Sustainable Agriculture & Food Policy

Stabinsky said: "African governments see money; and the picture that the World Bank is painting is a very worthy one. The more land you have, the more soil carbon you can sell. And there is so much land tenure based on customary tenure in Africa; lots of people don't have private title of their land. "So if you really can create the need for a verifiable commodity [in carbon], there may be a reason for governments to go in and claim that land. And the government can do it if they want," she said.

“I’m honored to be appointed alongside such an intelligent and experienced group of colleagues” stated Dr. Dlott, SureHarvest CEO. “It’s a privilege to serve on the panel to advise and assist Secretary Ross in her commitment to strengthen California agriculture’s positive impacts on the economy and environment.”

Jeff Dlott (1992) and his company, SureHarvest, have been awarded a six figure grant by the USDA to help crop owners measure the success of their sustainability practices. The grant allows SureHarvest to continue its work developing a way for companies to identify and track sustainable processes and materials in their supply chain and do in field pilot testing, said Jeff Dlott, founding president of SureHarvest. The grant will be split with SureHarvest partners and makes up less than 10 percent of the company's revenues.

Polluted aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley deprive dozens of communities of safe tap water. Switzer Fellow Carolina Balazs is working with local residents to help understand and address the problem. Produced by 2003 Switzer Fellow Jim Downing. (See related post.)