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United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

Climate Change: 

USDA's Ongoing Efforts Can Be Enhanced with Better Metrics and More 
Relevant Information for Farmers: 

Report to the Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House 
of Representatives: 

September 2014: 

GAO-14-755: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-14-755, a report to the Ranking Member, Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

In 2012, the United States produced about $395 billion in agricultural 
commodities, with about half of this revenue from crop sales and half 
from livestock. According to the Third National Climate Assessment, 
climate change has the potential to negatively affect agricultural 
productivity in the United States through warmer temperatures and an 
increase in weather extremes. In recent years, USDA has taken actions 
to help U.S. farmers adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions. 

GAO was asked to review USDA's climate change efforts. This review 
examines (1) USDA's climate change priorities and how these align with 
national priorities, (2) the status of USDA's climate change efforts, 
and (3) the challenges USDA faces in implementing its climate efforts 
and the steps it has taken to overcome these challenges. To conduct 
this work, GAO analyzed USDA documents and data and interviewed USDA 
officials and other knowledgeable stakeholders, such as farmers and 
environmental groups. 

What GAO Found: 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) climate change priorities 
for agriculture include, among other things, providing better 
information to farmers on future climate conditions. These priorities 
generally align with national priorities set by the Administration, 
which include promoting actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 
advancing climate science, developing tools for decision makers, and 
developing better projections of future climate conditions. USDA is 
engaged in research efforts aimed at better understanding climate change
's impacts on agriculture and providing technical assistance to 
farmers. Through the use of existing conservation and energy programs, 
USDA aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester (store) 
carbon so it is not released, or is actively withdrawn, from the 
atmosphere. 

Helping to make farmers more resilient to climate change is one of USDA'
s four strategic goals, but the agency is not using its performance 
planning and reporting process to provide information on how it 
intends to accomplish this goal or to assess the status of its efforts 
in this area. According to the Government Performance and Results Act 
of 1993, as amended, an agency's performance plan is supposed to 
explain how the agency will accomplish its performance goals, and its 
performance reports are supposed to review the extent to which those 
goals have been met. However, USDA performance plans for recent years 
have not provided a link between the agency's climate efforts and 
performance goals, and its recent performance reports have not 
provided information on whether the agency was meeting its performance 
measures related to climate change. In addition, USDA performance 
measures do not capture the breadth of the agency's climate efforts. 
Agency officials told GAO that developing measures for the strategic 
goal on climate change was difficult. However, USDA has developed 
measures for other areas, such as conservation, where similar 
challenges existed. Without developing performance plans and reports 
that better reflect USDA's climate change efforts, USDA will have 
difficulty fully assessing its progress in meeting its climate change 
strategic goal and providing information on its progress to Congress 
and the public. 

USDA faces challenges in encouraging farmers to take measures to adapt 
to climate change and reduce emissions. For example, USDA faces the 
challenge of turning the large amount of often technical climate 
research into readily understandable information. To address this 
challenge USDA is, among other things, developing tools that summarize 
climate information and communicate research findings to farmers in a 
more accessible format. USDA also faces a challenge related to the 
incentive structure that farmers consider when making decisions for 
their farms. Farmers weigh the financial costs and returns of taking 
certain actions, but USDA has not provided much information to farmers 
on the economic costs and returns of taking certain adaptation or 
emissions reduction actions, such as changing the extent to which they 
plow their fields. Under federal internal control standards, agencies 
are to ensure there are adequate means of communicating with external 
stakeholders when it may have a significant impact on the agency 
achieving its goals. Without information that is readily accessible to 
farmers on the farm-level economic costs and returns of taking certain 
actions in response to climate change, farmers may be reluctant to 
take these measures. 

What GAO Recommends: 

GAO recommends that USDA develop performance measures that better 
reflect the breadth of USDA climate change efforts and use its 
performance plans and reports to provide information on how the agency 
plans to achieve its goals and the status of its efforts. GAO also 
recommends that USDA develop and provide information to farmers on the 
economic costs and returns of taking certain actions in response to 
climate change. USDA concurred with these recommendations. 

View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-755]. For more 
information, contact John Neumann at (202) 512-3841 or 
neumannj@gao.gov. 

[End of section] 

Contents: 

Letter: 

Background: 

USDA's Climate Change Priorities Include Providing Better Information 
to Farmers and Generally Align with National Priorities: 

USDA Climate Change Efforts Consist of Both Mature Programs and New 
Initiatives, but the Agency Is Not Tracking Progress Adequately: 

USDA Faces Challenges in Implementing Its Climate Change Efforts: 

Conclusions: 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology: 

Appendix II: Summary of USDA Climate Change Budget and Associated 
Programs: 

Appendix III: Information on USDA's Strategic Objectives and 
Performance Goals: 

Appendix IV: Information on USDA's Regional Climate Hubs (Corresponds 
to Figure 2): 

Appendix V: Comments from Department of Agriculture: 

Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

Tables: 

Table 1: Projected Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in the 
United States: 

Table 2: Examples of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for 
Agriculture: 

Table 3: Summary of Key USDA Agencies and Offices Working on Climate 
Change Issues: 

Table 4: USDA Climate Change Research Funding, Fiscal Years 2012 and 
2013: 

Table 5: National Climate Priorities: 

Table 6: Summary of Selected Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) 
Climate Change Grants Awarded in 2011: 

Table 7: USDA Climate Change Budget and Associated Programs: 

Table 8: Selected Information on Climate Change Related Objectives, 
Measures, and Performance Goals for USDA's Strategic Goal Two from FY 
2010-2015 and FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plans: 

Table 9: Information on Climate Hubs Contained in Figure 2: 

Figures: 

Figure 1: 2012 U.S. Agriculture Sales by Commodity: 

Figure 2: Location of USDA's Regional Climate Hubs and Information on 
These Regions: 

Abbreviations: 

AFRI: Agriculture and Food Research Initiative: 

AgMip: Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project: 

ARS: Agricultural Research Service: 

CAP: coordinated agricultural project: 

CRS: Congressional Research Service: 

ERS: Economic Research Service: 

FSA: Farm Service Agency: 

GPRA: Government Performance and Results Act of 1993: 

NIDIS: National Integrated Drought Information System: 

NIFA: National Institute of Food and Agriculture: 

NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 

NRCS: Natural Resources Conservation Service: 

OMB: Office of Management and Budget: 

PINEMAP: Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and 
Adaptation Project: 

REACCH: Regional Approaches to Climate Change: 

REAP: Rural Energy for America Program: 

RUS: Rural Utilities Service: 

Sustainable Corn: Climate Change, Mitigation, and Adaptation in Corn-
Based Cropping Systems: 

TCAP: Triticeae CAP: 

USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture: 

USGCRP: U.S. Global Change Research Program: 

[End of section] 

United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO:
441 G St. N.W. 
Washington, DC 20548: 

September 16, 2014: 

The Honorable Henry A. Waxman: 
Ranking Member: 
Committee on Energy and Commerce: 
House of Representatives: 

Dear Mr. Waxman: 

The United States produced about $395 billion in agriculture 
commodities in 2012, with about half of this revenue from crop sales 
and half from livestock sales. Climate change could present numerous 
challenges to U.S. agricultural production. According to the Third 
National Climate Assessment, climate change and associated warmer 
temperatures will place stress on crops and livestock and benefit 
weeds, diseases, and insects that will threaten crops and livestock in 
the future.[Footnote 1] The Third National Climate Assessment also 
projects there will be an increase in weather extremes--droughts, heat 
waves, and heavy rain events--that will also negatively affect U.S. 
agricultural productivity. For example, heavy rain events are likely 
to reduce crop yields in some areas because they can erode soil and 
deprive crops of the nutrients they need to grow. The National Climate 
Assessment stated that climate disruptions to U.S. agricultural 
production have increased in the past 40 years and are projected to 
increase over the next 25 years. According to the assessment, by 
midcentury and beyond, the impacts of climate change will be 
increasingly negative on most crops and livestock. 

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has taken 
actions to begin to help American farmers adapt to climate change and 
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[Footnote 2] In its strategic plan for 
2010-2015, USDA included resilience to climate change as one of its 
strategic goals for the first time, according to USDA officials. In 
June 2011, the Secretary of Agriculture issued a departmental 
regulation that directed all USDA agencies to integrate climate change 
adaptation planning into their programs, policies, and operations. 
USDA also issued a Climate Change Science Plan that called for 
improved understanding of the impacts of climate change and 
development of knowledge and tools to enable climate change adaptation 
and mitigation. Adaptation refers to adjustments to natural or human 
systems in response to actual or expected climate change, such as 
changing the types of crops planted in a particular area or increasing 
the use of irrigation during droughts; mitigation refers to actions 
that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, methane, 
and nitrous oxide, or sequester (store) carbon so it is not released, 
or is actively withdrawn, from the atmosphere. For example, when 
farmers do not plow their fields, a practice known as no-till farming, 
more carbon is sequestered in the soil. 

In 2013, we included the federal government's fiscal exposure to 
climate change on our High Risk List and noted that the federal 
government was a provider of technical assistance to decision makers 
grappling with the impacts of climate change.[Footnote 3] In our past 
work, we also have noted the challenge of translating climate 
information so that it is useful to decision makers.[Footnote 4] 
Farmers routinely adapt to weather events and variability, but the 
Third National Climate Assessment has stated that increased innovation 
will be needed to ensure that agricultural production can keep pace 
with future climate change. 

You asked us to review USDA's climate change efforts related to 
agricultural production. This report examines (1) USDA's priorities 
related to climate change and agricultural production and how these 
align with national priorities; (2) the status of USDA's climate 
change efforts; and (3) the challenges, if any, USDA faces in 
implementing its climate efforts and the steps it has taken to 
overcome these challenges. 

To describe USDA's priorities related to climate change and U.S. 
agricultural production and how these align with national priorities, 
we analyzed USDA documents that describe the agency's priorities in 
this area. These documents include USDA's 2010-2015 and 2014-2018 
Strategic Plans, the agency's Climate Change Adaptation Plan, its 
Climate Change Science Plan, and Departmental Regulation 1070-001. To 
identify national priorities regarding climate change and agricultural 
production, we reviewed U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) 
documents, executive orders, Interagency Climate Change Adaptation 
Task Force progress reports, and the President's Climate Action Plan. 
We also analyzed budget data that USDA reports to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for its annual report to Congress on 
climate change expenditures. To determine the status of USDA's climate 
change efforts, we analyzed documents that included annual budget 
data, progress reports prepared by USDA, and annual performance 
reports. We also examined the requirements under the Government 
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 and the GPRA Modernization 
Act of 2010 for strategic plans, performance plans, and performance 
reports. We focused on USDA's key climate change efforts, which we 
identified through discussions with USDA officials and by examining 
budget information, which enabled us to determine where USDA was 
devoting large amounts of funding. To determine the challenges that 
USDA faces in implementing its climate efforts, we reviewed documents 
on USDA's efforts and reviewed our past work on climate change. For 
all three objectives, we conducted interviews with a range of 
officials, including USDA officials implementing climate programs and 
stakeholders who were knowledgeable about USDA's efforts. These 
stakeholders included officials from farm groups and environmental 
groups, farmers, and state and local officials. A more detailed 
description of our objectives, scope, and methodology is presented in 
appendix I. 

