Regeneration Newsroom – May 2019

Existing and potential forests on planet earth – Image from Tom Crowther, ETH Zurich.

Curated top stories in Regenerative Agriculture, Business, and Investing • ethansoloviev.com

Regenerative Alcohol, Carbon Negative Beef, and 1 trillion trees …

Want to hear the audio highlights of this month’s news? Listen to the Regeneration Newsroom Podcast, a joint venture with Investing in Regenerative Agriculture. Link

Regenerative Agriculture

“Are we entering a new era of regeneration?” Not fast enough. Link

Interesting place for Regen Ag to show up: Chemical & Engineering News. Mostly the article touts standard conservation and sustainability approaches, but it does have a nice little chart of different corporate strategies – similar to the “Regenerative Agriculture Industry Map” that I am building. Link

Source: Chemical & Engineering News

$9 billlion Alcohol company touts “regenerative agriculture”, but makes no public commitment to get started until 2025. Pernod Ricard, owner of over 50 brands (including Absolut, Jameson, Chivas Regal, Malibu, Kahlúa, and Beefeater) is aligning their sustainability goals with the UN SDGs. While I have a hard time believing they’ll make it anywhere close to net-positive if all impacts are taken into account, it will be interesting to see what they can push forward in agriculture. Link and Link

New York Times – Wine, Carbon Sequestration, and Regenerative Agriculture – Link

See also ‘The Porto Protocol’, a collaborative including Toyota, Marks & Spencer, PwC, and 100+ others in the wine industry who are working on climate change – Link

Carbon-negative beef – This Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) by respected international firm Quantis shows that holistically managed grass-fed beef production can capture more carbon than it emits. Note that General Mills funded this study — we’re beginning to see real ripples of their investments in the field. Link

Bloomberg – On the other hand, “Most grass-fed beef labeled ‘product of U.S.A.’ is imported” – a fascinating article focusing on chicken giant Perdue and it’s ongoing acquisition of higher-end meat producers: Coleman Natural Foods (2011), Niman Ranch (2015), and now Panorama Meats (2019), America’s largest producer of grass-fed, certified organic beef. Link

Fewer than 1 in 4 have heard of regenerative agriculture, says a new consumer survey of 1,000 people in the US. The actual number is 22% – which to me sounds shockingly high! Perhaps more interesting is that 55% of those surveyed have not heard of it, but want to learn more. Link

Regeneration Newsroom IFIC Regenerative Agriculture Survey May 2019

GreenBiz – “The fight to define regenerative agriculture” – So far, thankfully, it’s not a fight. This article does a decent job juxtaposing Process vs. Outcome-based standards. I also think it’s fascinating that Rodale Institute is quoted saying, “A lot of people are using the word regenerative… It’s the new buzzword. There is a danger of it getting greenwashed.”  Link

Fashionista – “The Next Wave of Sustainable Fashion is All About Regenerative Farming.” Good overview article with a balanced appraoch that covers most of what’s happening at the regen ag / fashion nexus. Link

El Pais – Great long-form article on regenerative agriculture and land restoration in Spain, combining philanthropic and investment capital to kick-start ecological entrepreneurship across more than 1 million hectares. Link

CNN – “The most effective way to tackle climate change? Plant 1 trillion trees” – Link

Two important and substantive articles on the edge between Regenerative Agriculture and Government Legislation:

  • Salon – Carbon Farming taking root in NY – Link
  • “A Green New Deal must Prioritize Regenerative Agriculture”. This article is fascinating because it shows a very different trend from the middle-America Soil Profits approach… Link
    • “But the fact that farming has become a major source of emissions actually belies an important truth that sets agriculture apart from every other major economic sector: It has the natural potential to become a massive carbon sink, rather than a carbon emitter.”

Plus, businesses worth $2.5 trillion with 750,00 employees are advocating for a price on carbon: Link

Podcasts

FoodTank – General Mills’ Carla Vernon on Regenerative Agriculture. Expect more media and coverage as the $15 billion CPG giant continues its push into the space. Link

Great podcast on the Bioregional Agroforestry Suitability Analysis (BRASA), a new offering from Terra Genesis International – Link

From the Carbon Removal Newsroom at Nori, “General Mills issues grant for regenerative agriculture training”- Link

A Geological Perspective On Regenerative Agriculture with David Montgomery, interviewed by John Kempf – Link

Agroforestry

“The ultimate agricultural practice” – I’ve heard great things about this year’s World Agroforestry Conference – here’s a sweet Q&A with the event organizers Link

1100 Hectare farm & “Regeneration Academy” in southern Spain, following the principles of Commonland. Looks like they’re just getting started, but someone’s got to be managing those 300 hectares of Almonds… Link

ICYMI – India’s President announces a National Agroforestry Policy – even though this is 5 years ago, don’t you think it’s a good time for other countries to follow suit?  Link

Special Section – Global Agribusiness & Land

This comes from a more activist angle than I usually cover, but the issues of land rights and global land grabbing are important to track. This article is a summary of the new Report from the Oakland Institute. Link

From Brazil, where Amazon deforestation is being enabled by the new government. I found the ‘commodities’ section of this report illuminating — How many of these ingredients do you eat? How many are in your company’s supply system?  Link

Jobs & Events

Job – Senior Colleague @ Systemiq – Regenerative Agriculture & Nature-Based Carbon Solutions – Link

If you want  a job in regenerative agriculture, you’ll need to learn the keys of integrative design. Probably the best way to do it is through the top-notch firm Regrarians, who are now offering  a new set of hybrid in-person and online courses around the world – not to be missed. Link

Save-the-dates for 2019:

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