up the production.

“At the core (of our process) we make green nitric acid and can neutralize that with minerals to produce calcium nitrate or potassium nitrate fertilizers,” McEnaney says, noting Nitricity accomplishes this without requiring ammonia from fossil fuels.

Chipotle and Olam are on-board for 2024, and academics seem to be too. Studies commissioned by the California Air Resources Board and World Bank, among others, show that the nitrate fertilizers Nitricity makes can reduce nitrous oxide application emissions by 2-10x, depending on soil conditions and application rates. Third party studies have also shown similar results, according to McEnaney.

The next steps are clear. Setting up regional facilities for large-scale production and focusing on low-cost production so its blends can level up and be cost-competitive with conventional fertilizer.

“We’re looking at (producing) some fertilizers that are on the shelf but can now be sustainably made, and some that no one has ever seen yet, but it’s really about fitting into several different fertilizer categories that farmers are asking for,” McEnany says. “The biggest thing on our mind is scaling up.”

Nitricity recently relocated to a facility in Fremont, CA, for just that purpose. The concept that started with a focus on producing on-demand at the edge of the field in portable modular units has evolved into a Hub and Spoke distribution system.

“We’re not quite there yet,” McEnany allows, adding farmers in the American Southwest and West who use nitrate-based fertilizers for specialty crops are the initial product-market focus, for now. Eventually, the group does hope to have a product that will resonate with Midwest row crop growers (and the ag retail channel) that primarily use Ammonia, Urea, or Urea Ammonium Nitrate.

“For me, I was mostly attracted to the climate aspect, and then I just grew to love working with farmers,” McEnany says when asked what drew him to the project. “Our green nitrates have inherently lower field emissions than other fertilizers in many soil conditions – this could have an immense impact on climate change.”

You can learn more about Nitricity at its website.

The Race for Organic

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 20:58:25 GMT

Once a small piece of the food pie, organic foods are going mainstream and jumping into more row crop fields. Organic products are now available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and nearly 3 out of 4 conventional grocery stores, according to USDA.

From 2008 to 2019, harvested acreage of organic corn increased 124% while acreage for organic soybeans rose 73%, according to USDA. Despite the upward trend, the organic share of total domestic corn and soybean acreage accounted for less than 1% of total harvested acres for each crop in 2019.

Growth Potential

This growth is not surprising to David Ross, sales and operations manager for Great Harvest Organics, a division of Beck’s Hybrids. He has seen demand for organic corn and soybean seed grow as farmers look to diversify their row crop lineup or reduce their use of synthetic chemicals or fertilizers.

In addition, he says, organic crops offer price premiums.

“Organic corn sells for around $10 a bushel, while soybeans are just over $30 a bushel,” Ross says. “Many people forget buyers are willing to pay 2.3 times more because it’s 2.3 more risky to produce organic crops.”

Weeds and fertility are the two biggest challenges for organic crop production, Ross says. Tillage and cover crops are viable tools in sup- pressing weeds, he says. For fertility, the growers he works with tend to use poultry or hog manure.

“Organic farming offers a steep learning curve and a 36-month transition period from conventional agriculture to certified organic,” Ross says. “But the future looks bright for this segment.”

Total U.S. Organic Corn Acres by State

U.S. organic corn harvested acres will reach 455,000 in 2021/22, up 4% from the previous year, according to Mercaris, a data service company. Organic soybean harvested acres will reach 252,000 in 2021/22, which is up 10% from the previous year.

For more on the growing trend, listen here:

Biostimulant Use gains Traction on U.S. Crop Ground, Report Says

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 19:13:24 GMT

Biostimulant use continues to gain acceptance in North America, including with U.S. farmers, thanks to a favorable regulatory picture and increased consumer demand for organic produce, according to a new report from Global Market Insights (GMI), Inc.

The company says the North America biostimulants market is likely to surpass $1.2 billion by 2026 and $5 billion globally by that same year. The North America market was valued at $0.68 billion in 2018.

Biostimulants have the ability to increase germination, improve nutrient uptake, enhance nutrient-use efficiency and increase tolerance to and recovery from abiotic stresses (salt, water, heat and heavy metals), according to the Biological Products Industry Alliance (BPIA).

Fred Below, University of Illinois plant physiologist, adds that biostimulants and other biological products are not cure-alls for various agronomic problems – insects, disease, inclement weather and weeds – that can affect row crops, vegetables and fruits.

