Hello and welcome to our final newsletter of 2024, which celebrates U.S. agriculture’s latest sustainability achievements, from coffee to cotton.
We report from November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), where Secretary Vilsack highlighted four years of historic investments and climate-smart progress, including almost $40 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding. We also feature an exclusive article from the Leather & Hide Council of America’s Kevin Latner, discussing leather’s role as a climate solution in line with a new Leather Manifesto.
Our other top stories include a climate-smart project revitalizing the Puerto Rican coffee industry and the continued success of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol sustainability program, which reports above-national-average environmental performance across six key metrics.