We conducted this performance audit from September 2013 to September 
2014 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit 
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for 
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

Background: 

The agricultural sector is a major part of the U.S. economy and has 
been and will continue to be affected by climate change, according to 
the Third National Climate Assessment. The assessment states that 
climate change will likely cause an increase in temperature, rainfall 
intensity, and extreme events in some areas, and extreme climate 
conditions, such as sustained droughts and heat waves. USDA plays an 
important role in addressing these potential impacts by using its 
resources to develop and implement both mitigation and adaptation 
measures. 

The U.S Agricultural Sector: 

The U.S. agricultural sector accounted for $395 billion in sales in 
2012, up 33 percent from 2007. According to USDA's 2012 Census of 
Agriculture, of this $395 billion, about half is from sales of crops, 
and half is from livestock sales.[Footnote 5] Between 2007 and 2012, 
crop sales increased nearly 48 percent, while livestock sales 
increased about 19 percent. Thirteen states--California, Iowa, Texas, 
Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois, North Carolina, Wisconsin, 
Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Ohio--each had more than $10 
billion in agricultural sales and together accounted for about 62 
percent of all agriculture sales in 2012. California led the United 
States in agricultural sales in 2012, with about $43 billion, or 11 
percent, of the total U.S. agricultural sales.[Footnote 6] In recent 
years, there has been a trend toward larger-scale farming operations. 
For example, according to a 2013 USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) 
report, between 1982 and 2007, for farms, the midpoint acreage for 
U.S. cropland nearly doubled, from about 590 acres to about 1,100 
acres.[Footnote 7] 

Three important crops in terms of acreage planted and sales in the 
United States are corn, soybeans, and wheat. In 2012, corn was 
harvested on more than 94 million acres, and total sales for corn were 
about $67 billion. Soybeans were harvested on more than 76 million 
acres, with sales of about $39 billion, while there were about 49 
million acres of all wheat varieties, with sales of about $16 billion. 
Livestock sales represented nearly half of agricultural sales in 2012, 
with poultry, cattle, milk, and pigs the most sold commodities in this 
category.[Footnote 8] A breakdown of the agricultural sector's 2012 
sales is shown in figure 1. 

Figure 1: 2012 U.S. Agriculture Sales by Commodity: 

[Refer to PDF for image: pie-chart] 

Commodity: Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas; 
Sales: $131.1 billion; 
Percentage of sales: 33%. 

Commodity: Fruits, tree nuts, and berries; 
Sales: $25.9 billion: 
Percentage of sales: 7%. 

Commodity: Cattle and calves; 
Sales: $76.4 billion; 
Percentage of sales: 19%. 

Commodity: Poultry and eggs; 
Sales: $42.8 billion; 
Percentage of sales: 11%. 

Commodity: Milk from cows; 
Sales: $35.5 billion; 
Percentage of sales: 9%. 

Commodity: Hogs and pigs; 
Sales: $22.5 billion; 
Percentage of sales: 6%. 

Commodity: Other[A]; 
Sales: $60.5 billion; 
Percentage of sales: 15%. 

Source: GAO analysis of USDA data. GAO-14-755. 

[A] Other" includes sales from various commodities, such as 
vegetables, nursery, cotton, tobacco, hay, aquaculture, and other 
livestock, such as sheep, goats, and their products. 

[End of figure] 

The United States is also a global supplier of food. In 2012, the 
United States exported nearly $136 billion in agricultural products, 
or around 10 percent of total U.S. exports. The United States exports 
about 20 percent of the corn grown domestically, is the leading 
exporter of soybeans, and also is a leading exporter of wheat. In 
addition, the United States is the largest producer of beef and 
poultry in the world. 

Climate Change Impacts on the Agricultural Sector: 

According to the Third National Climate Assessment, climate change is 
expected to increase disruptions to agriculture production in the 
future. Increases in temperature, rainfall intensity, and extreme 
events in some areas, and extreme climate conditions, such as 
sustained droughts and heat waves, will likely have negative impacts 
on crop and livestock yields. By the end of the century, the Third 
National Climate Assessment states that average U.S. temperatures will 
increase between 3°F and 10°F, and precipitation events will be more 
extreme, meaning that more rain will fall during these events. In 
addition, changing climate conditions also will likely affect the 
geographic distribution and severity of invasive pests, diseases, and 
weeds. Table 1 shows the projected impacts of climate change and how 
they could affect agricultural production in the United States. 

Table 1: Projected Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in the 
United States: 

Category: Temperature; 
Projected impacts: 
* Increase in average air temperature; 
* Increase in nighttime temperatures; 
* Increase in average U.S. temperatures of between 3°F and 10°F by the 
end of the century; 
Examples of impacts on agriculture: 
* Crop yield losses due to exceeding temperature boundaries for growth; 
* Crop yield losses due to night time air temperature increases; 
* Longer growing season; 
* Increased irrigation needs in some areas; 
* Increase in animal stress. 

Category: Carbon dioxide; 
Projected impacts: 
* Increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide; 
Examples of impacts on agriculture: 
Increase in plant growth for some species[A]. 

Category: Water; 
Projected impacts: 
* Change in the timing, intensity, and amount of rain/snow mix; 
* Increase in heavy rain events; 
* Increase in drought conditions; 
Examples of impacts on agriculture: 
* Increase challenge of getting water to crops at the right time 
through irrigation systems and practices; 
* Increase in flooding events, greater erosion, and decreased soil 
quality; 
* Increase in water use due to higher temperatures; 
* Less growth and lower yields. 

Category: Extreme conditions; 
Projected impacts: 
* Projected increase in droughts and more extreme precipitation events; 
Examples of impacts on agriculture: 
* Increase in soil erosion; 
* Altered water availability; 
* Increased loss of organic matter in soil. 

Category: Weeds, insects, and disease; 
Projected impacts: 
* Increased growth of weeds, insect population levels, and disease; 
* Change in the geographic distribution of pests; 
Examples of impacts on agriculture: 
* Alter yields and quality of crops; 
* May increase farming costs through a change in management practices, 
such as increased herbicide use. 

Sources: GAO analysis of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's 
Third National Climate Assessment and USDA information. GAO-14-755. 

[A] Most crops are either C3 or C4 plants, which refers to the amount 
of carbon compound formed during initial stages of photosynthesis. The 
difference depends on their intake of carbon dioxide and response to 
light. While most crops are C3 plants, the most recognizable C4 crops 
are corn and sugarcane. C3 crops are expected to respond more strongly 
to increases in carbon dioxide. 

[End of table] 

Both climate mitigation and adaptation options exist in the 
agricultural sector. According to the Third National Climate 
Assessment, both of these efforts are required to minimize the damage 
inflicted by climate change in the United States and to adapt to the 
changes that already have occurred or that will occur. 

The agricultural sector emits about 6 percent of total U.S. greenhouse 
gas emissions, but U.S. lands (mostly forestlands) sequester enough 
carbon to offset 12 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. 
[Footnote 9] Sources of these emissions include fuel consumption, 
fertilizer that can emit nitrous oxide,[Footnote 10] and methane 
emissions from livestock.[Footnote 11] Farmers can take certain 
mitigation actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester 
carbon. For example, farmers can use energy-efficient buildings, 
vehicles, or farm equipment that runs on renewable energy, rather than 
fossil fuels. In addition, farmers can implement mitigation measures, 
such as no-till farming and precision agriculture.[Footnote 12] 
According to a 2011 ERS report, adoption of precision agriculture can 
improve the efficiency of input use and reduce environmental harm from 
the overapplication of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, 
which can reduce nitrous oxide emissions.[Footnote 13] Through the 
digestive process, livestock emit a considerable amount of methane, a 
greenhouse gas; reducing these emissions is another mitigation 
strategy. According to USDA officials, work is being done to alter the 
diet of cattle and to improve manure management practices in an effort 
to reduce methane emissions. 

Farmers also can improve the resiliency of their operations, as shown 
in table 2. For example, farmers can change the type of crop they 
plant to fit the changing climate or change the timing of their 
planting in response to a longer or shorter growing season. They can 
also shift to drought-, pest-, or weed-resistant crop varieties to 
reduce climate change impacts. There are also actions that address 
both mitigation and adaptation. For example, farmers can choose no-
till farming, which allows carbon to remain in the soil and reduces 
fuel consumption (mitigation) while also improving the capacity of 
soil to retain moisture to reduce stress on crops during drought 
(adaptation). 

Table 2: Examples of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for 
Agriculture: 

Key climate impacts: Increased variability in growing conditions 
(changes in seasonal temperature and precipitation patterns); 
Adaptation strategies: 
* Change crop variety; 
* Change timing of farming operations; 
* Build soil health; 
* Install irrigation systems; 
* Precision agriculture. 

Key climate impacts: Increased soil degradation due to erosion; 
Adaptation strategies: 
* Soil conservation practices (no-till, cover crops, mulch). 

Key climate impacts: Increase in biotic stressors (weeds, insects, and 
disease); 
Adaptation strategies: 
* Use resistant crop varieties; 
* Use chemical applications such as herbicides and insecticides. 

Key climate impacts: Increased number, length and/or intensity of 
drought events; 
Adaptation strategies: 
* Use drought-resistant crop varieties; 
* Conservation practices; 
* Install irrigation systems. 

Key climate impacts: Increased number and intensity of flood events; 
Adaptation strategies: 
* Avoid high risk planting periods and locations; 
* Increase drainage capacity; 
* Use flood tolerant crop varieties. 

Sources: GAO summary of USDA and U.S. Global Change Research Program 
documents. GAO-14-755. 

[End of table] 

USDA Agencies and Offices Involved in Climate Change: 

Several USDA agencies and offices are involved in climate change work. 
USDA's Climate Change Program Office, which coordinates all of the 
department's responses to climate change, leads a Global Change Task 
Force. The task force includes representatives from 20 USDA agencies 
and offices and works to coordinate climate activities by holding 
monthly meetings to discuss climate-related opportunities and efforts 
across the department. Table 3 provides information about the eight 
USDA agencies and offices that are most heavily involved in the 
agency's climate change work. 

Table 3: Summary of Key USDA Agencies and Offices Working on Climate 
Change Issues: 

Agency or office name: Agricultural Research Service; 
Background and work on climate change: USDA's principal in-house 
research agency that does work in various areas, including nutrition, 
food safety, natural resources, and crop and animal production. This 
agency has laboratory facilities across the United States that conduct 
research on a range of issues, including climate change. 

