This piece was written to accompany my Nuffield Farming Scholarship journey and report. It also sits alongside a case study I’ve written about the Sustainable Food Lab’s Crop Diversification in America’s Corn Belt initiative.
Key Takeaways
- To build a more regenerative agricultural system, conventional farmers must be engaged. They care for most of the land and grow most of what society eats.
- To build trust and support the right change, food companies and buyers need to show up on farms and/or build a network of trusted advisors who can work as intermediaries.
- For farmers working to incorporate regenerative agriculture practices, it’s not just about undergoing a “mindset shift”. While this is important, there may also be complex logistical challenges to overcome; this may require specific support and can take time to implement.
- Three pillars of support that companies should be thinking about include (1) technical support, (2) financial incentives to de-risk the practice change, and (3) farmers being part of a community of farmers on a similar journey.
Introduction
Last August, in Vermont (USA), I met with Elizabeth Reeves from the Sustainable Food Lab, an organisation that works to implement large-scale sustainability change in the mainstream food system.
I first met Elizabeth several years ago when I was running a project that focused on increasing the sustainability of animal feed (more about this here). Elizabeth shared such valuable insights about building a more sustainable agricultural system, so I was very grateful we could spend some quality time together.
History of the Sustainable Food Lab
During the first part of our conversation, Elizabeth took me for a hike in the hills of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. She began by sharing with me the history of the Sustainable Food Lab, an organisation started in 2004. The Sustainable Food Lab began as an ambitious initiative to take sustainability from niche to mainstream in major food supply chains. The founding leadership group of thirty people came from three continents, and multiple businesses, nonprofits, and governments and was led by Hal Hamilton and Don Seville and founded on work they had done together with Donella Meadows. Meadows is well-known as a pioneer in systems change practice. Her teachings are frequently cited by people who teach concepts and tools related to systems thinking. Hamilton, originally a dairy farmer in Kentucky, previously did work that was pivotal in supporting tobacco farmers and their rural communities. He also served as the executive director of the Sustainability Institute (now the Academy of Systems Change), founded by Donella Meadows.
The Food Lab works on a variety of projects internationally, focusing on smallholder farms as well as larger-scale commodity farming. Their work provides companies with valuable space to confront complex food system problems and consider how they might shift business as usual. I’ve written further about one of their major USA projects, Crop Diversification on America’s Corn Belt, here.
Image: A farmer meeting, facilitated by the Sustainable Food Lab, image courtesy of the Sustainable Food Lab.
Elizabeth explained that what made her most proud about the Food Lab’s work was the focus on supporting companies to craft plans that are truly centred around the needs of farmers. This farmer focus is crucial, because ultimately, they are the primary decision-makers about how crops and livestock are grown, so without listening properly to their needs, it will be impossible to support a transition towards more regenerative farming systems.
Farmers are the primary decision-makers. They select which crops to grow, what livestock to raise, and what methods to use.
Elizabeth Reaves and Hal Hamilton (2002), “Businesses are Cultivating Regenerative Agriculture: Watch Out for 3 Potential Traps”. Online article.
Helping Food Companies Build Trust With Farmers
Elizabeth explained that the Food Lab’s most successful projects are when the companies they work with show genuine care about the farmers they source from. As such, to build trust and create real change, many companies are now learning the importance of engaging directly with farmers, rather than working through intermediaries in the supply chain.
Companies that take time to show up in the farming communities they source from and show why they care, help build a higher level of trust.
Interview with Elizabeth Reeves (2023)
Yet Elizabeth also explained how this approach is not always practical. Companies such as Pepsico source from thousands of farms. As such, some companies that are serious about scaling regenerative agriculture are investing in the capacity of trusted advisor networks to operate at scale. An example of this, that the Food Lab have partnered to help create, is the North Dakota Trusted Advisor Partnership. Through this, skilled crop consultants who are focused on soil health can provide a trusted and valuable communication link between the food company and farmers. In this example, Elizabeth suggested a single advisor can reach around 20-30 farmers, covering 30-70,000 acres.
A Well-facilitated Farm Visit
While it’s not unusual for food companies to visit farms to learn more about the challenges and opportunities that farmers are facing, it’s not always facilitated well. One of the skills an organisation like the Food Lab brings is helping companies to show up on farms and for everyone to get the most out of the experience. One example exercise is to start the meeting sitting in a circle, with each participant sharing what they care about.
This simple exercise helps to build an understanding of each person or organisation’s needs, supporting greater trust and empathy. For example, a food company employee might say: “I just want farmers to keep farming and supplying us”, whereas others may share specific environmental goals they are trying to achieve. Whereas the farmer may have an entirely different set of pressing issues, such as soil erosion or drought resilience.
