Yesterday, AgriCapture participated in Harvesting Hope: USDA’s Agrifood Innovation Symposium, an agricultural and food system innovation event at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.
As one of three invited awardees from the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative, AgriCapture joined 20 other exhibitors from the fields of food science, technology, and research to engage with policymakers and members of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- In 2022, AgriCapture was awarded $7.5 million from the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative to develop a market for Climate-Friendly Rice.
- In March 2024, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recognized AgriCapture for bringing the first USDA-funded climate-smart product to market: Great River Milling Sustainably Grown Long Grain Rice.
Building a Market for Climate-Friendly Rice
Megan Garvey and Secretary Vilsack discussing AgriCapture’s success building a market for Climate-Friendly Rice.
AgriCapture highlighted the three necessary parts to create a market for Climate-Friendly Rice:
- Farmer Incentives + Adoption
- Verification of Results
- Identity Preservation + Market-Building
AgriCapture showcased its in-house Monitoring, Reporting, & Verification solutions. Utilizing field-level data, remote sensing, satellite imagery, & soil sampling, AgriCapture confirmed climate-smart farming activity across 20,000 acres of US rice farms in 2023.
After verifying health and environmental impacts with integrity, AgriCapture identity preserves rice through the supply chain. This ensures characteristics including water-savings, reduced GHGs, and lower arsenic, are maintained when rice is packaged for retail.
Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting & Verification is the foundation for food system sustainability. AgriCapture prioritizes field-level data to provide solutions for sourcing identity preserved crops, insetting supply chain emissions, and offsetting environmental impact with high-integrity carbon credits.
AgriCapture just announced the first-ever carbon credits for large scale rice methane reduction in U.S. history.
Collaborative Efforts Highlighted by Secretary Vilsack
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addresses the Agrifood Innovation Symposium crowd.
The Symposium, co-hosted with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, brought together policymakers and members of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The event showcased food system solutions funded by USDA investments aimed at creating a more nutritious, sustainable, and equitable agrifood system.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced a new USDA and FFAR Innovation Challenge. This funding opportunity focuses on developing solutions that address nutrition security, equity and justice, and climate-smart agriculture. Secretary Vilsack encouraged event attendees and exhibitors to view these as interconnected issues as he addressed the crowd of nearly 400.
