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British supermarket giant Tesco has committed the equivalent of about $13 million to help protect the ecologically fragile grasslands of Brazil — known locally as the Cerrado — from destruction.

Tom Vilsack pledged to act quickly to tackle racial issues at the Agriculture Department and joined President-elect Joe Biden in promising that climate change would be a top policy priority for USDA.

Environmental groups and attorneys general from 11 states are opposing EPA’s request to keep the registration of the insecticide sulfoxaflor in place until the agency can comply with Endangered Species Act requirements.

While the total damage amounts from California’s 2020 wildfire season is not yet known and several fires continue to burn, rural businesses such as farms, ranches, and others in the agricultural industry are faced with the continued threat of losing the insurance policies that protect the financial aspects of daily operations.

USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced Dec. 2 that it would require farms nationwide to follow the “one in four” requirement for prevent plant coverage.

U.S. farmers have watched for years as Brazil has become an agricultural powerhouse by converting its vast rainforests and savanna into cropland, with plans to expand even more over the coming decade. Now, American producers are hoping the progress they are making on sustainability will pay off in a competitive advantage for U.S. ag exports in the lucrative European and Asian markets. This is the fifth and final installment of our series,“Agriculture’s sustainable future: Feeding more while using less.”  Part Four looked at the potential for technological innovations to make a significant impact on U.S. agriculture's environmental footprint.

Providing some parting advice on climate policy, House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson said he was introducing legislation that would require the Agriculture Department to take 50 million acres of cropland out of production through the Conservation Reserve Program.

The incoming Biden administration is expected to take a new look at using crop insurance to encourage farming measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect water quality, but the effort will face an old challenge — finding the data to prove that the practices don’t increase program losses.

With farmers under pressure to cut their environmental footprint, global agribusiness giants as well as small tech startups are rushing to come up with ways to slash farm pollutants and make it possible for producers to cash in on carbon credits and other new forms of income.