Welcome to NACSAA News, a quarterly compilation of CSA-related developments. “NACSAA Members in Action” features the latest on our partners’ activities; “Featured News” offers some of the biggest CSA-related stories of the past quarter; “Other News We Are Reading,” is a listing of news stories from other sources we think you will find of interest; and “Partner News and Events” offers the latest partner updates. We hope this newsletter will serve to keep you, your members and other constituencies fully engaged in the growing development of climate-smart agriculture policy, programs and practices. Your feedback is welcome and appreciated. To subscribe, click here.

NACSAA Members in Action

USDA briefs FAO on New Climate Change Strategies and Programs

Solutions from the Land sat in on a two-hour briefing on October 4 in which USDA presented FAO with a broad overview of its climate change programs through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and emerging new policies.

The presentation included a PowerPoint with a comprehensive outline of initiatives such as the $2.8 billion Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities Program – as well as programs with conservation and forest provisions, U.S. Forest Service programs, agricultural conservation, greenhouse gas inventory and assessment, a full range renewable energy opportunities, and rural development.

But the effort transcends USDA programs – which are just part of the administration’s government-wide approach to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions across the U.S. economy by 2050. That goal includes a reduction by 2030 of about 50 percent below the US. economy’s 2050 net emissions.

Jeremy Adamson, a senior policy advisor for USDA, spoke on the importance of international coalitions and collaboration in which USDA will knowledge and outcomes with others around the globe. USDA has  compiled a page of resources and information covering some of the topics discussed during the presentation and will continue to update the page. 

The USDA NRCS working definition of climate-smart agriculture and forestry is: practices that enable farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners to respond to the threats of climate change by reducing or removing GHG emissions (mitigation) and adapting and building resilience (adaptation), while sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes.

On cropland, targets include: 40 million to 50 million new acres of conservation tillage and reduced field pass intensity, doubling the adoption of cover cropping, double cropping; more-efficient fertilizers, nitrogen inhibitors, and variable rate application on 100 million acres, and over 4 million acres of new buffers, wind breaks, and grassland conservation.

Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Project Summaries

Twelve NACSAA partners have various roles in 17 of those 70 projects. The Soil Health Institute alone is part of four projects; Iowa State University and American Farmland Trust are each engaged in three. Every project is a partnership among many agencies, organizations, universities, and businesses.