Agency or office name: Climate Change Program Office; 
Background and work on climate change: Coordinates USDA climate 
program and policy issues. The office aims to ensure that USDA is a 
source of objective information on climate change; the climate office 
also serves as a liaison to other federal agencies on climate issues. 

Agency or office name: Economic Research Service; 
Background and work on climate change: The primary source of economic 
information and research at USDA. The agency publishes research 
reports, market analysis and outlook reports, economic briefs, and 
data products. 

Agency or office name: Farm Service Agency; 
Background and work on climate change: Administers loan programs, 
along with conservation, commodity, and disaster programs, through a 
national network of offices. 

Agency or office name: Forest Service; 
Background and work on climate change: The Forest Service manages the 
national forests to be resilient to stresses and able to provide a 
variety of goods and services (including carbon sequestration). 
Research and development under way at the Forest Service examines the 
impact of climate change on the nation's forests, rangelands, and 
urban areas, which the Forest Service uses to develop management 
options for maintaining healthy ecosystems in light of climate change. 

Agency or office name: National Institute of Food and Agriculture; 
Background and work on climate change: Funds external research, 
including research on climate change, education, and extension programs 
in the land-grant university system and other partner organizations. 

Agency or office name: Natural Resources Conservation Service; 
Background and work on climate change: Focuses on implementing 
conservation programs to help private landowners conserve land. 
Provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners. 
Conserving land can help to sequester soil carbon. Certain conservation 
measures can improve soil health by improving the soil organic content, 
increasing soil moisture content, and reducing soil erosion, all of 
which can help with climate adaptation. 

Agency or office name: Rural Development; 
Background and work on climate change: Helps rural areas to develop 
and grow by offering federal assistance designed to improve the 
quality of life. The agency has an energy focus area that promotes 
energy efficiency and renewable energy. 

Source: GAO analysis of USDA information. GAO-14-755. 

[End of table] 

In June 2011, the Secretary of Agriculture issued Departmental 
Regulation 1070-001 that required USDA agencies to take climate change 
into account when making long-term planning decisions and to prepare 
climate adaptation plans by June 2012.[Footnote 14] The resulting USDA 
adaptation plan contained individual adaptation plans for 12 of USDA's 
agencies, lays out the risks and vulnerabilities facing agency 
missions as a result of climate change, and details the strategies for 
overcoming these vulnerabilities.[Footnote 15] 

As required by GPRA as amended by the GPRA Modernization Act of 
2010,[Footnote 16] executive agencies are to complete strategic plans 
in which they define their missions, establish results-oriented goals, 
and identify the strategies that will be needed to achieve those 
goals. According to USDA officials, beginning with its 2010-2015 
Strategic Plan, USDA included climate change as a part of one of its 
four strategic goals. Specifically, the Strategic Plan states that 
USDA will ensure that farms are "conserved, restored, and made more 
resilient to climate change."[Footnote 17] An objective of this 
strategic goal is to "lead efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate 
change." In April 2014, USDA released its 2014-2018 Strategic Plan 
that includes the same four strategic goals established in the 2010-
2015 strategic plan plus one additional strategic goal.[Footnote 18] 

The Cooperative Extension System: 

USDA partners with the cooperative extension system to, among other 
things, help deliver information to farmers on farm management 
practices. The cooperative extension system is a partnership between 
land-grant universities and USDA. Established by the Morrill Act of 
1862, the land grant university system is comprised of more than 100 
colleges and universities around the country. These institutions 
receive federal support and are required to provide relevant 
information to the public through the extension system. Faculty 
members at land-grant universities may have dual appointments, meaning 
that in addition to teaching, they spend a certain portion of their 
time on research and on extension work. 

Established by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, the cooperative extension 
system is a nationwide system used to disseminate information and 
research developed at land-grant universities. The system is a network 
of state and local offices that provide information to the public on a 
variety of topics, including agriculture.[Footnote 19] USDA's National 
Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) distributes federal funding 
for the extension service. The extension service also receives state 
and county funding. According to a June 2013 joint USDA and National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report on the role of 
extension in climate adaptation, climate-related research and 
extension efforts have existed for decades.[Footnote 20] One goal of 
both research and extension efforts is to provide decision makers with 
information and tools, disseminated through meetings, written 
publications, and internet websites, to increase climate literacy. 

USDA's Climate Change Priorities Include Providing Better Information 
to Farmers and Generally Align with National Priorities: 

USDA's climate change priorities include providing better information 
on future climate conditions to help farmers in their decision making, 
conducting research, and delivering decision support tools and 
technical assistance to farmers. USDA's adaptation efforts focus on 
research and technical assistance, while its mitigation efforts also 
focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sequestering carbon. 
USDA's climate adaptation and mitigation priorities generally align 
with national climate priorities. 

USDA's Climate Change Priorities Include Providing Better Information 
on Future Climate Conditions to Farmers: 

USDA's climate change priorities include providing better information 
to farmers on current and potential impacts of climate change, which 
is information that farmers need to make decisions. According to a 
USDA official, there is a need to develop better forecasts for 
upcoming growing seasons. These forecasts are generally 90-day 
forecasts, but farmers also need accurate forecasts for 6 to 8 months 
out, because they order their seeds for spring planting in the fall. 
Another USDA official we spoke with told us that there is a need to 
provide farmers with longer-term projections for as much as 20 to 60 
years into the future that farmers can use to help make large capital 
investment decisions, such as whether to install an irrigation system 
or install a cooling system in a barn. A USDA official told us that 
USDA itself does not engage in climate modeling, but instead relies on 
some of the federal agencies with strong climate science capabilities, 
such as NOAA, the National Science Foundation, and the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration, to help USDA officials better 
understand the climate projections that are available and the 
associated uncertainties for these projections. USDA officials told us 
that through the USGCRP, USDA has been encouraging these agencies to 
downscale modeling results so that they provide more localized and, 
hence, more helpful information to farmers. According to USDA's 2014 
Budget Explanatory Notes for Congress, "Access to consistent and 
detailed projections of climate change is a major area of uncertainty 
for our programs and agencies." 

USDA Climate Change Adaptation Efforts Focus on Research and 
Developing Technical Assistance: 

According to USDA's 2010 Climate Change Science Plan, the agency's 
adaptation efforts aim to improve the understanding of climate change 
impacts on agriculture, develop adaptation practices, and deliver 
science-based information and tools to stakeholders.[Footnote 21] USDA 
officials told us that about 80 percent of the agency's climate 
research dollars are spent on climate change adaptation. A 2013 
Congressional Research Service (CRS) report shows USDA's funding for 
climate change research under USGCRP has almost doubled from $63 
million in fiscal year 2008 to $121 million in fiscal year 2010, but 
funding has remained relatively flat since.[Footnote 22] In fiscal 
year 2013, total funding for USDA's climate change research programs 
was about $82 million, as shown in table 4.[Footnote 23] According to 
OMB data on federal climate expenditures, research represents 
approximately 20 percent of USDA's total climate change funding. 
[Footnote 24] According to USDA officials, USDA does not have a line 
item in its budget that covers climate change because many of the 
agency's climate efforts involve programs across several USDA 
agencies. However, USDA does compile a "climate change crosscut," 
which provides information on the money that various USDA agencies 
spent on climate change activities and provides this information to 
OMB. For more information on USDA's climate change funding, see 
appendix II. 

Table 4: USDA Climate Change Research Funding, Fiscal Years 2012 and 
2013: 

USDA agency: National Institute of Food and Agriculture; 
FY 2012[A]: $50 million; 
FY 2013[A]: $40 million. 

USDA agency: Agricultural Research Service; 
FY 2012[A]: $36 million; 
FY 2013[A]: $38 million. 

USDA agency: Economic Research Service; 
FY 2012[A]: $2 million; 
FY 2013[A]: $2 million. 

USDA agency: National Agricultural Statistics Service; 
FY 2012[A]: $1 million; 
FY 2013[A]: $1 million. 

USDA agency: Natural Resources Conservation Service; 
FY 2012[A]: $1 million; 
FY 2013[A]: $1 million. 

USDA agency: Total; 
FY 2012[A]: $90 million; 
FY 2013[A]: $82 million. 

Source: GAO summary of USDA data from the Office of Management and 
Budget's (OMB) 2013 Federal Climate Change Expenditures Report to 
Congress. GAO-14-755. 

[A] The totals shown in fiscal year 2012 reflect enacted funding as 
reported by OMB. The totals shown in fiscal year 2013 reflect current 
funding as reported by OMB. 

[End of table] 

NIFA and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are the two USDA 
agencies with the largest amount of climate change research funding. 

* NIFA. NIFA oversees a competitive grant program called the 
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) that awards grants for 
research, extension, and/or education activities. Grant money is also 
awarded for "integrated" projects that incorporate two or more of 
these activities. Some integrated projects, known as coordinated 
agricultural projects (CAP), support large-scale projects that promote 
collaboration, open communication and the exchange of information, and 
reduce duplication of effort. In addition, NIFA funds "standard" 
grants on climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture that 
consist of targeted research, education, extension, or integrated 
projects. 

To help communicate information to farmers, NIFA distributes funding 
to the cooperative extension system. Extension disseminates science-
based information and decision support tools through meetings, written 
publications, and via the internet. For example, the cooperative 
extension system supports the eXtension website, which can be used to 
access information and education resources on a wide range of topics 
from land-grant university staff and experts, such as entrepreneurship 
and growing certain crops. In fiscal year 2013, NIFA provided 
approximately $296 million for agricultural extension at land-grant 
universities, or slightly less than one quarter of NIFA's total 
budget, to supplement state and county funds for the extension system. 

* ARS. USDA's principal in-house research agency, performs both basic 
and applied research and presents the results through various sources, 
including academic papers, fact sheets, and conference presentations. 
Climate change research conducted by ARS takes place under the 
National Resources and Sustainable Agricultural Systems program, one 
of its four national research programs. In fiscal year 2013, ARS spent 
about $38 million on climate change research, about 65 percent of 
which went to adaptation research projects, according to an internal 
USDA document. For example, ARS researchers are experimenting with 
different crop varieties to show which of these can withstand drought 
or higher temperatures. 

* ERS. ERS also devotes a smaller amount of research money to 
developing information for decision makers on climate policy, such as 
examining the costs and benefits of adapting to climate change. 
[Footnote 25] In 2012, ERS released a report that examined how farmers 
might adapt to changing climate conditions to reduce the impact of 
changes in local weather, resource conditions, and price signals. 
[Footnote 26] The study found that, while changing climate conditions 
are uncertain, farmers have the opportunity to adapt to weather, 
resource, and price changes by altering crops and adjusting their 
production practices. 

