What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Forest Farming

January 30, 2017Climate Column

By Tom Driscoll, Director of Conservation Policy and NFU Foundation Last week, the Climate Column discussed one practice, alley cropping, that builds climate resilience of farmland by incorporating trees. The National Agroforesty Center (NAC) promotes other such practices, including forest farming. Forest farming “is the cultivation of high-value specialty crops under the protection of a forest canopy that has been … Read More

What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Alley Cropping

January 23, 2017Climate Column

By Tom Driscoll, Director of Conservation Policy and NFU Foundation The Climate Column has covered many practices supported by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). In addition to its own work promoting conservation practices, NRCS also collaborates with the United States Forest Service to provide resources through the National Agroforestry Center (NAC) to help farmers contribute to climate resilience. NAC promotes … Read More

What Do Farmers Need to Know About Climate Change? United States Mid-Century Strategy for Deep Decarbonization

January 17, 2017Blog, Climate Column

By Tom Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education National Farmers Union (NFU) members understand the negative impacts of climate change are exacerbated by greater concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere. Everyone in the world should be concerned about the broad consequences of climate change, but family farmers are particularly worried about the direct impact climate change … Read More

What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Forage and Biomass Planting

January 9, 2017Blog, Climate Column

By Thomas Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education Since October, when the Climate Column started featuring ways farmers can address climate change, we have primarily discussed practices to build climate resilience in crop production. There are, of course, many things livestock producers can do about climate change as well. Livestock producers often have … Read More

What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Vegetative Barriers

January 2, 2017Blog, Climate Column

By Thomas Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education Installing vegetative barriers, defined by the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS)  as “permanent strips of stiff, dense vegetation established along the general contour of slopes or across concentrated areas,” is another way producers can adapt to and mitigate climate change.  … Read More

What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Stripcropping

December 26, 2016Climate Column

By Thomas Driscoll, NFU Director of Conservation Policy and Education As noted frequently here at the Climate Column (for example, in last week’s post on grassed waterways), preventing soil erosion is an important way farmers can adapt to and mitigate climate change. Impeding erosion improves soil health. This, in turn, allows soil to both store … Read More

What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Grassed Waterways

December 19, 2016Climate Column

By Thomas Driscoll, Director of Conservation Policy and Education The Climate Column has discussed several practices to avoid soil erosion, such as no-till and cover crops, that farmers can use to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Preventing erosion is critical to building healthy soils that store carbon from the atmosphere, mitigating the negative impacts … Read More

What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Filter Strips

December 12, 2016Climate Column

By Trixie Wessel, NFU Intern NFU’s Climate Column recently covered the practice of creating field borders. This week, we’re talking about a similar practice: filter strips. Filter strips, also known as buffer strips, are areas of vegetation planted between cropland and surface water to obstruct the passage of  sediment and pollutants into environmentally sensitive areas. Filter strips trap suspended solids … Read More

What Can Farmers Do About Climate Change? Field Borders

December 5, 2016Climate Column

By Trixie Wessel, NFU Intern In the past, the Climate Column has discussed practices such as strip-till, no-till, and cover crops to prevent erosion and improve soil health. Another important practice with similar benefits is the establishment of field borders, strips of vegetation at the perimeter of a field. Generally composed of stiff-stemmed upright grasses or … Read More

Why Do Farmers Care About Climate Change? Warmer Winters

November 28, 2016Climate Column

By Tom Somrack, NFU Government Relations Intern As previously noted on the Climate Column, rising temperatures resulting from climate change can have serious repercussions for both crop growers and livestock producers. In addition to the basic issues related to rising temperatures, warmer winters pose their own unique set of potential problems for producers. USDA’s Regional Vulnerability Assessments explain how a decrease in … Read More