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Northeast Dairy Group Forms
"This is a unique group because we are three non-competing dairy companies with a combined reach through the major dairy cooperatives to about 80% of the supply in the region," says Jed Davis of Cabot Creamery.
The Sustainable Food Lab is coordinating an unusually diverse group of non-competing dairy companies, farmer coops and support agenc with the goal of accelerating better sustainability practices while also helping to sustain the Northeast dairy industry. Food Lab members Cabot, Stonyfield, and Ben and Jerry’s anchor the group, along with AgriMark and St. Albans Coops. The Manomet Conservation Center, the University of Vermont and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets have all been involved, and at the last meeting a company called Native Energy shared their model for aggregating methane facilities on moderate-scale farms.
In addition to scoping farmer participation in methane projects, the group will soon be exploring how to spread the new GHG-reducing feed strategies that have been pioneered by Stonyfield, led by its parent company in France, The Danone Groupe.
The three companies, two farmer coops, and other agencies will meet quarterly, building from multiple strands of work: the Dairy Stewardship Alliance of Ben and Jerry’s, the development of sustainability indicators among Cabot and Manomet, and the national sustainability scorecard project led by Dairy Management Incorporated.
According to Jed Davis northeast dairy groups are each going to make faster progress by sharing tools and strategies with one another.
Harnessing the Demand for Fine Cocoa to Increase Incomes and Opportunities of Ghanaian Small Scale Cocoa Farmers
Specialty coffee markets have increased opportunities for small farmers, and similar quality differentiators present opportunities for cocoa farmers.
The Ghana Fine Flavor Cocoa Project grew from the inspiration of John Scharffenberger (co-founder of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker) to unite the value of Ghana’s world class quality control and traceability systems with superior genetic material to create a premium flavor cocoa for the world market. The project is a collaboration among leading cocoa researchers, farmers, chocolate manufacturers and international aid organizations to provide superior cocoa varieties and training to Ghanaian small-scale farmers to increase their incomes and expand their livelihood opportunities. The project
Goals of the 4-year 2008-2011 project are:
- Increase incomes of Ghanaian farmers through the direct sale of high quality fine cocoa to gourmet manufacturers;
- Build farmers’ skills in the cultivation, pest and disease control and post-harvest handling of fine flavor cocoa varieties;
- Create and document a sustainable business model based on a differentiated, premium cocoa brand for future scale-up of development benefits.
Project Partners
The Sustainable Food Lab coordinates the project with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). In-country partners are AgroEco/Louis Bolk Institute, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, and the Sustainable Tree Crops Program.
Scharffen Berger and its parent company, Hershey Chocolate, have agreed to provide flavor evaluation and ongoing advice for establishing business relationships for farmers and their representatives to market the premium cocoa. The Fine Flavor Cocoa Project is part of a larger effort to build “New Business Models for Sustainable Trading Relationships,” a $5.2 million project with the Rainforest Alliance and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This larger initiative focuses on improving market access for farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The Sustainable Food Lab coordinates a leadership group that includes Catholic Relief Services, International Institute for Environment and Development and CounterPart International.
Methodology
The Ghana Fine Flavor Cocoa Project aims to harness the growth in demand for fine-flavor cocoa to create a business model that is both commercially viable and has developmental benefits for smallholders. The model is based on the concept that differentiation is an innovative approach that complements other efforts to increase productivity and crop diversity on West African farms. Fine flavor cocoa garners high premiums on the world market, requires different agronomic practices and will be a vehicle for farmers to build business skills through direct market relationships. The Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) is propagating 24 clones of quality cocoa varieties, samples of which will be evaluated in December 2009. The best varieties from these clones will be multiplied and scaled up over time as they are distributed to participating farmers. In addition to having access to quality cocoa germplasm, the farmers are receiving training on cultivation methods and shade management to ensure the successful growth of the fine flavor varieties. Cultivation and farm maintenance methods aim to maximize potential yield while balancing possible disease and pest pressures. Given that yields for these varieties tend to be lower than the typical Forastero varieties grown in West Africa, the farmers will be planting the varieties at higher densities and regularly pruning the trees for ease in pest control and harvesting. The project has adopted the successful Farmer Field School (FFS) approach which promotes learning by doing through participatory training modules and includes hands-on training in horticultural practice/sanitation, higher density planting in new areas and optimum post-harvest practices for flavor development.
