Diversification can help farmers improve their bottom line and the environment

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Diversification can help farmers improve their bottom line and the environment

Diversification can help farmers improve their bottom line and address climate change, according to Solutions from the Land President Ernie Shea.

“We really need to be revisiting how we manage risk,” he says. “Part of that is diversifying opportunities on farms to produce more than just singular commodity crops and thinking about ways that we can prepare for the shocking conditions that are becoming more common place.”

He tells Brownfield farmers should consider market opportunities to help manage risk.  

“Market mechanisms that create new revenue streams—we’re in the early stages of carbon markets and water quality markets and these are important tools in the toolbox that are still evolving and can be a way to help manage risk,” he says.

Shea says research will also help farmers increase farm profitability and the environment.

“As much as we think we know about soil and the carbon cycle, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done so there is greater certainty in terms of investments that farmers will make in managing soil for agricultural outputs and simultaneously sinking carbon in the ground,” he says.

Solutions from the Land focuses on land-based solutions to global challenges.

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