Agricultural Environmental Policy

Farming, ranching, and forestry provide food, fiber, and other products to feed, clothe and satisfy other human needs. However, given the scope and scale of impacts on planetary systems, agricultural objectives cannot be limited to these albeit critically important outcomes. Agriculture’s vast dependency on land, water, energy, and mineral resources and, in turn, its impacts on people and the biological systems that sustain all life demand that systems be managed to not only optimize yield and resulting profitability but also managed to optimize ecosystem, natural resource, nutritional and broader societal outcomes. Fortunately, research, demonstration, and commercialization of environmentally sound and energy efficient agricultural practices present a cost effective alternative to business as usual. The challenge is to facilitate the expanded utilization of such proven practices and the continued research and innovation to demonstrate, disseminate and deploy at scale additional practices so   that agriculture can have a net positive impact on people and planet well into the future. This course will explore an array of critical environmental and energy issues and case examples from public and corporate policy perspectives to provide grounding for decision-makers working in these and civil society positions.