“They (Biologicals) are here to stay and are going to be key management practices in our quest for high yields, but you better understand how they work and what they do, if you’ll have any clue of how to best use them,” Below says.

Earlier this year, The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and the Biostimulant Coalition formed the Biostimulant Council to address the emerging industry by providing a regulatory framework to increase farmers’ access to biostimulants and to also encourage research and innovation.

“Biostimulants are an important and growing area of crop nutrition,” TFI President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch said in a news release. “The Biostimulant Coalition has achieved great success as the voice of an emerging industry, and we are excited about the potential to achieve even more with the additional resources of TFI fully behind the effort.”

The Biological Products Industry Alliance lists biostimulants as one of three broad biological categories, which also includes biopesticides and biofertilizers. Keith Jones, BPIA executive director recently told Farm Journal editors he estimates 200 manufacturers currently market biostimulants in the U.S.

Biologicals and the Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World

Bigger Future For Biologicals

Biological Tackles Soybeans’ No. 1 Pathogen

The Biologicals Race is On

North American Farmers Profit as Consumers Pressure Food Business to Go Green

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 17:56:41 GMT

Beer made from rice grown with less water, rye planted in the off-season and the sale of carbon credits to tech firms are just a few of the changes North American farmers are making as the food industry strives to go green.

The changes are enabling some farmers to earn extra money from industry giants like Cargill, Nutrien and Anheuser-Busch. Consumers are pressuring food producers to support farms that use less water and fertilizer, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and use more natural techniques to maintain soil quality.

Investments in sustainability remain a tiny part of the overall spending of the agriculture sector, which enjoyed healthy profits in 2020. They may help to head off more costly regulations down the road now that Democratic climate advocate Joe Biden has been elected U.S. President.

Some companies, like farm retailer and fertilizer producer Nutrien, are also opening new revenue potential for farmers by monetizing the carbon their fields soak up. The companies say technology is improving measurement and tracking of carbon capture, although some environmental activists question the benefit of such programs and how sequestered greenhouse gas volumes can be verified.

Sustainable techniques farmers are adopting include refraining from tilling soil at times to preserve carbon. Some are adding an off-season cover crop of rye or grass to restore soil nutrients instead of applying heavy fertilizer loads over the winter that can contaminate local water supplies.

A study conducted by agriculture technology company Indigo Ag estimated that if U.S. corn, soy and wheat farmers employed no-till and cover crops on 15% of fields, they would generate an additional $600 million by reducing costs, bolstering soil productivity or selling carbon credits.

Indigo has a partnership with brewer Anheuser-Busch Inbev NV, which plans to buy 2.6 million bushels of rice this year grown with less water and nitrogen fertilizer than conventional rice. Anheuser-Busch said that is up from 2.2 million bushels last year and accounts for 10% of its U.S. rice supplies.

Bill Jones, the brewer’s manager of raw materials, said farmers voluntarily growing rice with a lower environmental impact along the sensitive Mississippi River would be less disruptive to supplies than having local authorities require such practices by legislating changes to water and nitrogen use.

“We look at supply chain security. I see this gaining traction,” he said, noting that Minnesota and other U.S. states and conservation districts worried about polluting the Mississippi are already introducing limits on how much manure farmers can spread on fields. Arkansas farmer Carson Stewart used the program for the first time this year, earmarking his entire 340-acre rice crop to Anheuser-Busch. Depending on milling quality, his rice may earn up to $1.50 a bushel more than conventional rice, a premium of about 27%, he said.

10 MILLION ACRE SHIFT

While companies expect Washington and Ottawa to grow more committed to funding and regulating sustainable farming, industry sources and activists said widespread adoption remains far off.

“They come with high up-front costs,” said Giana Amador, managing director at climate-focused NGO Carbon180. “We’re seeing a huge differentiation in quality among all these corporate commitments. “In September, privately held Cargill Inc said it would help North American farmers shift 10 million acres to regenerative practices during the next 10 years by offering them financial support and training.

Pushed by demand for greener foods from food companies that buy its products, Cargill has already signed up 750 farmers to green programs, representing 300,000 acres, said Ryan Sirolli, Cargill’s director of row crop sustainability. With projects like one that pays Iowa farmers to leave soils untilled or to create field buffers to prevent fertilizer runoff, Cargill hopes to cut 30% of its supply chain greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.

“We’ve done a lot to stop soil erosion. And we’ve had a reduction of 538 tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of taking 104 passenger cars off the road,” said Iowa farmer Lance Lillibridge, who estimates he will earn about $37 an acre in a Cargill pilot project this year.

