March 2020

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the latest edition of NACSAA News, a monthly compilation of CSA-related news. “NACSAA in Action” features the latest on the Alliance activities; “Featured News” offers some of the biggest CSA-related stories of the past month; “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.” 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, email info@SfLDialogue.net.

NACSAA in Action

Work on Next KJWA Submission Continues

 

Engagement with the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture agreement, the primary policy vehicle by which farm interests are represented in ongoing global climate negotiations, continues as a North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA) work group prepares its preparation for an April submission that will inform discussion and decision-making on critical topics to be taken up at June workshops in Bonn, Germany.

 


The submission is expected to address:

 

Topic 2 (e) “Improved livestock management systems”

 

A team of 9 NACSAA members and contributors, led by experienced academic partner Dr. Leonard Bull, has been working to create a draft outline and begin to populate it with contributions. After multiple rounds of scoping work, conference calls and consistent correspondence over approximately eight weeks, the outline currently includes:

  • The Case for Foods of Animal Origin
  • Three Pillars of CSA
  • Animal Production System and Facility Changes Needed
  • Animal Management Practice Changes Needed
  • Animal Genetic Selection Changes Needed
  • Animal Feed Production Changes Needed
  • Other Issues

“Available Animal Feed Production Changes Needed” will include crop changes to be considered and alternative feeding systems. These inputs will consider sustainability strategies as well as highlight the reductions in livestock emissions made possible by use of sound dietary science. At least one conference call and several more rounds of edits are planned for a final draft deadline of April 10 to allow for staff and NACSAA stakeholder review in advance of the April 19 submission date.

 

Topic 2 (f) “Socioeconomic and food security dimensions of climate change”

 

Specific nutrition or rural resilience economic initiatives are important to the food system conversation, but beyond the scope of NACSAA and SfL’s platform. However, farmers are the foundation of food security in any geography, and in both the developed and developing world the economics of rural livelihoods are interwoven with how food is produced, accessed, and incorporated into local and global diets.

 

The topic is relevant to maintaining the livelihoods of U.S. farmers; arguing that animal agriculture remains necessary for food security; asserting that the production of feedstocks for biofuels not only does not compete with agricultural land for food production but provides a necessary market for producers; and highlighting the socioeconomic elements of the first pillar of CSA, which defines “sustainability” to include financially stable farm operations.

 

To create a framework to present these ideas, project support staff familiar with dietary and public health outcomes research with assistance and guidance from SfL board member Dr. Lois Wright Morton, is constructing our narrative around the following outline:

  • Importance of Food Security
  • Three Pillars of CSA
  • Climate Threats to Rural Livelihoods/Cropping Systems
  • Rural Development/Community Resilience
  • Enabling Policies
  • Vulnerable Populations
  • Other Issues

Candidate highlights include robust and efficient supply chains, known barriers to farmer participation in existing programs, rural development and infrastructure elements critical to North American rural development (i.e. broadband accessibility, etc.) and capacity to manage natural resources and jointly create solutions for agricultural communities. Once the framework has been fully fleshed out it will be reviewed by the full NACSAA membership for expert contributions within member knowledge areas. This topic also faces an April 10 final draft deadline, which has been set to allow for staff and NACSAA stakeholder review in advance of the April 19 submission date.

 

GACSA to Ramp Up Regional Effort to Meet

Food Security, Climate Change Challenges

 

The Global Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance (GACSA), of which NACSAA is a member, is boosting its regional efforts to promote an integrated approach to managing landscapes – cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries – that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change.

 


“The success of [GACSA] largely relies on the involvement of its entire stakeholder base. Regional Climate Smart Agriculture Alliances are key in this process,” GACSA says in a draft “Regional Engagement Plan.”

 

The regional plan aims to more directly enhance GACSA’s efforts in providing a “non-partisan, credible multi-stakeholder platform for sharing information and knowledge, providing space for evidence and stakeholder voices to interface and dialogue with governments.”

