The following are respected resources in the areas of climate change and sustainable agriculture. We are careful to qualify these resources before publishing them on our website, and periodically add to this list so check back often.
Understanding Common Terms Used in Discussions about Climate Change and Agriculture
The Effects of Climate Change on U.S. Ecosystems
California Climate Change Policy
Resources for Farmers
Understanding Common Terms Used in Discussions about Climate Change and Agriculture
Leopold Center
A glossary of terms to help understand the language of climate change and agriculture.
The Effects of Climate Change on U.S. Ecosystems
USDA, December 2009
This USDA report concludes that climate change is already affecting U.S. agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity, and will continue to do so. The report identifies the effects climate is having and is expected to have on natural resources and ecosystems services in the U.S. over the next several decades.
U.S. Agriculture and Forestry Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2005
The Inventory is a comprehensive assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks in U.S. agriculture and forests. It provides extensive, in-depth emissions and sinks estimates for livestock, cropland, and forests, as well as energy consumption in livestock and cropland agriculture. Estimates are provided at State, regional, and national scales, categorized by land ownership and management practices where possible. Information in the report can be used to identify opportunities to reduce emissions and enhance sinks through agriculture and forest management.
Mitigation of Climate Change (2007 report)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the leading scientific body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences. This is the section of the IPCC report focused on agriculture. A variety of options exists for mitigation of GHG emissions in agriculture. The most prominent options are improved crop and grazing land management (e.g., improved agronomic practices, nutrient use, tillage, and residue management), restoration of organic soils that are drained for crop production and restoration of degraded lands. Lower but still significant mitigation is possible with improved water and rice management; set-asides, land use change (e.g., conversion of cropland to grassland) and agro-forestry; as well as improved livestock and manure management.
Regenerative Organic Farming: A Solution to Global Warming
The Rodale Institute conducts and communicates about research related to organic farming. They published this report based on nearly 30 years of soil carbon data that shows that regenerative agricultural practices can be the most effective currently available strategy for mitigating CO2 emissions.
Unequivocal – How climate change will transform California
California Agriculture (published by UC), April – June 2009 issue
This issue has in it articles such as:
- How will changes in global climate influence California?
- As carbon dioxide rises, food quality will decline without careful nitrogen management
- Climate change will exacerbate California’s insect pest problems
- Modeling shows that alternative soil management can decrease greenhouse gases
Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation for Greenhouse Gases
The goal of this nine-university consortium is to provide the tools and information needed to successfully implement soil carbon sequestration programs so that we may lower the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, while providing income and incentives to farmers and improving the soil. Most of the focus is in the Midwestern states.
Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use
Worldwatch Institute, Report 179, August 2009
The report reviews five major strategies for reducing and sequestering terrestrial GHG emissions: enriching soil carbon, farming with perennials, climate-friendly livestock production, protecting natural habitat, and restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands. It also provides policy recommendations.
No Sure Fix: Prospects for Reducing Nitrogen Fertilizer Pollution through Genetic Engineering
Union of Concerned Scientists
The biotechnology industry has yet to produce any commercial crops engineered to reduce nitrogen fertilizer pollution, while traditional breeding and other methods have improved the nitrogen use efficiency of major food crops.
Soil Carbon Challenge
This organization advances the practice, and spread awareness of the opportunity, of turning atmospheric carbon into soil organic matter. They have a number of useful resources on their site, primarily for rangeland managers.
Beef Production & Climate Change
A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists describes the GHG emissions related to beef production in the U.S. and makes recommendations for reducing these emissions and sequestering carbon by a shift to pasture-based systems and improvements to confined animal feeding operations. Raising the Steaks is a comprehensive examination of this sector of agriculture that is responsible for one-third of ag-related emissions.
Save and Grow
A report released by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in June 2011 states that while the Green Revolution increased crop yields globally and helped alleviate hunger, decades of intensive farming has ravaged the world’s natural resources, causing land degradation, sapping water supplies and contributing massively to climate change. The report argues that the present paradigm of intensive crop production cannot meet the challenges of the new millennium and that a new paradigm of agriculture called sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI) is needed to conserve and enhance natural resources. It uses an ecosystem approach that draws on nature’s contribution to crop growth – soil organic matter, water flow regulation, pollination and natural predation of pests – and applies appropriate external inputs at the right time, in the right amount.