Environmental groups and consumer activists are skeptical about such corporate sustainability pledges, noting that Cargill has not made good on its promise to eliminate deforestation from supply chains by 2020.

As more premium-paying buyers emerge, more farmers will be enticed into sustainable growing, said Devin Lammers, CEO of Gradable. The unit of input dealer Farmers Business Network matches farmers using sustainable practices with buyers such as Unilever, Tyson Foods and ethanol producer POET.

CARBON CREDITS

Some farmers are making money by verifying the amount of climate-warming emissions their fields soak up and selling carbon credits to polluting companies seeking to reduce their net emissions. Agribusiness companies call that a double win for farmers as their fields become healthier and they earn extra cash.

This week, Saskatchewan-based Nutrien said it was launching a sustainable agriculture program on 100,000 acres in the United States and Canada, with expansion planned later in South America and Australia.

Nutrien Chief Executive Chuck Magro estimated that farmers will earn an additional $50 per acre in profits under the program, $20 per acre for carbon credits and $30 per acre worth of higher crop yields.

The announcement followed Nutrien’s 2018 purchase of digital farming company Agrible, which helps farmers log reduced emissions and water use. Magro said in an interview that the aim is to enable farmers to use that data to sell carbon credits. He noted that previous efforts produced meagre returns that were not worth the effort for farmers who had to wade through hundreds of pages of documents.

Agriculture accounts for 3% of the global carbon credit market, but that looks to grow to 30% by 2050, Magro said. “We see carbon being the next big agricultural revolution,” he said.

Matt Coutts, chief investment officer of 100,000-acre Coutts Agro in Saskatchewan, plans to sell carbon credits through Nutrien for up to 10,000 acres per year of canola, lentils and spring wheat. He expects that they could eventually generate at least C$75,000 in annual additional revenue. Ohio-based start-up Locus Agricultural Solutions helped Iowa farmer Kelly Garrett create 22,400 tonnes in carbon credits by verifying his fields locked in about 1.4 tonnes per acre from 2015 to 2019. Garrett received a check for 5,000 of those credits in November, after e-commerce platform Shopify bought them on the carbon trading marketplace Nori for $75,000.

“The ability to sell our carbon credits through the Nori system and help the rest of the world be more green is a wonderful benefit to our economy and our finances,” Garrett said.

Still, Nori noted that Microsoft Corp passed on a deal to buy most of Garrett’s remaining credits because they were not verified by on-farm soil tests. Nori deems individual soil tests too costly, and instead verifies its credits based on soil type, crops planted and other data, said Alexsandra Guerra, the company’s director of corporate development.

Microsoft declined to comment. Few North American farmers have gone through the vetting process Garrett underwent, which also limits supplies of the high-quality carbon credits that some buyers seek.Some critics say carbon saved from no-till farming can easily escape if the soil is tilled again. “Statements that soils can sequester all of our emissions and more are overstated. There’s no way we could make that shift fast enough to address the climate crisis,” said Tara Ritter, senior program associate with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

PAYING UP FRONT

Despite those doubts, food companies are banking more on carbon capture and regenerative agriculture. General Mills offers farmers technical advice while other companies pay growers up front to adopt greener practices. PepsiCo, maker of Quaker Oats and Frito-Lay chips, pays farmers $10 an acre to plant cover crops over winter, which can reduce erosion and control weeds and insects.

This helps PepsiCo meet its sustainability targets and secure its food supply, said director of sustainable agriculture Margaret Henry. PepsiCo subsidized cover crops such as rye and radish last year across 50,000 Midwest acres and plans to grow the program further.

Henry pointed to an added benefit: Cover crops soak up excess moisture, making many fields ready for spring planting two weeks earlier than fields that lay fallow. “We want this to be a win win for the long term,” she said.

(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Caroline Stauffer)

Harvest 2019: How are Organic Crops?

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 19:04:32 GMT

Wet spring weather conditions wreaked havoc on not only traditional corn and soybean acres, but their organic counterparts as well. Mercaris, a data and trading platform for organic and non-GMO markets, is tracking a significant drop in overall corn and soybean organic production.

Compared to 2018, Mercaris forecasts a 12% decline in organic corn production and a 14% decline in organic soybean production related to spring weather challenges.

“The production outlook for many key organic crops is expected to be down for 2019/20 following challenging growing conditions,” said Ryan Koory, Mercaris director of economics in a recent press release . “The industry appears set to see imports escalate over the coming year as organic grain purchases look to offset reduce domestic production.”

