This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Lauren Brey, managing director of Farmers for Sustainable Food.
The nonprofit organization aims to promote farmer-led solutions to environmental challenges, such as sustainability projects involving dairy farms and other agricultural operations. Multiple pilot projects have a focus on supply chains for farm goods, Brey explains.
“We are part of a $50 million grant through the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities,” she said. “And while our portion of that work focuses on dairy, we also have beet sugar partners as well as others who are doing different things to think about what the impact of conservation on farm financials is.”
Brey discusses the data collection efforts linked to those projects, noting the program is looking to get more farmers enrolled in these efforts. Documenting the impacts of conservation practices helps the nonprofit promote the environmental and financial outcomes to others, she said.
“We don’t dictate or prescribe practices to the farmers,” she said. “We’re working with farmers who are making those decisions based on their business goals and their priorities in their community, so we’re just helping them gather the data around what they’re doing and what it means.”
That process involves offering technical support and sharing data reports with participating farmers, as well as building on successful pilots. Projects include planting various cover crops, nutrient management plans, reduced till or no-till practices and more, Brey said.
The program also facilitates the sharing of findings between farmers and offers benchmarking to give participants more context for their conservation goals.
“You see where your farm compares with some of your peers, or state and national averages where we have enough data to pull those numbers,” she said.
Brey also shares details on top goals for the program, which aims to bring more farmers in the Upper Midwest region on board and land more grant funding and sponsorships.
“We’re still in that startup, nonprofit phase, and it takes people to provide the support to the farms and to do this work,” she said. “We need funding to continue to be able to expand this … the USDA climate smart grant is a great first step in that direction, but it is a five-year grant so we do have our eye on the future.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
