Washington Report on Climate Friendly Farming Updates Studies

You'll find many tips on making agriculture more sustainable

Compiled by staff

Published: Jun 16, 2010

As reported earlier on the Western Farmer-Stockman website, Washington State University's Climate Friendly Farming report has been released after a multi-year study.

Now, you can read the entire report online at Climate Friendly.

Using some of the new agricultural practices discussed in the report on the project funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation "could dramatically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change," says Anson Fatland, senior program officer for science and technology innovations with the Foundation.

WSU's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, partnering with the Foundation, released the report officially in late May to outline the progress of a five-year project aimed at turning farms from greenhouse gas emitters to carbon sinks.

The Foundation funded the probe with a $3.75 million grant, underwriting a goal attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with farming, restore carbon to soils and replace fossil fuels with biomass.,

"The Climate Friendly Farming project has been successful well beyond our expectations," says Fatland. "With strong scientific foundations, the team has addressed greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in on-farm settings and made significant advancements in replacing fossil fuel-derived products with those derived from biomass."

The farm of tomorrow "will be more productive, with a smaller environmental footprint, thanks to the work of this group," Fatland adds.

Dan Bernardo, WSU College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences dean, agrees. "The Climate Friendly Farming Project is an extraordinary interdisciplinary effort that involved some of the most prominent agricultural researchers at WSU," he says. "Sound public policy in the arena must be based upon rigorous scientific analysis. This report provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of greenhouse gas emissions from Pacific Northwest agricultural systems."