1. The National Corn Growers Association, United Soybean Board, National Association of Conservation Districts, and Soil Health Institute are part of the $95 million Farmers for Soil Health Climate-Smart Commodities Partnership that proposes to accelerate long-term cover crop adoption by creating a platform to incentivize farmers. The platform will quantify, verify, and facilitate the sale of ecosystem benefits, creating a marketplace to generate demand for climate-smart commodities. The National Fish & Wildlife Foundation is the lead partner.
2. The Iowa Soybean Association, as lead partner, is one of 12 entities conducting the Midwest Climate-Smart Commodity Program, which will build markets and provide funding to farmers via outcome-based contracts for the reduction and removal of carbon dioxide through the adoption of new climate-smart practices. Funding for the $95 million project will include support for carbon quantification, technical assistance support, measurement, reporting and verification, and underserved farmer outreach and enrollment.
3. The National Association of Conservation Districts is the lead partner in Strengthening Grassroots Leadership and Capacity to Scale Climate-Smart Production Systems and Facilitate Underserved Producers’ Access to Markets, one of nine teams involved. The $90 million project will work through its network of 3,000 conservation districts across the nation to grow and advance grassroots efforts to ensure producers and local communities are prepared to meet the demand and have access to climate-smart commodity markets.
4. The American Farmland Trust and the Soil Health Institute, are among dozens of partners – corporate, non-profit, industry groups, and some 50 ag retail co-ops – involved in Climate SMART (Scaling Mechanisms for Agriculture’s Regenerative Transformation). The $90 million project seeks to develop a self-sustaining, market-based network to broaden farmer access, scale adoption of climate-smart practices across 28 states, and sustainably produce grain and dairy commodities with verified and quantified climate benefits.
5. Along with 14 other partners led by Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Iowa State University is part of ADM and Partners’ Climate-Smart Solutions. The $90 million project will use incentive payments to thousands of producers across 15 states to adopt and implement climate-smart agriculture practices and markets – including engagement of ADM’s 5,000 underserved.
6. The Soil Health Institute is one of nine partners in the $90 million S. Climate-Smart Cotton Program, which will build markets for climate-smart cotton and provide technical and financial assistance to over 1,000 U.S. cotton farmers, including underserved cotton producers, to advance adoption of climate-smart practices on more than 1 million acres.
7. The Kellogg Company is one of 22 corporate and agricultural partners in the $80 million Rice Stewardship Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities. The project will build climate-smart rice markets and work to reduce methane emissions in rice production, and support underserved producers by improving critical infrastructure necessary to implement climate-smart practices in the future.
8. The Iowa Soybean Association and Iowa State University are among a dozen other partners in Horizon II: A Climate-Smart Future for Corn, Soybean, Livestock, and Renewable Natural Gas Production. The goal of the $80 million project is to enhance climate-smart markets, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve carbon sequestration in the production of corn, soybean, pork, and beef commodities; and to create opportunities for small and underserved producers and benefitting soil health, clean water, flood control, and habitats for native wildlife.
9. Solutions for Urban Agriculture, an SfL-affiliated project founded by SfL Co-Chair AG Kawamura, is a partner with 12 other groups, including World Wildlife Fund, in Elevated Foods Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. The focus of the $20 million project is on climate-smart production on a large scale across hundreds of thousands of acres of fruit and vegetable cropland in key growing regions, and extend the producer reach to urban farmers in Orange County, California, and the Navajo Nation, to meet the needs of small and underserved producers.
10. Bayer is one of 13 partners in the $60 million Tyson Foods, Inc. Climate-Smart Commodities Project to expand climate-smart markets and increase carbon sequestration and reduce emissions in the production of beef and row crops for livestock feed.
11. Farm Journal Foundation is one of a dozen partners in the $40 million Connected Ag Climate-Smart Commodities Pilot Project to expand climate-smart markets for many agricultural commodities and provide direct payments, technical assistance, and data management strategies to adopt climate-smart practices and strategies.
12. The University of Florida is one of 18 partners in the $40 million Portfolio of Partnerships for Hawaii Climate-Smart Commodities to overcome climate-smart implementation barriers through investment and incentives, improve technical assistance through community-based organization networks, build tools for modeling/verification, and generate internal momentum for a marketbased climate-smart sustainable food system in landscapes across Hawaii.
13. American Farmland Trust is the leader among 15 partners in the $30 million Producer Led Collaborative Effort to Fundamentally Transition the U.S. Beef Supply Chain to Carbon Neutral, an eight-state project to increase production of climate-smart beef through market drivers, grassroots support networks, and early adopter mentors and providing technical assistance for the adoption of climate-smart grazing practices.
14. Iowa State University is one of 18 partners in the $30 million GEVO Climate-Smart Farm-to-Flight Program, which aims to create critical structural climate-smart market incentives for low carbon-intensity corn as well as to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel to reduce the sector’s dependency on fossil-based fuel.
15. American Farmland Trust is one of 24 partners in the $25 million Organic Valley Carbon Insetting Program: Building a Multi-stakeholder Path to Produce, Market and Promote Climate-Smart Commodities Across the U.S. The project will expand climate-smart markets and help finance partnerships and incentivize farmers by mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and maximizing opportunities for carbon sequestration.
16. The Soil Health Institute is one of 14 partners in the $25 million Quantifying the Potential to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Increase Carbon Sequestration by Growing and Marketing Climate-Smart Commodities in the Southern Piedmont. The project will use an interdisciplinary approach, easing the burden on farmers in order to build climate-smart markets, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increases carbon sequestration, and increase farmer economic.
17. Bayer is one of 20 partners in the $15 million A Vibrant Future: Pilot Projects for Climate-Smart Fruit and Vegetable Production, Marketing, and Valuation of Ecosystem Services — a project that will incentivize growers of specialty crops to adopt climate-smart production in order to establish consumer-driven climate-smart markets for fruits and vegetables grown using climate-smart practices.

For a complete summary of Climate-Smart Commodities Project awards, click HERE.