Progress to date
The Fine Flavor business model must bring value to each stage of the supply chain to be successful. Based on this concept, we have secured commitments from key actors in the Ghana cocoa value chain from farm to factory.
Production: Five grower communities in the Ashanti Region are adapting fine-flavor production systems and have created their own farmer organization for management.
Technical assistance: CRIG is propagating the varieties and refining the post-harvest protocols necessary for flavor development. The Sustainable Tree Crops Program is collaborating on farmer training and cost/benefit analyses of the model.
Quality and export: The Ghana Cocoa Board and their Quality Control Division are supporting the development of the fine flavor supply chain. Discussions are ongoing with potential Licensed Buying Companies to handle the cocoa from village to port.
Market: Scharffen-Berger and Hershey have committed to purchase the initial cocoa crop harvested under the pilot project at a substantial premium over the market price. Additional industry partners will be sought in 2009-2010.
For more information please contact:
Project Manager, Don Seville (dseville@gmail.com)
Industry Liaison, Stephanie Daniels (stephanie@sustainable-supply.com)
Agronomy Leader, Peter Laderach (p.laderach@cgiar.org) www.newbusinessmodels.net
According to Mr. Scharffenberger, “Ghanaian cacao farmers are some of the best growers in Africa. By bringing superior cacao clones to Ghana, and teaching Ghanaian farmers to grow them, they will increase their income with a sustainable crop, while we will get a reliable supply of excellent cacao. Everybody wins.”
Exploring Soil Carbon
by Summer Intern Katherine O'Hara
Never underestimate the power of soil. I learned this lesson while accompanying Steven Apfelbaum from Applied Ecological Services and Peter Donavan of Managing Wholes throughout the West collecting soil samples in order to baseline the soil carbon content of different farms and ranches. Soil is the second largest store of carbon on earth (after oceans) which gives it a large importance in the efforts to mitigate climate change. Soil carbon also has other benefits from improved water filtration and retention capacity to better nutrient retention and more- by changing to “sustainable agriculture techniques” such as no-till, direct seeding and cover cropping, farmers can purposefully store more carbon in soil and sell it in the form of offsets. However, two important questions remain unresolved and will determine the future of soil carbon sequestration in carbon markets - first, how much can these practices actually sequester on a farm, and, how do you measure it?
The sampling we did on this trip was part of a project that is working towards answering these questions by establishing an efficient and effective method of quantifying carbon in soils. The project is focused on creating performance-based measurements rather than estimates based on practices, meaning measuring the actual amount of carbon captured in the soil rather than the hypothesized amounts based on land management changes. The end goal is to have this quantified amount of sequestered carbon (along with quantifications of other trace GHGs) sold as an offset on the market or to a private buyer. Performance-based measurements can be difficult to obtain because of the properties and variability of soil across regions and even within fields that is based on a number of factors ranging from geological history to the field slope and historical land use. The samples were taken during field-tests of Applied Ecological Service’s Soil Quantification Methodology, which is being developed to test efficient and effective systems to measure the actual carbon content of soils.
During this trip we took samples from the top two layers of soils from a number of fields with different crops, land use histories and geographical varieties and in fields that were in a variety of types of land management practices. The samples will be analyzed for their carbon content, texture, bulk density and to determine the statistical variability of the soil in order to establish the amount of samples needed when the baseline measurements are taken when the program begins in the fall. Baseline measurements this fall will determine the initial carbon content in the soils, so that as land management practices are changed, samples can be taken in the same locations to determine the actual amount of carbon flux. This amount, taken as a sum with other trace GHG emissions, can then be sold on an exchange or to a private buyer.
