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Keeping cattle on the move and carbon in the soil
The Obrechts stand at the forefront of an emerging collaboration between ranchers, conservation groups, and governmental agencies that aims to protect, restore, and revitalize the United States and Canada’s prairies — or what’s left of them…
Researchers estimate that grasslands could contain as much as 30 percent of the carbon stored in the Earth’s soil. Plowing them in order to plant crops releases large amounts of that carbon into the atmosphere…
Genesee River Demonstration Farms Network
The goals of the Genesee River Demonstration Farms Network are to highlight conservation systems that build soil health and benefit water quality, with on-farm research opportunities to evaluate and demonstrate conservation practices, and to quantify their economic and environmental benefits. The network serves as a platform to share technology, information and lessons learned with farmers, agribusiness, conservation agencies, landowners and the public, and to facilitate farmer-to-farmer discussions and learning opportunities related to conservation practices and their impacts.
How ‘planting green’ helps farmers gain advantage in the growing season
Typical cover crop management has a host of benefits. Cover crops can increase soil organic matter, slow erosion, enhance water availability, suppress weeds, help control pests and diseases, and increase soil microbial activity. These benefits can improve crop resilience to extreme weather events while minimizing off-farm losses to the environment…
Farmers planting green (a collaborative demonstration project) requires knowledge of how different factors interact, including: climate, cover crop and cash crop species, planting rate and timing, and termination timing…
Solar, haying, and owning the solar array
Converting arable land to energy production undermines the future of farming. But innovators like Nate know it doesn’t have to be one or the other – if done right, solar can be leveraged to support farmers, rather than threaten them.
Seeing the Massachusetts SMART program as an opportunity for revenue diversification and farmland preservation, Nate pioneered a plan to own both the solar system and the land underneath. Million Little Sunbeams does not involve a lease to a solar developer but instead was designed to allow the Tassinari family to sell the excess energy to the surrounding community — a win for the family farm that has allowed it to stay in operation…
Advancing sustainable meat production through policy reform and carbon offset funding
Regenerative Grazing NC is a multi-year, student-led project to increase the adoption of regenerative grazing systems in North Carolina. We believe that regenerative grazing is the key to sustainable meat production in a climate-constrained world. Changing food systems is a tremendously complex undertaking and our community partners are doing amazing work advocating policy, providing extension support, conducting research, and developing robust supply chains to connect producers with consumers.
Regenerative grazing to mitigate climate change
Working with numerous partner organizations, team members from the four major Triangle research universities (Duke, NC Central, NC State, UNC) developed healthy soils policy recommendations for North Carolina, as well as tools to help producers and policy-makers understand the potential of grazing…
Iberdrola starts up Spain’s first smart agrovoltaic plant in Toledo
While combining solar energy and agricultural land is not new, one component that makes the Winesolar project stand out is that it will have a tracking system, with trackers from PVH, that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the most efficient solar panel positioning over the vines at any time…
Spanish vineyards use solar panels to protect wine grapes
While combining solar energy and agricultural land is not new, one component that makes the Winesolar project stand out is that it will have a tracking system, with trackers from PVH, that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the most efficient solar panel positioning over the vines at any time, according to Iberdrola. Techedge, an IT firm, will help the solar panel project further the wineries’ agricultural goals.
Sensors in the vineyards will record data including soil humidity, wind conditions, solar radiation, and even vine thickness to find the optimal position for the solar panels, giving the vines a fighting chance against the effects of climate change…
Three-quarters of Montana farmers, ranchers anxious about climate change, survey finds
Paul Lachapelle of Montana State University says the growing risks and uncertainty are taking a toll on farmers’ and ranchers’ mental health.
He and co-researchers surveyed about 120 Montana farmers and ranchers.
“Nearly three quarters noted they were experiencing moderate to high levels of anxiety when thinking about climate change and its effects on their agricultural business,” Lachapelle says.
How the Inflation Reduction Act helps rural communities
The Inflation Reduction Act recognizes the critical role that America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners play in addressing the climate crisis. The law will:
- Invest in helping farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners deploy climate-smart practices that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase storage of carbon in soils and trees, and make their operations more productive.
- Support innovative, cost-effective ways to measure and verify climate benefits, including through USDA’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and Conservation Technical Assistance.
- Help up to 280,000 farmers and ranchers apply conservation to approximately 125 million acres of land.