The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) established their commitment to the continued success of American farmers by announcing their goal of increasing U.S. agricultural production by 40% while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050, through a program called The Agriculture Innovation Agenda (AIA).

To this end, the USDA will seek to create a comprehensive U.S. agriculture innovation strategy to align public and private research efforts. They will seek input from the agricultural community on what innovative technologies and practices are needed to meet current demands and then integrate the latest conservation technologies and practices into USDA programs.

At the same time, USDA intends to improve data collection and reporting while increasing their understanding of the adoption of conservation practices. USDA currently collects a wealth of data on commodity production, but information on how our food is produced and the conservation practices being employed has proven challenging thus far.

The USDA has outlined benchmarks to hold farmers accountable as innovation is being stimulated, so that American agriculture can achieve the goal of increasing production by 40% while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050. “This will be an on-going effort toward meeting the demands of the future,” the USDA stated in their report called “USDA Agriculture Innovation Agenda”.