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.…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsCheck 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…
DetailsPhoto 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…
DetailsBy 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…
DetailsAndre 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…
DetailsHal 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…
DetailsMark 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,…
DetailsThe Food Lab is thrilled to announce that together with Practical Farmers of Iowa, we have been awarded a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) which will expand our work to understand the value proposition of diversified crop rotations in the Midwest. The $1.1 million grant was one of 24 projects selected from more than 100 applicants through the…
DetailsFarmers cannot invest in their farms if they can’t cover their costs of production and generate a margin for reinvestment. One of the Food Lab’s key tenants to a sustainable supply chain has always been farmer profitability. In smallholder-based systems, farmer poverty rates are high and many lack access to basic social services, the Food…
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