Congress Funds High-Tech Climate Solutions, but also a Low-Tech one: Nature

Among other spending, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), will get an additional $8.45 billion. That would ease the overwhelming demand for EQIP and other conservation programs, for which demand is as much as three times greater than available funding.

The additional $20 billion for agriculture targets existing conservation programs that give farmers and ranchers incentives to make the transition to climate-friendly practices, such as planting cover crops, better managing water sources, and conserving grasslands and other landscapes that sequester carbon.

Without such changes in practices on farm and forest land, poorly managed land and deforestation could exacerbate global-warming trends. But climate-friendly practices not only avoid additional warming, but actually can make strides toward reaching climate goals by allowing carbon to be captured in healthier soil and by reducing wildfire risks. What the PCSC grants and the Inflation Reduction Act both do is turn nature into an ally in fighting climate change.

Forest advocates are especially pleased that the act includes $5 million for forest management.

“Just the fact that forests were included is really, really substantial,” said Jad Daley, president of the nonprofit conservation group American Forests. “If we lose what forests are currently doing for us, we have no chance. They can help us or they can hurt us, depending on the time and energy we put into it.”

For more information about how the Inflation Reduction Act affects agriculture, click HERE.

Companies’ Climate Promises Face a Wild Card: Farmers

Major corporations such as PepsiCo, Cargill, Walmart, and General Mills are pledging to support regenerative farming and other forms of climate-friendly agriculture on more than 70 million acres within a decade, and are working with farmers to get it done. It’s not an easy process. Many farmers have already made strides that direction, but many more have not. And the reluctant ones, as well as early adapters like Ray Gaesser, chair of NACSAA’s Enabling Policies team, worry that incentives are not in line with farmers’ needs

They also note that adopting broad, new practices cannot be done from one season to the next, and that farmers need to be compensated for possible yield losses over a multi-year transition period during which they monitor progress and make adjustments. They also suggest possible premium prices for crops grown in a climate-friendly manner – something that food and beverage industry surveys show most consumers are not willing to pay.

Another uncertainty is the emerging market for carbon sequestration – paying farmers for the carbon captured in their soil. But the accumulation of carbon in the soil could take years, and it is difficult and costly to measure. For farmers, entering contracts now for carbon sequestration is like designing a new combine while you’re in the middle of harvest.

Gaesser, who farms 5,400 acres in Iowa, sees current incentives as insufficient at a time of rapid change in agricultural practices and climate concerns. Still, he believes sustainable farming – especially with a new generation of farmers – will steadily evolve and become the norm.

Despite the upfront costs for transition, sustainable farming can have long-term economic benefits in additional to climate benefits. The Soil Health Institute last did a Cargill-funded a study of 100 farms using regenerative practices – finding that 67 percent of them reported higher yields, lower costs, and rising incomes.

For more information about corporations and regenerative farming, click HERE.

Featured News

Are There Better Places to put Large Solar Farms?

Climate-smart agriculture and forestry, along with solar power, are critical in the effort to address climate change and reduce carbon in the atmosphere. They could work in tandem, but their effectiveness is limited if they are competing for the same land. Farm and forest advocates argue that solar developers should focus on already-developed or -degraded land, including abandoned industrial sites, landfills, and roofs of large shopping centers, warehouses, and industrial buildings.

The 4,500-acre Randolph Solar Project in Charlotte County, Va., would remove 3,500 acres of forest. Five other similar projects are coming to the region. This at a time when the state is trying to add 30,000 acres of forest annually to meet its obligations under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, which requires that states in the bay’s watershed reduce the pollution they send into the bay. Virginia’s forests absorb about one-fifth of the state’s emitted carbon dioxide.

A 2021 study found that most solar panels in Virginia end up in forests and on farmland. Nationally, about half of new solar power plants are built in deserts. A separate analysis shows that 80 percent of the rest go on farmland, forestland or grasslands.

In the absence of broad federal or state standards on the siting of solar farms, siting is left up to solar firms that prefer large, flat parcels near transmission lines; land-use decisions then are made by rural township and county governments, which may lack expertise to assess environmental impacts.

For more information about conflict between solar panels and agriculture, click HERE.

