USDA NIFA granted $10 million towards diversifying Midwest farms to support agricultural resilience. CEOS researcher Benjamin Gramig is on the team of researchers led by Purdue University. The core goal of this project, #DiverseCornBelt: Resilient Intensification through Diversity in Midwestern Agriculture, is to diversify the farms, landscapes, and markets of the Corn Belt. Diversifying crop production and markets will generate a suite of economic, social, and ecosystem services that benefit more people than provided by the current system of predominantly corn-soybean rotations and confined livestock. Diversifying both farming and farmers in the U.S. requires systematic analysis and assessment of pathways towards resilient intensification at farm, landscape, and market levels. The team will implement a transdisciplinary integrated approach to coproduce new scientifically and ethically sound visions through objectives that cuts across research, Extension, and education.
Objective 1: Coproduce research and advance market development along the agricultural value chain to identify and address social, economic, agronomic, and environmental barriers to the adoption of diverse sustainable agricultural systems.
Objective 2: Model economic and ecosystem (air, water) impacts of diverse landscape scenarios across the agricultural value chain to develop evidence-based policy recommendations, quantify sustainability metrics and establish conditions required for economic vitality.
Objective 3: Design stakeholder-informed alternative production systems by conducting visioning sessions at the local, state, and national levels that allow participants to consider ethical choices and sustainability outcomes.
Objective 4: Develop and disseminate policy guidance to achieve resilient intensification through diversified farms, landscapes, and markets.
Objective 5: Engage with diverse stakeholders through Extension to support farm diversification and market development.
Objective 6: Create, pilot, and publish educational materials to foster a workforce prepared to respond to emerging challenges and support a diversified landscape.
We will provide further updates as this project progresses.