Environment

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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.

More than 90% of endangered species are “likely to be adversely affected” by use of glyphosate, but mostly through non-agricultural uses, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded in a biological evaluation of the impacts of the herbicide released Wednesday.

An EPA proposal to gradually reduce the use of some Bt corn and cotton products is getting pushback from grower groups and has the crop protection industry concerned about losing products they still consider effective.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program has grown in popularity over the years, but with that popularity, more farmers are finding it difficult to get their applications approved.

A nationwide cap and trade program hasn’t been on the legislative horizon since the idea died in Congress in 2010, but government and private market developers are counting on there being a robust demand for carbon offsets from a host of corporations, including energy companies, airlines and even major food companies, that need to offset their emissions.

Smithfield Foods has settled litigation over hog farms in North Carolina after an appeals court decision upheld a nuisance verdict against a company subsidiary.

The new Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance is out with its proposals for rewarding farmers for dealing with climate change. Now, the question is how much of the plan gets picked up.

President-elect Joe Biden’s commitment to addressing climate change and the food and ag industry’s progress in coalescing on ag carbon proposals are increasing the chances that farmers could see new income streams developing through private markets and USDA programs.

Producers can begin signing up for the Conservation Reserve Program Jan. 4 and CRP Grasslands March 15, USDA has announced. The CRP signup will run through Feb. 12, while the grasslands signup will go through April 23.