During the nine-day trip we visiteda total of nine farms/ranches in
four states- California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. The California portion of the trip was focused on farms that grow tomatoes through their partnership with Heinz but also produce other crops, from wheat and beans to alfalfa and almonds. We took samples from tomato fields at each farm, as well as a sampling from other crops for comparison purposes. These farms are using no-till techniques, crop rotations, cover crops and are beginning to incorporate drip irrigation into some or all of their fields. Farmers who implemented drip irrigation have seen as much as a 25% increase in yield, while no-till practices have allowed the farmers to plant earlier in the season on higher quality soils.
While in Oregon we visited Cattle Ranches that were a part of the Country Natural Beef Cooperative, which was founded by Connie Hatfield in the 1980’s in response to the public’s growing health concerns surrounding beef. The Country Natural Beef Cooperative is a marketing tool to allow the members to be recognized for their stewardship activities and give consumers access to grass-fed, hormone free meat. These ranchers are experimenting with improved irrigation techniques, no-till practices and strategically moving their cattle into different fields to prevent over grazing, also with much success. The ranches were performing better, the grasses were healthier and they were “meeting the nutritional needs of the cows year round for the first time.”
The Idaho and Washington portion of the trip focused primarily on large scale wheat farmers that are members of the Shepherd’s Grain Producers network. Similar to the tomato farms, these farms also had a variety of crops, including lentils and beans. These wheat farmers are using a variety of no-till practices, cover crops and crop rotation to improve the quality of their soil. We took samples primarily from wheat fields, but also from a variety of crops. The fields on the wheat farms were in various stages of sustainable agriculture. They found benefits such as increased soil quality, the presence of worms and the ability to plant earlier in the season. However the biggest benefit for the farmers in these hilly areas was the reduction of their top soil that was lost to erosion.
The farmers who participated in this pre-baseline study can be considered innovators in sustainable agriculture. Their willingness to participate in this study their commitment for furthering the understanding of soil carbon and performance-based measurements was inspiring. While carbon sequestration and climate change is a motivating factor to continue these practices, their initial rationale for adopting sustainable agriculture practices was different. While they varied by farm and farmer, each initial motivation had a common theme- for each there was a watershed moment where the farmer realized something in their practices was actually deteriorating their soil and therefore hurting their farms, and motivated them to change. These watershed moments ranged from large erosion after a rain storm to reading an article that challenged their ideas of growing grass, but all forced the farmers to rethink their practices and to begin to experiment with techniques that would improve the qualities of their soils.
None of the farmers initially set out to completely overhaul their operations, but began making relatively small changes, such as converting one field to no-till or installing a field with drip irrigation, and were motivated by the positive results these changes had on their soil quality and/or yields. For one wheat farmer, the watershed moment was a foot and a half of mud in his garage after a large rainstorm. He began changing his fields to direct seed and no-till, and in addition to his soils being able to withstand rain storms, he noticed many other benefits the practices were having on his land. Where the soil had previously been hard to dig into, he was now able to dig a hole anywhere. Even more encouraging was that when he dug 
that hole he found increased soil organic matter and was “able to count the number of worms” in any handful. These successes motivated the farmer to begin experimenting with other practices to increase his soil health, from experimenting with cover crops to protecting coyotes for the ecosystem services they provide. Seeing first hand the success of the incremental changes to his practices gave the farmers the confidence to begin to make more major changes to his farm.
This trip showed that soil carbon sequestration can benefit everyone involved. The little bits of soil that we collected may seem small, but they’re part of a larger goal of creating an efficient, quantifiable method of measuring soil carbon, incentivizing farmers to improve their soils and help solve the problem of climate change. This can create a wining scenario for the farmers in terms of a new revenue stream and improved soils, and for the planet in terms of reduced carbon in the atmosphere. Not bad for a little soil.
Will outcome metrics have outcomes?
There’s no question that the time for outcome metrics has come. Jason Clay was an early proponent of choosing a limited set of key issues that might provide a compass heading for all sustainability standards in agriculture. In 2004 Jason and a group of other Food Lab founders, including Jan Kees Vis of Unilever, developed a benchmarking tool for standards and called for a “meta-standard.” SAI Platform is now working on an updated benchmarking report, which builds on research among many different industry leaders.