 

GACSA leaders say the Regional Engagement Plan seeks to explore opportunities to engage and contribute to accelerating the scale-up of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, which aim to enhance sustainable productivity and incomes, promote resilience to climate change and reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

 

A 2018 report on pursuing climate smart agriculture goals highlights the belief that progress towards achieving elements of good practice will enhance the odds of attracting the commitment and resources of governments that will be required to contribute to the important goal of accelerating the scaling CSA practices globally.

 

“Scaling CSA requires knowledge, funding, an enabling policy environment, and accountability for impact,” the current draft document notes. “Putting all these elements in place requires the engagement and commitment of all key stakeholders. CSA Alliances (such as NAACSA) are seen as a vehicle for bringing together all those constituencies to resolve differences and forge innovative solutions at national, regional and global levels.”

 

GACSA provides a forum for those who work on CSA to share and exchange experiences, information, and views on issues that need immediate attention. Alliance leaders say they recognize that partnerships are central to successfully sustain the transformation.

 

That puts an emphasis on GACSA “utilizing the Regional CSA Alliances to achieve the desired outputs for the global alliance. The vast universe of CSA partners further calls for GACSA to play a global rallying strategic role. A clear opportunity exists to strengthen GACSA, and extend its influence through the network of the various regional alliances.”

 

Acknowledging that CSA activities at the global level are a culmination of related activities that would have commenced at the regional level, GACSA officials say they have a niche that lies in the involvement of the regional alliances.

 

“The links between GACSA and the [regional alliances] provide a mechanism that constitute appropriate structures for ownership and management of joint initiatives,” the draft plan notes. “Through the [regional alliances], the country networks become a source of collective voice. The [regional alliances] also serve to increase the efficiency of linkage between GACSA and the country platforms/networks.”

 

The plan calls for the creation of a Regional CSA Alliance Task Team, comprised of regional alliance members, to help cultivate and reinforce stronger information sharing and collaboration between regions on topics and challenges of mutual interests.

 

Among the focus areas outlined by the draft Regional Engagement Plan are:

  • Membership Growth: Engaging Alliance members and partners, and facilitate growth of the Alliance and its initiatives;
  • Alliance Alignment and Regional Engagement: Building further the cooperation among CSA Alliances through a dedicated Community of Practice to foster knowledge exchange and experience sharing;
  • Cross-learning: Training and capacity building, facilitating cross learning and experience sharing to aggregate and disseminate clear and useful knowledge for action;
  • Joint Communication Activities: Collating and disseminating information and knowledge, and developing communication products;
  • Resource Mobilization Efforts: Engaging in resource mobilization efforts.
 

Featured News

Trump Administration Backs Away from Appealing Ruling on RFA Waivers

 

The Trump administration this week let pass a deadline to ask for a re-hearing of a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that struck down certain small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

 


A panel of Tenth Circuit judges unanimously ruled Jan. 24 that the EPA “exceeded its statutory authority” and “abused its discretion” in granting exemptions from 2016 and 2017 RFS requirements to three small refineries.

 

Two of the three refineries filed motions Tuesday seeking an appeal, but observers say that without the administration’s backing, a full-court hearing is very unlikely.

 

While the ruling only impacted about a third of the nation’s small refineries, it is expected to have a universal impact on EPA’s handling of SREs.

 

The challenge was brought against the EPA in May 2018 by the Renewable Fuels Association, National Corn Growers Association, American Coalition for Ethanol and National Farmers Union. The suit was filed in response to what the biofuels sector described as massive demand destruction caused by the EPA’s “illegal and indiscriminate use of SREs.”

 

In the wake of the administration’s decision not to seek a re-hearing of the decision, the four groups called upon the EPA to immediately apply the court decision nationwide. The renewable fuels coalition released the following statement:

 

“We are pleased the Trump administration has decided not to side with oil refiners in seeking a re-hearing of this unambiguous and well-reasoned court decision in the Tenth Circuit. We trust this also means the administration does not plan to petition the Supreme Court for an appeal.

 

“Abiding by the court’s ruling is the right thing to do at a time when our industries and rural America are already suffering from the effects of COVID-19, the Saudi-Russia oil price war and ongoing trade disputes,” the biofuels coalition continued. “We look to the RFS as a source of demand stability and certainty, especially in these troubling times. Requesting a re-hearing would have only prolonged uncertainty in the marketplace and exacerbated the pain and frustration already being experienced in the Heartland.

