WASHINGTON, Feb. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AgMission™, a global collaboration to develop and implement climate-smart farming solutions, announced that The Nature Conservancy is joining the initiative as a Founding Partner. As such, the conservation organization is committing $5 million over the next five years to advance innovative agriculture-climate solutions that will meet the mutual goals of AgMission to reach net-negative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the agriculture industry.
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action (USFRA) and the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) founded AgMission, which brings together farmers, ranchers and scientists to co-create and rapidly expand innovation, adaptation and the adoption of climate-smart technologies. This unprecedented initiative centers on the development and deployment of a comprehensive, interoperable data-driven framework.
FFAR and The Nature Conservancy have jointly worked on conservation agriculture and climate issues since 2018. The Nature Conservancy’s partnership with AgMission represents the next step in advancing their collaborative efforts to achieve the mutual goal of driving climate solutions in agriculture.
“While many scientists around the globe are advancing our understanding of agriculture, there’s no central force to mobilize this work to address climate change with farmers and ranchers – until now. The unprecedented collaboration and scale of this initiative is what makes AgMission different,” said Allison Thomson, AgMission program director. “It’s truly a privilege to have The Nature Conservancy’s valuable insight and vast network to move AgMission forward.”
Agricultural activities within the farm gate contribute roughly 13 percent of global GHG emissions, yet have the potential to be a powerful climate solution. Agricultural research and data are critical to this solution, and AgMission’s strategy envisions a data-powered, climate-action framework that bolsters productivity and resilience, while enabling rapid-response adoption of farmer-driven, climate-smart solutions.
“Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge of our time,” said Kris Johnson, director of agriculture for The Nature Conservancy in North America. “Farmers and ranchers are on the frontlines and have an important role to play in driving solutions that could deliver a host of benefits, including improved water quality, enhanced biodiversity and a resilient food system. We need to help bring natural and technological innovations forward to tackle climate change together.”
The Nature Conservancy’s $5 million commitment, which will be matched by FFAR, will advance a number of innovative, data-driven projects designed to help farmers reduce GHG emissions and build more climate resilient operations:
- Create, test and deploy incentives for durable soil health practice adoption in row crops;
- Expand technologies that can increase adoption of regenerative practices;
- Advance climate, nature conservation and socio-economic goals in range and pasture lands; and
- Invest in research to advance adoption of regenerative agriculture as a climate solution.
“AgMission, and its unprecedented public-private partnerships, accelerates the development of tools from startups and gets relevant and accurate data into the hands of farmers so they can make smart decisions about their farms,” said Ying Wang, USFRA science director. “We are looking forward to working with TNC for solutions for farmers and ranchers.”
The Nature Conservancy joins PepsiCo and McDonald’s USA as Founding Partners of AgMission.
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AgMission
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action (USFRA) and the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) established AgMission™, a global collaboration of farmers, ranchers and scientists co-creating science-based solutions to expand innovation and research that powers adaptation and adoption of climate-smart solutions. AgMission will help the agriculture sector become net negative for greenhouse gas emissions.
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world's toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable. Working in 72 countries, we use a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit www.nature.org or follow us on Twitter at @nature_press.