USDA's Climate Change Mitigation Efforts Focus on Reducing Greenhouse 
Gas Emissions and Sequestering Carbon: 

In the area of climate change mitigation, USDA has set a goal for 2015 
of a 40 million metric ton reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 
the agricultural sector compared with 2005 levels and an 80 million 
metric ton increase in carbon sequestration compared with 2005. 
[Footnote 27] According to USDA's 2010-2015 Strategic Plan, USDA will 
work to achieve these goals through its existing conservation and 
energy programs. Many of USDA's conservation programs are administered 
by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and provide both 
technical and financial assistance to farmers who voluntarily enroll 
in them. Under the Conservation Technical Assistance program, for 
example, NRCS staff work with farmers to develop and implement 
conservation plans. In addition, NRCS administers programs that 
provide financial assistance to encourage farmers to adopt 
conservation practices, such as the Conservation Stewardship Program. 
USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) also administers conservation 
programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program, which provides 
financial assistance to farmers who remove land from agricultural 
production and plant native vegetation on the land.[Footnote 28] 
USDA's conservation programs account for about 4 percent of USDA's 
budget--approximately $6.2 billion in fiscal year 2013--but the agency 
does not report this funding to OMB as spending directly related to 
climate change. USDA officials said they do not report the spending to 
OMB as climate-related because the environmental benefits of these 
programs are wide-ranging and not solely related to climate change. 
[Footnote 29] For example, these conservation programs can help reduce 
erosion from fields and provide habitat for wildlife, in addition to 
sequestering carbon and improving soil health. 

USDA officials told us that the agency's research efforts also play a 
role in promoting climate change mitigation, but these officials 
acknowledge that research alone does not directly result in emissions 
reductions. Several research efforts aim to quantify the reduction in 
greenhouse gas emissions that occurs if farmers take certain actions. 
For example, ARS has helped develop GRACEnet, a research program that 
estimates greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration based on 
crops planted and land management practices. According to a USDA 
official, mitigation research represents about 15 percent of USDA's 
total climate change research spending. 

Another mitigation goal involves increasing renewable energy 
generation in rural communities. USDA has set a goal of more than 
doubling the amount of renewable energy generation in rural 
communities from 1.5 billion kilowatt hours in 2009 to 3.1 billion 
kilowatt hours in 2015.[Footnote 30] For example, Rural Development's 
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) supports small energy 
generation projects by providing financial assistance to farmers and 
rural business owners that institute renewable energy systems, conduct 
energy audits, and make energy efficiency improvements. According to 
OMB, REAP received about $3 million for these efforts in fiscal year 
2013. In total, Rural Development received about $13 in fiscal year 
2013 to support agency mitigation efforts, according to OMB.[Footnote 
31] 

USDA's Climate Change Priorities for Agriculture Generally Align with 
National Climate Change Priorities: 

National climate change priorities, as articulated by the 
Administration and the USGCRP, are to promote mitigation actions, 
advance climate science, develop tools and translate information, 
better predict future climate conditions, and ensure that federal 
agencies are incorporating climate change into agency programs and 
operations. The Administration has set a goal of reducing greenhouse 
gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels. National climate 
change priorities aimed at meeting economy-wide emissions targets and 
ensuring climate resiliency are addressed in documents including the 
President's Climate Action Plan, the 2011 Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, and Executive Orders 
13514 and 13653. National climate change priorities are also 
identified in the 10-year USGCRP Research Plan. Table 5 shows climate-
related priorities discussed in these documents. 

Table 5: National Climate Priorities: 

Priorities: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions; 
The President's Climate Action Plan: [Check]; 
The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan 
for the U.S. Global Change Research Program: [Check]; 
Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, 
and Economic Performance: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13653: Preparing the United States for the Impacts of 
Climate Change: [Empty]. 

Priorities: Energy efficiency; 
The President's Climate Action Plan: [Check]; 
The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan 
for the U.S. Global Change Research Program: [Check]; 
Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: [Empty]; 
Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, 
and Economic Performance: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13653: Preparing the United States for the Impacts of 
Climate Change: [Empty]. 

Priorities: Advance climate science; 
The President's Climate Action Plan: [Check]; 
The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan 
for the U.S. Global Change Research Program: [Check]; 
Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, 
and Economic Performance: [Empty]; 
Executive Order 13653: Preparing the United States for the Impacts of 
Climate Change: [Check]. 

Priorities: Develop tools and translate climate information to guide 
decision making; 
The President's Climate Action Plan: [Check]; 
The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan 
for the U.S. Global Change Research Program: [Check]; 
Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, 
and Economic Performance: [Empty]; 
Executive Order 13653: Preparing the United States for the Impacts of 
Climate Change: [Check]. 

Priorities: Develop forecasts to better predict future climate 
conditions; 
The President's Climate Action Plan: [Check]; 
The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan 
for the U.S. Global Change Research Program: [Check]; 
Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, 
and Economic Performance: [Empty]; 
Executive Order 13653: Preparing the United States for the Impacts of 
Climate Change: [Empty]. 

Priorities: Integrate adaptation into federal government planning and 
activities through development of climate change adaptation plans; 
The President's Climate Action Plan: [Check]; 
The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan 
for the U.S. Global Change Research Program: [Check]; 
Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and 
Economic Performance: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13653: Preparing the United States for the Impacts of 
Climate Change: [Check]. 

Priorities: Improve the utility of climate information; 
The President's Climate Action Plan: [Check]; 
The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan 
for the U.S. Global Change Research Program: [Check]; 
Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the 
Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: [Check]; 
Executive Order 13514: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, 
and Economic Performance: [Empty]; 
Executive Order 13653: Preparing the United States for the Impacts of 
Climate Change: [Check]. 

Sources: GAO analysis of presidential and other documents. 
GAO-14-755. 

[End of table] 

USDA's climate change priorities for agriculture generally align with 
the national priorities outlined in table 5. USDA officials said they 
rely on NOAA and other USGCRP science agencies to develop better and 
more localized climate projections to help farmers make management 
decisions to adapt to weather variability and a changing climate. USDA 
also has various adaptation and mitigation research efforts under way 
that are intended to help understand the current and potential impacts 
of climate change and develop information and tools for farmers. To 
help deliver information to farmers, USDA will rely on the cooperative 
extension system to translate climate information and NRCS staff to 
provide technical assistance through conservation programs, such as 
the Conservation Technical Assistance program. According to the USGCRP 
2012-2021 Research Plan, USDA's research and extension efforts, 
conservation programs, and efforts to provide farmers with decision-
making tools support USGCRP priorities on "multiple fronts."[Footnote 
32] 

USDA has also developed a climate change adaptation plan. In 
accordance with Executive Order 13514, USDA issued Departmental 
Regulation 1070-001 in June 2011, which directed its agencies to 
develop climate change adaptation plans. The June 2012 climate change 
adaptation plan detailed how climate change is anticipated to affect 
USDA operations and how USDA agencies will prepare and adapt to the 
projected impacts. For example, FSA stated that threats associated 
with climate change could make farmers become more reliant on 
financial and disaster assistance programs administered by FSA. To 
address this vulnerability, FSA's strategy is to review existing 
policies and programs and determine if they could be modified to 
encourage farmers to undertake adaptation measures such as changing 
crop varieties, diversifying crops, and increasing water-use 
efficiency. 

USDA Climate Change Efforts Consist of Both Mature Programs and New 
Initiatives, but the Agency Is Not Tracking Progress Adequately: 

USDA's climate efforts consist of both mature programs and newer 
initiatives. USDA has been conducting climate change research and 
implementing conservation programs for several years. Many of these 
conservation programs were established prior to USDA's more recent 
focus on climate change. In more recent years, USDA has emphasized the 
need to turn climate research into technical assistance for farmers. 
In addition, USDA is working with other agencies to improve climate 
projections. However, USDA is not using its performance planning or 
reporting process to provide information on how it intends to 
accomplish its strategic goal on climate change or to track its 
progress toward meeting this goal. 

USDA Has Engaged in Climate Change Efforts for Several Years: 

USDA's climate efforts have consisted of research, conservation, and 
energy programs. 

Research: USDA has conducted climate change research since the early 
1990s. These research efforts grew out of the Global Change Research 
Act of 1990, which required the development of a research plan that 
provides recommendations for collaboration to combine and interpret 
data to, among other things, "produce information readily usable by 
policymakers attempting to formulate effective strategies for 
preventing, mitigating, and adapting to the effects of global change." 
[Footnote 33] Both ARS and NIFA and its predecessor organization at 
USDA, the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension 
Service, have been involved in climate change research since the 
1990s.[Footnote 34] 

ARS and NIFA still play major roles in USDA's climate research 
efforts. In fiscal year 2013, they accounted for $78 million of the 
$82 million (95 percent) of the monies that USDA spent on climate 
change research, according to OMB data.[Footnote 35] ARS accounted for 
$38 million in research spending, with most of this research conducted 
under its Climate Change, Soils, and Emissions Program. This program 
conducts research on four components of climate change: (1) improving 
air quality; (2) reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sequestering 
carbon; (3) enabling agriculture to adapt to climate change; and (4) 
enhancing soil health. According to an internal ARS document, there 
were 32 ongoing research projects in 2013 focused on climate 
mitigation at a cost of $13.7 million, and 53 research projects 
focused on climate adaptation at a cost of $24.6 million. NIFA's work 
on climate change is done through its Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, 
and the Environment and, in fiscal year 2013, NIFA accounted for about 
$40 million of USDA's climate research spending. According to NIFA 
officials, most of NIFA's climate research is funded through AFRI, the 
largest competitive grants program that NIFA administers. One of the 
five challenge areas that AFRI is working on is to "mitigate and adapt 
to climate change." 

Conservation: USDA also has several established conservation programs 
administered by FSA and NRCS, many of which were established prior to 
USDA's more recent focus on climate change. Now these conservation 
programs are being presented as not only helping to conserve land, 
prevent erosion, or provide wildlife habitat, but also as having the 
climate benefit of sequestering carbon and promoting soil health. For 
example, FSA, and its predecessor agency, have administered the 
Conservation Reserve Program since 1986 and, in fiscal year 2013, 
about 27 million acres of land were conserved through this program. 
FSA estimates that this effort results in a net reduction of 45 
million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually through sequestration 
of carbon dioxide and reduced fuel and fertilizer use by farmers. 
[Footnote 36] Similarly, NRCS oversees a number of conservation 
programs, and an estimated 52.9 million acres were enrolled in these 
programs in fiscal year 2012. NRCS's focus on conservation goes back 
to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.[Footnote 37] The largest of NRCS's 
conservation programs is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, 
which provides financial and technical assistance to farmers who 
implement conservation practices and undertake conservation planning. 

Energy: Another area where USDA has ongoing climate change mitigation 
efforts involves energy. FSA, NIFA, NRCS, and Rural Development have 
programs focusing on different aspects of energy, including energy 
efficiency, renewable energy, and the production of biofuels. Among 
these programs is Rural Development's REAP program. According to a 
March 2012 report on REAP, this program funded 5,733 renewable energy 
and energy-efficiency improvement projects since 2009. 

