Agriculture at a crossroads: Embedding accountability in the U.S. Midwest food system

18/02/2026

By Kajetan Czyż, Director of Finance Sector Strategy, Accountability Accelerator 

Agriculture sits at the centre of both economic and environmental systems. It depends on healthy soils, clean water, stable climates, and biodiversity, yet accounts for roughly 70% of freshwater global withdrawals and uses half of the world’s habitable land. Today’s food system is a major driver of biodiversity loss, soil degradation, deforestation, and water stress, and it impacts heavily on people and societies via food price volatility, poor nutrition, engineered overconsumption, and mounting pressure on farmer livelihoods and health.

Because of its scale and influence, agriculture is a critical intervention point for systemic change. That is why the Accountability Accelerator has launched a new project to advance corporate accountability for nature and people in the food and agriculture sector, with a specific focus on the U.S. Midwest. The Midwest is one of the world’s most intensively farmed and productive regions: with over 127 million acres of agricultural land, it produced 61% of U.S. corn for grain and 62% of U.S. soybeans in 2020 – crops that are central to global commodity markets and supply chains.

Anchored by the Mississippi River Basin, the region sits at the intersection of high productivity and high ecological risk. Corporate activities across inputs, farming, handling, processing, and retail too often contribute to nutrient pollution, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and significant greenhouse gas emissions, including nitrous oxide and methane. At the same time, companies operating here increasingly confront climate volatility, water constraints, shifting consumer and buyer expectations, and heightened scrutiny from investors and regulators.

These pressures are already showing up in public discourse and legal action. Communities and advocacy groups are challenging major agribusinesses over environmental harms and public health impacts, including lawsuits related to water quality and chemical exposures. At the same time, the prevalence of ultra-processed foods – which account for roughly 60% of calorie intake in the United States – underscores the urgent health issues at stake.

While many companies have sustainability commitments and programs, accountability mechanisms often emphasize reported activities rather than measurable outcomes. These outcomes might include reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus at the watershed scale, verified soil health improvements, habitat recovery, or demonstrable water quality gains for communities. Furthermore, while data and monitoring systems are expanding, interoperability, trust, and incentives remain uneven across value chains, particularly for growers and local stakeholders.

Fixing the system from the inside requires more than incremental change: it demands measurement-based accountability, aligned incentives, and outcomes-oriented corporate strategies.

Over the course of this two-year project, the Accountability Accelerator will be exploring a number of solutions, including through the following approaches:

• Improving visibility and awareness of nature impacts, and who is responsible for them. 
• Improving regulation and legal incentives, so that where pollution and damage occur, restoration and remedy are enforced. 
• Reframing the food narrative to focus on nutrition, resilience, and the importance of local production. 
• Aligning finance flows with practices that support a more sustainable food and agriculture sector.
• Clarifying good practice through standards, reporting and verification. 
• Driving a race to the top through supporting and championing the leaders, from corporates, to investors, and farmers. 

Later this year, we will be releasing a resource to provide board members in the U.S. food and agriculture sector with the tools and insights to lead the transformation to nature-positive models.

We are at a pivotal moment for the food and agriculture sector. The choices made now, by companies, investors, regulators and farmers, will shape markets, ecosystems and public health for decades to come. Accountability must move from being a voluntary add-on, to a design feature of a healthy food system.

To learn more or explore collaboration, please contact Kajetan Czyż at kaje@accountabilityaccelerator.org.