NEW YORK, May 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Handsome Brook Farms, a leading national pasture-raised organic egg producer, is partnering with Green America’s Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI) to accelerate regenerative agriculture on layer hen farms across the country.
Launched in 2022, SCI’s Go-To-Market Pilot Program supports and incentivizes farmers to adopt regenerative practices at increasing scale. Regenerative agriculture refers to farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, build soil health, increase biodiversity above and below ground, and reduce agricultural nutrient runoff.
Handsome Brook Farms joined Soil Carbon Initiative’s Pilot Program as a ‘Founding Company’ to help shape SCI’s future program design and to achieve the soil health goals outlined in its 4-year USDA Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) titled Regenerative Egg Farming Project (REFP).
“Handsome Brook Farms is excited to partner with Soil Carbon Initiative,” says Jordan Czeizler, CEO of Handsome Brook Farms. “We’re passionate about exploring the ways SCI can help us grow our involvement with regenerative agriculture while providing consumers with high quality eggs that enhance farmland and farmer livelihoods.”
Through REFP, five Handsome Brook Farms growers in Kentucky are adopting regenerative practices, formerly seen as cost-prohibitive, including tree and shrub establishment in the pasture, cross-fencing to promote vegetative cover, more robust rotational grazing strategies, and building manure storage structures. These site-specific projects are measuring the social and environmental impact of regenerative agriculture on pasture-raised layer farms and build off of the projects HBF finances through its Cost-Share program.
"Green America is honored to partner with Handsome Brook Farms to develop regenerative practices as part of this project and verify their accomplishments through Green America's Soil Carbon Initiative," says Alisa Gravitz, Green America's CEO. "Handsome Brook Farms' strategy for regeneratively managing the pastures with their farm partners will unlock soil and climate health, and improve water use, biodiversity, farm profitability and nutrition benefits for consumers."
A joint study from McKinsey and NielsenIQ finds consumers are increasingly purchasing products that claim to be socially and environmentally responsible. Despite this trend, only 19 percent of people surveyed in the International Food Information Council study on consumer awareness of regenerative agriculture said they were familiar with the term regenerative. SCI’s program aims to increase awareness of regenerative agriculture by partnering across the supply chain to educate growers, brands, retailers, and consumers on the holistic benefits of regenerative agriculture systems.
About Handsome Brook Farms
Handsome Brook Farms is a pioneer in pasture raised organic egg production. Founded in upstate New York with five hens, Handsome Brook has grown into one of the largest producers of organic pasture raised eggs in the country, with partner farms in 10 states. Handsome Brook Farms is dedicated to acting handsomely in all that they do – from treating farmers, animals, and land with the utmost respect, to helping consumers access a clean, responsibly-raised source of protein that they know they can trust – from coop to carton.
About Soil Carbon Initiative/Green America
Designed with input from over 150 food system stakeholders – from farmers to global food companies to soil and climate scientists – the Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI) is a commitment and third-party verification program for soil and climate health. SCI was created with broad supply chain support in order to be scientifically rigorous yet practical and accessible for all farms and businesses. SCI’s Go-To-Market Pilots are currently underway with a cohort of over 50 farmers and companies. SCI is an initiative of Green America, a DC-based nonprofit founded in 1982 with the mission to harness marketplace solutions to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
Sycamore May
Director of Sustainability and Communications
Handsome Brook Farms
sycamore@hbfeggs.com
