...USDA rolled out 10 "building blocks" that will use partnerships and
other resources to work with farmers in implementing new ways to farm
more efficiently. USDA plans to offer technical assistance and financial
incentives to participating producers.
Soil health: Soil resilience and productivity
will be promoted through no-till and conservation tillage; the effort
aims to increase the use of no-till systems to cover more than 100
million acres by 2025.
Nitrogen stewardship: Focus on the right timing,
type, placement and quantity of nutrients to reduce nitrous oxide
emissions and provide cost savings through efficient application.
Livestock partnerships: Encourage broader deployment
of anaerobic digesters, lagoon covers, composting, and solids
separators to reduce methane emissions from cattle, dairy, and swine
operations, including the installation of 500 new digesters over the
next 10 years.
Conservation of sensitive lands: Use the Conservation Reserve Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
to reduce GHG emissions through riparian buffers, tree planting, and
the conservation of wetlands and organic soils. The effort aims to
enroll 400,000 acres of lands with high greenhouse gas benefits into the
Conservation Reserve Program.
Grazing and pasture lands: Support rotational grazing
management on an additional 4 million acres, avoiding soil carbon loss
through improved management of forage, soils and grazing livestock.
Private forest growth and retention: Through the
Forest Legacy Program and the Community Forest and Open Space
Conservation Program, protect almost 1 million additional acres of
working landscapes. Employ the Forest Stewardship Program to cover an
average of 2.1 million acres annually (new or revised plans), in
addition to the 26 million acres covered by active plans.
Stewardship of federal forests: Reforest areas
damaged by wildfire, insects, or disease, and restore forests to
increase their resilience to those disturbances. This includes plans to
reforest an additional 5,000 acres each year.
Promotion of wood products: Increase the use of wood
as a building material, to store additional carbon in buildings while
offsetting the use of energy from fossil fuel.
Urban forests: Encourage tree planting in urban
areas to reduce energy costs, storm water runoff, and urban heat island
effects while increasing carbon sequestration, curb appeal, and property
values. The effort aims to plant an additional 9,000 trees in urban
areas on average each year through 2025.
Energy generation and efficiency: Promote renewable
energy technologies and improve energy efficiency. Through the Energy
Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program, work with utilities to improve
the efficiency of equipment and appliances. Using the Rural Energy for
America Program, develop additional renewable energy opportunities.
Support the National On-Farm Energy Initiative to improve farm energy
efficiency through cost-sharing and energy audits...more
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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"Grazing and pasture lands: Support rotational grazing management on an additional 4 million acres, avoiding soil carbon loss through improved management of forage, soils and grazing livestock." Are these the same folks who turned CO2 into a pollutant? Where do they think carbon comes from?
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