OTA - Climate Action

Climate-Smart, Organic Practices Build Soil and Improve Farming Under Changing Conditions

stephanie@llmpubs.com — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 17:37:27 +0000

September 9, 2022

Soil Health on Organic Farms

Healthy soils are essential for resilient crop production and supporting the ecosystem. They retain water, support a diversity of organisms vital to decomposition and nutrient cycling, provide crops with essential nutrients, and store away carbon, helping to mitigate global climate change. The growing demands for food, feed, fiber, and fuel cannot be met without healthy soils.

Unfortunately, soils in the United States are being degraded by unsustainable agricultural practices. Techniques used by organic farmers can help stop soil health degradation, and even restore health in previously degraded soils, because they replenish organic carbon and preserve underground biodiversity.

Many studies have shown that organic soils tend to score higher when it comes to soil health metrics than conventional soils. Organic soils have greater biological activity and stability, more biomass, and higher diversity than conventionally managed soils. Organically managed soils also tend to have higher water-holding capacity, porosity, and aggregate stability than conventionally managed soils, which can lead to yield advantages in extreme weather events such as droughts and flooding, meaning that organic may fare better as our planet continues to experience climate change.

Healthy Soils Help Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change is causing both gradual and extreme changes in weather conditions like temperature, rainfall, and devastating storms. These changes influence the success of crops by causing stress to the crops during drought, flood, or extreme temperatures. Populations of beneficial biodiversity like pollinators and natural enemies of pests are also impacted, while all kinds of pests and pathogens also change with the weather, typically increasing with more heat and humidity. Farmers are faced with fluctuating extremes in nearly every growing condition, which makes it challenging to produce reliable yields each year.

Carbon sequestration is a critical tool for building soil health and combatting climate change—locking carbon away in soil reserves reduces greenhouse gases. By using farming practices that reduce GHG emissions and draw carbon back into the soil (such as reducing tillage, pesticide use, and reliance on synthetic fertilizer) not only helps mitigate climate change, it also improves the soil structure, which helps farmers cope with changes in weather conditions associated with climate change.

Specifically, storing carbon sequestration:

Reduces erosion
Reduces compaction
Improves aeration, filtration, and water holding capacity
Provides a reserve of essential nutrients for plants
Supports soil organisms by providing a food source that in turn helps fight soil-borne diseases and supports more above-ground diversity

Organic Soils and Climate Change Mitigation

The Organic Center partnered with Northeastern University to explore how organic farming impacts carbon sequestration in the soil and found that not only do organic farms store more soil carbon in general, they also store more of the type of carbon that stays in the ground for longer periods of time. By analyzing more than a thousand soil samples from organically and conventionally managed soils from across 48 U.S. states, this ground-breaking work found that organic soils had 13 percent higher soil organic matter and 44 percent higher long-term carbon storage than conventionally managed soils.

These results highlight the potential of organic agriculture to increase the amount of carbon sequestration in the soil, contributing to climate change mitigation.

Digging Deeper: Specific Organic Practices That Increase Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration

While a growing body of scientific literature suggests that soil management strategies commonly used in organic systems improve overall soil health, there is less research on specific practices within organic systems that have the greatest potential to build healthy soils and sequester carbon.

However, a recent study conducted by the University of Maryland in collaboration with The Organic Center—and supported by the GRO Organic research fund, Annie’s Homegrown of General Mills, and Patagonia—provides a big-picture understanding of the organic techniques that have the most impact on soil health. The review of more than 150 studies from around the world on the benefits of organic farming to soil health and climate change mitigation illuminates specific organic farming practices that are the best of the best in supporting healthy soils.

The study identifies four practices that are the most critical to good soil health:

Planting cover crops
Applying combinations of organic inputs
Increasing crop rotation diversity and length
Conservation tillage

Not surprisingly, these practices have also been found to be important for boosting carbon storage in organic soils.

Another recent collaboration between The Organic Center and University of Maryland quantified how specific organic soil management techniques can optimize carbon sequestration within organic farms to show how organic farming can be used as a tool to move the needle even further in mitigating climate change.