The Corn Belt shows the greatest yield declines in wheat at 19%. However, the High Plains and West regions showed impressive yield gains to bring U.S. organic wheat production up 7% overall.

Organic livestock production is predicted to slow down, but still increase 1% overall compared to 2018. Imports will help meet the need for the gap between domestic organic feed demand and 2019 corn and soybean production.

Because organic demand for feed and consumer products is on the rise, imports will be critical. Stay tuned for more production updates for both conventional and organic crops and livestock at Agweb.com.

Read more about organic production here:

Transition to Organic Sustains Family Farm

Organic Versus Conventional--Can’t Everyone Just Get Along?

U.S. Farmers Add 460 New Certified Organic Farms

Who Buys Organic Food?

Drink a Beer, Save a Farmer? It’s Not Quite That Simple

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:22:50 GMT

A few months ago when finishing up my clothing purchase at Eddie Bauer the clerk casually popped a question on me. “Would you like to add a dollar today to plant a tree?”

Well, I couldn’t say no. I mean I’m shopping in a store founded by a guy whose name is synonymous with the great outdoors. What would the great outdoors be without trees? The sarcastic answer to that is of course — a desert. Needless to say I happily donated my dollar and saved the world for another day.

But my saving the world did not end there. This past Christmas season I decided I wanted to do customized greeting cards to send to friends and family. So I got online and found a company called Paper Culture who had some really cool designs — and you guessed it — planted a tree in your name for every purchase you made. Who can argue with the spirit of giving — especially during the holidays?

We all know what this is about. It’s about the environment. It’s about clean air and water. And yes it’s about saving the planet for another day and another generation. I mean what kind of person are you if you can’t get behind something like that? And if you want to boil down to a single buzzword it’s all about — sustainability.

But what I find interesting is that in this “age of sustainability” is it seems to be much easier to save a forest than to save a farmer.

That revelation or reiteration came to me while watching this year’s Super Bowl. As you know with any Super Bowl you have tons of high-priced commercials first and then there is a football game woven in there somewhere. Every year — at least lately — there seems to be one about farmers or one that affects farmers. A few years ago we had the nostalgic Ram Truck commercial overlaid with Paul Harvey’s iconic “So God Made a Farmer”. Last year you had Budweiser’s ill-advised medieval Bud Light ad attacking corn syrup. That led to a social media rebellion by modern day farmers and the ag industry.

So this year in what almost seemed like an attempt to make amends Anheuser Busch rolled out another “farmer” beer commercial. This time it introduced their Michelob Ultra Pure Gold organic beer. This was “beer in its organic form” the high-priced celebrity voice told us. But the hype didn’t stop there. The rest of the message was that if you drank a 6-pack of this beer you would be saving a farmer — or at least their farm — 6 square feet at a time. The intent was simple. Help farmers transition to organic practices — a perceived better way of farming — by drinking our “organic” beer.

Nothing wrong with that message. And nothing against Anheuser Busch. But as a farmer sitting there dipping my Doritos chip into my bowlful of salsa I started doing the math. There are 43,560 square feet in a square acre of land. Michelob will have to sell 7,260 packs of beer to pay for the transition of just one acre of land to organic. This is going to be a very long row to hoe if this is how Anheuser Busch is going to meet its certain sustainability goals by 2025.

This is the point. How long until these multi-national, multi-billion dollar consumer product goods companies come to the realization that you cannot simply market your way to sustainability?Possibly the bigger question is how long the public — especially members of the Millennial and Gen Z generations — demand more than just the marketing Wizards of Oz behind the curtain tugging on our emotional heartstrings serve up?

The uncomfortable reality of all this is the fact that if you ask a farmer or better yet a consumer what the definition of sustainable is you’d get about 15 zillion different answers. The other important point to make here is farming organically and farming sustainably are two totally different things. Anheuser Busch’s Super Bowl ad only served to blur those lines in the minds of the consumer. So that’s where we are at today — a place where sustainability is defined more by emotions than real data, real science and real actions and yes I’m going to say it — common sense.

It is past time that food companies and the farmers who grow the food come together and truly define what sustainability really means. Both parties need to come together and lock themselves in the same room and figure it out. And make sure you leave the marketing people outside the room. It will mean having real metrics that are measurable with real data of what actually happened in the fields. Only with real actions, real numbers at the boots on the ground level that the public can trust will we have viable markets that will reward farmers for “doing the right thing” in the eyes of the consumer. Transitioning to sustainability has a cost so if that’s what the public demands they must be willing to pay for it and that has to reach all the way down to the individual farmer willing to make that change.

