REMARKS: Rod Snyder's Keynote Address at the 2024 Sustainable Agriculture Summit

A transcript of Rod Snyder's opening keynote address at the tenth annual Sustainable Agriculture Summit on November 20, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

I want to begin by offering a huge congratulations to the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, Field to Market, and all of the Summit partners on the remarkable success of this event. The first summit was held in this same hotel nearly a decade ago, albeit with a much smaller audience. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that 1000 sustainability professionals, farmers, and other agricultural partners would gather each year in what has become a seminal event for our industry.

For those of us who have been at this a while, I know it can sometimes seem as if progress is slow. But I want to begin by reflecting on just how far our community has traveled over the past decade. In so many ways, the agricultural sustainability conversation in the United States and globally has evolved from niche to norm. The number of food and ag companies that have committed to climate and sustainability goals has grown exponentially. Organizations that were resistant to engaging in the early days are now leading the way. And conversations that were once relegated to think-tanks and environmental NGOs are now happening in local ag co-op meetings and coffee shops across rural America. There is now broad recognition of the role agriculture can play in delivering climate and sustainability solutions, as well as the enormous risk to our food system if we fail to do so.

And while we can claim success in elevating these issues and broadening the coalition of the willing, much of our hardest work still lies ahead of us. The most recent Global Agricultural Productivity Report from Virginia Tech University highlights the widening gap between current agricultural productivity growth and what is needed to meet the world’s increasing demand for food, feed, and fiber. The 2024 GAP report emphasizes the need for greater public and private investments in research and development, as well as strategies to address farmer adoption of tools and technologies to accelerate sustainable growth. Unfortunately, these challenges are exacerbated by the intensifying effects of climate change, which threaten to erode progress made in recent decades.

The report notes that extensification of agricultural production – in other words, bringing new land into cultivation to meet growing demand – is the leading driver of habitat loss and the decline in biodiversity around the globe. As we are aware, agriculture is also the largest user of fresh water, accounting for 70% of withdrawals worldwide. These statistics are not meant as an indictment. Feeding the world is a moral imperative and a critical use of natural resources. However, it reinforces the urgency of our global food system finding ways to do more with less.

One of the earliest lessons I learned during my time at Field to Market is the need to create shared value, especially for farmers whose actions will ultimately determine the pace of progress. Farmers are price takers, not makers – meaning they have little control over the value of what they produce, not to mention the cost of their inputs. On average, farmers receive just 15 cents of every dollar that consumers spend on food. This is especially a concern today as commodity markets are experiencing a prolonged downcycle. It is unreasonable to expect that farmers will shoulder all of the cost and all of the risk of changes that are needed to deliver environmental outcomes.

That’s why supply chain companies are increasingly seeking out creative mechanisms to partner with farmers and ranchers in accelerating impact. Of course, we have learned over the past decade that there is no single approach that will work for all producers in all circumstances. For example, voluntary carbon markets have attracted enormous attention as a tool for driving value back to the farm. At the same time, other kinds of incentives – including cost-share arrangements, technical assistance, price premiums, lending and insurance products, and public-private financing – can provide value to farmers who might otherwise avoid the risk and complexity of multi-year carbon contracts.

We’re also seeing more examples of programs stacking climate, water, and biodiversity benefits to return greater value to producers and deliver more comprehensive results. Ultimately, food and ag companies will need to determine which mix of incentives and at what price point will help to achieve verifiable environmental outcomes, efficiently and at scale.

It’s also important to acknowledge the critical role the public sector must play in driving progress toward climate and sustainability goals. For nearly a century, taxpayer funded conservation programs have been a cornerstone of environmental improvements across U.S. agriculture. Even as food and ag companies look to invest in the sustainability of their own supply chains, the public sector will continue to be an essential partner in this work.

Over the past two years, the U.S. has made the largest climate and clean energy investment in our nation’s history. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, the federal government is directing nearly $400 billion to lower carbon emissions and reinvigorate American innovation and competitiveness. This includes $20 billion in climate-smart ag funding through existing USDA conservation programs. It also includes the first ever carbon intensity-based tax credit for the production of "clean" transportation fuels. This represents a strong financial incentive for reducing the carbon intensity score of agricultural feedstocks in biofuel production, including the emerging market for Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

In addition to the Inflation Reduction Act, many of you are aware of USDA’s $3 billion investment in the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. This initiative is projected to reduce greenhouse gases by 60 million metric tons across 140 projects while providing new markets and revenue opportunities for farmers. It’s also worth noting that USDA received more than 1,000 Climate-Smart Commodity project proposals totaling more than $20 billion, which signifies the level of interest that exists across the food and ag sector for these kinds of public-private partnerships.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the strong likelihood that the next administration will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord for a second time. Unfortunately, this decision would undermine our global climate leadership and would disadvantage American innovation in the emerging low-carbon economy.

