UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Climate change profoundly impacts farmers, introducing challenges such as erratic weather patterns, shorter growing seasons, extreme temperatures, and heightened pest and disease pressure.
At the inaugural “Pennsylvania Partners for Climate Smart Commodities Summit,” held in February on Penn State’s University Park campus, a diverse group of stakeholders came together to discuss how climate-smart agriculture offers innovative solutions to help farmers adapt and safeguard their livelihoods.
Emphasizing Pennsylvania’s dairy sector, the gathering was organized by the Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science within the College of Agricultural Sciences. Those in attendance have received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Initiative.
The initiative, representing an investment exceeding $3.1 billion distributed across 141 projects, is designed to broaden markets for America’s climate-smart commodities, harness the greenhouse gas advantages of climate-smart commodity cultivation, and deliver tangible, direct advantages to production agriculture, particularly benefiting small and underserved producers.
Matt Royer, director of the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center, emphasized the significance of this national program in advancing climate-smart agriculture, underscoring the importance of collaboration among industry leaders and USDA stakeholders.
“By convening these forward-thinking companies at the forefront of the U.S. dairy industry, alongside USDA program leadership, we have gained invaluable insights into the multitude of dairy-centric initiatives underway in Pennsylvania,” Royer said. “This collective effort empowers us to collaborate more effectively, fostering a deeper understanding of our shared objectives and paving the way for smarter, more strategic cooperation moving forward.”
Penn State was among the recipients of up to $25 million from USDA to support a new Penn State-led collaboration with dairy industry associations and producers to develop and implement climate-smart practices on Pennsylvania dairy farms.
The project — titled “Climate-smart Agriculture that is Profitable, Regenerative, Actionable, and Trustworthy” — was developed in partnership with the Center for Dairy Excellence, Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, Red Barn Consulting and Proagrica. The goal is to generate climate commodities that add value to dairy products along the supply chain and leverage agriculture’s potential to solve climate change.
Project leader Armen Kemanian, professor of production systems and modeling in the college, explained that the project team is focusing on dairy for several reasons: Dairy is a pivotal sector for Pennsylvania’s economy, with a large number of family-owned, small and medium-sized farms; there is significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via feed and nutrient management to suppress methane and nitrous oxide emissions; and, some reductions can be achieved by storing carbon in soil through reduced tillage and planting cover crops.
Throughout the two-day summit, participants discussed various topics, including dairy farm trends, market economics, carbon markets, funding and monitoring climate-smart practices on dairy farms. Breakout sessions fostered synergy among climate-smart commodities projects.
Blair Siegfried, associate dean for research and graduate education and director of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station, noted that the summit has fostered valuable relationships and dialogue and represents the college’s long tradition of supporting practices such as no-till production to minimize environmental impacts.
“As farmers confront the consequences of climate change, agricultural research and practices must collaborate toward solutions, ensuring the resilience and sustainability of our agricultural sector in Pennsylvania and beyond,” he said.