Growing Returns

The 2023 farm bill is a historic opportunity to advance climate-smart agriculture to benefit farmers, ranchers and the planet. The bill must prioritize three things: mitigation, adaptation and innovation.

The New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Study was introduced to the public to address flooding. But as it stands today, the current proposal does not reflect the priorities of many community and environmental organizations.

When making any decision, we often find ourselves weighing the pros and cons of an action – the benefits versus the cost. The official practice, referred to as “benefit-cost analysis,” is not only used by individuals and businesses, but also by the federal government when determining funding for a program or initiative. In simple terms, when the benefits exceed the cost of an investment, federal funding may be made available.

The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 (WRDA 2022) passed through Congress last December as part of the this typically biennial and bipartisan legislation invests in water infrastructure by authorizing projects, studies and programs led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

Wildfires are nothing new. In most of North America, fires are actually critical parts of a functioning ecosystem.  Recovering forests play important and often underappreciated roles as ephemeral homes for fire-adapted species, and the mosaic left behind by a fire – untouched forests, slightly dead forests, totally burnt forests – is important for regulating future […]

Climate change is projected to impact agricultural production worldwide, and 87% of agricultural finance institutions in a recent survey expect it to present risks to their business. Meanwhile, only 24% significantly factor climate change into their decision-making processes. A new guide from EDF and Deloitte offers five strategies for agricultural finance institutions to manage climate risks and act on […]

How technology like artificial intelligence and robotics can contribute to better soil health, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, lower water use and more.

Forest carbon credits may prove to be a useful tool to reduce net carbon emissions from land use and supplement overall emissions reductions. To be effective, however, carbon credits must represent real carbon storage that can be measured and attributed to the crediting system. One of the hallmarks of a high-integrity carbon credit program is […]

The extremely wet spring of 2019 caused 14.2 million acres of cropland to go unplanted in the Midwest. Farmers across the region had flooded fields that kept them from getting equipment onto the fields to plant their crops. This resulted in over $4 billion of prevent-plant crop insurance claims, which assists farmers when weather conditions […]

U.S. farmers, ranchers and foresters will need additional tools and resources to protect their land, keep growing food on a changing planet and contribute to national efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That’s where the farm bill comes in. The farm bill is a critical piece of legislation that comes up every five years. It […]

No region of the US is unaffected by the impacts of climate change. New research led by EDF economists finds that increasing flood risk due to climate change pose threats to the stability of the US housing market.

By Karly Kelso Food systems transformation is increasingly getting traction globally, making the case that we can’t meet our Paris climate agreements without food at and on the table. That was certainly true at the recently held Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin, known as the largest informal gathering of Agriculture Ministers.  This […]

The Mississippi River Basin is sensitive to increased risks of flooding and poor water quality. However, natural infrastructure could help mitigate these risks.

Wetlands can be powerhouses for climate adaptation and resilience. This World Wetlands Day, we are highlighting one type of wetland that impacts people the most – coastal urban wetlands.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has released its Record of Decision on a restoration project known as the Maurepas Diversion that will serve as mitigation for the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain hurricane risk reduction levee project (WSLP).

This announcement builds on past successes, with a plan to accelerate action in the years to come.

The Biden-Harris administration announced the release of a Roadmap to Accelerate Nature-Based Solutions to address climate change, inequity, and nature loss. It could be the key to future resilience planning.

As the U.S. works to stabilize the climate and foster innovative domestic industries, reducing emissions from agriculture — currently about 10% of annual emissions — is a critical piece of the puzzle. Yet federal R&D investments in agricultural climate solutions remain 35 times smaller than clean energy R&D investments. Of the limited agricultural R&D spending, […]

This blog is co-authored with the California Water Data Consortium. By Mike Myatt (Senior Director, Climate Resilient Water Systems – EDF) and Hannah Ake (Senior Program Manager – California Water Data Consortium) A key first step toward managing groundwater sustainably in California, as required by the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), is tracking how […]

Many major banks have set targets to reduce financed greenhouse gas emissions in their loan portfolios to zero by 2050 (also known as net zero targets). They join a growing movement of companies throughout the agricultural supply chain to set ambitious targets to reach net zero by 2050 to prevent the most severe impacts from […]