The agriculture sustainability conversation in the U.S and globally has moved from “niche to norm” and is likely to keep growing despite changes in a new Trump administration. That's the message from Rod Snyder, former EPA adviser and now principal and founder of Junction Strategies, who kicked off the Sustainable Agriculture Summit in Minneapolis Wednesday.
"Conversations that might have once been relegated to think tanks or environmental NGOs are now happening in local ag co-op board meetings or in coffee shops around rural America," Snyder said.
He pointed to USDA conservation programs as the “cornerstone of environmental improvements across U.S. agriculture” and mentioned historic investments under the Inflation Reduction Act. That includes nearly $20 billion in climate-smart funds in existing USDA conservation programs and a $3 billion investment in the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program.
While it’s unclear whether — or how much — the new Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress will try to roll back Biden administration climate-related initiatives and funding, He said he expects the new administration will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord a second time.
But he also said there is “an opportunity for bipartisan action on climate and clean energy strategies over the next four years.” He reminded the 1,000 SAS participants that USDA, in the first Trump administration, published its innovation agenda, which called for increasing U.S. ag production by 40% while cutting the environmental footprint of the sector in half by 2050. This included a specific goal around agriculture’s carbon footprint and other environmental indicators.
In addition, Snyder said there are strong signs of bipartisan leadership emerging at the state level in both red and blue states. For example, Nebraska was recently awarded more than $300 million in EPA funding to scale up climate-smart ag practices and technologies across what is a traditionally conservative red state.
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Pennsylvania's Republican-controlled legislature also recently created an Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program providing historic funding to support farmers' efforts to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, the health of which was the subject of a report released Wednesday. It showed the “dead zone,” an area of low to no oxygen, in 2024 "was near the long-time average taken from 1985 to 2023."
“All of these are good signs that point to collaboration across party, regardless of partisan leanings,” Snyder said.
Regardless of the election, he said he believes the private sector will remain committed to climate and sustainability goals. “But our progress is stronger when the public sector is working in concert with the private sector,” he added.
Looking ahead, Snyder said stakeholders should help depoliticize voluntary climate and sustainability efforts, while reinforcing the importance of bipartisan action.
“It's important to understand that the future of sustainability improvements in the U.S and globally will not come from practice changes alone," he said. "Significant technological advances will be needed to support the next generation of farmer productivity and environmental gains. Things like improved genetics, biological crop inputs, precision technology, data-driven decision making and AI will all play a role in delivering a more resilient and regenerative food system.”
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