California Climate Change Policy
AB 32 Text
In 2006, the Legislature passed and Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which set the 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal into law. It directed the California Air Resources Board to begin developing discrete early action to reduce greenhouse gases while also preparing a scoping plan to identify how best to reach the 2020 limit.
The Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), Agriculture Sector
AB 32 is California’s climate policy bill that directs the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to implement a number of policies that reduce GHGs, including some type of cap-and-trade program. CARBis working on reducing GHG emissions from multiple sectors of California’s economy, as part of the implementation of AB 32. This page contains information regarding economic sector control measures, reduction strategies, working groups, protocols and other pertinent information. This section describes on-farm GHG emissions from animals and from crop management.
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) Policy Paper
This paper provides recommendations on policies and programs that can mitigate the impacts of rapid climate change in agriculture and reduce overall GHG emissions from agriculture. It gives a relatively current overview of the science regarding climate change and agriculture on a national scale.
Agriculture and Climate Change: Beyond Copenhagen
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, April 2010
This paper makes recommendations on how, within the global climate negotiations, agriculture can contribute to food security and secured livelihoods, while simultaneously building resilience to climate change, reducing GHG emissions and sequestering carbon.
Perspectives on U.S. Agriculture and Carbon Offsets
Written by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, this short briefing provides a summary of the potential problems associated with agricultural carbon offset markets.
Resources for Farmers
Agricultural Water Stewardship Resource Center
This website is a resource center for growers, ranchers, and others interested in sound farm water management. Agricultural water stewardship is the use of water in a way that optimizes agricultural production while also addressing co-benefits for the environment and human health. The local and regional context in which a farm operates will determine the best water management approaches to maximize water use efficiency, minimize adverse environmental impacts, and balance trade-offs for society as a whole.
ATTRA – Agriculture, Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration
This publication provides an overview of the relationship between agriculture, climate change and carbon sequestration. It also investigates possible options for farmers and ranchers to have a positive impact on the changing climate and presents opportunities for becoming involved in the emerging carbon market.
Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR)
This program at Washington State University is helping farmers develop and implement agricultural systems and practices that mitigate global climate change. The program seeks to understand the interconnections between climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and agriculture in an effort to reduce agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases, improve soil carbon sequestration, and develop bioenergy, biofuels and bioproducts from agriculture that offset the combustion of fossil fuel carbon.
Greenhouse Gas Calculator for Vineyards
There are several self-assessment tools for wine grape growers available on the web site of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, including topics such as:
- Understanding GHG
- Business Case for Climate Protection
- Energy Analysis
- Calculating Carbon
- Market Drivers for Climate Protection
- Taking Action
CSWA also has a short booklet on Vineyard Management Practices and Carbon Footprints. There are some similar resources available from the Wine Institute
The calculator has been developed to incorporate all aspects of Greenhouse Gas emissions from the wine industry as identified by the Wine Industry Protocol. The calculator and protocol are still considered to be in the development phase. Vineyards can make calculations on many activities including fuel quantity, stationary combustion, winemaking practices, biomass photosynthesis, vineyard practices and more.
NRCS Climate Change Information
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides technical and financial assistance to help producers mitigate the effects of climate change through a variety of conservation programs. A wide range of conservation efforts can result in sequestration of carbon in soils and woody biomass, reduction in GHG emissions, substitution of fossil fuel with renewable energy sources, and provide additional ecosystem benefits.
A Practical Approach to Improve Soil Health
An excellent set of resources produced by the Soil Quality Institute of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of USDA lays out four keys to improving soil health and obtaining increased fertility, better water retention and less erosion, increasing profitability and sequestering carbon. The four methods are: (1) Keep soil covered; (2) Feed the soil life with organic matter; (3) Eliminate tillage; (4) Avoid compaction, fire, and chemicals.