Recent USDA Efforts Have Emphasized the Need to Turn Research Findings 
Into Technical Assistance for Farmers: 

In 2009, research program leaders at NIFA developed a new strategic 
direction, which called for NIFA to support the creation of 
"innovative tools for communication and education to provide 
information that people and communities can use in their daily lives." 
[Footnote 38] Subsequently, USDA's Climate Change Science Plan, 
released in 2010, emphasized the need for the agency to develop tools 
to help farmers with both climate adaptation and mitigation. Also, in 
2010, NIFA issued a funding announcement under AFRI's climate change 
challenge area for projects focused on climate research, education, or 
extension.[Footnote 39] The announcement also provided funding for 
integrated projects, which combine research along with education 
and/or extension activities. Among the projects funded under this 
announcement were the four largest grants the agency had ever awarded 
according to NIFA officials. NIFA provided $85 million in total 
funding over a period of 5 years for these four integrated projects, 
known as CAP grants.[Footnote 40] Each of these grants, now in their 
fourth year, involves researchers across several universities. Table 6 
provides more information on these projects. 

Table 6: Summary of Selected Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) 
Climate Change Grants Awarded in 2011: 

Grant name, funding level, and focus: Triticeae CAP (TCAP); $25 
million over 5 years; Develop new varieties of wheat and barley seeds 
that have different traits to respond to climate change; 
Key research efforts 2011-2014: Wheat and barley seed varieties have 
been tested and developed in field trials, and more than 100 research 
papers have been written; In 2013, work led to release of 20 new 
varieties of plants; 
Key extension and education efforts 2011-2014: The grant is focused on 
training plant breeders; Total of 117 graduate students have 
participated in plant training network. 

Grant name, funding level, and focus: Climate Change, Mitigation, and 
Adaptation in Corn-Based Cropping Systems (Sustainable Corn); $20 
million over 5 years; Climate mitigation and adaptation in corn farming 
in the Midwest; 
Key research efforts 2011-2014: Several ongoing research projects on 
large field plots are examining impacts of different farming 
practices, such as no-till farming; Year three of the grant resulted 
in 31 articles, 91 extension publications, and 189 presentations; 
Key extension and education efforts 2011-2014: Have developed weather 
guides for nine states in Corn Belt in Midwest; Have at least one 
dedicated extension agent in each of nine states in the Corn Belt 
responsible for providing project information to farmers; During year 
three of the grant, conducted in-depth interviews with 165 farmers on 
their farming practices. 

Grant name, funding level, and focus: Regional Approaches to Climate 
Change (REACCH) for Pacific Northwest Agriculture; $20 million over 5 
years; Climate adaptation and mitigation in cereal production in the 
Pacific Northwest; 
Key research efforts 2011-2014: Fifteen large field experiments are 
part of the grant examining impacts of different wheat farming 
techniques, such as planting cover crops and diversifying the 
crop rotation; 
Key extension and education efforts 2011-2014: In 2013, hired staff 
member to prepare extension materials on research; Have hosted 
webinars and conducted two surveys of farmers; Few web-based tools 
developed to date, but plan on releasing temperature tool in the 
future. 

Grant name, funding level, and focus: Pine Integrated Network: 
Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation Project (PINEMAP); $20 million 
over 5 years; Climate adaptation and mitigation in pine forest 
management in southeastern United States; 
Key research efforts 2011-2014: Conducting hundreds of field research 
experiments. Research is between one-third and one-half complete, 
according to PINEMAP officials; Plan to use research results to 
validate models on yields from tree farms; 
Key extension and education efforts 2011-2014: Developed fact sheets, 
hosted webinars, and conducted surveys of forest managers; Plan to 
develop decision support system based on research results in final 
years of grant; Developed education module for middle and high school 
students. 

Sources: GAO summary of CAP grant documents and interviews with 
university officials implementing the grants and USDA officials 
overseeing the grants. GAO-14-755. 

[End of table] 

The four CAP grant projects are at various stages of turning research 
into technical assistance for farmers, based on our review of 
materials and conversations with leaders of these projects. Most of 
the grantees had conducted outreach to farmers through conducting 
surveys or holding webinars, but the grants varied in terms of their 
use of extension and development of web-based tools to aid farmers in 
decision making. For example, the Sustainable Corn CAP grant has 
cooperative extension agents in nine Midwestern states in the Corn 
Belt who are responsible for disseminating project information to 
farmers. This CAP grant recipient also has partnered with another USDA 
grantee, Useful to Usable,[Footnote 41] to communicate research to 
farmers; this joint effort has resulted in the development of two web-
based tools for farmers. One of these tools, the Corn-Growing Degree 
Day tool, compares current weather conditions with 30-year averages 
and helps farmers decide when to plant their seeds. In contrast, 
university officials leading the PINEMAP and REACCH CAP grants say 
their projects have been more focused on research so far, but they are 
planning to produce tools for farmers in the final years of funding. 
These university officials said that developing tools for farmers 
takes time. 

In 2013, NIFA awarded two CAP grants focused on livestock, with one 
focused on dairy cattle, and one focused on beef cattle. These also 
were 5-year grants, consisting of about $10 million each. These 
livestock grants focus on developing information for farmers on 
adaptation and mitigation options. For example, the CAP grant project 
on beef cattle is examining ways to reduce methane emissions by 
altering the animals' diets. NIFA officials told us it was likely that 
when funding ran out for these CAP grants and the four awarded in 
2011, that future CAP grant funding would be less. 

A senior ARS official told us that ARS's research on climate 
mitigation is more mature than its climate adaptation efforts. This 
official said ARS was more comfortable with making recommendations to 
farmers about how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester 
carbon in soil than with providing information on how to adapt to 
climate change. He said that ARS's adaptation research had not 
progressed to the point where a "decision tree" tool could be 
developed to guide farmers on adaptation options. During our site 
visits to two ARS laboratories, we observed growth chambers where ARS 
scientists were examining the impacts that future climate conditions 
could have on crops to help identify crop types that best withstand 
these conditions. One area where ARS has made progress is on soil 
health techniques, such as using no-till farming. According to ARS and 
NRCS officials, ARS research has been used by NRCS to provide 
information to farmers on the benefits of healthy soil. 

Like ARS, NRCS has also developed some climate change tools for 
farmers in recent years. For example, NRCS has worked with Colorado 
State University to develop COMET-FARM, a web-based tool used by 
farmers to estimate the carbon footprint of their operations and to 
determine likely impacts from certain actions in reducing their 
greenhouse gas emissions or increasing sequestration. In 2012, NRCS 
launched a campaign called Unlock the Secrets in the Soil to share 
information with farmers on the benefits of healthy and productive 
soil. As part of this effort, NRCS maintains a website with fact 
sheets, videos, and other information on soil health. 

In February 2014, USDA announced the establishment of seven regional 
climate hubs and three subsidiary hubs to "deliver science-based, 
practical information to farmers, ranchers" and "to support decision 
making related to mitigation of, and adaptation to climate change." 
[Footnote 42] Figure 2 is an interactive map showing the regional 
climate hub locations. (See appendix IV for a printable, 
noninteractive version of figure 2.) During the first year of this 
effort, USDA officials expect the hubs to engage with stakeholders, 
establish a website, conduct a climate risk assessment for the hub's 
region, and develop training for USDA staff. Several USDA agencies 
will actively contribute to this effort, including ARS, NRCS, Rural 
Development, and the Forest Service. USDA officials said they expect 
NRCS staff and the cooperative extension service to help distribute 
technical assistance from the hubs to farmers and other stakeholders 
in the region. The climate hubs will also collaborate with other 
federal agencies that have existing climate offices, such as NOAA, 
which has regional climate partnerships that include Regional 
Integrated Sciences and Assessments teams, Regional Climate Centers, 
and Regional Climate Services Directors. These hubs will be located at 
existing ARS or Forest Service facilities. 

Figure 2: Location of USDA's Regional Climate Hubs and Information on 
These Regions: 

[Refer to PDF for image: Interactive Graphic] 

Instructions: Move your cursor over the colored regions below for more 
information. For a printable, noninteractive version of this
figure, see appendix IV. 

Source: GAO analysis of USDA information; Map Resources (map). GAO-14-
755. 

[End of figure] 

Some USDA officials said that there was no substitute for the one-on-
one attention that farmers receive from extension or NRCS staff. 
However, representatives from farm groups said that the cooperative 
extension system is "not what it used to be" because both funding and 
staffing levels have fallen in recent years. During our site visit to 
Iowa, a leading agricultural state in crop and livestock production, a 
university official told us that, until 2009, there had been an 
agricultural extension agent in each of the 99 county extension 
offices, but there now are only about 30 such individuals, each of 
whom covers multiple counties. According to USDA officials leading the 
climate hubs effort, they have reached out to the extension system by 
hosting a meeting with all of the land-grant universities and sending 
a letter to states, urging them to take part in the climate hub 
effort. USDA is also developing a memorandum of understanding on this 
topic with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. 
[Footnote 43] However, there are very few extension specialists that 
have a focus on climate change; we spoke to two climate change 
extension specialists during our work, and one of these specialists 
told us that he knew of only four such specialists in the United 
States. NRCS officials said that they viewed the staff's work in the 
hubs as an extension of NRCS' traditional work on conservation. These 
officials did, however, acknowledge that there has been a decline in 
staffing levels in recent years, which we reported on in a recent 
report.[Footnote 44] 

With the reduced presence of the extension system, some stakeholders 
told us that farmers are turning more to the private sector for 
information on managing their farms. Certified crop advisers,[Footnote 
45] who provide information to farmers on, among other things, seed 
selection, irrigation, and fertilizer decisions, are one such source 
of information. The Useful to Usable grant project is focused on 
delivering information to crop advisers that can be shared with 
farmers. Some of these crop advisers are independent, while others are 
employed by large agribusiness companies. 

Efforts Are Under Way to Improve Climate Change Projections, but They 
Are Generally at an Early Stage: 

One of the key pieces of information farmers need to make planting and 
other decisions is reliable information on future climate projections. 
USDA officials told us that farmers need projections that cover longer 
periods of time so they can make longer-range and seasonal decisions, 
such as what type of seed to buy for the upcoming planting season or 
whether to purchase a certain piece of equipment. One of the ways that 
USDA and NOAA are addressing the need for longer-term climate 
projections is through participation in the Agricultural Model 
Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) consortium, an 
international effort established in 2010 to examine and improve 
globally integrated climate, economic, and agricultural production 
models. A USDA official involved in this effort told us that the AgMIP 
effort is at an early stage of development. Currently, most climate 
models provide projections over large geographical regions. For 
example, the Third National Climate Assessment provided information on 
possible future climate conditions across nine regions in the United 
States under different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios.[Footnote 
46] However, NOAA officials said that these were scenarios and not 
forecasts because they do not include probabilities of these 
occurring. Officials at USDA told us that they recognize farmers need 
both localized information to make decisions and more information on 
the likelihood that certain climate conditions will occur. The process 
of refining larger-scale model results and arriving at a more local 
geographic scale is known as downscaling. According to the National 
Research Council, downscaling can be challenging, and additional 
evaluation of the various downscaling methodologies is needed. 
[Footnote 47] 

Currently, farmers can obtain more localized projections on weather 
and drought conditions with shorter time frames from various sources. 
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center produces seasonal weather outlooks 
that cover 90-day periods for both temperature and precipitation and 
provide probabilities on whether conditions will be average, below 
average, or above average. NOAA also leads the National Integrated 
Drought Information System (NIDIS), which provides information on 
current drought conditions and projections for future drought 
conditions and communicates these on a regular basis. NIDIS is made up 
of representatives from USDA, along with the Departments of Energy, 
the Interior, and Transportation, and various other federal agencies. 

