What is Climate-Smart?
What is It?
Climate change poses signficant challenges here in our community and across the globe. To minimize the emissions from agriculture, climate-smart agriculture was developed to increase productivity, enhance resilience, and reduce emissions.
What’s Being Done?
The USDA has committed to funding over $3.1 billion to support farmers and researchers working to identify ways agriculture can positively impact the environment. With the use of innovative growing practices farmers can make significant contributions to the health of the soil and its benefits to greenhouse gases.
How Can You Help?
Together, we can support farmers who implement positive practices on their farms to positively impact the environment. You can help by choosing Climate-Smart Farmers when buying food for you and your loved ones.
Partner Profiles the Southern Piedmont Climate-Smart Project Partners
Our project team combines perspectives from academic institutions, nonprofits, NGOs, and farmer associations to form one wholistic study of diverse vegetable farming in the Southern Piedmont.
Project Partner
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association is a farmer-driven, membership-based non-profit that helps people in North and South Carolina grow, eat, and enjoy local, organic food, flowers, and fibers. Since 1979, CFSA has worked to unite farmers, consumers, and businesses to build a healthy and sustainable food and farming system. CFSA’s network has fueled this transformation through training, targeted food system investments, one-on-one farm consulting (direct technical assistance), advocacy at all levels of government, and nurturing community leadership.
-
Karen McSwain
Soil Conservationist
-
Kim Butz
Soil Conservationist
Project Partner
Achieving Thomas Green Clemson’s vision of “a high seminary of learning” to develop “the material resources of the State” for the people of South Carolina is the mission that binds together researchers, teachers and faculty members at Clemson every day. United in the pursuit of this vision, Clemson employees and strategic partners collaborate to move South Carolina’s people and industries forward.
-
Dr. Rongzhong Ye
Associate Professor, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University
Project Partner
Emory University is a leading research university, recognized internationally for its outstanding liberal arts colleges, graduate and professional schools, and one of the nation’s most comprehensive academic health care systems.
-
Dr. Eri Saikawa
Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory College of Arts and Sciences
-
Dr. Emily Burchfield
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory University
-
Dr. Debjani Sihi
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory University
Project Partner
Georgia Organics is a member-supported, non-profit organization with the mission of investing in organic farmers for the health of our communities and the land. Georgia Organics champions organic agriculture and healthy families by prioritizing farmer prosperity, engaging children with good food in their cafeterias and classrooms, and convening local leaders to address food access issues by making organic and local food accessible to all.
-
Suzanne Girdner
Director of Programs
-
Paul Sorah
Climate-Smart Agriculture Specialist
Project Partner
NC State University is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, about halfway down the East Coast of the United States. Since 1887, we’ve strived to offer world-class teaching and research. Today, we’re ranked in the top 1% of universities on the planet.
-
Dr. Roderick M. Rejesus
Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Project Partner
Cooperative Extension at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) as a part of the largest College of Agriculture and Natural Resources among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) serves as the educational outreach arm of the nation’s land-grant universities. N.C. A&T State was established as a land-grant university under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, which expanded the land grant system to serve small-scale, underserved, and minority communities better. Cooperative Extension was established more than 100 years ago. Our program works as an integrated, nationwide educational and outreach network that improves lives – particularly in rural areas – by working with farmers, families, youth, and communities. N.C. A&T’s Cooperative Extension division includes subject-matter specialists, county-based agents, and paraprofessionals who deliver programs through centers across the state, including Guilford County, the City of Burlington, and areas from the North Carolina coast to the edges of the Cherokee reservation in the mountains. We are changing the world, one community at a time, right here in the Triad and beyond. Our students and statewide staff provide research-based information to North Carolinians who have social, cultural, and economic barriers to upward mobility, enabling them to make decisions that improve their communities and lives.
-
Dr. Biswanath Dari
Assistant Professor & Natural Resources Specialist | S-SARE State Coordinator
Project Partner
Poket is a customizable field data collection and surveying software. The solution empowers users in the field to self-report data in exchange for custom rewards and incentives. Poket enables self-reported and community-based data collection with real-time feedback loops, dashboards, maps and resources – even in offline and low-resource settings. For more information, please visit https://www.poketapp.com/.