 

“With this key milestone now behind us, we look forward to EPA applying the Tenth Circuit decision nationwide to all SRE petitions, beginning with the 25 pending petitions for 2019 exemptions,” the coalition’s statement concluded.

 

In addition, the coalition noted that fully restoring the integrity of the RFS means also taking immediate action to restore 500 million gallons of inappropriately waived 2016 blending requirements, as ordered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. District in 2017 (Americans for Clean Energy v. EPA).

 

“This is EPA’s opportunity to turn the page and start a new chapter – one in which the agency faithfully follows the law and implements the RFS in a manner consistent with Congressional intent,” the coalition stated.

 

The Trump administration says it will still consider putting a cap on the price of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), credits refineries falling short of their obligation can buy from those operations that have exceeded their required blending amounts. The three refineries involved in the lawsuit say it is the high cost of RINs that is imposing the greatest economic hardship on their operations.

 

Biofuel proponents oppose a cap on RINs, which they say is another way to artificially dampen production.

 

For the 2016-2018 RFS compliance years, EPA issued 85 SREs, which the biofuel industry said has eroded more than 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel blending requirements. In addition to the Tenth Circuit decision, the coalition says it will continue to consider other actions that can recapture the lost demand.

 

EIA Projects U.S. Biofuel Production to Slowly Increase Through 2050

 

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2020 (AEO2020) projects that U.S. biofuel production will slowly grow through 2050, primarily driven by economic and policy factors.

 


In the outlook’s “reference” case, which reflects current laws and regulations, biofuels production in 2050 is 18 percent higher than 2019 levels. However, in a side case with higher global crude oil prices, biofuels such as fuel ethanol and biodiesel are increasingly consumed as substitutes for petroleum products, resulting in 55 percent growth in biofuels production in 2050.

 

In 2019, U.S. biofuels consumption totaled 1.09 million barrels per day and accounted for 7.3 percent of total motor gasoline, distillate and jet fuel consumption. Fuel ethanol is the largest component of U.S. biofuels. In the AEO2020 reference case, ethanol production slowly decreases between 2019 and 2030, and then it increases toward the end of the projection period, largely mirroring the reference case projection for motor gasoline consumption.

 

The projected decline in domestic ethanol-blended gasoline consumption is offset by increasing U.S. ethanol exports. From 2019 to the end of the projection period, domestic production of biodiesel and other biofuels increases by 30,000 barrels/day (b/d) and 80,000 b/d, respectively. Although not included in the AEO2020 projections, the biodiesel blender’s tax credit, renewed in December 2019, is expected to increase domestic production and net imports of biomass-based diesel.

 

Biofuels consumption growth is supported by a projected decline in consumption of liquid fuels by the U.S. transportation sector, rising oil prices, and regulations such as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In the AEO2020 Reference case, biofuels represent a relatively small but growing share of the domestic gasoline, distillate, and jet fuel market. The percentage of biofuels blended into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel is expected to increase from 7.3 percent in 2019 to a high of 9.0 percent in 2040 before slightly declining through 2050.

 

The AEO2020 High Oil Price case assumes greater levels of foreign demand for U.S.-produced biofuels than in the Reference case. Higher prices for transportation fuels make biofuels more price competitive with petroleum-based fuels. EIA projects both U.S. biofuels consumption and the share of biofuels consumption to rise at a substantially higher rate than in the Reference case. In this scenario, domestic biofuels consumption increases to 1.62 million b/d, or a 13.5-percent-biofuels share, in 2050.

 

In the AEO2020 Low Oil Price case, domestic biofuel consumption remains similar to the Reference case. EIA projects low oil prices contribute to a decrease in domestic consumption of biomass-based diesel (biodiesel and renewable diesel). Total biofuel consumption increases slightly as low gasoline prices result in greater amounts of domestically produced fuel ethanol to be blended into motor gasoline. Demand for biofuels is supported by regulations such as the RFS and California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard when prices of petroleum products are low and biofuels are less economically competitive.