USDA Is Not Using Its Strategic Planning and Reporting Process to 
Provide Information on Its Climate Change Efforts: 

Helping to make farms more resilient to climate change is part of one 
of USDA's four strategic goals, but the agency is not using its 
performance planning and reporting process to provide information on 
how it intends to accomplish this goal or the status of its efforts. 
Developing a strategic plan and establishing performance measures is 
the first step in an agency's performance management process. 
According to GPRA, as amended by the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, 
an agency's performance plan is supposed to explain how the agency 
will accomplish its performance goals, and its performance reports are 
supposed to review the extent to which performance goals have been 
met, and if the performance goals are not met, explain why.[Footnote 
48] We found shortcomings in both of these documents that USDA had 
been preparing on an annual basis: 

* Performance plans. In USDA's performance plans for the years 2011, 
2012, and 2013, there was only general information about its climate 
change efforts, and there was no specific linkage between these 
efforts and its performance goals and how these efforts would be used 
to accomplish its goals. For example, in the 2013 USDA performance 
plan, there is no explicit discussion on how ARS's or NIFA's research 
efforts relate to climate change. When asked, USDA officials were 
uncertain as to why this linkage was not included in the department's 
performance plan. GPRA requires that agencies use their performance 
plans to describe how an agency's performance goals contribute to the 
goals laid out in its strategic plan. Without this information in its 
performance plans, USDA is not providing a plan to the public on how 
it intends to accomplish its goals. 

* Performance reports. In its performance reports for the years 2011, 
2012, and 2013, USDA did not provide any information on whether it was 
meeting its performance goals under its strategic objective to lead 
efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. USDA provided 
information on its other measures for its strategic objectives. USDA 
officials stated that since climate efforts were largely excluded from 
the performance plan, these efforts were excluded in the performance 
report. GPRA requires that agencies use their performance reports to 
provide information on whether they have achieved their performance 
goals. Without this information, USDA cannot demonstrate whether its 
efforts have been successful and whether changes need to be made to 
its programs to address any unmet goals. 

* Performance measures. USDA does not have performance measures in its 
2014-2018 strategic plan for some of the adaptation practices, such as 
no-till farming and the planting of cover crops, which the agency is 
encouraging farmers to adopt. USDA officials in both ARS and NIFA told 
us that it is difficult for them to track farm management practices. 
However, USDA conducts several surveys of farmers, and its 
Agricultural Resource Management Survey collects information on farm 
management practices, including the use of no-till farming. Agency 
officials also said that it has been difficult to develop performance 
measures for climate change since it was first included as a strategic 
goal in the 2010-2015 strategic plan. Nonetheless, USDA has developed 
performance measures to track progress for some of its other strategic 
objectives that track acreage amounts where certain practices have 
been implemented on public or private lands.[Footnote 49] USDA has a 
wide-ranging set of climate efforts under way, but the performance 
measures that are part of its strategic plan do not capture the 
breadth of its efforts. Without measures to track progress on more of 
its climate efforts, USDA will not be able to fully assess its 
progress in meeting its climate change strategic goal and provide 
information to Congress and the public on its progress. See appendix 
III for more information on the strategic goal, objectives, and 
associated performance measures that are part of USDA's strategic 
plans for fiscal years 2010-2015 and fiscal years 2014-2018. 

USDA Faces Challenges in Implementing Its Climate Change Efforts: 

USDA faces challenges in encouraging U.S. farmers to take measures to 
mitigate and adapt to climate change. To address some of these 
challenges, USDA is, among other things, developing tools that 
summarize climate information and communicate research findings to 
farmers. However, USDA does not provide farmers with information on 
the costs and returns of taking climate change actions. 

USDA Faces Challenges in Encouraging Farmers to Adapt to Climate 
Change and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sequester Carbon: 

As mentioned earlier, USDA is developing and delivering technical 
assistance on climate change to farmers, and we found that the agency 
faces challenges in these efforts. USDA officials we spoke with, as 
well as researchers and representatives of environmental groups, said 
that climate change is a very complex topic, and it is difficult to 
turn the large amount of often technical research into readily 
understandable information. Our 2009 report on climate change found 
that turning climate data into information useful for making climate 
adaptation decisions was a challenge facing federal, state, and local 
decision makers.[Footnote 50] 

USDA officials acknowledge a need to develop climate projections at 
geographic scales and time frames relevant to farmers. To accomplish 
this goal, USDA officials said they must rely on other agencies and 
researchers, such as NOAA, because USDA does not have the technical 
capability to do this work. NOAA officials told us that providing 
climate predictions covering a 5-to 10-year period is one of the 
largest unmet needs in climate forecasting. Currently, it is difficult 
for climate modelers to predict when certain key climate features will 
occur that can have major influences on the climate on these time 
frames, such as El Niño/Southern Oscillation events.[Footnote 51] 
However, to provide additional help to farmers, NOAA is seeking to 
extend its climate forecasts beyond one year. NOAA officials also told 
us that climate models will always involve a degree of uncertainty and 
that local cooperative extension staff need to be trained on how to 
present information about this uncertainty in the models. 

Another challenge USDA faces is the incentive structure that farmers 
consider when making decisions. Officials at USDA, researchers, and 
farmers we spoke with told us that farmers need incentives to take 
climate adaptation or mitigation actions. For example, planting cover 
crops has a financial cost for the farmer in the short-term in the 
form of seed and planting costs, but the benefits of healthier soil 
may not be realized for a few years.[Footnote 52] Similarly, an acre 
of land that is maintained in perennial vegetative cover for 
conservation purposes is not available to a farmer for revenue-
generating crops, such as corn or soybeans.[Footnote 53] USDA's 
existing conservation programs provide payments to farmers who take 
such conservation actions, but these payments are generally less than 
the revenue the farmer would receive from growing and selling crops on 
the land. Total acreage placed in the Conservation Reserve Program has 
declined between 2007 and 2013 from about 37 million acres to about 27 
million acres, and one USDA official told us this was due in part to 
higher market prices for corn. Also, farmers who have marginal 
farmland have been able to convert it from grassland--which provides 
conservation benefits and sequesters carbon--to revenue-generating 
crops and qualify for crop insurance coverage offered by USDA, thus 
lowering their financial risk.[Footnote 54] As some Iowa farmers told 
us, farmers generally make decisions based on short-term economic 
incentives because the farming industry is focused on producing 
commodities at the lowest price. For example, if climate change 
measurably decreases yields for farmers in the future, farmers may 
have an incentive to change their practices. 

There was also general agreement among university researchers that 
climate change can be a polarizing topic in the agriculture community. 
According to a USDA-funded survey of almost 4,800 farmers in the Corn 
Belt, 66 percent believed that climate change was occurring and, of 
these respondents, 41 percent believed that humans were at least 
partly responsible.[Footnote 55] The authors of this research found 
that if farmers do not believe climate change is happening or poses a 
threat, they may be less likely to take adaptation or mitigation 
actions. 

USDA Has Taken Steps to Address Challenges but Does Not Provide 
Farmers with Information on the Costs and Returns of Taking Climate 
Change Actions: 

USDA has taken several steps to address the challenges it faces. For 
example, it is working to improve the information that can be provided 
to farmers from climate models. USDA is also taking steps to deliver 
information to farmers that is more accessible and easier to 
understand and apply to their operations. According to USDA officials, 
the regional climate hubs are intended to provide an avenue to deliver 
region-specific information to farmers on climate change. In addition, 
in three of the large CAP grant projects that USDA funded in 2011, 
farmers have been surveyed or interviewed to get more information on 
their needs and to better tailor the information provided to them to 
their needs. An official with the Useful to Usable CAP grant project 
told us that the project has used focus groups to gather information 
on the types of information that the farm community needs on climate 
change. Another USDA project maintains a website called AgroClimate, 
with weather forecast links and other tools, including fact sheets on 
different farm management practices, such as planting cover crops. 
University researchers we spoke with said that an understanding of the 
farm community is critical in communicating with farmers about climate 
change. 

USDA reports have highlighted the importance of providing information 
to farmers on the costs and returns of taking certain actions in 
response to climate change. For example, USDA Technical Bulletin 1935 
states that there is a need for "risk-weighted" costs and benefits of 
taking adaptation actions, but "few efforts have been made to develop 
such comprehensive quantification efforts in the context of climate 
change."[Footnote 56] According to officials at USDA, researchers, and 
farmers we spoke with, this information is important because farmers 
weigh the financial costs and returns when making decisions about 
their farm operations. When we asked USDA officials about the agency's 
efforts to develop this information, they highlighted a 2013 report 
that examined the financial incentives necessary for farmers to adopt 
certain mitigation practices.[Footnote 57] For example, the report 
provides estimated changes in costs, yield, and revenue for farmers 
changing from conventional tillage to reduced tillage for certain 
crops including corn and wheat. However, we found that the report does 
not provide information on instances where crop yields increased as a 
result of changes in practices, and we did not find evidence of USDA 
efforts to make information in this 270-page technical report more 
accessible to farmers. NRCS officials we spoke with did not seem aware 
of the report, and the website for NRCS's soil health campaign 
provides general information on the benefits of healthy soil but not 
on the farm-level costs to farmers or the demonstrated impact on crop 
yields from having healthier soil. According to federal standards for 
internal control, federal agencies are to record and communicate to 
management and others who need it and in a form and within a time 
frame that enables them to carry out their responsibilities.[Footnote 
58] Also under these standards, in addition to internal 
communications, management should ensure that there are adequate means 
of communicating with, and obtaining information from, external 
stakeholders that may have a significant impact on the agency 
achieving its goals. NRCS officials said they did not have information 
on the costs and returns of taking certain actions in response to 
climate change and suggested that farmers might get it from other 
farmers. They noted that this information is challenging to develop 
because several variables can affect the costs and returns for a 
particular farmer. In keeping with Technical Bulletin 1935, USDA has 
taken some steps to develop estimates of costs and benefits of taking 
actions in response to climate change, but if this information is not 
distributed in an accessible format, its usefulness to farmers may be 
limited. Without information that is readily accessible to farmers on 
the farm-level economic costs and returns of taking certain actions in 
response to climate change, farmers may be reluctant to take climate 
adaptation or mitigation actions. 

