Meaningful Solutions for a Changing Climate Require Proactive Partnerships

(Solutions from the Land) One of Solution from the Land's (SfL) primary missions over the past decade has been to help and inspire agricultural and forestry sector leaders to become powerful voices in the broader discussion of climate change, including adaptation and mitigation.

Towards this end, SfL has been building state, regional and national climate smart agricultural alliances and equipping agricultural partners to innovate effective on-the-ground adaptations that sustain productivity, enhance climate resilience, and contribute to local and global goals for sustainable development.

A shared focus for all of this work are the strategies and practices that help producers adapt to changing climatic conditions and enhance resilience. Examples include cover crops, enhanced crop rotation, rotational grazing, and no-and low-till farming; techniques which capture or sequester carbon in soil and also improve soil health, promote crop resilience and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. These proven land management practices also result in more efficient use of inputs, creating less run-off and improving water quality. They also enhance biodiversity, resulting in improved wildlife habitat.

From each of these climate smart agriculture initiatives - be it the North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA) or programs in North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri, the Delmarva Peninsula and most recently, Florida - a strong cadre of leaders has stepped forward. These innovative experts hail from crop and livestock organizations, value chain industry partners, academic institutions, governments, environmental organizations, and - most importantly - agricultural operations of every scale. They are working together to develop consensus-based action plans and policy agendas that address pathways to sustain a thriving agricultural and forestry sector that also protect air and water quality and reduces the effects of climate change.

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Many climate action funders don't yet appreciate the readiness and potential of agricultural landscape solutions. Those that do often pursue narrow solution pathways, focused on a limited number of strategies, rather than a systems approach that recognizes the tremendous diversity of agricultural landscapes and ecosystems and enables producers to utilize the systems and practices that best support their farming operations.

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With strong financial backing, industry thought leaders can create, incubate and spin off landscape scale, multi-stakeholder collaborations that improve the resilience of working agricultural and forestry landscapes and simultaneously deliver integrated climate solutions from the land. READ MORE

NACSAA Members Go to Hill to Promote Ag's Role in Addressing Climate Change (Solutions from the Land)