Listening Sessions Around the Country
Please click here for our ecosystem services workshops in these locations:AFT's On-The-Ground Projects
AFT pioneered the use of conservation risk management tools to protect producers from financial loss when they implement healthy farming practices. Now we’re involved in setting up markets, using these tools to help farmers qualify to sell credits.
Welcome!
As the caretakers of America's landscape, farmers and ranchers produce significant environmental benefits - such as helping mitigate global warming, providing cleaner water, protecting wildlife habitat, and improving soil health -and they are capable of much more, given proper incentives and cost-share. Throughout the farm and environmental communities, there is increasing interest in monetizing these ecosystem services - both through public and private dollars--to make "growing green" a reality.
- Local and state farmland protection programs have permanently protected almost 2 million acres of farmland from development, investing an average of over $2,000 per acre to purchase agricultural conservation easements from farmers (see AFT's Farmland Information Center for more details).
- Energy industries are beginning to purchase carbon credits in the open market, paying farmers to help mitigate climate change by planting grasses, trees or using no-till planting techniques that leave the soil largely undisturbed and trap carbon in the ground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
- Industries and municipalities that discharge nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus into waterways are purchasing nutrient credits from farmers who, in turn, adopt practices to reduce nutrient run-off from fields.
- Other services include restored or newly created wetlands, wildlife habitat, tree plantings along streams to help regulate water temperatures, maintenance of flood plains to trap flood waters and prevent downstream flooding, improvements in air quality or stopping soils and sediments from eroding into waterways. All of these services may find willing buyers in private markets.
Policy Papers & Briefing Materials
- A collection of relevant reports and background materials
- Links to other websites
- Links to other pilot projects around the country
Click here for relevant reports and background materials.