How Can Companies Best Contribute to the Growth of Regenerative Agriculture?
Elizabeth talked about three pillars of support that companies should ensure are in place. The first was access to trusted technical support that’s independent of input sales; an example being the North Dakota Trusted Advisor Partnership. The second was cultural acceptability: how important it is for farmers to be part of a community or social network, with others that are on a similar journey. This means they will feel more comfortable experimenting with regenerative agriculture without worrying about possible social exclusion.
And finally, of course, the need for financial incentives to de-risk the practice change. For example, this could be a conditional cash transfer (typically practice-based payments), a cost-sharing scheme or help to provide markets for new crops, or new forms of crop insurance, that protect regenerative farmers from weather and price volatility. Elizabeth said they are also starting to see more outcome-based payments in direct contracting, i.e. when companies buy directly from the farmer.
Some schemes to support farmers fail to take all three of these needs into account, or companies sometimes make the wrong assumptions about what’s most needed. For example, Elizabeth has seen companies keen to scale regenerative agriculture, starting their journey believing a cost-sharing project is the silver bullet. However, once they spend time to better understand the needs of farmers, they might uncover that there isn’t a local organization that can support the delivery of a cost-share program, nor are there groups of trusted advisors that can deliver farmer technical assistance. Elizabeth believes that companies investing in knowledge networks, whether they are farmer-led or led by crop consultants, can achieve a longer, deeper impact over time, with greater trust established with farming communities.
The Scale Lab Initiative
Some of the insights that Elizabeth shared came out of the Scale Lab initiative, a multi-partner project that asked: “What are the most important enabling conditions for the scaling of regenerative agriculture so that companies hit their 2030 targets and regenerative agriculture becomes mainstream?”
To help companies explore this topic, they used scenarios as a tool, to explore possible futures for the regenerative agriculture movement. And importantly, they confronted the various factors that serve to lock in the status quo: a highly sophisticated and productive system, that creates low-cost commodities.
Comparing Existing and Regenerative Ag. Systems in the USA. Credit: Sustainable Food Lab 2023 Report.
The Scale Lab Project helped major companies come together to understand how achieving regenerative agriculture at scale, in the USA, will require more diverse crops, more attention to landscape-scale biodiversity and more collaboration. This work also concluded that such a transition is impossible without “a reshuffling of markets, policies, corporate accounting requirements, and the support infrastructure that surrounds farmers”. No mean feat at all then!
sustainablefoodlab.org/initiative/scale-lab
But with climate risk an increasingly crucial driver for everyone in the supply chain, there is reason to take this work seriously, invest and act. The Food Lab’s conclusions on scaling up regenerative agriculture made clear that key leverage points in the system include the “engagement of senior executives across companies, supporting agronomists and farmer networks, and broadening goals from specific practice changes to crop diversification“.
Reaching Tipping Points
We know that momentum has been growing around regenerative agriculture. There was a time, several years ago when it was possible to list the handful of major food companies talking about it. Today, many committed farmers are championing it, countless companies use the framing, and various conferences are devoted to it.
While levels of ambition and understanding vary around regenerative agriculture, there is some hope to be found in the concept of tipping points. Experimental evidence demonstrates how small but committed minority groups can trigger a shift in conventions, creating a cascade of social and behavioural change.
The power of small groups, it’s thought, comes not from their authority or wealth but from their commitment to the cause. What is the critical mass required to help unravel a mainstream shift to regenerative agriculture? That’s impossible to predict. But the theory suggests that it’s usually between 10% and 40%. There comes a point when people can see the change that’s coming, and they don’t want to be left behind. The good news is that this momentum and a growing critical mass can be felt in the regenerative agriculture movement, across food companies, farmers, and some politicians.
Final Thoughts
I was so grateful for the time I spent with Elizabeth Reeves and for learning more about her work with the Sustainable Food Lab. I admire the ability the Food Lab has to convene big food companies, to understand and communicate our food system challenges, and most of all, to help create meaningful, practical projects that respond to them.
I particularly admire the empathy Elizabeth brings to her work, her passion for farmers and the importance she places on meeting them where they are. This is crucial. If we are to build a more sustainable food system, then all farmers need to be engaged and supported, and their needs properly understood.
While Elizabeth cares passionately about issues such as improving soil health and addressing climate change, she said that the greatest rewards are often felt when their work is helping improve the relationships between people and nature. It was a grounding moment to hear this, a reminder that ultimately, we are trying to build healthier relationships and connections through our work, between people and the natural world.