MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — In Current Topics in Agricultural Science (AGSC250), SUNY Morrisville students put the skills they’ve acquired over the preceding semesters into practice. Each semester a new issue facing agricultural production is selected and students develop proposals to address that topic. The current semester is focused on the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act Draft Scoping Plan.
The Climate Action Draft Scoping Plan is a detailed assessment of New York’s pathways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all sectors in the state. The plan will serve as the framework for how the state will achieve net-zero emissions, increase renewable energy usage, and ensure climate justice. Maximizing the carbon sequestration potential in the agriculture and forestry sectors is a key strategy for achieving the Climate Act goal of net zero emissions across all sectors of the economy by 2050.
Students in the AGSC 250 course have identified three key components of the Draft Scoping Plan that will specifically impact agricultural production as the state aims to reach the goal of GHG emissions reductions. First is from livestock management addressing methane reductions through improved manure management. Second is improving soil health to increase climate resiliency and carbon sequestration. Third is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through conversion from fossil fuel to electric powered heavy equipment. There are further provisions to address imported goods, and provide substitutions for more fossil fuel-intensive products, as well as to support industries in the state to prevent carbon intensive practices from simply moving out of state.
The class is currently collecting data to understand where the agricultural community is in New York State relative to practices and processes that are being suggested in the draft scoping plan. Students are researching how many of these practices are currently utilized and in what sectors of the agricultural community. To this end, the students have developed a survey to understand the GHG reduction potential based on expansion of current practices and programs. The students are asking for farmers from all over NYS to please take a 5 minute survey to increase their data collection efforts.
Thank you on behalf of the SUNY (State University of New York) Morrisville Agricultural Science program.
Please click here for the survey:
https://forms.gle/QMfeAg4zyRZfdLHa7
For more information on the Draft scoping plan, or to submit your comments during the open comment period go to : https://climate.ny.gov/Our-Climate-Act/Draft-Scoping-Plan
–School of Agriculture Business and Technology
SUNY Morrisville
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