USDA Details Climate Strategy

OMAHA (DTN) -- Ohio farmer Fred Yoder felt a small sense of pride for the work he had done on climate-change adaptation with a group of agricultural stakeholders when Yoder heard about some climate initiatives announced this week by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Yoder had co-chaired a committee for the group 25x'25 that had recommendations for farmers and policymakers to examine long-term adaptation strategies for climate change. The 25x'25 report underscored the need for more research into a broad array of areas ranging from climate forecasting to new crop-management tools, as well as emphasizing production practices that would enhance conservation while maintaining production capacity on the land.

USDA's announcement, highlighted in a speech by Vilsack at the National Press Club, targets many of the same themes as the 25x'25 report. "Basically, it was a page out of our adaptation and almost lock step," Yoder said. "I just applaud the secretary for attempting to do something on the ground and something meaningful that farmers can use and go."

Saying climate change is a "new and different" threat to American farm productivity, Vilsack said farmers and ranchers are just beginning to deal with the long-term challenges. "This problem is not going to go away on its own. That's why America must take steps now."

A USDA report earlier this year stressed that higher carbon dioxide levels will increase temperatures and dramatically change precipitation patterns across the country. Agricultural productivity will be at risk due to more weather volatility and higher risk of extreme weather events. As USDA stated in its report, "Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to U.S. agriculture because of the sensitivity of agricultural productivity and costs to (from) changing climate conditions."

Adaptation strategies not only help mitigate risk, but would ideally alter patterns to help farmers and agribusinesses capitalize on opportunities that may emerge as well.

In response, USDA is creating seven new "regional climate hubs" that have yet to be named. Those hubs will combine work at USDA and land-grant universities to provide farmers with tools for best management practices and risk mitigation to challenges ranging from pest management to water availability. The hub facilities and lead agencies will be named later this year.

"That's just the starting point for all of this," said Bill Hohenstein, director of USDA's climate change office. "The important part will be building the networks at the regional level that can connect these hubs to our stakeholders and our programs."

That would translate into developing more climate-related programs for district conservationists or county extension offices to better work with producers on solutions to specific challenges. Along with that, USDA is rolling out tools such as a carbon management system, or "COMET-Farm" to help farmers and ranchers gauge their own carbon footprints.

Justin Knopf, who farms near Salina, Kan., took part in a drought roundtable earlier this spring at USDA. He's been trying to improve soil health on his farm through no-till farming and learning more how to incorporate cover crops. Knopf saw the USDA announcement on climate and was particularly pleased with the regional hub concept.

"Anytime the USDA can stay in touch more closely at what's happening out at the farm level, it's a move in the right direction," Knopf said. "I think these hubs are a positive thing, and I think it's good to have at the regional level because conditions, the environment and the ecosystems we all farm in, vary differently at the regional level."

Knopf also likes the plan to partner with land-grant universities and area researchers because it may help offset some of the financial hits universities have taken in research fields.

"As I farm and try to mitigate some of the more extreme events such as the recent drought, much of that information, ideas and research that I pay attention to comes from things they are doing at Kansas State," Knopf said. "The more USDA can support those efforts on a regional level, I think is incredibly important."

Another key USDA decision is the marrying of agency recommendations and policies on cover-crop management. That was an area where crop insurance rules at the Risk Management Agency have drawn fire as the Natural Resources Conservation Service does more to encourage cover crops to reduce erosion and build organic matter in the soil.

"We have got to get a clear understanding that you can't penalize somebody for putting a cover crop on," Yoder said.

To provide some clarity, NRCS, RMA and the Farm Service Agency have created new guidelines for recommended timeframes for farmers to terminate cover crops based on zones. The plan breaks the country up into four different zones with different timeframes allowed for termination. The goal is to minimize the risk of yield loss on the cash crop that could be caused by soil moisture extraction by the cover crops.

"What we did was basically come up with a strategy that tells a producer when they need to terminate a cover crop before they plant their insured crop," said Brandon Willis, USDA's director of RMA. "So it's a pretty simple guidance."

Yoder noted that getting a sound guidance on cover crops is critical because farmers have been leery of planting covers over fear of losing their crop insurance coverage.

"It should not be controversial because you are not harvesting a crop, you are holding nutrients in the soil and doing yourself a great service," Yoder said.

As USDA rolls out its climate plan with no new resources and a lack of support in Congress, some still wonder whether the federal government is doing enough to tackle the problem, particularly with future food security on the line. Craig Cox, a senior vice president for Environmental Working Group, noted efforts such as NRCS rolling out a major soil-health initiative last fall but making little impact when it comes to addressing problems such as soil erosion. He noted erosion is more severe this spring in the Midwest, which has been inundated with heavy rain events.

"It was good to hear USDA talking seriously to farmers about climate change. That was a welcome development," Cox said. "What was lacking was any real sense of urgency about this issue."

Links to the USDA announcement and some of the new climate initiatives can be found at http://dld.bz/…

Chris Clayton can be found at chris.clayton@telventdtn.com

(AG/SK)

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