-
Kamil Shafiq
Co-Founder
-
Naba Siddiqui
Co-Founder
Project Partner
Rodale Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to growing the regenerative organic agriculture movement through rigorous research, farmer training, and education. Our groundbreaking science and direct farmer-support programs serve as a catalyst for change in farming and food production worldwide. Over our 75-year history, we have proven that organic farming is not only viable, but essential to humanity’s survival.
The Southern Piedmont Climate-Smart Project, led by Rodale Institute, is a $25 million research project funded through the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program and the largest organic/conventional comparative research study in Rodale’s 75 year history.
-
Dr. Kristie Wendelberger
Climate Smart Project Director/ Lead PI
Project Partner
The Soil Health Institute is a global non-profit with a mission of safeguarding and enhancing the vitality and productivity of soils through scientific research and advancement. The Institute brings together leaders in soil health science and the industry to conduct research and empower farmers and other landowners with the knowledge to successfully adopt regenerative soil health systems that contribute economic and environmental benefits to agriculture and society.
-
Dr. Jenny Bower
Research Soil Scientist
-
Dr. Daniel Liptzin
Research Soil Scientist
Project Partner
We are an independent agricultural consultant company founded in 2013 by CEO Patrick Brown. We specialize in providing farmers and rural farm businesses with professional advice and support. We accelerate sustainability in Regenerative Agriculture and deliver transformational impact for food deserts, agriculture companies and organizations by driving efficiencies, fueling growth, shaping industries, and increasing organizational effectiveness. Our proprietary tools and digital advanced analytics capabilities, combined with extensive experience are the cornerstones of the value we bring to our clients.
-
Patrick Brown
Owner/Farmer
Project Partner
The University of Tennessee System is comprised of campuses at Knoxville, Chattanooga, Pulaski and Martin; the Health Science Center at Memphis; and the statewide Institute of Agriculture and Institute for Public Service.
Through the combined force of education, research and outreach, The University serves students, business and industry, schools, governmnets, organizations and residents statewide.
-
Dr. Sindhu Jagadamma
Associate Professor Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science
Project Partner
As the birthplace of public higher education in America, the University of Georgia is inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs, researchers, and informed citizens who will change the world. For over 235 years, UGA has been engaged in a mission of leadership and service to our state.
A land-grant and sea-grant university, the University of Georgia is the state’s oldest and most comprehensive institution of higher education. Its motto, “to teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things,” reflects the University’s integral role in the state and nation’s intellectual, cultural, and environmental heritage.
-
Dr. Jennifer Thompson
Associate Research Scientist, Crop & Soil Sciences University of Georgia
-
Dr. Jessica Holt
Associate Professor, Agricultural Communication
-
Dr. Sudhagar Mani
Professor, School of Chemical, Materials, and Biomedical Engineering
Project Partner
Since its founding in 1848, University of Wisconsin-Madison has been a catalyst for the extraordinary. As a public land-grant university and major research institution, our students, staff, and faculty engage in a world-class education while solving real-world problems. With public service — or as we call it, the Wisconsin Idea — as our guiding principle, Badgers are creating a better future for everyone.
-
Dr. Alfonso Morales
Chair, Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture and State Food Systems/Marketplaces Specialist, UW-Extension
-
Dr. Edna Ledesma
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
-
Nathan Kennard Larson
Outreach Programs Manager, Kaufman Lab for Food Systems and Marketplaces, University of Wisconsin Madison
Project Partner
The Virginia Association for Biological Farming (VABF) has been the advocate for biological and organic growing in Virginia for over 40 years. Our leadership is comprised of a majority of farmers and growers from a broad spectrum across the Commonwealth and continues to build capacity in order to further engage and support the membership and partner organizations. With a focus on soil health, food systems infrastructure and local and regional markets, VABF is working to strengthen the network of biological growers and connect them to the consumers that value high quality products and the added ecological benefits that biological farming provides to the greater community.
-
Brent Wills
Program Coordinator