For this meta-analysis, researchers sifted through more than 4,000 scientific articles to find data that put numbers behind the soil carbon-building techniques that organic farmers use. The results show that by adopting best management practices, organic growers can boost their soil organic carbon by an average of 18 percent, and increase microbial biomass carbon by an average of 30 percent.

The second major finding of this study is that organic soil amendments are key players in carbon sequestration—using best practices when it comes to biological soil amendments boosts soil organic carbon by an average of 24 percent. And because much of that carbon was found in the top 50 cm (20 in) of soil, using organic amendments is one of the most impactful strategies to quickly replenish carbon in the soil. Conservation tillage added another layer of benefits and cover cropping showed a significant increase in carbon sequestration after five years, rivaling that of conservation tillage.

The study authors also stress that diversifying key practices makes a difference. While each individual practice has benefits to carbon sequestration, challenges associated with organic farming can be better mitigated by a holistic suite of conservation tools when they are implemented in tandem.

Key Research Gaps

To better understand how organic farming can continue to lead the way in increasing carbon sequestration and soil health, more scientific exploration is needed of the length and diversity of crop rotations, as there is a dearth of research on how crop rotations impact carbon sequestration within organic systems. There is also little information about the impact of climate engineering tools such as biochar. Verification of organic practices through soil health measurements across the broad range of organic cropping systems and regions will also help farmers make informed decisions to optimize their practices and continually improve organic’s ability to build healthy soil to support organic production and the health of our communities.

You can find more soil health and climate related reports at The Organic Center’s Resource Library page at organic-center.org.

www.organic-center.org/organic-farming-practices-improving-soil-health

www.organic-center.org/maximizing-carbon-sequestration-organic-systems

This article was originally published in the Fall 2022 Organic Report, you can view the full magazine here.

Transitioning to Organic to Combat Climate Change

admin — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 20:45:58 +0000

February 28, 2022

Organic farmers are the only farmers required by law to conserve soil, water, wetlands, woodlands, and wildlife. Maintaining these natural resources is critical because organic farmers rely on nutrients in the soil instead of synthetic fertilizers to feed their crops, and they use ecological rather than chemical methods to control pests, weeds, and disease. Not only is building ecological balance good for farmers’ bottom line, but it is also a key climate strategy.

Long-term studies demonstrate the climate benefits of organic. A University of California-Davis Long-Term Research on Agricultural Systems study found that after 10 years, organic systems resulted in 14 times the rate of carbon sequestration as the conventional system. Nationally, the largest study comparing organic and conventional soils in 48 states found that organic farms have 13% higher soil organic matter than conventional farms.

If organic is a solution to climate change, why aren’t more farmers transitioning? In part, it’s because transitioning land to organic is tough. To transition land to organic, farmers and ranchers cannot apply prohibited materials, including synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, to the land for three years prior to their first organic harvest. Farmers do not receive the premium organic price during this three-year transition period, and can experience yield losses and higher costs as the soil adjusts to ecological management and the farmer learns and invests in new practices. Ranchers face a higher cost of feed and new animal healthcare requirements that focus on preventative rather than diagnostic care.

CCOF is working to support more transition to organic to combat climate change. CCOF Foundation is currently giving $10,000 grants to small-scale farmers and farmers from the Latinx communities in the Central Coast of California to transition to organic with the intention of expanding this grant program to other socially disadvantaged farmer communities. The CCOF policy team is building on the Foundation’s grant program by advocating for state investment in California to support:

Direct assistance for farmers and ranchers to implement multiple organic practices that build healthy soils while offsetting the economic risk of transitioning
Organic research, mentorship, and technical assistance that optimize organic systems and support a diversity of farmers and ranchers to go organic
Expansion of markets for organic food, creating opportunities for new and existing organic farmers and ranchers

CCOF is also working closely with the Organic Trade Association to support organic transition at USDA. Throughout our efforts, we are pushing for investment in technical assistance and market development to support all organic producers. We are excited to partner with farmers and ranchers to realize organic’s full potential as a climate solution. Learn more at www.ccof.org.

This article was prepared by Rebekah Weber, CCOF Policy Director.