The West Needs a New Water Strategy for Cities and Farmers

Despite growing populations in the seven states of the Colorado River Basin, cities use a fraction of the river’s water. Agriculture accounts for 80 percent of the water usage, even after taking measures – such as leaving some fields fallow – to reduce that amount. It’s clear that more needs to be done.

Robert Glennon, a University of Arizona professor, believes farmers need to do more, and suggests a massive shift to drip irrigation on their fields. He also suggests that cities in the Colorado Basin help pay for the transition. After all, the reason farmers use so much water is to provide food and fiber for people living is those cities and towns.

In an essay published by Governing Magazine in July, Glennon said the federal government could lead the way toward increasing the number of farms and acres in the West using more-efficient drip irrigation. The 2021 Infrastructure Bill includes $8.3 billion to help western states adapt to drought and climate. This, he said, along with support from the federal Bureau of Reclamation and the USDA, could persuade millions of American farmers to make the move.

Drip irrigation uses 20 percent to 50 percent less water than conventional sprinkler systems, but the drip systems, at $2,000 or more per acre, are expensive – especially for small farmers and those who produce low-value crops.  The typical USDA incentive for drip systems is $100-per-acre.

Glennon envisions state, municipal and local funding, both public and private, would underwrite the full cost of converting to micro-irrigation – in exchange for a percentage of the water that farmers would save by making the switch. He said reduction of agricultural water use is essential, but that farmers should not shoulder the burden alone.

For more information about cities and agriculture collaborating on water management, click HERE.

Climate Change is Ravaging the Colorado River; There’s a Model to Avert the Worst

Success in the Yakima River Basin in Washington holds lessons for the seven states at war over water in the American West.

The Yakima River Basin in Washington – with a 210-mile river and a 350,000 population – is tiny compared to the seven-state Colorado River watershed that serves 40 million people. But a multi-stakeholder collaboration begun a decade ago may offer a model for developing solutions to the vast and contentious challenges facing the Colorado.

Over time, stakeholders decided that, rather than fight in courtrooms over details, they should bring all parties together to look for solutions rather than defend their own interests. The eventual result was the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. The secret was the absence of lawyers and the presence of food. Lunches amid long formal discussions and presentations gave a wide spectrum of stakeholders the opportunity to chat informally: to discover they shared a broad vision, but needed to compromise on some specifics in order to reach the goal.

The basin, and other parts of central Washington, is one of the country’s most productive agricultural regions, with salmon and trout in the Yakima Nation, vast orchards, produce, grains, and almost three quarters of U.S hops. But droughts have become more frequent, habitats are drying up, and old dams were built to store water, but impeded the migration of fish. Farmers faced cuts in water allocations. The disputes ended up in courts.

About a decade ago, the manager of the Roza Irrigation District and the Yakima Nation’s natural resources director, sat down together to discuss a 2008 proposal for a costly new dam – which they both opposed, but for different reasons. That informal conversation led to more – including additional stakeholders.

Urban Eberhart, manager of the Kittitas Reclamation District, underscored the importance of the meetings: “We won’t recognize this economy or this ecosystem if we don’t act,” he said.

As a result of the lunch breaks, he added, “Pretty soon, over time, all of us who were very suspicious of each other would talk, and that turned into friendship, trust and respect.”

The Colorado Basin, in addition to being much larger, is much more complex – seven states plus Mexico; 30 Native Tribes, not just one; two of the largest dams and reservoirs; major cities reliant on the water supply; land that includes mountains, valleys, rangeland, deserts, forests; and a great variety of habitats and interests.

But Yakima veterans believe the principles of shared sacrifice and cooperation among groups can apply even on a larger scale.

For more information about the Yakima Basin collaboration on water management, click HERE.

On Remote Farms and in City Gardens, a Native American Movement Grows

The Traditional practices at Onondaga Nation Farm, south of Syracuse, N.Y., are focused on cultural heritage, local food, and healthy eating for the community. But the broader lessons and approaches are in harmony with the regenerative and circular systems slowly being embraced in larger-scale commodity farming.

With the indigenous and ingenious practice of interweaving production of the “three-sisters” – corn, squash, and beans – the Onondagas and others were multi-cropping centuries before a recent resurgence in mainstream agriculture.

