The cocoa industry has taken bold steps to preventing deforestation in the Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI), a public private collaboration between 33 cocoa and chocolate companies (85% of the industry), the governments of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, and led by the World Cocoa Foundation and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH). This effort is based…
DetailsOne of the Sustainable Food Lab’s flagship project, the Cool Farm Tool, is reaching new fields and farms. Since 2008 the Tool’s mission has enabled millions of growers around the world to make more informed on-farm decisions that reduce their environmental impact. Today the Cool Farm Tool is being used by Food Lab and Cool…
DetailsAs part of our Small Grains in the Corn Belt initiative, Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) and the Food Lab are asking the questions: Can farmers be profitable when adding a small grain and cover crop to their corn and soy rotation? What additional sustainability value can be captured by the supply chain? Is it…
DetailsThe Sustainable Food Lab has worked with the beverage company AB InBev and its Uganda subsidiary Nile Breweries to explore ways to increase the resilience of small-scale grain farmers to the effects of climate change. The Food Lab is happy to share a case study on Improving Grain Sector Climate-Smart Awareness and Decision-Making, documenting the…
DetailsDon Seville, Executive Director of the Food Lab, is a facilitator of the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI), an industry initiative, which aims to promote the long-term stable supply of high quality, natural vanilla, produced in a socially, environmentally and economically sustainable way, benefiting all partners along the value chain. On a recent trip to Uganda, Don…
DetailsIn collaboration with the Organic Trade Association, the Organic Grain Collaboration has co-authored a new report, titled “U.S. Organic Grain – How to Keep It Growing“. The report includes information on organic grain production, market trends and the barriers to expanding domestic organic grain production as well as industry solutions to overcome these barriers. A press…
DetailsElizabeth Reaves, our Senior Program Director of Agriculture and Environment, is featured in Our Farms, Our Future podcast produced by SARE exploring a catalyst for change in agriculture. Listen to Episode 021: “Finding a Catalyst for Change in Agriculture” here or download from iTunes or Stitcher.
DetailsCheck out our latest Small Grains in the Corn Belt Newsletter which shares what we’ve been up to this past month. From a farmer conference to new modeling capabilities, we’ve hit the ground running in 2019. Read more here.
The Sustainable Food Lab is happy to announce the publication of The Climate-Smart Agriculture Papers, Investigating the Business of a Productive, Resilient and Low Emission Future. This book is a collection of research focusing on climate-smart agriculture and includes authors from over 30 institutions. The material covers conversations around climate impacts, climate-smart varieties, farm management, supply and…
DetailsIn a recent THE WEEK article Ryan Cooper argues that, “A Green New Deal for cars would be easier than you think.” Electric cars and buses are now cost-competitive, and they are getting cheaper and better every month. Cooper says that “China has been building them like crazy.” Much of the technology and infrastructure already…
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