When asked for key steps to make progress across the food industry, Rand Waddoups of Wal-Mart suggested that a limited number of meta-level goals might help overcome debate and focus the industry on common action.
The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, the Field to Market Alliance of the Keystone Center, and the State of Sustainability Initiatives initiative of IISD are all aimed at supplementing practice standards with performance metrics. Dairy Management Incorporated is leading the US dairy sector toward a sustainability scorecard anchored in life cycle analysis. Because standards are challenged to describe the impacts of certification, the ISEAL Alliance is creating a Common Code of Practice for Assessing the Impact of Standards.
Private foundations are also in the game. The Ford Foundation is supporting tools for measuring impacts of value chains and standards on poverty. The Packard Foundation is involved in many projects that require impact measurement, particularly those aimed at climate impacts. The Rockefeller Foundation is supporting work on metrics for investment funds.
Rationale for outcome metrics
Outcome metrics are useful validation for prescribed best practices, and metrics can also help us make decisions about which practice or which practice-based-standard is likely to best serve specific objectives. The process of coming up with metrics, using multi-stakeholder processes, brings a collective intelligence greater than any one organization can summon by itself.
If we were to agree on a common set of meta-issues, such a common compass heading for the whole industry could help bridge differences and provide a platform for continual dialogue and iteration of standards to be more inclusive of all of the important sustainability issues. Outcome metrics can help us head in the same direction, based on the best science we have available, with common definitions and rigor.
REFLECTIONS FROM THE CROSSROADS
Food Fights or Potluck
by Hal Hamilton
Millions of activists think that industrial agriculture is poisoning people and raping the earth for profit. On the other side of the field, farmers in Iowa, France or Brazil are trying to make a living and proud of both productivity and conservation.
The Ag Revolution conference in March drew people from organic to conventional, from small farmers to senior vice-presidents of multi-national corporations. We succeeded at gathering an amazing group of diverse players, AND we were reminded of wide gulfs among them. Even the word “revolution” in the title was offensive to some who attended.
Gary Hirshberg, founder and CEO of Stonyfield Farms Yogurt, gave one of the opening keynote speeches. Gary is passionate about organic and about “changing the whole system.” His passion is authentic and powerful, and focused on small organic farms. Gary’s framing of sustainability rankled mainstream farm leaders.
On the other side of the spectrum, proponents of small scale organic farming were irritated when commodity farm leaders equated sustainability with high productivity and genetic engineering.
Those of us who organized the conference hoped that speakers and sessions would stimulate convergence among diverse groups. Everyone did have stimulating engagement with the big issues—climate, water, ecosystem services, and poverty. Reports came back that everyone learned a lot and felt they had benefited from talking with people who think differently from them.
Polarized attitudes persisted, nonetheless. One person wrote the following on her conference feedback form: “There is a huge clash of the titans in the food sector, a clash between those who have benefited from the rules of the game (corporations and large farms), and a David-against-Goliath force of those who are clamoring for a different system.”
David-against-Goliath energy leads people to castigate larger farmers and market players as ‘all bad.’
Gene Kahn, a VP at General Mills, argued that the very word ‘conventional’ is demeaning. The dictionary definition of conventional includes: “conforming to accepted standards,” and “formal, rather than spontaneous or original.” As Gene said, virtually nobody would want to be described that way. The best conventional farmers are, in fact, continual innovators.
Mainstream agriculture is on a path to sustainability these days, especially if measured per unit of yield. A recent report by the Field to Market Alliance demonstrates decreased water, energy and soil problems per bushel of corn, soybeans, wheat, or cotton. Nobody claims, however, that they have solved all the problems.
If we measure the health of migrating bird species or the size of the hypoxic (dead) zone in the Gulf of Mexico, we know we have a very long way to go, and we’re not moving fast enough. We still need to invent a food system that runs on renewable energy and ensures healthy diets.
Awareness and action are growing. When we started the Sustainable Food Lab five years ago sustainability was marginal. Now it’s mainstream. Sustainability is at the top of the agenda of every single organization in our field—from multinational corporations to farmer cooperatives to agricultural universities.