References

Kong, A. Y., Six, J., Bryant, D. C., Denison, R. F., & Van Kessel, C. (2005). The relationship between carbon input, aggregation, and soil organic carbon stabilization in sustainable cropping systems. Soil Sci Soc Am J., 69, 1078-1085.

Ghabbour, E. A., Davies, G., Misiewicz, T., Alami, R. A., Askounis, E. M., Cuozzo, N.P., Shade, J. (2017). Chapter one—national comparison of the total and sequestered organic matter contents of conventional and organic farm soil. Advances in Agronomy, 146, 1-35.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2022 Organic Report, you can view the full magazine here.

Organic Trade Association Awards Recognize Inspiring Leaders

admin — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 20:27:34 +0000

February 22, 2022

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) has been recognizing inspiring and innovative leaders in our industry for over 20 years. In 1997, the first-ever OTA Leadership Award was given to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) for his groundbreaking work in developing the national organic standards and helping to bring the U.S. Department of Agriculture Organic seal to life. Every year since, OTA has recognized a diverse group of leaders whose peers have put them forward for this prestigious award. For 2021, OTA expanded our award categories in recognition of the outstanding work our members have done to help both their neighbors and the organic industry stay strong throughout the COVID pandemic.

In addition to OTA’s historic Organic Pioneer and Organic Farmer of the Year Awards, OTA is recognizing two new categories of leaders through the Community Service and Climate Action awards. Winners, to be honored as part of OTA’s 2022 Organic Week event, include:

Organic Pioneer:

Mayra Velazquez de Leon,

Organics Unlimited
Organic Farmer of the Year:

Amy Bruch,

Cyclone Farms
Community Service:

Cassie Cyphers and

Scott Erickson,

Clif Bar & Company
Climate Action:

Britt Lundgren,

Stonyfield
Posthumous Pioneer:

Amigo Bob Cantisano

These leaders and their efforts motivate and encourage all of us in the organic industry to continue improving and creating a more equitable and sustainable future. Their dedication motivates us to work harder, be more creative in our problem-solving, and to continue to prioritize people and planet above all else.

ORGANIC PIONEER

MAYRA VELAZQUEZ DE LEON

ORGANICS UNLIMITED

Mayra Velazquez de Leon co-founded Organics Unlimited in 2000, but her connection to organic has been with her from the very beginning. Over 50 years ago, Mayra’s father Carlos Cortez became the first commercial organic grower to bring organic bananas to the U.S. Carlos’ bananas were so delicious that customers began asking how on earth he was able to produce such fruits. The secret? Organic production methods, which Carlos had learned from his father, that leveraged local resources and abstained from harmful pesticides or other supplements. That client helped Carlos to expand his organic business, and in 1972, he brought it and his family to the United States.

Led by her love for organic tropical fruit and her pioneering spirit, Mayra worked hard to build on her father’s legacy. With the founding of Organics Unlimited in 2000, Mayra would successfully grow the family business into what is today—the largest family-run organic banana company in the country. Organics Unlimited offers Cavendish bananas, plantains, and coconuts sourced from sustainably operated organic farms across Mexico and Ecuador. In addition to investing in environmental sustainability by growing only organic tropical fruits, Mayra and Organics Unlimited also believe in investing in their workers.

Organics Unlimited launched GROW in 2005 as a social responsibility initiative to help poverty-stricken banana-growing regions in Mexico and Ecuador. Over the past 15 years, GROW has provided nearly $3 million in support for education and health initiatives, micro-businesses and environmental programs, as well as disaster relief efforts. In 2021, Organics Unlimited added a Fair-Trade Certified label to its lineup as an additional way the company could support sustainable prices for farmers and healthy farming communities.

Under Mayra’s direction, Organics Unlimited has grown into a company able to care for its customers and its workers even through the most challenging times.

“These are among the hardest years we’ve encountered due to the international supply chain obstacles and the issue of fair pricing for bananas,” says Mayra. “That being said, the biggest asset that has gotten us through is our community. We are evidence of what is possible when a community comes together and aligns to contribute to a food system that is good for our environment and fair to the people who grow our food.”

