Sustainable Agriculture Science

Congo Basin nations to pay communities for protecting forests 🌳 Last month Congo Basin governments used the COP30 summit in Belém to unveil a payments-for-environmental-services scheme meant to shift incentives for communities that rely on forests. The plan, backed by the Central African Forest Initiative, sends money directly to farmers and other participants through a mobile app. Payments are tied to verified tasks such as agroforestry, reforestation, forest regeneration, conservation work, and deforestation-free agriculture, reports Anne Nzouankeu. Officials say the system has moved beyond the experimental stage. “Hundreds of farmers are already under contract and the first direct mobile payments based on performance were successfully made this month, confirming the efficiency and fairness of the system,” Kirsten Schuijt, director-general of WWF International, told Nzouankeu. Pilot efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of the Congo now cover nearly 3,000 hectares and involve about 10,000 people. In Gabon, 15 villages are slated to sign conservation contracts next year that will apply to roughly 50,000 hectares. To expand the model, CAFI has pledged another $100 million, in addition to the $25 million already committed. Whether that funding translates into durable results will depend on execution. Roger Pholo Mvumbi, who leads a DRC civil-society platform focused on food security, argues that precision matters. “The deployment of Payments for Environmental Services is a fine initiative, on the sole condition that the real producer is formally identified,” he said. Without that, benefits could drift away from those doing the work. The urgency is clear. The Congo Basin lost more than 35 million hectares of forest between 1990 and 2020, with clearing driven by farming, fuelwood demand, logging and mining. Pholo sees the new approach as one way to slow the trend. “The payment system can precisely offer communities alternative incomes by remunerating them for practices that preserve the forest rather than destroy it,” he told Nzouankeu. 🌿 The story: https://lnkd.in/gqN5_D2g

Agrivoltaics – combining land for solar and agriculture – is a genuine win-win. It allows a single piece of land to produce both food and clean energy at the same time. Around the world, farmers are finding that solar infrastructure creates microhabitats that boost resilience, improve yields and reduce water stress. For the agriculture: ✅ Shade from the panels lower ground temperatures and reduces evaporation. In arid areas, this has doubled or even tripled crop yields while cutting irrigation needs by half. ✅ Shade-tolerant crops like lettuce, kale, berries and broccoli thrive under reduced heat stress, especially during extreme weather. ✅ Higher soil moisture also promotes healthier pasture, leading to more nutritious forage for grazing animals. For solar operators: ✅ Sheep naturally keep vegetation under control, reducing mowing and maintenance costs and lowering fire risk. They also prevent plants from shading the panels. ✅ Crops underneath the panels help to cool the modules, improving performance on hot days. And the animals benefit too. A 3-year study of 1,700 sheep at the Wellington Solar Farm in NSW found the sheep produced higher quality wool and more of it. The arrays offer shade in summer, shelter during storms and cooler microclimates throughout the day. Economically it's a strong proposition: - Landowners gain a stable income stream while keeping land productive. - Developers access more viable sites with fewer permitting hurdles. - Communities retain agricultural land and benefit from local investment and tax revenue. And in the US, a significant "solar grazing" industry is emerging, where farmers become vegetation managers. They rent out flocks of sheep to solar farm owners and the sheep trim the vegetation. Agrivoltaics is showing that solar and agriculture don’t have to compete for land. They can thrive together – and create more value in the process. Image credit: Enel Green Power #energy #renewables #energytransition

