North America is facing an unsustainable agricultural future. Local conservation initiatives and strategic national policy changes can help shift course.
The agriculture industry of the region is laden with challenges. However, recent censuses of both Canadian and American agriculture reveals a rising trend in the prominence of organic farming and other sustainable methods. EcoAgriculture Partners has joined a coalition of organizations, Solutions from the Land, in the push for a new paradigm for American agriculture. This push towards sustainability in the industry is gaining traction as increased societal concern about the adverse relationships between poor land management, climate change, biodiversity, and rural and urban community health, expressed in consumer demand for eco-friendly and locally-produced foods.
EcoAgriculture Partners worked with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of Environmental Markets to study and describe, in a series of detailed case studies and posters, innovative payments for ecosystem service (PES) projects in the Farms of the Future Project. This initiative raised the profile of working farms, forests, and ranches that supplement traditional income by generating new revenue from ecosystem service provision, in the form of improved water quality, biodiversity conservation, wildlife habitat, flood control and carbon sequestration. Our case studies highlighted key lessons learned to demonstrate these innovations within USDA, to researchers and to the public.
The Biophilia Foundation, a non-profit organization, and partners, Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage and Water Stewardship Inc., anticipate that credits will appreciate in value as a legislative framework for nutrient trading is established in the Chesapeake Bay. Agricultural, Ecological and Regulatory Context Agriculture presents a critical opportunity for restoring water quality and biodiversity through market-based mechanisms for […]
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Buck Island Ranch (BIR) is one of eight participating ranches in the Florida Ranchlands for Environmental Services Project (FRESP), a project initiated in 2005 by World Wildlife Fund, ranchers, researchers, and state and federal agency partners. Driven by the desire to restore the ecosystems of the Florida Everglades and still retain Florida’s vibrant agricultural industry, […]
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Agricultural, Ecological and Regulatory Context The Sacramento River Ranch property lies adjacent to the Sacramento River, which runs from Mount Shasta to the San Francisco Bay, in California. River Ranch practices conventional and organic agriculture, and engages in other activities that support its vision of integrated conservation and agricultural production in a managed landscape. Maintaining […]
More InfoGuiding private sector partnership development that improves landscape performance.
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