Climate Change Adaptation and USDA
Producers, ranchers, forest landowners, and communities across the country are facing challenges posed by the effects of climate change. Some of these effects are familiar but occurring more frequently or intensely while others are new and unprecedented.
USDA’s Department-wide Action Plan for Climate Adaptation and Resilience (PDF, 813 KB), released in October 2021, identified mission-wide climate vulnerabilities and cross-cutting actions USDA will take to address these threats.
While producers, ranchers, forest landowners, and communities are already working hard to minimize the impact of these climate stressors, it will become increasingly difficult to manage without strategic planning on the part of USDA’s science, program, and regulatory agencies.
USDA agencies, mission areas, and departmental offices prepared Climate Adaptation Plans, released in July 2022, that build off the Department-wide Plan and focus on addressing climate risks and implementing climate adaptation actions at the agency level.
- Climate Adaptation Plans
- Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (PDF, 10.1 MB)
- Farm Service Agency (FSA) (PDF, 9.0 MB)
- Risk Management Agency (RMA) (PDF, 2.0 MB)
- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) (PDF, 717 KB)
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (PDF, 752 KB)
- Economic Research Service (ERS) (PDF, 6.0 MB)
- National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) (PDF, 632 KB)
- Forest Service (FS) (PDF, 26.1 MB)
- Rural Development (RD) (PDF, 1.5 MB)
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) (PDF, 3.6 MB)
- Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) (PDF, 338 KB)
- Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) (PDF, 1.3 MB)
- Departmental Staff Office Plan (PDF, 2.2 MB)
Reducing the vulnerability of all of our stakeholders to the impacts of climate change is critical to maintaining competitiveness and sustainably managing our natural resources for future generations.