Transforming Agriculture: Key to Achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047 As we march towards the monumental milestone of India's 100th year of independence, it's imperative to reflect on the path forward. In envisioning a Viksit Bharat by 2047, one crucial aspect stands out: the transformation of agriculture. Recently had an opportunity to address a large gathering of students from across the country as part of the "Transcendence..Xenz: National Conference on Agenda of Viksit Bharat 2047" at the Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya. I thank Dr. Bhavin Pandya and the organizers for the opportunity to engage with the young minds and motivate them to make a career in agriculture. Agriculture has been the backbone of India's economy for centuries, employing a significant portion of our population and contributing significantly to our GDP. However, to propel India into a developed nation status with an anticipated GDP of USD 30 trillion, we must reimagine and revitalize our agricultural sector. Some key points to consider: 1. Modernization and Technology Integration: Embracing modern agricultural practices and leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as precision farming, IoT, and AI can revolutionize productivity and efficiency. Empowering farmers with access to these tools can lead to sustainable growth and increased yields. 2. Infrastructure Development: Enhancing rural infrastructure including irrigation systems, transportation networks, and storage facilities is paramount. Improving connectivity and access to markets will enable farmers to sell their produce at fair prices and reduce post-harvest losses. 3. Diversification and Sustainable Practices: Encouraging crop diversification and promoting sustainable farming techniques can mitigate risks associated with climate change and ensure long-term viability. Embracing organic farming and agroforestry can enhance soil health, conserve water, and preserve biodiversity. 4. Market Reforms and Agribusiness: Implementing policy reforms to liberalize agricultural markets and facilitate private investment can spur growth and innovation. Encouraging the development of agribusinesses and food processing industries can add value to agricultural products and create employment opportunities. 5. Skill Development and Education: Investing in agricultural education and training programs can empower the next generation with the knowledge and skills needed to adopt modern practices. Promoting entrepreneurship in agriculture can unlock the potential for agri-startups and agri-tech ventures. Achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047 necessitates a paradigm shift in how we approach agriculture. By embracing innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity, we can unleash the full potential of our agricultural sector and pave the way for a prosperous and resilient India. Let us embark on this transformative journey together, ensuring that no farmer is left behind, and realizing the vision of a vibrant and thriving Bharat.

There is a strong momentum in development of National Agroecology Strategies (NAS) in Africa! In a new brief, the Policy and Advocacy Team at Biovision Foundation has detailed developments in Eastern and Southern Africa, and key lessons learned. This is not desk research. Farmer and civil society organizations and government representatives have a Community of Practice among those working on national strategies and have just completed a second 13 nation peer-to-peer exchange in Dakar, Senegal, bringing together both organic and agroecological movements. In a coming brief, we will summarize these latest lessons learned, also on the issues actors zoomed in on in Dakar: finance mechanisms, implementation pathways and advocacy strategies for domestic and external funding. The 4-pager on current status (see link in comments) covers Kenya and Tanzania, that are 1-2 years into implementation, and gives a status for Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe that are finalizing or now initiating or doing stakeholder consultations for their own strategies. For each country there are also key features such as: ➡️ Priority focus areas in each country (e.g. smallholder farmer knowledge, access to bio-inputs, market development) ➡️ Degree of government engagement and alignment with national goals ➡️ Where local governments are mobilized in scaling agroecology And there is a graphic (see below) showing the 4 objectives covering the food value chain, and 4 cross-cutting objectives found in most national strategies, despite their many differences. Finally, a one-pager summarizes some lessons already learned about some of the tougher challenges, for example: ✅  Resource mobilization ✅  Creating political will and government engagement ✅  Positioning agroecology as a pillar of policies for food security, climate and biodiversity ✅  Ensuring investments in frontline farmer-led and civil society organisations that are needed catalysts and implementers of national strategies. ✅  Building in cross cutting measures for social equity and inclusiveness. ✅  Securing strong interventions for both production and market development ✅  Making each policy measure truly actionable and impactful. Policy is a key piece for food systems change through agroecology. It's not easy. But stakeholders across Africa are getting traction and are inspiring actors worldwide! #agroecology #organic #organicfarming

What if going green meant losing our food? In India, solar energy needs huge land, but farms already use most of it. So is it food vs electricity? A village in Maharashtra may have found a way out. This is called agrovoltaics—one land, two uses. In this pilot project, crops grow below, solar generates power above. Even better, the panels create shade, helping some crops grow better. Farmers can produce food, generate electricity, and even earn more, all from the same land. But it’s not perfect. High initial costs, limited crop choices, and operational challenges still remain. Watch our exclusive ground report by Krishnanshu Panda. This report was produced with support from Earth Journalism Network as part of their workshop on #REinIndia Video edited by Ankit Kumar Gautam

