The Sustainable Food Lab’s winter newsletter this year highlights some programs that will lead the agricultural industry in developing new sustainable systems to feed the world and make fundamental changes to the way the world grows its food:
1. Cocoa and Coffee Companies Plan for Climate Change
Food companies need to understand their supply chains: where their food is coming from, and how it’s grown. However, it’s imperative that food companies also understand all the latest research, predicting the patterns of water, disease and weather. The Sustainable Food Lab, Rainforest Alliance, Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security, and Root Capital are working on a project, called Mainstreaming Climate Smart Value Chains, to make sure that coffee and cocoa companies get the information they need to start making smart decisions about the future.
2. US Food Companies Work Together to Grow Organic Grain
Lately, organic food companies have noticed that the demand for organic grain is growing. Even though demand is high, production has not increased along with it. Many companies, including Clif Bar, Annie’s, and Organic Valley got together and found that many farmers simply were not aware how badly their grain was needed. The collaboration also found that many farmers need technical assistance with the crop rotations important to sustainable farming; in response, the companies proposed the state legislature to provide experts to help these farmers.
3. Rehabilitating the Amazon
Many problems related to climate change are too big for one person to make much of a difference since the problem stems from thousands and millions of people making a series of small, bad choices on a day-to-day basis. In Brazil, deforestation is finally on the decline, thanks to a huge collaborative effort. Public campaigns eventually convinced Brazilian companies to declare a moratorium on soybeans grown on deforested land. The government restricted access to areas with high deforestation and expanded protected areas. Beef processing companies, pressured by Greenpeace, created a Cattle Agreement excluding those who used deforested land to graze their cows.
Keep an eye on these projects to see how they make fundamental changes to the world in the years ahead!
More effective one for agriculture improvement. Great
Anacra, Bizbilla