The movement toward a sustainable food system, even if long and conflicted, is a shared path. None of us invented it. None of us own it. If humanity is to make sufficient progress for our grandchildren to prosper, we need everyone on board.
We can enjoy our local tomatoes and we can also wish for Brazilian soybeans to be sustainably produced. If our goal is a globally diverse system in which everyone and the planet benefits, there’s room for innovation on all fronts.
Perhaps instead of a food fight we can have a potluck.
New Members of Sustainable Food Lab
Canada has emerged as a world leader in the production and export of pulse crops - pea, chickpea, lentil and bean – through the benefits of research, advanced technology, and our natural production advantage. World class processing and handling systems meet customer needs for product quality and safety.
Pulse Canada, a confederation of pulse industry associations, represents the growers and exporters of Canadian pulse crops.
The priority areas are:
- Market growth and innovation
- Environmental sustainability
- Market access
- Transportation
Pulse Canada’s members are the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission, the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association, the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing board, the Ontario Coloured Bean Growers, and the Canadian Special Crops Association (CSCA). The processors and exporters of Canadian peas, lentils, beans and chickpeas are represented through the membership of the Canadian Special Crop Association.
Food Alliance is a nonprofit organization that certifies farms, ranches, food processors, and distributors for sustainable agricultural and facility management. Certification by an independent third-party like Food Alliance, with meaningful standards and a credible audit process to verify marketing claims, is increasingly important for companies trying to differentiate products and build trust with skeptical consumers.
Food Alliance launched its certification program in 1998 with a single apple grower selling fruit in three Portland grocery stores. Today, there are over 320 certified farms and ranches in 23 U.S. states, managing over 5.6 million acres of range and farmland. The majority are mid-sized or smaller family-owned and operated businesses. Food Alliance has also certified 6 distribution centers and 18 food processing facilities.
Businesses participating in Food Alliance’s program report a wide variety of benefits from certification, including positive customer feedback, increased customer loyalty, sales increases, new markets, access to contracts, and price premiums. Food Alliance has also documented improved practices on participating farms and ranches leading to better conditions for thousands of workers, more humane treatment of hundreds of thousands of animals, and reduced pesticide use, healthier soils, cleaner water, and enhanced wildlife habitat on millions of acres of range and farmland.
Learn more about Food Alliance: www.foodalliance.org
The Sustainable Food Lab and Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) collaborated on development of A Short Guide to Sustainable Agriculture.
The intention of this booklet is to give an easy understanding of sustainable agriculture and its main issues. It will be useful particularly for people curious about the business case for sustainable agriculture.
To order multiple copies of this guide order on line at: http://www.sustainablefoodlab.org/resources/publications/ or contact Susan Sweitzer: ssweitzer@sustainablefood.org
Please note the Sustainable Food Lab Save the Date details for a number of upcoming events. You can find these and other news at: http://www.sustainablefoodlab.org/calendar/
September 2009 |
Agricultural Climate Stewardship Strategy Meeting, September 8*-10 at the Glasbern Inn, near Rodale Institute, Allentown, Pennsylvania. Over the course of two days the group will review:
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October 2009 |
Private and public sector value chain/livelihood work in Latin America and the Caribbean, co-sponsored with IFAD and to be held in Rome or Central America |
November 2009 |
Shared Metrics in Action, November 10-12 (near Boston) Objectives :
Coordinated with SAI Platform as well as with key metrics initiatives (DMI Sustainability, Stewardship Index, Field to Market, ISEAL, etc.)
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January 2010 |
New Business Model Team, January 18-22, Ghana |
March 2010 |
Sustainable Food Lab Annual Summit - membership meeting, March 15-19, Costa Rica. With learning journeys preceding a 2-day meeting, the objectives are:
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May 2010 |
Conference with SAI Platform, tentatively May 12-13, Brussels (Build on common metrics work and take the Ag Revolution Conference toward more concrete tools, pilots and deliverables)
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(802) 359-4062 • www.sustainablefood.org