Another value of the Onondaga Farm is its seed bank with over 4,000 varieties of corn, which are traded through intertribal networks. Osage Red, Tecumseh’s Flint, Cherokee Rainbow Glass Gem, Haudenosaunee Strawberry Popcorn, and thousands of other varieties are stored in glass jars. Angela Ferguson, manages the farm and is archivist of the seed bank, which she calls “the epitome of food sovereignty.” Some seeds are shared with or returned to their tribal homes in other parts of the U.S.  Others are remnants of defunct tribes.

For Native Americans living in cities, Syracuse University has an on-campus urban farm highlighting traditional practices. Similar models are elsewhere. The garden at a holistic health care center in Phoenix uses drought-resistant planting techniques suitable for arid climates: Zuni waffle beds and Pima flood irrigation. That allows production of corn, wolfberries, gourds and sunflowers, along with Diné blue corn, Apache giant squash and Tohono O’odham melons.

The idea of regenerative agriculture and circular systems is a modern version the ancient Iroquois’ Seventh Generation Principle, which states that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future.

For more information about climate-smart agriculture and Native American farming, click HERE.

A Nevada Rancher made a Truce with Beavers, and it Paid Off

Beavers, longtime enemies of ranchers, are now sometimes regarded as allies. At a time of rising temperatures and severe droughts, their dams – once an infernal nuisance – now can help manage the rains that come in infrequent but powerful storms.

That’s what Agee Smith is finding on his ranch in northeast Nevada. While his father used to regularly blow up the beaver dams, Smith now welcomes the dams that manage the flow of water after storms. Instead of rushing downstream all at once, the dams hold water long enough to let creeks widen enough to create cleansing wetlands, protect, provide water for cattle, and increase biodiversity. They also can create new meadows that can guard against the spread of wildfires. The water held by the dams reduces erosion and recharges groundwater. Resulting wetlands can capture carbon from the atmosphere

In other western ranching states, the Bureau of Land Management and others are even collaborating on the sorts of dams that beavers build. In California, the state wants to increase the beaver population because of climate and biodiversity benefits.

Those benefits are not limited to the West. Authorities in Wisconsin say beaver dams can aide in reducing floods from heavy rains in the Milwaukee area. And in Maryland, they say the work of beavers can filter and clean the water flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.

Left alone, however, not all beaver dams are beneficial to ranches, forests, fields, and cities. They can flood roads, timber forests and other areas. beavers do not guarantee sunshine and rainbows. And the trees they fell for dams are sometimes trees that benefit, or bring pleasure to, humans.

“It’s all about identifying those locations where beavers’ survival interests align with humans’ survival interests, and they’re not always aligned,” said Caroline Nash, a river scientist in Boise, Idaho.

For more information about nature and wildlife as allies in climate-smart agriculture, click HERE.

Other News We Are Reading

Diet for a hotter climate: Five Plants that could help feed the world  (The Guardian)

As the planet warms, these five drought-tolerant and highly nutritious crops offer hope for greater resiliency:

Amaranth, a drought-resistant plant across most of the world, is edible from leaf to seed, the entirety of the amaranth plant is edible. It has become more common in Europe and Ukraine had become the largest producer there. Fonio, also drought resistant, is a kind of millet with a taste similar to quinoa. It’s considered Africa’s oldest cultivated cereal, and now is valued for its resilience and health benefits. Cowpeas used in the U.S. a century ago as hay, originated in Africa, where it is used for human consumption. It also is drought-tolerant. Taro, a potato-like root vegetable common in Asia and Polynesia, but rising temperatures affect its natural habitat, and U.S. farmers hope to adapt it as a temperate annual. Kernza, a wheatlike perennial grass that has been cultivated in the U.S. over recent decades as a cereal crop as a substitute for wheat and other annual grains. Farmers in some Upper Plains states grow about 4,000 acres of it.

Study reveals nutritional benefits of renerative agricultural crops (Food Navigator)

A five-year study on 10 farms in the East and Midwest compared small plots of conventionally grown peas, sorghum, corn, or soybeans with similar plots of the same crops grown using regenerative practices. The soil-friendly plots (using no-till, cover crops, and greater plant diversity) had healthier soils and more minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals. The crops from those soils had more calcium, potassium, zinc, and vitamins such as B1, B12, C, E, and K. They also were lower in sodium, cadmium, and nickel than were the conventional plots.

