Organic Grain Collaboration News
The booming organic industry continues to be a bright spot for growth in the US farm economy averaging double-digit growth over the last five years. While the organic industry thrives,…
How Dirty is Sustainable Agriculture?
Despite the title, this blog is not about sex, unless we consider the teeming reproductive activity of billions of micro-organisms in every tablespoon of fertile soil. I’m writing for those…
SDG 2: what will it take for business to play its part?
For a start let’s not assume sustainable agriculture will automatically solve food insecurity Sustainable Development Goal 2 is often referred to as the hunger goal, or as the agriculture goal.…
Hitting targets while missing the point
A senior sustainability leader commented the other day that sustainable sourcing programs might be in danger of hitting their targets while missing the point. As sustainability is operationalized, we might…
SVI: Driving Sustainability in the Vanilla Supply Chain
The Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI) aims to improve vanilla bean farmers’ livelihoods and assure the long-term stable supply of high quality natural vanilla. This voluntary food, flavors and fragrances industries…
Moving the Needle: Critical Success Factors for Scaling Innovation in Asset Finance for Small and Growing Agribusinesses
Presenting the report Moving the Needle: Critical Success Factors for Scaling Asset Finance A new report by Epven, with support from the Shell Foundation and the Small Foundation, explores…
Water Smart Agriculture: A requirement for resilient farms and supply chains
The CEO Water Mandate couldn’t have stated it more clearly: “Water poses one of the most vital sustainable development challenges of our time.” Increasing pressures on water reserves and the…
Oats and cover crops: long-term benefits but collaboration is needed to share costs
Many Midwestern farmers remember oats as a part of their grandparents’ farm, a thing of the past. Corn and soybeans (or 2-crop rotation) now accounts for 95 percent of Iowa’s…
The Business of Landscapes
Are landscape approaches the next big thing or a passing fad? The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) , The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), International Union for Conservation of…
System Leadership in Action
Over the coming year Sustainable Food Lab will be collecting and sharing stories of system leadership by individuals and organizations. In a Stanford Social Innovation Review article, Peter Senge, Hal Hamilton,…
