MRCC writing style and notes

What: Rules on Midwest Row Crop Collaborative communications, including type of language, specific terms, and best practices. For any questions on the guide or to add content, please contact Deborah.

Resources and norms

• Font for MRCC communications: Lato.
• Use AP Style.
• Schedule meetings in Eastern Time. Always use ET when writing the time of an event or meeting.

Specific terms and phrases

Ag/agriculture/agricultural

• Don’t use “ag” unless it’s on social media/in a headline where space is an issue.

Ampersands (&) 

• Avoid use unless shorthand is needed. The use of an ampersand is inconsistent with the formal tone of MRCC.

Climate-smart practices/agriculture 

• Used in policy formats.
• CSA is often used to refer to climate-smart agriculture. Don’t use CSA in MRCC materials.

Cost share, cost share program

• No hyphen

Emerging farmers 

• Minnesota Department of Agriculture defines emerging farmers as both individuals who are entirely new to farming as well as those who have been farming for generations but were outside the scope of traditional state and federal agricultural support programs.

Equity 

• Use instead of JEDI.

Food systems 

• Use instead of “food for people.”

Footnotes 

• Preferred home for citations in reports.

Historically underserved farmers/producers

• USDA defines as socially disadvantaged, beginning, limited resource, and veteran farmers and ranchers.

Indian Country

• • Use in federal work. Try to avoid in other instances.
  • Must always be capitalized.
  • Farm bill statutes use Indian Country.

The Kellogg Company 

• Use in all public communication. “Kellogg’s” is a brand, and “the Kellogg Company” is the multinational food company.

Latino/a

• Latinx is not a term used at this time. Currently most Spanish-speaking people with Spanish or Latin American identity do not know or use the term.

Midwest Row Crop Collaborative

• Use on first reference.
• Acceptable terms after first reference: the collaborative, MRCC.

Native nations/people/organizations

• Look up what language specific nations/people/organizations use. Use that when possible.

Native nations

• Use nation instead of tribe. The term nation shows respect for sovereignty and the fact that Native nations each have their own systems of government, according to the Native Governance Center.

Regenerative agriculture

• Regenerative agriculture is a set of practices and principles which can be explicitly identified. Regenerative practices apply techniques to restore systems to improve productivity. We prefer this term over conservation agriculture or sustainability agriculture.
• Examples:
  • The regenerative agriculture campaign is designed to create an environment for normalizing the work.

Social and cultural barriers

• Try to avoid these terms when talking about barriers to farmers adopting regenerative agriculture practices. These terms should be used to talk about barriers like systematic racism, not perceived judgment from neighbors for using regenerative agriculture practices. Other terms to use: normalization, cultural acceptance.

Socially disadvantaged farmers

• USDA defines as those belonging to groups that have been subject to racial or ethnic prejudice. This includes farmers who are Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic or Latino, and Asian or Pacific Islander.

Soil health practices

• Use instead of good farming practices.

Supply chain

• To refer to companies, farmers, partners in a company’s supply chain, use “in,” or “within” to refer to location.
  Example: “Farmers are a link in the Kellogg Company’s supply chain”, “PepsiCo is working to reduce emissions within the supply chain.”

Sustainability

• The term sustainability will be used sparingly when referring to agricultural practices designed to protect people, land, water, and air. Sustainability refers to maintaining systems without degrading them. Regenerative = restore.
  The preferred term is regenerative agriculture.

Types of policy

• Refer to types of policy with ” “.
• Examples:
  • “little p” policies
  • “Big P” policies

Titles

• Lowercase government documents.
• Examples:
  • The MRCC charter. The proposed changes to the charter…
  • The policy work group. The work group….
  • MRCC steering committee. The steering committee members….
  • The MRCC theory of change.