OTA is proud to have members like Mayra and Organics Unlimited who see organic not only as a climate-smart agricultural system, but also as a community. A community-centric approach is critical to the growth of not only our association, but of the organic industry at-large.

“We can be crazy enough to change the world,” says Mayra. “Organic is the work of many people leaving their sweat in the ground, investing in natural inputs to protect our environment and our future generations. Being part of OTA is important to the work we do because it gives us a collective voice. We have a community that we can rely on to protect the integrity of the industry and the values of the organic movement.”

ORGANIC FARMER OF THE YEAR

AMY BRUCH

CYCLONE FARMS

The Organic Leadership Award is given to visionaries who have advanced organic by promoting the industry’s climate change mitigation practices, investing in social responsibility initiatives, leading organic transition programs and keeping the organic community safe during COVID-19. Nominated by her peers and unanimously supported by OTA’s Board of Directors, Nebraska’s Amy Bruch of Cyclone Farms is the first female primary-operator to ever receive this honor.

“I am thankful for OTA’s diverse member network, which provides a forum for collaboration and robust conversations on topics that impact the organic sector,” says Amy. “There is strength in numbers, and I am impressed with what has been and will be accomplished.”

Amy has been an organic farmer for nearly a decade now, stepping into a leadership role at Cyclone Farms following the sudden death of her father, Gary. Amy has transformed Cyclone Farms into one of the most cutting-edge organic farms in the nation by leading the transition of nearly 2,500 highly productive acres to organic, and working alongside Neal Kinsey to implement his Kinsey-Albrecht soil health system. Today, Cyclone Farms produces 10 different, high-quality organic crops for human consumption.

Speaking to Nebraska’s York News-Times, Amy says of organic farming, “There isn’t a road map for what we do and there is definitely not an ‘easy’ button… It requires very detailed plans, management, and record keeping, but it has allowed for my husband and I—and our team—to dive deeper into soil balancing, applying new technology, and expanding our team to allow additional opportunities for those interested in agriculture to get involved.”

Amy has not only led Cyclone Farms’ transition to organic, she’s also helping farmers across the country transition through the organic consulting company, Agrisecure. Through Agrisecure, of which Amy is a co-founder, Amy and her team have helped convert over 65,000 acres across 15 states to organic production. Folks report her leadership has set the pace for getting growers through transition and fully certified to organic.

“In farming, there are always variables that we can’t control… and the pandemic has made us even more humble in this regard,” says Amy. “It has pushed us and our farms to be more resourceful and creative. Having the right attitude, maintaining our connections with the organic community despite limited in-person opportunities, and brainstorming plans to succeed together is how we take on the unexpected.”

Thanks to Amy’s leadership, more farmers in Nebraska and across the country have the encouragement and the tools they need to transition their operations to organic and become more resilient through times of crisis.

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

CASSIE CYPHERS & SCOTT ERICKSON

CLIF BAR & COMPANY

When it comes to cultivating community, Clif Bar’s Cassie Cyphers (Senior Sustainable Brand Development Manager) and Scott Erickson (Executive Chef of “Kali’s Kitchen”) believe in going above and beyond. Because of their passion and dedication, both Cassie and Scott are the first honorees to receive OTA’s new Community Service Award.

This award was created to recognize individuals and companies who have gone above and beyond standard business practices to become a source of positivity and stability for customers and organic community members during the COVID pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, Clif Bar has demonstrated compassion and creativity. The company has directed vast resources toward pandemic response efforts, found innovative ways to continue serving customers and community members, and shown care and concern for its employees by enhancing benefits and prioritizing health and safety. Within Clif Bar, Cassie and Scott are on the front lines of these inspirational community service efforts.

“At Clif Bar, serving our community is at the core of who we are as a company. The pandemic has created a critical need to sustain people in our community and we are fortunate to have been able to use our resources to help people in need,” says Cassie. “We are inspired to serve our community and knowing we can make a positive impact on people’s lives makes us want to give even more.”

