Policy Brief Identifies Opportunities for Diversifying the Corn Belt

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) and the Diverse Corn Belt Project released a policy brief titled Diversifying the Corn Belt: Policy Pathways for a Resilient Agricultural Future, identifying 19 policy opportunities that could promote farm resilience, local food systems, rural community vitality, and ecological outcomes. The policy brief is the result of a three-year participatory research process involving farmers and agricultural stakeholders that identified key challenges to diversification and co-developed a set of ranked policy opportunities evaluated on feasibility and transformative potential. Four priority areas emerged: federal crop insurance reform, improvements to conservation incentive programs, investment in post-harvest market infrastructure for diversified agricultural products; and expansion of institutional procurement frameworks to build durable local markets.