(Washington, D.C, February 20, 2020) – U.S.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the Agriculture
Innovation Agenda, a department-wide initiative to align resources,
programs, and research to position American agriculture to better meet
future global demands. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) will stimulate innovation so that American agriculture can achieve
the goal of increasing production by 40 percent while cutting the
environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050.
“We know we have a challenge facing us: to meet future food,
fiber, fuel, and feed demands with finite resources. USDA’s Agriculture
Innovation Agenda is our opportunity define American agriculture’s role to
feed everyone and do right as a key player in the solution to this
challenge,” said Secretary Perdue. “This agenda is a strategic,
department-wide effort to better align USDA’s resources, programs, and
research to provide farmers with the tools they need to be successful. We
are also continually mindful of the need for America’s agriculture industry
to be environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable to maintain
our position as a leader in the global effort to meet demand. We are
committed as ever to the environmental sustainability and continued
success, of America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers.”
BACKGROUND:
The first component of the Ag Innovation Agenda is to develop
a U.S. ag-innovation strategy that aligns and synchronizes public and
private sector research. The second component is to align the work of our
customer-facing agencies and integrate innovative technologies and
practices into USDA programs. The third component is to conduct a review of
USDA productivity and conservation data. USDA already closely tracks data on
yield, but on the environmental side, there’s some catching up to do.
Finally, USDA has set benchmarks to hold us accountable. These targets will
help measure progress toward meeting the food, fiber, fuel, feed, and
climate demands of the future. Some of the benchmarks include:
·
Food loss and waste: Advance
our work toward the United States’ goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50
percent in the United States by the year 2030.
·
Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas: Enhance
carbon sequestration through soil health and forestry, leverage the
agricultural sector’s renewable energy benefits for the economy, and
capitalize on innovative technologies and practices to achieve net
reduction of the agricultural sector’s current carbon footprint by 2050
without regulatory overreach.
·
Water Quality: Reduce
nutrient loss by 30 percent nationally by 2050.
·
Renewable Energy: We can
increase the production of renewable energy feedstocks and set a goal to
increase biofuel production efficiency and competitiveness to achieve
market-driven blend rates of 15% of transportation fuels in 2030 and 30% of
transportation fuels by 2050.
Read more about the Agriculture
Innovation Agenda (PDF, 196 KB) here.
Secretary Perdue announced via
a Prezi Presentation the Agriculture Innovation Agenda at
USDA’s 2020 Agriculture Outlook Forum this morning. The theme of this
year’s Outlook Forum is “The Innovation Imperative: Shaping the Future of
Agriculture.” Several plenary panels and breakout sessions will focus on
the central role science and innovation play in driving future growth and
addressing challenges facing farmers.
Follow the conversation at #USDAinnovation on USDA’s Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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