Conclusions: 

USDA is taking several promising steps to begin to help farmers 
mitigate and adapt to climate change. In recent years, USDA has 
increased funding for its climate efforts, particularly in the area of 
research, and has been working to help develop tools and useful 
information for farmers such as the recent establishment of regional 
climate hubs. 

The importance of climate change at USDA is reflected in the fact that 
one of the agency's four strategic goals focuses on climate change. 
However, the agency does not have associated performance measures that 
reflect the breadth of USDA efforts in the climate area. In addition, 
its performance plans and performance reports do not provide adequate 
information on how the agency planned to accomplish its goals or the 
status of its efforts. By not using its performance plans to explain 
how it will accomplish its goals in the area of climate change, USDA 
has not provided Congress and the public with important information on 
its efforts. Without a more robust performance measurement system, 
USDA will have difficulty assessing its progress in meeting its 
strategic goal on climate change and providing information to Congress 
and the public on the status of its efforts. 

Farmers weigh the financial costs and returns of taking certain 
actions carefully. However, USDA has made few efforts to quantify the 
costs and returns of taking certain actions that could help farmers 
make both short-and long-term decisions in the face of a changing 
climate. USDA has taken some steps in this area, but without 
communicating more accessible information on the economic costs and 
returns to farmers of taking certain adaptation or mitigation actions 
on their farms consistent with federal internal control standards, 
farmers may be reluctant to take certain actions. 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

To better promote agency accountability, we recommend that the 
Secretary of Agriculture direct the Climate Change Program Office and 
the Office of Budget and Program Analysis to take the following three 
actions: 

* Work with relevant USDA agencies to develop performance measures 
that better reflect the breadth of USDA's climate change efforts. 

* Ensure that the department's annual performance plans explain how 
agency actions will lead to the accomplishment of performance goals in 
the area of climate change. 

* Use annual performance reports to provide information on the status 
of agency efforts toward meeting its performance measures in the area 
of climate change. 

In addition, to provide relevant information to farmers, we recommend 
that the Secretary of Agriculture direct the Climate Change Program 
Office to work with relevant USDA agencies to develop and provide 
readily accessible information to farmers on the farm-level economic 
costs and returns of taking certain actions in response to climate 
change. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

We provided a draft of this report to the Departments of Agriculture 
and Commerce for review and comment. We also provided a copy to the 
U.S. Global Change Research Program for a technical review. In its 
written comments, reproduced in appendix V, the Department of 
Agriculture agreed with our recommendations and said that the report 
reflects the wide range of actions that the department is taking to 
address climate change in the agriculture sector. USDA also noted it 
has begun to address some of these recommendations. Specifically, the 
department is conducting additional work to provide tools to farmers 
that assess the costs and impacts of adopting technologies that help 
to mitigate climate change. The Departments of Agriculture and 
Commerce and the U.S. Global Change Research Program also provided 
technical comments, which we have incorporated as appropriate. 

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents 
of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 14 days 
from the report date. At that time, we will send copies of this report 
to the appropriate congressional committees, the Secretary of 
Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and other interested parties. 
In addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website 
at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. 

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please 
contact me at (202) 512-3841 or neumannj@gao.gov. Contact points for 
our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found 
on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major 
contributions to this report are listed in appendix VII. 

Sincerely yours, 

Signed by: 

John Neumann: 
Acting Director, Natural Resources and Environment: 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology: 

Our objectives were to examine (1) U.S. Department of Agriculture's 
(USDA) priorities related to climate change and agricultural 
production and how these align with national priorities; (2) the 
status of USDA's climate change efforts; and (3) the challenges, if 
any, USDA faces in implementing its climate efforts and the steps it 
has taken to overcome these challenges. 

To describe USDA's priorities related to climate change and 
agricultural production and how these align with national priorities, 
we analyzed USDA documents that describe the agency's priorities in 
this area. These documents include USDA's fiscal year 2010-2015 and 
fiscal year 2014-2018 Strategic Plans, the agency's Climate Change 
Adaptation Plan, its Climate Change Science Plan, and Departmental 
Regulation 1070-001. To identify national priorities regarding climate 
change and agricultural production, we analyzed the U.S. Global Change 
Research Program 10-year strategic research plan, the Interagency 
Climate Change Task Force 2010 and 2011 progress reports, Executive 
Orders 13514 and 13653, and the President's Climate Action Plan. We 
also analyzed budget data that USDA reports to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for its annual report to Congress on 
climate change expenditures. We also interviewed officials responsible 
for climate change policy from USDA's Climate Change Program Office 
and other USDA agencies. 

To determine the status of USDA's climate change efforts, we analyzed 
documents that included annual budget data, progress reports, and 
annual performance reports. These included the budget data that USDA 
reports to OMB. We focused on USDA's key climate change efforts, which 
we identified through discussions with USDA officials and by examining 
budget information, which enabled us to determine where USDA was 
devoting large amounts of funding. We also reviewed USDA's strategic 
plans for fiscal years 2010-2015 and fiscal years 2014-2018 and the 
performance plans and performance reports for the years 2010, 2011, 
2012, and 2013. We also examined the requirements under the Government 
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 and the GPRA Modernization 
Act of 2010 for strategic plans, performance plans, and performance 
reports. In addition, we reviewed progress reports that had been 
prepared by various USDA agencies. For the six large Coordinated 
Agriculture Project grants that had been funded by USDA's National 
Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), we interviewed officials 
that were leading these grants and USDA officials that were 
responsible for overseeing five of these grants. We also interviewed 
officials that were leading two standard grants that had been funded 
by NIFA. 

To determine the challenges that USDA faces in implementing its 
climate efforts and steps it has taken to overcome some of these 
challenges, we reviewed key documents on USDA's efforts and reviewed 
our past work on climate change. These USDA documents included USDA's 
Technical Bulletin 1935 on climate change and various reports prepared 
by USDA agencies. Our past work on climate change has identified 
several potential challenges in implementing climate change efforts at 
the federal and local level. 

For all three objectives, we conducted interviews with a range of 
officials, including USDA officials implementing climate programs, and 
stakeholders who were knowledgeable about USDA's efforts and the 
challenges the agency faces. Specifically, we spoke with officials 
from 10 USDA agencies and had multiple conversations with officials 
from the following USDA agencies because of their extensive 
involvement in climate change work: Agricultural Research Service 
(ARS), Economic Research Service, Farm Service Agency (FSA), NIFA, 
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Rural Development. 
We also spoke multiple times with officials from USDA's Climate Change 
Program Office, which is responsible for coordinating USDA's climate 
efforts, and USDA's Office of Budget and Policy Analysis, which is 
responsible for USDA's preparation of budget estimates, legislative 
reports, and regulations, as well as USDA's strategic planning and 
reporting efforts. The stakeholders we spoke with included officials 
from farm groups, environmental groups, and an agribusiness company. 
We also spoke with farmers from Iowa and Kentucky. 

Finally, we conducted two site visits on this engagement. We visited 
ARS's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, where we 
met with ARS researchers that were examining the impacts that 
different climate conditions could have on crops. We also toured the 
facilities where this research is taking place. We conducted a site 
visit in Iowa, where we spoke with a variety of officials, including 
USDA officials from ARS, NRCS, FSA, and Rural Development. We also 
spoke with a variety of officials at Iowa State University, including 
professors and extension staff. In addition, we met with extension 
staff in a county office, visited a corn and pig farm, and spoke with 
farmers that operated this farm. We selected Iowa because it is a 
large agriculture producer; according to the 2012 National Census of 
Agriculture, Iowa was the largest producer of corn and soybeans in the 
United States. 

We conducted this performance audit from September 2013 to September 
2014 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit 
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for 
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: Summary of USDA Climate Change Budget and Associated 
Programs: 

This appendix presents information on the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's (USDA) budget and programs that are related to climate 
change. According to USDA officials, USDA does not have a line item in 
its budget that covers climate change because many of the agency's 
climate efforts involve programs across several USDA agencies. 
However, USDA does compile a "climate change crosscut," which provides 
information on the money that various USDA agencies spent on climate 
change activities. For the purposes of this report, we used budget 
data that USDA reports to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for its annual report to Congress on climate expenditures. Table 7 
below is a summary of the amount these agencies spent on climate 
change efforts, according to OMB, along with a summary of USDA 
programs associated with this spending. 

Table 7: USDA Climate Change Budget and Associated Programs: 

Climate Research: 

USDA agency: Agricultural Research Service (ARS); 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $38 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: Natural Resources and Sustainable 
Agriculture Systems research program - One of four ARS national 
research programs. Under this program, there is National Program 212, 
titled Climate Change, Soils, and Emissions. In 2013, ARS scientists 
conducted 74 research projects under this program. 

USDA agency: National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA); 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $40 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: Agriculture Food Research Initiative (AFRI) 
- According to USDA officials, this is USDA's largest competitive 
grants program. AFRI funds projects in five challenge areas, one of 
which is climate change. 

USDA agency: Economic Research Service (ERS); 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $2 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: Resource and Rural Economics - One of four 
ERS national research programs. According to USDA officials, climate 
change research outputs are categorized under three areas: 
publications, capacity-building, and datasets. USDA officials told us 
while no specific branch is dedicated to covering the topic of climate 
change, most of ERS' climate work falls under this program. 

Conservation Programs: 

USDA agency: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS); 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $0[B]; 
Examples of USDA programs: Conservation Technical Assistance Program - 
NRCS staff work with farmers to implement conservation plans; 
Conservation Stewardship Program - Provides funding for farmers who 
take certain conservation actions; 
Environmental Quality Incentives Program - Provides technical and 
financial incentives to farmers who undertake conservation measures; 
Agricultural Conservation Easement Program - Provides financial and 
technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands and wetlands; 
Conservation Innovation Grant Program - Provides grant money to 
stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation 
approaches and technologies. 

Energy Programs: 

USDA agency: NIFA; 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $56 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: Biomass Research Development Initiative-
Joint effort between NIFA and the U.S. Department of Energy, which 
seeks to promote research and development of biofuels and biobased 
products. 

USDA agency: ARS; 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $32 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: Biorefining National Research Program - ARS 
scientists conduct research on developing new commercially viable 
technologies to (1) convert agricultural materials and byproducts into 
fuels and other marketable products, and (2) reduce risks and increase 
profitability in existing industrial biorefineries. 

USDA agency: ERS; 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $2 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: Resource and Rural Economics - One of four 
ERS national research programs. According to USDA officials, climate 
change research is categorized under three areas: publications, 
capacity-building, and datasets. While no specific branch is dedicated 
to covering the topic of climate change, most of ERS' climate work 
falls under this program. 