Yesterday, I saw what tomorrow holds for India—a future growing on the land of Mr. Nirmal Das Swami, a farmer in Rajasthan.   Through a government program, Nirmal transformed his 9 hectares of farmland into a solar powerhouse, generating 1.04 megawatts of clean energy.    The impact? Beyond his crops and income, it’s lighting up his entire community:   → Salim, a welding business owner, doubled his working hours and revenue—hiring 6 new workers. → Firoz, a flour mill owner, increased daily production from 500 to 1,000 kg and is employing more people. → Women farmers like Gita, Anju, and Ghisi no longer have to wake up in the middle of the night, the only time power was previously available, to irrigate their crops.   Daytime power has replaced erratic nighttime electricity, enabling livelihoods to thrive.   Rajasthan is proof that changing energy changes lives, especially in rural India.   Today, India is betting big on a just energy transition—by deploying 500 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.    So far, they’ve achieved over 200 GW. Partnerships like the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), of which The Rockefeller Foundation is a member, are paving the way for even greater innovation and impact. For example, GEAPP is supporting 59 solar plants like Nirmal’s, providing 108 megawatts in support of 30,000 farms and enhancing 64,000 jobs across Rajasthan.   This kind of work doesn’t just transform lives—it transforms entire communities.   This is more than a story of one village. This is the future of India.

#ClimateonaPlate 7/30 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞. Let me illustrate that with an example: Most of us understand solar pumps as a farmer subsidy or at best India's transition to green energy. ☀️💦 But when we look closer we see something far more interesting: It's actually about math,and a business model where unit economics makes sense. In reality: It's a financial reform that manifests as a climate forward incentive. For decades, DISCOMs ( electricity distribution companies) have been carrying a quiet burden: - Buying power at ₹6–₹7/unit and supplying it to farmers at ₹0–₹1.5/unit( lets remember 1/5 of the electricity demand in India comes from the agricultural sector). This created annual losses running into thousands of crores. - Extending infrastructure to remote locations in ways that are capex intensive, high on maintenance and prone to breakdowns due to transformer overloads. This system is fragile and expensive, creating structural financial imbalances for Distribution companies. Solar pumps flip this fragile economics. And here's how: ⬇️ - A one time capex replaces 15-20 years of subsidy losses. - Asset payback happens in 3-5 years after which solar pumps are pure financial savings. - Reducing Agricultural load improves voltage levels, brings frequency stability and dramatically reduces transformer failures. - Every unit saved becomes a high-value industrial unit helping bring down cross-subsidy, lowering industrial tariffs, and make the state more competitive. And the result is : 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. They get: • Zero fuel expense. • Predictable daytime irrigation ( don't need to plan their irrigation as per electricity availability) • Healthier soil and better crop planning. • Savings of ₹20,000–₹45,000 a year on fluctuating diesel costs. • The ability to grow higher-value crops with confidence. It’s cheaper, cleaner and more reliable.And it puts control back in the farmer’s hands. When a single intervention makes DISCOMs financially stronger and farmers economically stronger it’s not really a subsidy but sustainability in its best form. By installing 45,911 off-grid solar pumps in 30 days ( a milestone that's now submitted for a Guinness World Record) Maharashtra is leading the country as the No.1 state in deployment under the #PMKUSUM and #MTSKPY schemes Solar pumps aren’t a welfare scheme.They’re a structural reform — one of the biggest we’ve seen in India’s power sector in years. The #GreenEconomy is scalable,possible and sustainable when done right . CM Devendra Fadnavis, MSEDCL , lokesh chandra, IAS Abha Shukla, Gopal Kabra Umesh Balani Abhijeet Gan Dinesh Patidar

