Virginia Tech Leads the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture

By Zeke Barlow and Max Esterhuizen

August 26, 2024

ARTICLE

Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences received an $80 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture in 2023 to pilot a program that will pay producers to implement climate-smart practices on farms of all sizes and commodities, an initiative that could have significant impacts on curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Virginia Tech will distribute more than $57 million directly to producers to help them implement these climate-smart agricultural practices for crop and animal production. The grant, which is the largest in the university’s history, creates a three-year pilot program in Virginia, Arkansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota that will test the feasibility of rolling out a similar program on a national scale.

“We are proud to lead this effort that gives agricultural producers incentives to enact climate-smart practices and the financial means to do so,” said Tom Thompson, principal investigator on the project, associate dean of the college, director of CALS Global, professor of agronomy, and executive editor of the Global Agricultural Productivity Report (GAP Report). “This is a watershed program that helps the agricultural industry be a leader in adapting to climate change.”

According to Thompson, the credit for the pilot concept belongs to RIPE (Rural Investment to Protect our Environment). CALS Global leads the project, known as the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture.

“This is an extraordinarily exciting time to be involved in agriculture,” Thompson said. “Farmers have always been the great stewards of our land, and American agriculture has always been a productivity powerhouse. This pilot program will help them continue to do so for generations to come.”

– Tom Thompson, Principal Investigator of the Alliance to Advance Climate Smart Agriculture

Nationally, the partners of the pilot program thus far include:

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

North Dakota Farmers Union

Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources

Arkansas Department of Agriculture

Sustainable Food Lab

Agricultural Council of Arkansas

Arkansas Rice Federation

Minnesota Farmers Union

Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association

Minnesota Soil Health Coalition

National Association of Conservation Districts

National Black Growers Council

Virginia Cooperative Extension

Small Farm Outreach Program at Virginia State University

How it Works

The pilot program will pay producers $100 per acre or animal unit for voluntary adoption of climate-smart practices that deliver more than that amount in public environmental benefits. Unlike previous cost-sharing programs that put some of the financial burdens of adopting climate-smart practices on producers, this program pays producers more than the cost of implementation of these practices while also improving their bottom lines. More than 20 state and national organizations will help to implement the project.

Each state participating in the program will work with local conservation districts and partner with organizations to ensure underserved producers are part of the program. Virginia Tech will also work to ensure that program enrollment is statistically representative of the diversity of agricultural operations within each state. Virginia Tech researchers will create a model that selects participants to ensure program diversity. At least 40 percent of participants will be underserved and small producers, reaching at least 1,900 operations. A minimum of 500 operations with socially disadvantaged or limited resource producers will participate in the pilot project.

Climate-smart practices supported by the project are:

Crop practices

Cover crops
No-till
Reduced till
Nutrient management, including precision nutrient management and/or advanced formulations
Conservation crop rotation
Silvopasture
Riparian forest buffer
Riparian herbaceous cover
Irrigation water management- alternate wetting and drying for water conservation in rice

Livestock practices

Comprehensive nutrient and manure management plan and implementation
Roofs and covers
Waste separation facility
Feed management to reduce enteric emissions
Prescribed grazing
Nutrient management
Silvopasture

Interested in applying for the Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture? Read the Producer Guide

The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture will reach an estimated 4,500 agricultural operations representing up to 500,000 acres in the initial four states. If scaled up nationally, as much as 80 percent of agricultural producers could be enrolled in the program, which would make a significant impact on GHG emissions. Only about 3 percent of producers currently participate in carbon reduction programs. Each state participating in the program will work with local conservation districts and partner with organizations to ensure underserved producers are part of the program.

In tandem with tackling the issue of climate change, the project also will target boosting agricultural productivity to help feed a growing global population that is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.

“The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has been a driving force for innovation and adoption of best practices that have helped the agriculture industry grow since Virginia Tech was formed 150 years ago,” said Alan Grant, dean of the college. “This pilot program is at the core of our land-grant mission as we strive to serve our communities by investing our time and knowledge to help them thrive both now and for generations to come.”

Producers also will be able to market their climate-smart commodities to the American public through certificates with tracking numbers. Informed by feedback through a series of roundtables, the tracking system will include information needed by commodity purchasers to meet their sustainability goals.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) “is delivering on our promise to build and expand these market opportunities for American agriculture and be global leaders in climate-smart agricultural production,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said when he announced $2.8 billion in funding for 70 climate-smart projects. “This effort will increase the competitive advantage of U.S. agriculture both domestically and internationally, build wealth that stays in rural communities, and support a diverse range of producers and operation types.”

The initiative will help agriculture and forestry — the largest private sector industries in Virginia — continue to thrive.

“Agriculture and forestry combine for an annual economic impact of over $90 billion. They are a crucial component of Virginia’s economy, especially in our rural areas. Promoting and growing economic development is a top priority for the administration. Ensuring a sustainable and vibrant industry will be crucial for the long-term growth and success of Virginia,” said Matt Lohr, Virginia’s Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry. “This pilot project provides an optimal plan for investing in rural communities and supporting agricultural producers who deliver significant environmental benefits through their climate-smart production practices.”

“Agriculture is a key economic engine for the commonwealth. I’m thrilled that our advocacy helped bring this record funding to Virginia Tech to pilot ways to encourage Virginia’s vibrant agricultural community to adopt sustainable practices, which are critical to the future of the industry in Virginia and across the country,” – U.S. Senator Mark Warner.

The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture will provide $2 million to both Minnesota and Virginia to pilot the implementation of high-value and high-cost climate-smart practices in animal feeding operations. The pilot’s near-term impacts will be an estimated greenhouse gas benefit of 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and a total environmental value of $200 million. A similar national-scale program would have a benefit-to-cost ratio of 5:1, reaping a total environmental benefit of $415 billion (working under the assumption that multiple climate-smart practices are implemented on the same cropland acres and animal units after ten years of the program).

The program will rely heavily on research and programs at Virginia Tech, including the Global Agricultural Productivity Report (GAP Report) and insights from experts in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, the School of Animal Sciences, the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, and the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences.

There will be rigorous monitoring during the three-year pilot program to ensure the transaction costs associated with implementing the climate-smart initiatives are minimized and that there are few barriers for producers who enact such initiatives in their operations. Virginia Tech researchers will track the greenhouse gas savings of the initiative as they are implemented, quantify the benefits of other environmental impacts such as reduced soil erosion, and examine consumers’ willingness to pay for products with climate-smart labels.

“Embracing innovative and sustainable farming practices is central to the kind of comprehensive climate strategy we need to keep our communities safe. I’m proud of the valuable contributions Virginians are making to that effort, and am glad to have helped Virginia Tech secure this federal funding to support rural communities and protect our environment for generations to come.” -U.S. Senator Tim Kaine

Learn more about the Alliance to Advance Climate Smart Agriculture