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That’s why Pasa Sustainable Agriculture and partners are beginning work to directly support farmers interested in adopting and studying climate-smart practices.
We believe that a deepened understanding of the environmental benefits of these practices will empower farmers to educate customers about their role in growing climate-solutions.
This work will span 6 major watersheds across 15 states, including lands stewarded by Tribal nations and Indigenous farmers in the same geographic region.
This program is supported by a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
We recognize farmers may experience barriers in applying, enrolling, and participating in this program. We’re here to help you navigate this process.We can offer support with filling out the application, obtaining an FSA farm number, and completing any required paperwork.
Reach out for support!
For English: support@climatesmart.org • Para espaňol: apoyo@climatesmart.org
Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions.
At the same time, farmers are dealing with many of the most immediate impacts of the changing climate. From unprecedented heat and drought, to severe floods that can sabotage an entire growing season and affect communities downstream—farmers are on the front lines of the climate crisis.
Climate-smart agriculture encompasses practices that work to mitigate climate-change by reducing carbon emissions and help farms adapt to increasingly extreme weather. These include production strategies like agroforestry, prescribed grazing, planting cover crops, managing nutrient inputs, reducing tillage, and other conservation farming methods demonstrated to improve soil health and climate resilience.
Many of these practices have their roots in Indigenous farming methods.
This program will provide technical assistance and financial support to help farmers across the Northeast and Eastern Seaboard implement regenerative practices such as agroforestry, prescribed grazing, planting cover crops, and reducing tillage.
Farmer participants will engage in community science and help to clearly identify environmental co-benefits of climate-smart practices, by measuring factors like water quality, soil health, and ecosystems resilience.
This program will offer marketing strategies to help farmers communicate the benefits of these practices to customers and develop tools to help climate-conscious consumers find climate-smart farms near them.
This program aims to serve 2,000 farmers across the Northeast and Eastern Seaboard, so our partnerships will be key.
Alley Cropping (311)
Conservation Cover (327) *
Conservation Crop Rotation (328) *
Contour Buffer Strips (332)
Cover Crop (340) *
Fence (382)
Field Border (386)
Filter Strip (393)
Forest Farming (379)
Grassed Waterway (412)
Hedgerow Planting (422)
Herbaceous Wind Barriers (603)
Livestock Pipeline (516)
Mulching (484) *
Nutrient Management (590) *
Pasture and Hay Planting (512)
Prescribed Grazing (528) *
Residue and Tillage Management, No-Till (329) *
Residue and Tillage Management, Reduced (345) *
Riparian Herbaceous Cover (390)
Silvopasture (381)
Stripcropping (585) *
Tree/Shrub Establishment (612)
Vegetative Barrier (601)
Windbreak/Shelterbelt Establishment (380)
Watering Facility (614)
The overall length of the implementation timeline will vary by project, and will be largely determined by whether the chosen practices(s) require environmental review.
Most practices will require environmental review; exceptions are indicated with an asterisk (*).
The three-digit code after each practice indicates the corresponding Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) practice standard.
Find a comprehensive list of these standards and learn more about each practice on nrcs.usda.gov.
You’ll get financial support for implementation.
As a farmer researcher, you’ll collect data to gain insights about your farm’s soil health, water quality, carbon resilience, and other metrics.
You can join a peer-to-peer learning community with other farmers working to improve their farm’s climate resilience and bottom line.
We’ll offer marketing support to help you share your climate impact story with your customers and communicate research findings to grow informed consumer support for climate-smart practices.
Fill out your application! We’ll ask for few details about your farm and practices and support you’re interested in. It takes about 15 minutes to complete.
This program is supported by a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which promotes meaningful involvement of small shareholder, limited resource, and underserved producers. Farmers of color, women and gender nonconforming farmers, beginning farmers, and veteran farmers are strongly encouraged to participate.
Civil Eats covers a broad range of agroforestry practices, which can pull carbon out of the atmosphere and build farm resilience as the climate changes.
Allegheny Front covers how some farmers are shifting their practices to adapt to the changing climate, and work to keep it from getting worse.
Lancaster Farming covers how $55 million awarded to Pasa Sustainable Agriculture by USDA will be used to study and promote the widespread adoption of farming practices that reduce or sequester carbon emissions.