Agriculture

Resolving the Food Crisis: Assessing Global Policy Reforms Since 2007

Executive summary

IATP comments to MPCA on PFAS biosolids strategy

The following comments were submitted on Dec. 12, 2024 to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.   MPCA’s guiding principles on PFAS pollution are laudable ones, and they are principles that we agree should be pursued:  Prevent PFAS pollution wherever possible. 

Bad climate policy is locking in the factory farm system

Despite a range of climate policies backing factory farm gas, the emerging sector is highly controversial, particularly in rural communities where the highly polluting operations are located.

Buffer Food Stocks for Addressing Volatility and Food Security in Developing Countries – Trends and Future Direction

Uncertainty is an integral part of agricultural production. This brief discusses lessons learned from recent research on public stockholding programs in developing countries. We make some recommendations for policy makers intended to improve their design and implementation.

Carbon Farming Won't Save the Planet

At first glance, funding climate action through soil carbon credits instead of taxpayer dollars may seem like a win-win solution. But real-world evidence suggests that improving soil health and supporting farmers as they adapt to more sustainable practices would be far more effective.

A Just Transition for European farming in sight?

In January, it was hard to imagine how European agriculture would ever balance the needs of farmers, consumers and the planet. Tractors were blocking motorways in protests across the continent. Yet, as the fall colors take over the landscape, the picture is quite different today.

How to Fight a Factory Farm Episode Four: Cleaning up the CAFO Mess

The rise of factory farms in the U.S. didn't happen by accident. Corporate influence over our political system has created policies that subsidize and incentivize the industrial model. But our food system does not have to be this way.

COP16: The Convention on Biodiversity goes to Cali

On Oct. 21, representatives of the world’s governments will gather in Cali, Colombia for two weeks of negotiations, side events and maybe some big announcements, too. They will meet as the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD).

How to Fight a Factory Farm Episode Three: Communities Fight Back

In South Dakota, Iowa and all across factory farm country, everyday people are stepping up and organizing their neighbors to prevent factory farms from being built in their communities. How to fight a factory farm? People power.

How to Fight a Factory Farm Episode Two: The Price We Pay

What does it mean to get big or get out? As CAFOs began to take over livestock production in the U.S. through the 1990s, the consequences of this corporate-controlled, vertically-integrated system rippled throughout rural economies, putting smaller independent farmers and their suppliers out of business, and trapping others in debt and dependence on exploitative meat companies.