$30 Million Awarded to Support Grassland Farmers in Climate-Smart Agriculture

September 30, 2022

Raleigh, NC – Grasslands are the single largest agricultural land use in the U.S., comprising a highly diverse community of grasses, legumes, forbs, and woody plants. Grasslands operate as the interface between the atmosphere and the soil, rendering them not only critical for agriculture, but also providing several ecosystems services, including storage and accumulation of soil carbon.

The Forage & Grassland Program in the Crop and Soil Sciences Department at NC State University is part of a team that received a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, for which $2.8 billion has been allocated. The project, “Climate-Smart Grasslands – the Root of Agricultural Carbon Markets,” is one of 70 projects selected by the USDA and focuses on a nine-state region that represents the core of grassland agriculture for the eastern U.S. The goal is to equip and empower land and livestock managers to enter the carbon economy while enhancing the system’s resiliency and optimizing profitability.

Dr. Miguel S. Castillo, Associate Professor and lead PI at NC State, notes that “grazing is not just letting the animals use the pastureland resource. Land and livestock managers have several tools and options available to strategically manage these resources and hence can have profound effects on the delivery of ecosystem services (e.g., accumulation and storage of soil carbon, emission of greenhouse gasses), and profitability of the farm. Decisions in grazing systems should be objective-driven”. The team is a partnership of 28 entities across the eastern U.S. that collaborates with 245 working farms. These farm partners will play a critical role in the success of the project by testing innovative grassland management strategies, providing an opportunity to validate carbon and greenhouse gas benefits, and serving as a platform for outreach programs.  The team will also evaluate trade-offs for producers, the beef sector, and national agricultural policy with respect to climate-smart farming, biodiversity conservation, and a productive beef sector. This information will be used to empower farmers, downstream elements of the beef value chain, and allied industries to engage in carbon exchanges and foster market opportunities within the retail sector.

The University of Tennessee is the lead partner on this project. Other partners include the University of Arkansas, Alabama Cooperative Extension, University of Kentucky, University of Missouri, Clemson University, North Carolina State University, Purdue University, Tennessee State University, Virginia State University, Virginia Tech, Tyson Foods, Inc., JBS Foods, Corteva, Farm Credit Mid-America, Ecosystem Services Marketing Consortium, American Forage and Grassland Council, National Grazing Lands Coalition, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, multiple state cattle associations, American and Tennessee Farm Bureau Federations, The Nature Conservancy, American Bird Conservancy, Monarch Joint Venture, National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Missouri Department of Conservation and Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.