2020: When Sustainability in Agriculture became Mainstream
By: Heidi Burns
Tags: Sustainability, Agriculture, Innovation, Farming, Regenerative Agriculture

Wow! Tis’ the season for farm shows and field days — virtual or responsibility distanced of course. With the wild year that is 2020, I was caught off guard with the conversations happening within the agriculture community — with participation from everyday farmers and ranchers, to trusted experts, to sitting politicians. I resoundingly heard affirmations of a commitment to sustainability and climate positive farming! Climate positive farming is a change in agriculture practices to positively impact soil health, improve biodiversity, increase nutrients in our food, and impact climate change through carbon capture.

As I participated in events like Farm Journal Field Days, World Agri-tech Innovation Summit, and Rick Clark’s Regenerative Systems Field Day from my home office in Austin, TX, I noticed something: sustainability is finally front and center in the agriculture community. You may be thinking, well hasn’t it always been? Well not quite! The conversations around the idea of sustainable farming have percolated for decades — throwback to the ‘slow food movement’ and ‘new food economy’! These one-time fringe ideas had a narrow audience in progressive farmers. The cooperatives vs. the capitalists.

Well, not so much anymore. The conversations, actions, and policies in agriculture are becoming laser-focused on sustainability. Drum roll please: the sustainable ag movement has officially gone from fringe to the mainstream!

Don’t worry, I’ll get to why this is so important, especially in the environment we are currently experiencing, a pandemic, economic uncertainty, climate change, etc. But first, let me ground you in what sustainability means to the agriculture industry and greater community.

Sustainability in agriculture

Sustainability is not doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Sustainability is taking care of our most valuable living resource, the soil, and keeping it in place for the next generation. Sustainability is enhancing supply chains, improving soil health, and financial well-being.

It’s the connection between the total system: economic, environment, and human. Sustainability is economic and environmental well-being. If there is no margin, there’s no mission. Because you can’t have progress without some profit. If sustainability doesn’t benefit the farmer — economically, no one wins.

The ag community is aligned when we say: sustainability must be grounded in resiliency and profitability for the farmer. The path to adopting change & progress must be rooted in creating value. Creating value starts with incorporating sound business principles that lead to net positive economic outcomes. Economic viability is the precursor to environmental stewardship. To lead to a thriving ecosystem that will support both farmers and the environment, the climate impact must be tied to the financial impact.

Why spotlight sustainability now?

The economic viability of farmers is eroding. Consolidation of farms over the next decade will continue to increase, eroding away mid and small-size farms that bring diversity in production and agriculture practices to our ecosystems. It’s expected that in the next 5 years 72% of farmers will have significant concerns about the impact climate change will have on their production. With no change to farming practices, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that global productive farmland is expected to lose topsoil at a rate that puts us on a path to zero functioning farmland in 60 years. The future of farming is at risk.

And let’s face it. Global competition is severe, specifically with the increase in corn and soybean production in South America and the Black Sea region. Farmers can’t simply rely on timing a trade to save their operations. The economic case for crop diversification is clear. The environmental case is overwhelming. Change will require a market environment that supports both elements of sustainability — profitability and land stewardship

Ag innovations enhance sustainability

How is sustainability enhanced in the agriculture community? It starts with evolving practices and building a community of growers to collaborate and share innovative solutions. Solutions that provide clear economic value and de-risk change: producers have only a few times per season to make a change.

Change is about evolving practices. Continuous improvement. Learning from your peers and being exposed to new solutions. Change will accelerate at the intersection of innovation, easy adoption, and clear ROI. While buzz words like regenerative farming, soil carbon sequestration, climate-smart agriculture, and carbon farming are ever increasing in our agriculture jargon, innovative solutions must be supported by a marketplace that delivers easy to integrate solutions and net positive ROI. Why would any producer risk their livelihood on an uncertain practice with an unclear economic outcome?

For producers to diversify it will require a holistic view where the acre is the investment. To modify farm practices it starts with understanding and trialing new solutions and incorporating trusted expertise.

The agriculture innovation pipeline is alive and well. From the simplest of technologies that help you manage labor or pests from an app on your phone to the more complex like those that measure the quality of your grains on the spot. With so many innovative technologies and practices in the market, farmers need a way to sort through, evaluate, and easily understand what is the best solution for their operation. If a producer is going to make a change to their operations, which often can only be done once per season, the expected outcome needs to be supported by results. Farmers are not afraid of risk but when the risk could result in losing the family farm or going bankrupt, it must be well understood.

Farmers play a key role in transitioning America to a more sustainable future. Who’s best positioned to do this than the American farmer? Farmers are some of the most tech-savvy entrepreneurs — focused on being innovative, efficient, productive stewards of the land.

As Sonny Perdue shared frankly during Farm Journal Field Days, agriculture stakeholders “need to tell the great story of American agriculture” and connect the dots from the farm gate to the plate. To rapidly advance sustainable practices in agriculture we must connect the dots, align on the right incentives, and collaborate across the supply chain.