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Climate One

Climate Smart Agriculture with Secretary Tom Vilsack

Climate One

Climate One

Earth Sciences, News, Social Sciences, News Commentary, Science

4.7585 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Agriculture is responsible for around 11% of U.S. carbon emissions. And yet soil holds the potential for massive carbon sequestration. Conventional agriculture focuses more on crop productivity than soil health, relying on pesticides, fertilizer, and other practices that contribute to climate-changing emissions rather than reduce them. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack advocates for a federal initiative focused on supporting “climate smart” agriculture for commodity crops that comprise the bulk of what’s grown on American farms: corn, soybeans, wheat. Meanwhile, the restaurateur behind Zero Foodprint is working to create change from table to farm, by crowdsourcing funds from customers to support regenerative farming practices directly.  Guests: Tom Vilsack, Secretary, US Department of Agriculture Jeremy Martin, Senior Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists Anthony Myint, Executive Director, Zero Foodprint For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:20.0

Because Slackbot isn't just another

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AI. It's AI that knows your work as well as you do. Visit Slack.com forward slash meet Slackbot

0:28.8

to learn more. Agriculture is responsible for around 11% of US emissions. Conventional farming

0:36.7

aims to maximize crop production using practices that

0:39.8

contribute carbon to the atmosphere. For 60 years, the message that's been conveyed to farmers

0:45.1

across the United States has been, you've got to produce more. You've got to produce more.

0:50.1

And yet, by using tools like cover crops and compost, soil also holds the potential for massive

0:55.9

carbon sequestration, which is good for the climate and farmers.

1:00.0

That's one of the principal reasons for doing climate smart practices, not just to reduce

1:04.4

greenhouse gas emissions, but to improve soil health.

1:07.4

So how do we change practices on the ground and get more farmers using these tools?

1:12.0

We're going to get much further, much faster, listening to farmers who basically said,

1:17.1

if you create a voluntary system, which is incentive-based and market base, we will respond.

1:22.6

Climate Smart Agriculture with Secretary Tom Vilsack, up next on Climate One.

1:32.8

This is Climate One. I'm Greg Dalton. And I'm Ariana Brocious. When we think of climate

1:38.5

harming emissions, we often think of smokestacks, power plants, and car tailpipes. But agriculture is a huge part of our total

1:46.0

carbon footprint. From tilling soil to fertilizer use to belching and farting cows, agriculture

1:52.5

is a major carbon emitter. For years, the government has incentivized environmental best

1:57.2

practices through federal programs that address things like habitat, watershed

...

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