 

Diversified Farms Protect Wildlife, Buffer Against Climate Change

 

Farming can guard against climate change and protect critical wildlife, but only through diversified operations, says a new Stanford study.

 

Coffee is one of the best crops for growing in a diversified landscape because it is sensitive in the heat and can use the shade of taller plants. Here, the single-crop system directly exposes the coffee to the powerful sun.

(Image credit: Nick Hendershot)

The research provides a rare, long-term look at how farming practices affect bird biodiversity in Costa Rica. “Farms that are good for birds are also good for other species,” said Jeffrey Smith, a graduate student in the department of biology and a co-author on the paper. “We can use birds as natural guides to help us design better agricultural systems.”

 

By and large, the team found that diversified farms are more stable in the number of birds they support, provide a more secure habitat for those birds and shield against the impacts of climate change much more effectively than single-crop farms.

 

“The tropics are expected to suffer even more intensely in terms of prolonged dry seasons, extreme heat and forest dieback under climate change,” said Gretchen Daily, director of the Stanford Natural Capital Project and the Center for Conservation Biology and a senior author on the paper. “But diversified farms offer refuge – they can buffer these harmful effects in ways similar to a natural forest ecosystem.”

 

The findings, published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, highlight the importance of farms that grow multiple crops in a mixed setting instead of the more common practice of planting single-crop “monocultures.”

 

“This study shows that climate change has already been impacting wildlife communities, continues to do so, and that local farming practices really matter in protecting biodiversity and building climate resilience,” said Nick Hendershot, a graduate student in the department of biology and lead author on the study.

 

Tropical regions are some of the most species-rich in the world, but they also face the greatest threats to biodiversity. As their forests are felled to plant cash crops like bananas and sugarcane, the amount and availability of natural habitats have shrunk dramatically. Meanwhile, climate change has resulted in longer, hotter dry seasons that make species survival even more challenging.

 

“It’s the one-two punch of land-use intensification and climate change,” Hendershot said. “Wildlife populations are already severely stressed, with overall decreased health and population sizes in some farming landscapes. Then, these further extreme conditions like prolonged drought can come along and really just decimate a species.”

 

Until now, little had been known about how agricultural practices impact biodiversity in the long term. This study’s researchers used nearly 20 years of meticulously collected field data to understand which birds live in natural tropical forests and in different types of farmland.

 

“It is only because we had these unusually extensive long-term data that we were able to detect the role of diversified farmlands in helping threatened species persist over multiple decades,” said Tadashi Fukami, an associate professor of biology in the School of Humanities and Sciences and a senior author on the paper, along with Daily.

 

The varied agricultural systems at work in Costa Rica provided the research team with an ideal laboratory for studying bird communities in intensively farmed monoculture systems, diversified multi-crop farms, and natural forests. They compared monoculture farms – like pineapple, rice, or sugar cane – to diversified farms that interweave multiple crops and are often bordered by ribbons of natural forest.

 

Surprisingly, the researchers found that diversified farmlands not only provide refuge to more common bird species, they also protect some of the most threatened. Species of international conservation concern, like the Great Green Macaw and the Yellow-Naped Parrot, are at risk in Costa Rica due to habitat loss and the illegal pet trade.

 

In intensive monocrop farmlands, these species are declining. But in the diversified systems the researchers studied, the endangered birds can be found year after year.

 

“Which species are in a given place makes a huge difference – it’s not just about numbers alone, we care about who’s there,” Daily said. “Each bird serves a unique role as part of the machinery of nature. And the habitats they live in support us all.”

 

In Costa Rica and around the world, the researchers see opportunities to develop integrated, diversified agricultural systems that promote not only crop productivity and livelihood security, but also biodiversity. A paradigm shift towards global agricultural systems could help human and wildlife communities adapt to a changing climate, Daily said.

 

“There are so many cash crops that thrive in diversified farms. Bananas and coffee are two great examples from Costa Rica – they’re planted together, and the taller banana plant shades the temperature-sensitive coffee bean,” she added. “The two crops together provide more habitat opportunity than just one alone, and they also provide a diversified income stream for the farmer.”

