Depending on where you are, agriculture today is based mainly on simplified rotations such as the corn/soybean system in the Midwest. Planting cover crops is a great first step, but to reach ambitious goals for GHG emissions reduction and regenerative / soil building acres, farming systems and livestock feed need to include more diverse crops.…
The stakes are rising because systemic risks have huge financial consequences by Hal Hamilton I’ll use ocean fisheries as a quick example of the scope of sustainability strategy. Imagine that you and I each own fishing boats. Over the past few decades, we have evolved a system to regulate one another, and our…
Check out this video featuring Kellogg’s work on Cool Soil Initiative in Australia. The Cool Soil Initiative was launched in 2017 under the leadership of Mars Petcare and in 2020, expanded to include major food manufacturers in Australia including Kelloggs, Manildra Group, Allied Pinnacle, as well as the Food Agility CRC and leading researchers at…
Photo shows Steve Swaffar, Executive Director of No-till on the Plains (left) with Jim Johnson, Agronomist at Noble Research Institute (right) examining soil. Steve is an active SHLL member, passionate about his work, attending every meeting, sharing his experiences openly and providing thoughtful questioning and feedback to his peers. No-till on the Plains is a…
By Hal Hamilton The Sustainable Food Lab has two objectives: 1) deliver impacts in the ways that supply chains affect people and nature, and 2) increase the capabilities of “system leaders” who make those impacts happen. Desirable impacts on farming systems—ecological and social—require shifts in the enabling conditions for farmer and business decisions, and those…
A key piece of shifting complex farming systems are leaders that can build broad support among coworkers, colleagues, farmers, business leaders, consumers and institutions with decision making power. Through our work in cropping systems in the US, we have been learning about the many different places these leaders can emerge. Dr. Andrea Basche is a…
Andre Eitner has been part of the Food Lab family for over decade, including as a participant in our Impact Lab and learning journeys. We decided to (virtually) sit down with him and dig into what he’s learned about effective systems leadership and what it means in his work. In his current position, Andre is…
Hal Hamilton and Elizabeth Reaves In late 2020, one of our colleagues, who is responsible for the greenhouse gas commitments of a large food company, asked us to help quantify costs and GHG impacts of work with farmers in their supply chain. The company was having some difficulty justifying projects in crop agriculture because of…
The Food Lab, together with over 25 soil health specialists from across the U.S. (IA, ID, IL, IN, NE, KS, SD, ND, MN, MI, OH, VT, VA, PA) is launching its second year of the Soil Health Leadership Lab. The Soil Health Leadership Lab was conceived as a peer-learning network for individuals who are on the…
Mark Torrens, a grain buyer for Mars Petcare, had been watching the changes in weather and wheat yields across the Asia-Pacific region, and he worried about future supply. Four years ago, he invited the Food Lab to join him in New South Wales, Australia. We spent a few days with Mark and his colleague Sarah Heazlewood,…