Despite this risk, there remains an opportunity for bipartisan action on climate and clean energy strategies over the next four years. USDA under the first Trump Administration published its Ag Innovation Agenda, which called for increasing U.S. agricultural production by 40 percent while cutting the environmental footprint of the sector in half by 2050. This included a specific goal around reducing agriculture’s carbon footprint alongside other key environmental indicators.

Additionally, there are strong signs of bipartisan leadership emerging at the state level. For example, Nebraska was recently awarded more than $300 million in funding through EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant to scale up climate-smart ag practices and technologies across the traditionally conservative state. 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 watershed.

Let me clear. I fundamentally believe that the private sector will remain committed to its climate and sustainability goals regardless of electoral outcomes. However, our progress is stronger when the public sector is working in concert. In the coming years, the stakeholders in this room should help to depoliticize voluntary climate and sustainability efforts while reinforcing the importance of bipartisan action.

The good news is that American agriculture has a tremendous track record of success to build upon. My mother was raised on a small dairy farm in West Virginia in the late 1950s and 1960s. When she was a child, dairy cows produced a little more than 6,000 pounds of milk per year. Due to improved genetics and management, that number has grown to more than 24,000 pounds annually. The environmental footprint per gallon of milk has improved substantially throughout the same period of time. Similarly, Field to Market’s National Indicators Report has documented enormous efficiency gains across U.S. commodity crops between 1980 – 2020, dramatically improving environmental outcomes per unit of production across all indicators.

While continued progress is certainly possible, it is not guaranteed nor is it linear. The same Field to Market report has documented a plateauing of environmental improvements in commodity crop systems, especially in the last 10-15 years. This may be due to the leveling off of adoption of conservation practices like no-till, or perhaps because climate impacts are becoming more frequent and severe.

As we look toward mid-century, it’s important to understand that future sustainability improvements in the U.S. and globally will not come from practice changes alone. Significant technological advances will be needed to support the next generation of farmer productivity and environmental gains. 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.

Over the past three years as I traveled the country in my role as Ag Advisor at EPA, I saw some of this incredible innovation firsthand:

I observed cutting-edge research trials in Colorado to assess the efficacy of certain feed additives to reduce enteric methane emissions in cattle.
I participated in a demonstration of optical sensor technology on a farm in Mississippi to target herbicide applications only where weeds are spotted in the field – reducing chemical use up to 90% per acre.
I saw how a cover crop interseeder is used on a farm in Kansas to allow the producer to plant winter cover crops prior to fall harvest, saving time, energy, and money.
In New Mexico, I saw the growing potential for drones to be used for crop scouting and rangeland monitoring.
In California, I visited a small dairy that is capturing methane from manure and producing renewable energy that qualifies under the state’s Low Carbon Fuels Standard.
And just one mile from my home in West Virginia, I visited USDA’s Appalachian Fruit Research Station to learn about gene editing research and rapid cycle breeding to address some of the most serious disease threats in fruit production.

The future of supply chain sustainability efforts will need to extend beyond measurement and verification of practices. The entire ag value chain should consider how to support the adoption of proven tools and technologies that will help farmers achieve shared goals, particularly in instances where there are financial or technical barriers.

Finally, it is important to acknowledge that we are facing a moment when the public’s trust in science-based information is waning. If the agriculture sector hopes to achieve its sustainability goals, technological advancements that meet rigorous risk-based standards must be encouraged. This industry’s freedom to operate and to innovate is dependent upon maintaining public trust, not only in science, but also institutions like USDA, EPA, FDA and land-grant universities that conduct the research and govern the use of tools and technologies. There are warning signs – cracks in that trust – that everyone in this room should take seriously and work to address in the coming years.

Let me close by emphasizing a point that has been true for the last decade and will continue to be true for many decades to come. Pre-competitive collaboration is foundational to the success of this work. Of course, the credibility – the believability – of the impact we claim, rests on common frameworks for measurement and reporting. But beyond that, some of our most important progress has been achieved through unlikely partnerships. In fact, the entire purpose of this summit is to share knowledge and best practices and to take meaningful steps toward joint action and impact.

Just last week, U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action (USFRA) and the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) published a new report on the potential for U.S. agriculture to be carbon negative. One lesson from the report is that in an emerging low-carbon economy, there are multiple opportunities and pathways for farmers and ranchers to deliver win-win natural climate solutions. Perhaps more than any other segment of the economy, this is a moment for agriculture to lead the way. I am optimistic about the future because of the hard work, dedication, and relentless collaboration of so many people here today who are:

Creating opportunities for shared value;
Advocating for public and private sector investments;
Advancing innovation and technology; and
Building and maintaining public trust.

It has been a tremendous honor to work alongside so many of you for the past decade, and I look forward to what’s to come. Thank you!

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