 

From Climate Change Awareness to Action

 

Awareness of climate change and its impacts is not enough to move people to action. New research on how people’s worldviews affect their perceptions and actions could help policymakers and activists reframe the discussion around climate change mitigation.

 


Despite a very high level of awareness of climate change and its impacts, people are often hesitant to take action to change their behavior, according to a new study published in the journal Energy and Environment.

 

In 2015, nations agreed to limit climate change to “well below 2°C” to avoid the worst impacts. However, in order to achieve this climate change mitigation goal, current national targets must be significantly strengthened. This requires support from the public for policy changes, which includes not only acceptance of an energy transition, but also willingness to use and to pay for renewable energy sources as well as to actively engage in an energy transition. It also requires individual behavior changes in personal consumption of energy, food, and transportation.

 

“The major aim of this paper was to understand how awareness about the need for climate change mitigation could be turned into action,” says lead researcher Nadejda Komendantova, who is with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).

 

To understand how people’s worldviews affect their actions, Komendantova and Sonata Neumueller used social science methodology including surveys and interviews of people in three regions of Austria, ranging from rural to semi-rural and suburban.

 

As a country with a high level of awareness of climate change impacts both nationally and globally, the researchers expected to find broad support for climate change mitigation efforts, and they did. But despite a high, almost universal, level of awareness about the need for climate change mitigation, there was a great heterogeneity in opinions about whose responsibility it is to implement climate change mitigation efforts and how they should be implemented.

 

“People have different ways of looking at the world, and these views influence their perceptions of risks, benefits and costs of various policy interventions and shape how people act,” says Komendantova. Using a social science rubric known as cultural theory, Komendantova and Neumueller translated their interview and survey data into four different worldviews, to categorize the types of opinions into an analyzable framework.

 

“Cultural theory says that there are four major worldviews and discourses: hierarchical, egalitarian, individualistic, or anarchical,” explains Komendantova. “For example, representatives of the hierarchical views would prefer the government taking responsibility for the energy transition. The egalitarian would say that everybody should be responsible for energy transition with the major arguments of fair and equal distribution of risks and responsibilities. The representatives of individual discourse would say that it is a matter of personal responsibility and that such things as technology, innovation, and compensation are important.”

 

These differences in worldviews mean that although people may agree on the fundamental truth that climate change is a problem and something should be done, they may differ in how and what policies should be implemented, as well as in their willingness to change their own behavior.

 

This understanding could help policymakers develop compromise solutions that reflect these various worldviews.

 

Komendantova notes that the study was small and restricted to one country, but similar methods could provide insight across a broader European or international landscape.

 

“There are a variety of views on energy policy, and conflicts among these views also exist,” says Komendantova. “In order to move from awareness about climate change mitigation to action we must understand the existing variety of worldviews.”

 

 

Other News We Are Reading…

 

Multi-Agency Report Highlights Increasing Impacts of Climate Change

(Weather Meteorological Organization)

 

The tell-tale physical signs of climate change such as increasing land and ocean heat, accelerating sea level rise and melting ice are highlighted in a new report compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and an extensive network of partners. It documents impacts of weather and climate events on socio-economic development, human health, migration and displacement, food security and land and marine ecosystems. The WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019 includes input from national meteorological and hydrological services, leading international experts, scientific institutions and United Nations agencies. The flagship report provides authoritative information for policy makers on the need for Climate Action. (Read more…)

 

Biomass Fuels Can Significantly Mitigate Global Warming

(Science Daily)

 

Biomass fuels derived from various grasses could significantly mitigate global warming by reducing carbon, according to a long-term field study by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Michigan State University (MSU). In a new paper published in Environmental Science and Technology, the researchers examined a number of different cellulosic biofuel crops to test their potential as a petroleum alternative in ethanol fuel and electric light-duty vehicles which includes passenger cars and small trucks. Climate change mitigation scenarios limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 °C rely on decarbonizing vehicle fuel with bioenergy production together with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology that can capture up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted during electricity generation and industrial processes, which prevents atmospheric increase of CO2 concentration. Using both CCS and renewable biomass is one of the few carbon abatement technologies resulting in a “carbon-negative” mode – actually removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (Read more…)

