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AFT's Center for Agriculture in the Environment helps protect America's agricultural lands and promotes healthy farming practices. This public policy research center works closely with the academic, environmental and agricultural communities to raise awareness of issues by providing research and strong academic arguments for wise public policy. more
 Environmentally Responsible Farming practices
Integrated Pest Management
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a sustainable approach to managing pests that combines biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health and environmental risks. One important focus of AFT's work is our commitment to IPM. more
Promoting Nutrient Best Management Practices and Conservation Tillage
Most farmers are concerned about excessive use of fertilizer, soil run-off and green house gas emissions from farms as threats to our nation's water, air and wildlife—but some fear they are putting their yields and income at risk if conservation farming practices are adopted to reduce those threats. AFT's Agricultural Conservation Innovation Center (ACIC) addressed this challenge by pioneering the use of conservation risk management tools to protect producers from financial loss when they implement healthy farming practices. more
ecosystem service markets
Helping Farmers Grow Green
While the United States continues to debate the best approach for tackling climate change, the voluntary carbon trading market is alive and well. Farmers and ranchers are getting a piece of the carbon trading pie, with more than one million acres of U.S. cropland storing carbon in the soil using practices including no-till farming and planting grasses and trees. Agriculture has a significant role to play in helping reach our climate change goals, whether through offsetting carbon, growing biofuels, or generating alternative energy such as wind or solar power. AFT's Agriculture and Environment campaign is working with farmers and ranchers throughout the country to host a series of listening sessions to learn just what is working "in the field."
From the arid southwest to the bays of the East Coast to the salmon rivers of the Pacific Northwest, concerns about water quality and quantity continue to grow. As these issues have reached critical mass over the past few years, municipalities, local governments, farmers and industries are facing increasing pressure to clean up their act. Farmers are able to reduce pollutant levels at less than half the cost of these other groups, whilestill producing the food that sustains us. Water Quality trading credits are one way for farmers to make a difference in water quality while improving their bottom line.
 Learn about Water Quality Trading
Partnering for a cleaner environment
 Presidential Climate Action Project
American Farmland Trust is playing a key role the Presidential Climate Action Project, a national initiative to develop a bold and decisive climate action plan for the next President of the United States to tackle global warming.
A comprehensive action plan released in December, 2007 includes a chapter with detailed recommendations drafted by AFT about the important role agriculture will play in areas such as carbon sequestration, solar and wind power, and methane capture on farms.
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