March/April

Natural Soybean and Grain Alliance developing non-GMO opportunities for Arkansas farmers

A new organization aims to help Arkansas farmer realize opportunities in non-GMO food and agriculture markets. The Natural Soybean and Grain Alliance (NSGA) was established in 2015 after co-founders Kelly Cartwright and Lanny Ashlock helped develop the edamame food soybean industry in Arkansas. “We’re trying to develop markets for non-GMO soybeans,” says Cartwright, NSGA’s executive […]

Impossible Burger exec grilled at Sustainable Foods Summit

An executive from a company selling a genetically engineered meat alternative faced tough questions at the Sustainable Foods Summit held in San Francisco at the end of January. Nick Halla, chief strategy officer of Impossible Foods, gave a presentation about his company’s Impossible Burger as a sustainable solution to the problems of industrial meat production. […]

As U.S. organic corn acres increase, imports decrease but organic soy imports remain high

By Rachel Storey and Ryan Koory, Mercaris Last year was a newsworthy one for organics. Two major topics of interest were 1) high proportion of organic imports compared to domestically-produced commodities (in the 2016/2017 marketing year, about 78 percent of organic soy and 41 percent of organic corn were imported, per Mercaris data), and 2) […]

Plant-based foods: A robust trend and key mitigator of climate impacts

It’s been called the Trend of the Year for 2018 by restaurant consultant Baum + Whiteman, as plant-based foods capture increasing supermarket shelf space and infiltrate mainstream eating habits. Last year saw an 8.1 percent growth in the sector, compared to a loss of 0.2 percent for all foods sold; the non-dairy milk sector grew […]

Cover crops gaining ground in the U.S.

More farmers growing cover crops to prevent erosion, protect waterways, and regenerate soils