The lasting trend of sustainability in agriculture. That’s today’s This Land of Ours.
Sustainability is nothing new in agriculture. After all, humans have needed a sustainable food supply for all of our existence. However, in the last several years, it’s become a buzzword for the general public as well.
Allison Nepveux is the Director of Sustainability at Bushel Inc. and spoke Wednesday at a webinar hosted by the Northern Crops Institute. She says one challenge is convincing farmers to adopt new practices while many already using sustainable practices.
“That’s where I’ve seen a lot of friction in this space. We haven’t rewarded the earlier adopters in the markets for doing really great things and providing some of these benefits to our supply chain,” she said.
She says the lack of a tangible payoff for their work can make it harder to get some people to make more changes as we enter new territory like carbon markets.
“So, while they have them doing a number of other really great sustainability practices likely and have really focused on efficiency for a long time, this shift into carbon, I think, is causing a lot of ‘maybe let’s wait and see’ from some of these growers,” she said.
Listen to Sabrina Halvorson’s This Land of Ours program here.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.