If we can do it for forests, let’s figure out how to do it for farmers before its too late.

Cubbage: Can Trust Be Ensured By Technology?

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:19:56 GMT

The simple reality is that the food business is subject to fraud, greed, corruption and exploitation just like any other business on the planet—agriculture or nonagriculture alike.

The unfortunate series of events dubbed “Field of Schemes” revealed that more than $142 million in sold grain was marketed as organic, but most was not indeed organic. It’s one example that exposed the fact that the marketing side of the current healthy and natural kick far outpaces the logistical, legal and regulatory aspects that are clearly not fully baked.

Right now in the U.S., consumers place their trust in more than 80 groups that are in the business of selling “stickers” that their clients—people who pay them and keep them in business—use on their products’ labels. The consumer, especially after this incident, has the right to demand proof that ingredients are truly what they say they are, and they should have the right to know where ingredients originated.

And the farmer is missing an opportunity, too. If a product such as organic grain can be sold at a premi-um, then shouldn’t it have to be proven?

Just having a non-GMO label on the side of a Cheerios box is no longer good enough. It probably never was.

The incident referenced earlier had eight years of data probed. More than 11 million bushels of grain were sold in that period, and 90% was falsely marketed as organic. That’s enough to fill 3,600 rail cars or 14,375 semitrailers.

This whole incident and probably hundreds and maybe thousands of others like it scream for the industry to demand and put into practice the technology that exists today to digitally track ingredients from each individual field, from each individual farmer, from each individual bin, to each individual truck until it is delivered directly to the processor.

All these words that we love to throw about—traceability; sustainability; and, yes, blockchain—apply here big time. It is time to stop talking and time to start doing. Otherwise, somebody from outside the industry will make the rules and most likely make it harder for the industry to pursue this growth area of business.

During the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan was in talks with the Soviet Union about limiting and dismantling nuclear warheads pointed at other countries, he would use the phrase “trust but verify.” Here, we’re not talking nuclear armageddon, but the meaning of those words fits so well.

We need a system that we can trust—one that doesn’t just slap a cheap “sticker” on the side of a box of food. No, one that earns trust by transparently putting the digital tools and processes in place to monitor the supply chain. Those practices give true meaning to what that sticker should represent. It is way past time.

Another Farmer Pleads Guilty in $142 Million Organic Grain Fraud

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:16:09 GMT

A farmer in Missouri is the fifth person to plead guilty in a case that involves fraudulent marketing of organic grain that netted at least $142 million in sales.

According to a press release from the U.S. Justice Department , John Burton, age 52, from Clarksdale, Missouri, entered his plea on May 10 at a federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Burton was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted that in the conspiracy grain was grown on non-organic fields, then marketed and sold as organic while unapproved substances were used on fields certified as organic.

The guilty plea is part of a wider case involving a brokerage company owned and operated by Randy Constant in Ossian, Iowa, known as Jericho Solutions. Constant, age 61, from Chillicothe, Missouri, had pled guilty on December 20, 2018, to being involved in the organic grain fraud scheme. At least $142 million worth of grain sales were made with majority of sales being fraudulent, and they had been made through Jericho Solutions. As part of Constant’s plea he agreed to forfeit $128,190,128 in proceeds from the fraudulent scheme.

Three other farmers – Tom Brennan, age 70; James Brennan, age 40; and Mike Potter, age 41 – all from Overton, Nebraska, all pled guilty to selling fraudulently marketed organic grain in the scheme . The trio of Nebraska farmers entered their pleas October 12, 2018. During each of their respective hearings, the men all admitted to growing non-organic grain from 2010 to 2017. They admitted to knowing it was being marketed and sold as organic despite being grown using non-organic practices. The three Nebraska farmers are alleged to have received more than $2.5 million each for grain marketed as organic.

Sentencing is scheduled on August 16, 2019, for Randy Constant, Tom Brennan, James Brennan, and Mike Potter. They will appear before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams at the United States Courthouse in Cedar Rapids. All four face a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, at least a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

Sentencing will be scheduled for Burton after a presentence report is prepared. Burton is currently free on bond. Burton could face a maximum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment, a fine of at least $250,000, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jake Schunk and Anthony Morfitt and investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

For more on this case read the following stories from AgWeb: