The environmental and health benefits of organic agriculture are plentiful, but the problem is that farmers seeking to tap into the organic market often face prohibitive costs when transitioning their conventional production methods to organic ones. In order to spur more organic farming in America, private companies are starting to pick up the slack by helping finance the upfront costs on behalf of farmers. For example, Pipeline Foods created a program that provides grain farmers with economic support, marketing assistance, and insurance advice for farms that are in the process of switching to organic. Elsewhere, yogurt-giant Danone is offering farms a cost-plus contract in which the company covers the input costs and guarantees a margin of return for a specific duration of time to support dairy farms that are transitioning. Making the switch from conventional farming methods to organic farming isn’t so straightforward for most farmers, but thanks to a number of food giants including Kashi & Land o’Lakes, more and more farmers are finding the means to do so.
Major food companies are backing farmers to make the switch to organic
More of Today's Solutions
How citizen scientists are driving tangible change in Australia
Citizen science has evolved as a formidable force in conservation, propelled by regular people's passion and dedication to conserving our planet's irreplaceable ecosystems. Citizen ...
Read MoreMeet Dr. Wade: writer of thousands of Wikipedia pages for women scientists
Though the world has made some strides in gender equality, there is certainly still room for improvement, especially in the field of science, technology, ...
Read MoreArt preserves endangered flora in Himalayas—where conservation and culture co...
"In 2002, I was returning to Kalimpong in the eastern Himalaya region of India, and I found numerous trees had been cut down for ...
Read MorePrescribed thinning and controlled burns critical in preventing California wi...
A pioneering two-decade-long study done in California's Sierra Nevada mountains confirms the effectiveness of forest management strategies such as restorative thinning and regulated burning ...
Read More
