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Food & Water Stories

Upper Mississippi River Foodscape

A green pasture.
Southern Minnesota farm TNC is working with farmers and other landowners in the Mississippi River basin and along tributaries like the Root River. © Mark Godfrey/The Nature Conservancy

The Upper Mississippi River (UMR) Basin—encompassing portions of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin—is home to one of the most productive agricultural regions in the United States, producing billions of dollars’ worth of crops annually. The farming operations in this region are a vital lifeline for local communities, providing food, jobs and economic stability.

Unfortunately, some agriculture practices inadvertently pose significant environmental challenges. For instance, over 90% of the region’s row crop acres are dominated by corn and soybean crops. Although highly efficient, this form of a monoculture agriculture system has led to soil degradation, flooding risks, water quality and habitat concerns, and climate vulnerability.

Additionally,  farmers’ livelihoods and quality of life are susceptible to market fluctuations given the limited diversity of the commodities they produce. 

The Midwest and Beyond The Upper Mississippi River Foodscape is part of the larger 31-state Mississippi River System. The environmental and economic impacts of agriculture production in the Foodscape—whether good or bad—affect millions of people, as well as the lands, waters and critical wildlife habitats throughout the Midwestern United States. © Alison Surdoval/TNC

In response to these challenges, The Nature Conservancy launched the Upper Mississippi River Foodscape, a collaborative effort bringing together diverse players across the food and agriculture industries to help transition millions of acres of working lands to regenerative systems—systems that work in harmony with nature and deliver net-positive benefits for people and the planet

Guided by science and building on more than 30 years of working with farmers and the larger agriculture industry, TNC’s UMR Foodscape initiative aims to enhance the region’s long-term ability to produce food. This approach promises to deliver significant economic benefits and stability to farmers and their communities, as well as enhance the natural communities and resources that make this region special.

The UMR Foodscape is one of several foodscape projects around the globe designed to transform the world’s food systems by supporting environmental, economic, and social change at local and regional scales.

Quote: Lisa Kushner

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Our aim is to help farmers create a regenerative agriculture system that will benefit their operations, their communities, and contribute to a healthier planet for us all.

Regenerative Food System Manager, North America Agriculture

What Is a Foodscape?

A foodscape is a specific area of food production, defined by the combination of biophysical characteristics and management attributes in that area. Simply put, a foodscape maps a portion of the global food system, categorized by ecological and human influence.

What are Foodscapes? (2:36) What does it take to produce food? This animated explainer video walks through the layered complexity of our global food systems and the foodscapes that underpin them.

Catalyzing Change

The Upper Mississippi River Foodscape team aims to help producers shift 50% of the region’s agricultural lands to practices that improve water quality, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and resiliency by 2030. This transformation, which will help farmers secure their future while restoring and protecting nature, is possible by enhancing and scaling five areas of on-the-ground practices throughout the region:

Our Path to Success

Accelerating and expanding the use of regenerative agriculture practices and systems throughout the Foodscape is an ambitious undertaking that requires collaboration across business, agriculture, science and political sectors. TNC has long partnered with public and private stakeholders throughout the food and agriculture industries. The Foodscape initiative is expanding upon these collaborations to unlock systemic levers of change for the benefit of farmers, communities and nature throughout the region and beyond. Explore our strategies below.

Hands holding grains.
Diversify Markets The UMR Foodscape team is supporting the development of new infrastructure to encourage increased oat farming. © Markus Spiske / CreativeCommons

Markets

The UMR Foodscape team is working to increase diverse markets by supporting the development of new infrastructure, exploring ways to mitigate risks for farmers to grow new crops, and demonstrating how diversified crop systems can help businesses meet their environmental goals.

The team is considering several types of markets, including biofuels, pasture-based livestock, and oats. With regard to oats, for instance, the Foodscape is supporting the development of a new mill, exploring crop insurance, and assessing the environmental footprint of oat crops and how it relates to the sustainability goals of businesses.

The Midwest Row Crop Collaborative, of which TNC is a founding member, is building a corporate business case for diversified crop rotations and sourcing, with the UMR Foodscape as the geographical focal point. 

The U.S. Capitol building.
Working with Partners The Foodscape team is working with partners to ensure local, state and federal policies and resources support the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices. © Devan King/TNC

Public Policy

The Foodscape team is working with partners to ensure local, state and federal policies and resources support the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across the region:

  • The Wisconsin Grazing Coalition is committed to ensuring favorable policy and technical and financial resources to increase grazing access and capacity in the state.
  • Foodscape policy experts worked with researchers at the University of Minnesota to study lessons learned and enabling conditions for policies related to agricultural runoff in the region.
  • The policy team is working with researchers at Cornell University to study water quality outcomes from policies of interest.
A farmer squatting to look at the ground between corn plants.
Providing Resources TNC convened a meeting of partners and stakeholders in the Foodscape region to develop recommendations for providing technical and financial resources to farmers. © Fauna Creative

Farm Advisors and Networks

The Foodscape team is working with a range of partners to support farmer networks and deploy technical and financial assistance tools to help  farmers adopt regenerative practices.  For instance, the initiative is supporting the developing of the Conservation Connector, a digital platform to help producers, landowners and trusted advisors find programs and service producers to help plan and implement improved practices.

In support of this strategy, TNC convened a 3-day meeting of partners and stakeholders in the Foodscape region to develop recommendations for providing technical and financial resources to farmers for the adoption of regenerative practices. The recommendations, which will be available for review soon, will provide a blueprint for how the Foodscape initiative supports farmers with changing their practices, and ultimately, transforming the region’s food system.

 

We only have years, not decades, to change the course of our planet, and part of the solution is shifting to a food system that restores nature instead of depleting it. The Upper Mississippi River Foodscape can serve as a model on how large-scale food production can enhance biodiversity and support a local food economy that invests in nature-based solutions.

We believe that robust agriculture fields nestled amongst the mighty Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries can produce nutrient-rich food and contribute to a healthy environment and thriving communities. That’s our definition of success.