​Growers Needed: Conservation Can Pay
To expand on growing information around the profitability of conservation agriculture in California, EDF and K-Coe Isom are looking for California growers to collaborate on a project to evaluate the financial impact of sustainable viticulture practices. The goals of this project are to:
- Compare crop budgets for orchards using conventional vs. sustainable practices
- Identify benefits, opportunities and limiting factors associated with common conservation approaches
- Help farmers and their business partners better understand the financial dynamics of conservation practice adoption
Methodology
The project team will take a multistep approach to gather, analyze and report on data for a report expected May 2023. For a detailed description, please visit soilhealthpartnership.org/farmfiance, and see EDF’s report “A practitioner’s guide to conducting budget analysis for conservation agriculture” for best practices in collecting economic data (edf.org/measuring-conservationprofitability).
1. Growers will be recruited through project partners American AgCredit, Lodi Rules, SIP Certified, and NapaGreen. We aim to collect financial information from a range of grower types, sizes and regions, gathering a representative sample of 12-24 growers across the state. To be eligible, growers must have adopted practices that reduce vineyard GHG emissions or water use (see examples below).
2. Growers should have accurate and frequent record keeping strategies for financial years 2021 and 2022 to participate; additional coaching and reviews to determine participation eligibility will be available.
3. Accounting partner K-Coe Isom will work with participating growers to gather the necessary data and fill out their workbooks. No personally identifying information, including financial information, will be shared with EDF without the growers’ permission. K-Coe Isom will collect information regarding:
- Basic operation
- Detailed conservation practice adoption
- Estimated cost changes attributed to conservation practices
- Farm-level financial data broken down by region and conservation practice.
4. K-Coe Isom will complete an analysis of the farm-level financial impacts of conservation practice adoption. This will be checked with the growers for accuracy. At the grower’s discretion, participating growers may remain anonymous, be described by general characteristics, or be personally profiled with accompanying qualitative experience interviews.
5. K-Coe Isom, EDF, and other project partners will publish a report outlining key takeaways, learnings and data summary.
Total ask of growers’ time and resources:
- Provide financial and conservation practice records to K-Coe Isom for 2021 and 2022
- One interview with K-Coe Isom to support their analysis of the records
- Review of the analysis for accuracy
Click below to contact Alan Grafton: Alan.Grafton@pinionglobal.com to join the study.