Agriculture
Agriculture Solutions
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According to the DEC, emissions on farming operations has increased by 44.5% since 1990, accounting for 6% of the emissions in the state. These can be reduced substantially through energy efficiency and renewable energy, manure management, and livestock feeding practices.
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Regenerative practices are those that improve soil health and productivity, and draw carbon into the soil for long term storage. They include fairly common conservation farming practices such as cover crops, compost, and crop rotation, low and no-till methods. They also include soil amendments such as biochar and rock dust.
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Farms are complex operations and vulnerable to climate stresses. Resilience in everyday operations and crisis preparedness is an important emerging area.
Regional Strategy
Agriculture is one of the few sectors with the potential to absorb and sequester greenhouse gases through regenerative approaches to farming and soil health. But farms are under enormous economic stress, as well as the physical stresses brought on by climate change. Hudson Valley farms have an opportunity to improve their own efficiency, economy and resilience by working in a coordinated way to reduce energy use and emissions, adopt more efficient methods such as precision agriculture and whole-farm planning, and sequester carbon in plants and soils.
Most of these methods are in some use, at least in demonstration projects. But farmers need proof of concept under conditions like the ones they deal with. They also need technical and financial support to cover costs and risks associated with new practices. Farm assistance agencies like Cornell Cooperative Extension and the USDA Soil and Water Conservation Districts, working alongside nonprofits such as Scenic Hudson, the American Farmland Trust, and the Hudson Valley Food System Coalition, are developing and refining helpful programs to strengthen the farm and food economies in an increasingly coordinated manner. They should continuously improve these programs in consultation with farmers to make sure they are relevant and accessible to small and new farmers, and seek out additional funding streams through new approaches to pay for durable carbon dioxide removal. Allied organizations can help at any point in this system, whether by supporting soil health funding, starting a farm-to-table restaurant or by raising funding for a new voluntary carbon market.
This coalition will facilitate a Land and Water Resource Network to stay on top of emerging issues and opportunities to support sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
Who Cares? A Partial List of Stakeholders:
Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Agri-Tech Program
https://cals.cornell.edu/cornell-agritech
Cornell Cooperative Extension
https://cals.cornell.edu/cornell-cooperative-extension
Funders Organization for Regenerative Agriculture
https://www.forainitiative.org
Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming
Hudson Valley Farm Hub
Hudson Valley Food System Coalition
New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets
https://www.agriculture.ny.gov
Rondout Valley Growers Association
Seed Song Farm and Center
NY Association of (Soil and Water) Conservation Districts (by county)
Soul Fire Farm
Watershed Agricultural Council