 

Damaging Impacts of Warming Moderated by Migration of Rainfed Crops

(Nature)

 

Many studies seek to estimate the adverse effects of climate change on crops, but most research assumes that the geographic distribution of crops will remain unchanged in the future. New research

using 40 years of global data, led by Colorado State University, has found that exposure to rising high temperatures has been substantially moderated by the migration of rainfed corn, wheat and rice. Scientists said continued migration, however, may result in significant environmental costs. The study, “Climate Adaptation by Crop Migration,” was published March 6 in

Nature Communications. “There’s substantial concern about the impacts of climate change on agriculture and how we can adapt to those changes,” said Nathan Mueller, assistant professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at CSU and a senior author on the paper. (Read more…)

 

 

Partner News and CSA Events

 

Solutions from the Land-Expanding Global Work

On Food Security, Other Sustainable Development Goals

 

Invitations have been extended to accomplished leaders and contributors in the field of sustainable land management to serve as senior advisors to Solutions from the Land’s in a new initiative to proactively engage with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in support of meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from agricultural landscapes.

 

SfL, which is NACSAA’s sponsoring organization, is also working closely with other aligned partners to advance a multiple-systems approach, policies and a roadmap for scaling up the land-based delivery of SDGs.

 

 

SfL’s effort comes as farmers around the world are facing the urgent question of how to sustainably feed a world population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, while ensuring the integrity of local and global ecosystems.

 

The current health pandemic is underlining the critical importance of agriculture in meeting world food security, nutrition, health and wellbeing, livelihoods, a changing climate and other environmental goals. The FAO’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for “bold and transformative steps to transition agriculture and food systems to a more sustainable and resilient path.”

 

The 17 SDGs aim to end poverty and hunger while restoring and sustainably managing natural resources. The goals integrate the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – with closely interwoven targets.

 

Officials say the SDGs are indivisible – no one goal is separate from the others, and all call for comprehensive and participatory approaches. The goals are also said to be universal – the 2030 Agenda makes clear they are as relevant to developed nations as they are is to developing countries.

 

Overseeing SfL’s emerging global work stream will be a panel led by Board of Directors Co-Chair AG Kawamura, a California grower and shipper, and a former Secretary of Agriculture of world’s fifth largest agricultural economy; SfL Co-Chair Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, a world renowned conservation and tropical biologist and Senior Fellow of the United Nations Foundation; and new SfL board member Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro, a Senior Fellow in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis, and a leading global expert on plant breeding, molecular biology and genetics.

 

Plans call for other panel members to include SfL board members and farmers who have been active participants in SfL’s food system, energy, climate and ecosystems services projects across the country.

 

In addition to helping guide SfL’s SDG work, these farmer leaders will also serve as emissaries championing our guiding principles and enabling policy recommendations at global government, business and NGO forums.

 

SfL is also establishing an SDG Advisory Committee to provide a mechanism to enable contributions and guidance from the organization’s academic, business, NGO and government partners.

 

Acknowledging the current commitments of those invited to serve and the likelihood of prolonged travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for the indefinite future call for conducting the majority of the committee’s work via periodic virtual meetings and teleconference calls. SfL will provide facilitation and project management assistance.

 

Through its various work platforms, SfL calls for policy makers and stakeholders to embrace proven, pragmatic and science-based approaches and techniques, including agroecology and other innovations, to meet food security, nutrition, health, climate and environmental goals.

 

SfL also advocates for land management policies that embrace systems approaches for many scales of agriculture; recognizing the tremendous diversity of agricultural landscapes and ecosystems; and enabling producers to utilize the systems and practices that best support their unique resources and farming operations.

 

SfL’s vision is for America’s farms, ranches and forests to be at the forefront of resolving food system, energy, environmental and climate challenges and achieving global sustainable development goals.

 

We encourage our NACSAA partners and other stakeholders to share with us any organization news or events highlighting your role in climate smart agriculture. We look forward to including your information in our monthly newsletter. Simply send your news or event notices to info@SfLDialogue.net.

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