USDA agency: Rural Development; 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $13 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) - 
Provides assistance to agricultural producers and rural small 
businesses to complete a variety of projects. Offering both loan 
guarantees and grants, the REAP program helps eligible applicants 
install renewable energy systems, such as solar panels or anaerobic 
digesters; make energy efficiency improvements, such as installing 
irrigation pumps or replacing ventilation systems; and conduct energy 
audits and feasibility studies; 
Biorefinery Assistance Program - Provides loan guarantees for the 
development, construction, and retrofitting of commercial-scale 
biorefineries; 
The Advanced Biofuel Payment Program - Provides payments to biofuel 
producers to support and expand production of advanced biofuels refined 
from sources other than corn. 

USDA agency: Farm Service Agency (FSA); 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $0[C]; 
Examples of USDA programs: Biomass Crop Assistance Program - Provides 
financial assistance to farmers that wish to produce biomass 
feedstocks and provide them to biomass refineries. 

Administration: 

USDA agency: Office of the Chief Economist - Climate Change Program 
Office; 
FY 2013 climate change expenditures[A]: $3 million; 
Examples of USDA programs: The Climate Change Program Office 
coordinates USDA's climate activities. For example, according to USDA 
officials, the office is leading the effort to set up the seven USDA 
regional climate hubs. The office facilitates USDA's Global Change 
Task Force, which is comprised of 20 USDA agencies, and aims to 
coordinate and share information on USDA's climate efforts. The climate 
office is also responsible for coordinating climate activities with 
other federal agencies. The Climate Change Program Office also conducts 
multi-institutional assessments of climate change's influence on 
agriculture, forests, and food security in support of the U.S. Global 
Change Research Program's National Climate Assessment efforts. 

Sources: GAO analysis of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and USDA 
information. GAO-14-755. 

[A] Funding shown in appendix II reflects current budget authority as 
reported by OMB. 

[B] According to USDA officials, USDA does not count any of the 
conservation funding under its climate change funding. This is because 
these programs have a variety of environmental impacts, such as 
reducing erosion, supporting wildlife, and sequestering carbon. In 
fiscal year 2013, NRCS and FSA spent approximately $4.3 billion and 
$1.9 billion, respectively, on their conservation programs. 

[C] According to a USDA official, this program did not receive any 
funding in fiscal year 2013, but it was authorized. In fiscal years 
2010, 2011, and 2012, the program received $248 million, $24 million, 
and $16 million in funding. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Appendix III: Information on USDA's Strategic Objectives and 
Performance Goals: 

In this appendix, table 8 provides information on the objectives and 
performance measures related to climate change that are part of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) fiscal years (FY) 2010-2015 
and 2014-2018 strategic plans. These underlie USDA's second strategic 
goal to "ensure our national forests and private working lands are 
conserved, restored, and made more resilient to climate change, while 
enhancing our water resources." Working lands include both farms and 
livestock operations. 

Table 8: Selected Information on Climate Change Related Objectives, 
Measures, and Performance Goals for USDA's Strategic Goal Two from FY 
2010-2015 and FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plans: 

Objective: 2.1 Improve the Health of the Nation's Forests, Grasslands 
and Working Lands by Managing Our Natural Resources[A]; 
Performance measure: Improve soil health and sustainability on 
cropland (in tons of soil carbon loss avoided annually)[B]; 
Baseline and targets for performance measures in FY 2010-2015 
strategic plan: Measure not in FY 2010-2015 Strategic Plan; 
Baseline and targets for performance measures in FY 2014-2018 
strategic plan: 2011 - 75,000 tons; 2018 - 125,000 tons; 
Explanation for differences in performance measures between 
strategic plans: USDA officials told us this was a new goal for the 
2014-2018 strategic plan. 

Objective: 2.2 Lead Efforts to Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change, 
Drought, and Extreme Weather in Agriculture and Forestry[C]; 

Performance measure: Annual greenhouse gas emissions by the U.S. 
agricultural sector measured in carbon dioxide equivalents; 
Baseline and targets for performance measures in FY 2010-2015 
strategic plan: 2005 - 482.6 million metric tons, carbon dioxide 
equivalent[D]; 2015 - 441.6 million metric tons, carbon dioxide 
equivalent[D]; 
Baseline and targets for performance measures in FY 2014-2018 
strategic plan: Measure not in FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan; 
Explanation for differences in performance measures between strategic 
plans: USDA officials told us that reducing greenhouse gas emissions 
remains an outcome the department wants to achieve but there is not a 
performance measure associated with this because the department cannot 
control all factors that influence emissions levels. 

Performance measure: Number of established regional hubs for risk 
adaptation and mitigation to climate change; 
Baseline and targets for performance measures in FY 2010-2015 
strategic plan: Measure not in FY 2010-2015 Strategic Plan; 
Baseline and targets for performance measures in FY 2014-2018 
strategic plan: 2012 - 0; 2018 - 7; 
Explanation for differences in performance measures between strategic 
plans: The climate hubs are a new initiative and their location was 
announced by USDA in February 2014. 

Source: GAO summary of USDA 2010-2015 and 2014-2018 Strategic Plans. 
GAO-14-755. 

[A] This is the wording of the strategic objective 2.1 in the FY 2014- 
2018 Strategic Plan. In the FY 2010-2015 Strategic Plan, objective 2.1 
read "Restore and Conserve the Nation's Farms, Ranches and Grasslands." 

[B] This is also one of the agency's three priority goals. According 
to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-11, agency priority 
goals reflect the top priorities of agency leadership and are intended 
to be accomplished within 24 months. Agencies are required to review 
progress in achieving agency priority goals on a quarterly basis, and 
publicly report on their performance compared with their goals. 

[C] This is the wording of the strategic objective 2.2 in the FY 2014-
2018 Strategic Plan. In the FY 2010-2015 Strategic Plan, objective 2.2 
read "Lead Efforts to Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change." 

[D] Each of the six greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide, methane, and 
nitrous oxide, as well as three synthetic gases: hydrofluorocarbons, 
perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride--is assigned a unique weight 
based on its heat-absorbing ability relative to carbon dioxide over a 
fixed period. This weighting provides a way to convert emissions of 
various greenhouse gases into a common measure, called the carbon 
dioxide equivalent. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Appendix IV: Information on USDA's Regional Climate Hubs (Corresponds 
to: figure 2): 

In this appendix, table 9 provides additional details on the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture's (USDA) regional climate hubs that are part 
of the rollover information contained in interactive figure 2. 

Table 9: Information on Climate Hubs Contained in Figure 2: 

Hub region and location: Northeast; Durham, NH; 
Agriculture characteristics of region: Varied production including 
fruits, vegetables, and field crops; 
Examples of observed climate impacts on farmers: Intense precipitation; 
Warmer temperatures; Weed, pest, and disease outbreaks; 
Other information: [Empty]. 

Hub region and location: Southeast; Raleigh, NC; 
Agriculture characteristics of region: Nicknamed the "wood basket" of 
the United States, but also produces large amounts of food and fiber 
crops; 
Examples of observed climate impacts on farmers: Reduced forage; Crop 
losses; Tree mortality; 
Other information: Contains subsidiary hub in Rio Piedras, Puerto 
Rico, that will focus on tropical forestry and agriculture. 

Hub region and location: Midwest; Ames, IA; 
Agriculture characteristics of region: Contains the "Corn Belt" and is 
a major producer of soybeans. One of the most intensively farmed areas 
in the world; 
Examples of observed climate impacts on farmers: Floods; Drought; 
Temperature shifts; 
Other information: Contains a subsidiary hub in Houghton, Michigan, 
that will focus on northern forestry. 

Hub region and location: Northern Plains; Ft. Collins, CO; 
Agriculture characteristics of region: Diverse production with both 
livestock and crops grown such as corn, soybeans, and wheat; 
Examples of observed climate impacts on farmers: Extreme weather; 
Drought; Longer, hotter growing seasons; 
Other information: [Empty]. 

Hub region and location: Southern Plains; El Reno, OK; 
Agriculture characteristics of region: Large amount of wheat and beef 
production; 
Examples of observed climate impacts on farmers: Drought; Temperature 
changes; Pests and diseases; 
Other information: [Empty]. 

Hub region and location: Pacific Northwest; Corvallis, OR; 
Agriculture characteristics of region: Accounts for half of nation's 
potato crop, 17 percent of wheat, and 11 percent of milk. Timber is 
also a big part of the economy; 
Examples of observed climate impacts on farmers: Reduced snowmelt; 
More frequent fires; Higher temperatures and drought; 
Other information: [Empty]. 

Hub region and location: Southwest; Las Cruces, NM; 
Agriculture characteristics of region: Diverse production with cotton, 
lettuce, fruits, and livestock. Relies on irrigation more than any 
other region; 
Examples of observed climate impacts on farmers: Extreme drought; 
Large wildfires; Forest mortality due to insects; Declining reservoir 
levels; More frequent heat waves, reduced cold snaps; 
Other information: Contains a subsidiary hub in Davis, California, 
that will focus on specialty crops, which include fruits, nuts, and 
vegetables, and forestry. 

Source: GAO analysis of USDA information. GAO-14-755. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Appendix V: Comments from Department of Agriculture: 

USDA: 
United States Department of Agriculture: 
Office of the Chief Economist: 
1400 Independence Avenue, SW: 
Washington, D.C. 20250-3810: 

September 5, 2014: 

Mr. John Neumann: 
Acting Director: 
Natural Resources and Environment: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street NW: 
Washington, D.C. 20548: 

Dear Mr. Neumann: 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) appreciates the opportunity 
to respond to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) draft 
report, Climate Change: USDA Needs to Better Track Progress and 
Develop More Relevant Information for Farmers, (GAO-14-755). The USDA 
agrees with the findings in the GAO draft report and would like to 
provide the following comments. 

The report reflects the wide range of actions that USDA is taking to 
address climate change in the agricultural sector. As the report 
acknowledges, USDA's climate change priorities align with those set by 
the Administration. The report recognizes the efforts being taken 
across the Department to integrate concerns about climate change into 
research, planning, and programs. It discusses the Department's 
ongoing research to help stakeholders understand the effects of 
climate change. The report notes a new focus on providing information 
on future climate conditions, management options, and tools to support 
decision-making to farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, and rural 
residents. It notes the complexity of the climate change issue and the 
challenges facing the Department in pursuing these priorities. 
Finally, the report provides a series of recommendations that can 
improve our efforts to assess progress and track the performance of 
our climate change efforts. 

USDA concurs with each of the four recommendations contained in the 
GAO report and is committed to correcting these issues and, in some 
cases, is already undertaking actions to address them. The first three 
recommendations cover performance reporting; the fourth recommendation 
is related to the development and accessibility of economic 
information related to climate change. 

Recommendation: 

1. Work with relevant USDA agencies to develop performance measures 
that better reflect the breadth of USDA's climate change efforts. 

2. Ensure that the Department's annual performance plans explain how 
agency actions will lead to the accomplishment of performance goals in 
the area of climate change. 

3. