Essentially the story of American agriculture is doing more with less, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. On Thursday, while speaking at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Outlook Forum, Perdue announced a new Agriculture Innovation Agenda with the goal to stimulate the innovation of American agriculture by increasing production 40% while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050.

The Agriculture Innovation Agenda aligns USDA’s resources, programs and research to position American agriculture to better meet future global demands while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050. The strategy will set benchmarks for food loss and waste, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and renewable energy.

The announcement comes one day after the unveiling of Farmers for a Sustainable Future, an initiative of more than 20 different farm groups to serve as a primary resource for policy-makers as they consider sustainability and climate policies important to the agriculture industry.

Perdue noted that despite media reports of USDA’s departure from scientific research pertaining to agriculture’s role in climate change and climate variability, there’s been no closing down to stop this research. The initiative hopes to develop a U.S. agricultual innovation strategy that aligns and synchronizes public- and private-sector research.

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