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Synthesis Paper: Enabling Coherence for Sustainable Land Management and Climate Policy
This Synthesis paper reflects on the linkages between sustainable land management and climate change and aims to provide guidance on a holistic approach to land use and climate policy processes within the scope of international agendas and national actions.
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6 Comments
Alexis Brakhan
Guiding question: In which corresponding national strategies SLM and SOC should be integrated to achieve national targets (e.g. NDC, NAP, LDN and other)?
Alexis Brakhan
Guiding question: What are good practices to enhance SLM and SOC within national climate strategies to align processes from your experience?
Alexis Brakhan
Guiding question: Do you know other vehicles to upscale the potential of SLM and SOC for climate action?
Klaus Erich Mager
to regenerate the soil back to health requires local adaptations to existing soil, availability of / access to water, micro climates, and importantly socioeconomic considerations. That implies farmers will need to use types of crops and specialized seeds, animals suitable to such local conditions.
Farmers cannot grow crops unless they have markets to sell into, which will require whole systems adaptations. We will have to change our menus to adjust to the needs of the farmer, which requires an educated public aligned with the common objective to secure the local ecosystem.
How do we get there?
Klaus Erich Mager
I'm going to post some articles that are circling in the US, which show the multi-national food industry doubling down on mono culture practices:
https://www.motherjones.com/food/2021/09/vilsack-agriculture-pesticides-eu-farm-to-fork-brazil-rainforest-meat/
Vilsack is following orders, and clearly the multi-nationals in the food industry have decided on a way forward. Interesting to note that France has founded the 4p1000 initiative, and is now in a fight over submarines and defense policies with the US.
The Soil Health Institute yesterday presented a study done with 100 commodity growers from several States, average size just under 2,000 acres. They compared yields and chemical input costs for no till, low till, and cover crops compared to conventional practices.
I asked how many farmers let their cover crop grow to maturity, and if anyone used a cover crop that was also a cash crop. There was some stunned silence, that question was not part of the study. What the commodity growers have decided to do is use cover crops in between cash crops, but terminate them in time to plant the cash crop. In other words, continue mono crop practices and supplement with bio-technology to reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers. Obviously this has nothing to do with regenerative organic.
Fertilizer production apparently will be moved out of the US, demonstrating a reduction in US emissions, and transferred to the UAE which can use gas now being flared off to produce very cheap fertilizer. Too bad it all goes into the same atmosphere.
When we were running some simulations what it would take for the US commodity grower to start rotating crops and insert for example oats into rotation, you realize that there is no infrastructure to handle large scale production of alternative crops. These farms are highly specialized to produce a single crop, either corn or soy, and from on farm equipment to storage to processing capacity, it all revolves around that one crop. The entire system including the catering and retail sector has customized itself around these crops, look at the Corn System to get a picture of the $billions in stranded assets that a change in direction would create. That includes the fast food restaurants who have no capacity to deal with fresh local sourcing, same with the processed foods manufacturers. Plant based protein extracts will create meat substitutes to maintain burger patties and chicken nuggets around which tens of thousands of restaurants have designed their kitchens.
The industry controls the political process. I do trust Vilsack and think he would do the right thing if given the choice to do so, but obviously in the budget negotiation the industry has prevailed. Another trend we can see is that the industry is creating a closed loop system, i.e. IndigoAg selling bio-coated seeds and guaranteeing a market at a set price to the farmer. That makes the crop insurance program in the farm bill irrelevant to commodity growers participating in the system, rendering the regulators impotent. Also explains why billionaires are buying up farmland. The strategy has been set in place.
So what to do? Explaining the farm bill and related policies in laymen's terms, its impact on the health and well being of the population and the ecosystem seems a good start. Getting in particular the Greta Thunberg generation involved by making them aware of the link between food and climate change seems important, clearing up the confusion around meat, vegan, rewilding etc. Working across groups to find a unifying message, clarity of purpose.
Klaus Erich Mager
Stimulating Regenerative Agriculture From Farm to Hospital to Community
Fertile soils die. Fertilizers choke rivers and oceans. Skyrocketing diet-related chronic disease bankrupts our healthcare system. Rural communities decline. And climate change accelerates.
https://medium.com/ignite-the-change-catalyst/innovating-regenerative-agriculture-through-farm-to-hospital-692d2679c4a5