This can be applied to small farming communities throughout Southeast Asia. "The application of a solar power model combined with agricultural production helps many farmers in Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces become more proactive in production plans and reduce costs. Framer Nguyen Huu Hanh, 45, is one of the pioneers of installing and using solar power in his 5,000sq.m garden in An Hao Commune’s Vo Ba Hamlet in An Giang Province’s Tinh Bien District. Hanh said the hamlet had access to electricity from the national grid more than a year ago. However, most people use solar power because their houses are too far from the grid and the cost of getting electricity is high. Many families getting electricity from the national grid still use solar power in parallel, he said. Nearly 10 years ago, with financial support from the province’s Department of Agriculture and the Green Innovation Development Centre (GreenID), he installed solar panels on the roof of his house and the tangerine garden. “Using solar power is safe, and helps protect the environment and reduce costs,” he said. Before installing solar panels, he used about seven litres of oil every day to run a diesel engine for lighting and pumping water. “Now I can save more than VNĐ3 million (US$122.5) per month. I have been using the panels for 10 years and they still work normally," he said. Most of the local households in three hamlets in the commune are using solar power. In the past, people here were very poor. Thanks to using solar power, people have developed a garden economy and improved their lives, he said. Nguyen Van Mung is also a pioneer in installing solar panels for his 8,000sq.m pepper garden. He installed four solar panels on the roof of his house for running a solar-powered pump system and storing more than 500W of electricity each day. Earlier, his family spent more than VNĐ300,000 ($12.3) every week on buying oil to pump water to irrigate his pepper garden. Since solar power has been available, watering the pepper garden has always been proactive, reducing costs, he said. “The pepper garden is fully watered, so every year my pepper always has a higher quality and is sold at a good price,” he said. For last year's pepper crop, he harvested nearly 500kg and sold it at VNĐ150,000 - 250,000 ($6.1-10.2) depending on the type, but that was not enough to satisfy customer demand. Nguyen Van Dung, chairman of Farmers' Association of An Hảo Commune, said the three communes of Vo Dau, Vo Ba, Thien Tue on the Cam Mountain have 754 households with 2,735 people. Nearly 100 per cent of households here have used solar power in daily life and production for more than 10 years." https://lnkd.in/gt4HAQtM

When I was in business school, we worked through a case called Carter Racing. A race team with a shot at winning, but chronic engine issues traced back to faulty seals. We had all the data—weather, track conditions, mechanical history. The question: address the issue or run the race? Then came the twist—it wasn’t about racing at all. It was NASA’s Challenger data. Those “engine seals” were the shuttle’s O-rings, and the key variable every team ignored was temperature (NASA did too). The O-rings weren’t built for the cold. We know the rest of the story. That’s glyphosate in the U.S. feedlot system—the overlooked O-ring. Regulators call it safe because mammals don’t have a shikimate pathway like plants. True. But cattle’s rumen microbes do—and those microbes supply the essential amino acids the herd can’t run without. Shut down that microbial pathway and you start a cascade: amino acid output drops, hormone and immune systems slip, and glyphosate binds manganese, zinc, and iron—starving the enzymes that keep metabolism and immunity functioning. For an individual animal, it’s a slow bleed: rumen output stalls, stress reactivity climbs, the immune system drags, feed conversion ratios slide from 6:1 to 8:1. We feed longer and ship heavier—pushing carcass weights toward 1,000 lbs. Not because bigger is better, but because more pounds spread yardage, overhead, and interest over a larger base. It makes the closeout pencil, even if the feed-to-gain ratio has quietly worsened. This isn’t a natural, healthy diet that could sustain an animal long-term. It’s a feedlot ration—high-grain, glyphosate-heavy—built for a short life: fast gain before diminishing returns overtake the value. And it’s getting worse. Here’s what you need to understand: SARA, rumenitis, and liver abscess rates are already industry standard. Glyphosate-driven microbiome collapse and gut barrier damage stack on top of SARA. Chronic inflammation makes every heat wave or handling day a risk. Mineral shortfalls erode hoof health, immune resilience, and thyroid function. Residues at “legal” levels still harm sensitive gut bacteria. At the scale of the U.S. feedlot herd, these variables create fat tail risk—systemic inefficiency baked into the supply chain. It’s not one bad animal; it’s the design of the system. Glyphosate residues → microbiome hit → barrier leak + mineral loss → hormone/immune disruption → FCR spread → carcass weight push. The Challenger didn’t fail from one big blunder—it failed because a small part turned out to be more critical than anyone understood. Feedlot glyphosate is the same: misunderstood, downplayed, in a system too important to get wrong. If you work anywhere in the beef chain—from pasture to processor—you’ve seen what happens when we try to outrun a hidden risk. This one’s been building for decades. The question is how long we can keep feeding it before it feeds back on us.