Partner News and Events

SfL hosts global panel October 10 at Committee for World Food Security in Rome

Farmers, fishers, foresters and their communities – and their countries – must have the resources and flexibility to innovate so they can produce food for themselves and others. Solutions from the Land farmers, in their 21^st Century Agriculture Renaissance report Renaissance Report – Solutions from the Land, lay out a long-term strategic framework for building this kind of local and global capacity at many scales.

With investment and support, these producers can not only manage the day-to-day challenges of food production, but can simultaneously plan, adjust and embrace changes that will enable our farm enterprises to bounce forward into a better future.

To register, click HERE.

Field to Market Focuses on Circularity in Sustainable Agriculture, Oct. 25

Speakers include Ariel Wiegard, government affairs director at the American Soybean Association; Lori Duncan, assistant professor and crop-sustainability specialist at the University of Tennessee; John Fuher,
Vice President of Government Affairs at Growth Energy; and Steven Pires, sustainability manager at Cotton, Inc.

The event is an in-person interactive experience, and attendees are asked to stay for the duration of the event and participate in small group breakout discussions.  

Field to Market’s Cross-Sector Dialogue series is a strategic initiative that brings together diverse stakeholders from across the agricultural value chain to overcome systemic barriers to scaling sustainable agriculture by advancing shared learning and driving collective action.

For more information and to register, click HERE.

Soil Societies’ Conference to Focus on Communications, Public Engagement Nov. 6-9

 The societies say the tools for communication are evolving, with video abstracts, social media platforms, and other tools, expand accessibility to broad new audiences. Recruiting and training future colleagues, planning and achieving breakthroughs, and maintaining strong partnerships and networks require an effective exchange of knowledge.

Communication is critical as researchers share accomplishments in agronomic, crop, and soil sciences, and the conference. As researchers, we share discoveries, achievements, and challenges with colleagues in our sciences, allied disciplines, and the public. Speakers will include science figures such as Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, but also communicators such as Richard Harris, former longtime science correspondent and reporter at National Public Radio.

The conference also features a cover-crop tour or Maryland’s Eastern Shore, including a stop Harborview Farms in Rock Hall, Md., a 13,000-acre grain farm operated by Trey Hill, who has been on panels about Solutions from the Land: Enabling Farmers to Meet Global Sustainable Development Goals and the Call for an Agricultural Renaissance. On the tour, he will discuss the cover crop innovation and climate resilience.

For more information, Click HERE.

“Reaching New Heights” at Farm Management Canada Conference Nov. 22-24

For the first time ever, Farm Management Canada’s AgEx will be a hybrid event allowing participants to attend in-person or to join virtually. The in-person event includes a variety of keynote presentations, concurrent workshops, panel discussions, the national farm business resource showcase and networking with Canada’s farm business thought leaders. AgEx also is offering a tour of Hilton Venture Farms and Origin Malting and Brewing, as well as a 30th anniversary banquet for Farm Management Canada.

Origin is a “seed to sip” operation. A fifth-generation farm family grows the barley, has its own malting facility, and brews its own beer. Barley has been a significant crop for most of the farm’s 110 years, and the Hilton family was an early adopter of reduced tillage and no-till on the 12,000-acre farm. Soil health and carbon absorption are big parts of the operation.

For more conference details click HERE.

Canadian Forage and Grassland Conference looks a Cross-Pollination of Ideas Nov. 29 to Dec. 2

The three-day event will be fully bilingual will include breakouts and panels with cutting-edge forage information and valuable information for forage producers across the country. Registration opens September 2022!

For more details click HERE.

ABOUT NACSAA

About NACSAA

NACSAA reflects and embraces all scales of agriculture in Canada, Mexico and the United States, ranging from small landholders to midsize and large-scale producers. NACSAA encourages climate smart agriculture (CSA) strategies to enhance the adaptive capacity of North American agriculture to changing climate conditions and works to achieve this goal through three complementary strategies: 1) sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and livelihoods (i.e. sustainable intensification); 2) enhancing adaptive capacity and improving resilience; and 3) delivering ecosystem services, sequestering carbon, and reducing and/or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions.