Isn't That Nice? Perdue Will Allow USDA To Study How Warming Hits Farming (2/45 Reports Released)
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will allow agency scientists to study how U.S. farmers are responding to climate change — a notable departure from the Trump administration's history of squelching climate science through budget cuts and the suppression of scientific reports.
The recently released "USDA Science Blueprint" identifies climate adaptation as one of five focus areas the agency will pursue between 2020 and 2025. It includes 26 objectives, strategies and evidence-building activities around climate change, divided under two broad headings: landscape-scale conservation and management, and climate research and resiliency.
"We are committed to putting science to work for the American public," Scott Hutchins, head of USDA's research, education and economics mission area, said in a statement. "We will always strive for scientific excellence and integrity in support of America's agriculture."
The decision is notable given Perdue's record of squashing scientific reports on climate change. Congressional Democrats last year demanded answers after a Politico investigation found that Perdue had released only two of 45 recent agency studies on global warming (E&E Daily, June 26, 2019). The suppressed research included one study into whether rice loses vitamins under elevated carbon conditions and another that warned farmers and ranchers about declining quality of forage grasses due to warming.
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