Recently promoted to Senior Sustainable Brand Development Manager from her former role as Senior Manager, Community Philanthropic Partnerships, Cassie has spent the last several years leading Clif Bar’s community service efforts. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cassie has been on the frontline of Clif’s community COVID response efforts. Under her leadership, Clif has donated 14 million nutritious bars to first responders and food insecure communities (another 14 million were donated over 2021!), and worked with farmworker-focused non-profit organizations to deploy over $300,000 in PPE to farmworkers across California, where Clif Bar is headquartered. Cassie has been a valued member of the Clif team for over 26 years.

Scott is a Bay-area resident and has been with Clif Bar for 11 years. As Executive Chef for Clif Bar’s employee café, it’s Scott’s job to keep staff fed well. When the pandemic struck, Scott made it his mission to not just feed Clif’s employees, but to also care for his fellow community members. Rather than shut down the café during the pandemic, he kept his staff on and pivoted from providing lunch to in-office staff to making meals for at-risk neighbors by launching the Kali’s Community Kitchen Program. To help him maximize his impact, Scott also partnered with Oakland-based community organization Homies for Empowerment and their FREEdom Store as well as Oakland Unified School District.

“With food insecurity increasing dramatically during the pandemic, one of the many projects our Clif culinary team took on was to pack weekly homecooked meals for 400 hundred volunteers for the Oakland Unified School District,” says Scott. “These meals were made at our headquarters in Emeryville, using ingredients grown right in our Clif garden. Volunteers helped us to manage 22 local food distribution sites, ensuring that students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch were still getting those meals while schools were closed.”

Together, Scott and his partners have provided roughly 300,000 meals to date!

CLIMATE ACTION AWARD

BRITT LUNDGREN

STONYFIELD

Another new honor this year is the Organic Climate Action Award, which recognizes a person or company demonstrating exemplary leadership in advancing organic solutions to mitigate climate change through policy advocacy, farm to business innovation, or engagement. There are few climate advocates more deserving of this award than Britt Lundgren, Director of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture at Stonyfield. Britt leads Stonyfield’s efforts to reduce emissions from agriculture, focusing particularly on improving the sustainability of the dairy sector, and also spearheads the organization’s federal policy advocacy on organic and climate change solutions.

Britt also currently serves as Secretary of the OTA Board, President of the Association’s Dairy Sector Council, co-chair of its Climate Change Task Force, and a member of several other OTA task forces and councils.

“Organic farming systems are leading the way when it comes to developing farming practices that are better for the environment and for fighting climate change,” says Britt. “I’m glad to see conventional agriculture embracing the idea that we need to take action on climate change, but we need to make sure that organic producers—who have been doing the right things all along—are not left behind.”

Over the past five years, a major focus of Britt’s work has been the development, funding, and launch of OpenTEAM—an open-source “smart-farming” platform that hopes to provide farmers and scientists with in-depth knowledge about managing soil health and soil carbon sequestration. OpenTEAM, which stands for Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management, is a collaborative effort between Stonyfield, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, and Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment. These major food, farm, and climate organizations are working together to deliver quantitative feedback on millions of acres of farmland by 2024, which will help farmers to sequester carbon and promote adaptive soil health management.

“I believe the shared sense that we’re working to make the world a healthier place really helps people feel connected to Stonyfield and the work we are doing,” says Britt. “That shared connection makes us a stronger team, even when we’re coping with the many challenges that have emerged during the pandemic.”

POSTHUMOUS PIONEER AWARD

AMIGO BOB CANTISANO

Last, but certainly not least, OTA recognizes the late Amigo Bob Cantisano for his decades of service to the organic agriculture movement. Amigo, a ninth-generation Californian, came up with a generation of largely urban youth who moved back to the land in the 1970s and began farming as a way to reform the food industry. He was a staunch defender of the environment, farmworker safety, and healthy food, and battled the pesticides industry his entire life. He is considered by many to be the Godfather of California organic agriculture.

OTA is honored to celebrate each of these leaders of the organic industry and to share their stories with our members and with the wider community. Their leadership, work ethic, and impressive achievements serve as guiding lights as we continue to learn, grow, and build community within and beyond the organic industry.

Reana Kovalcik is the Organic Trade Association’s Director of Public Relations.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2022 Organic Report, you can view the full magazine here.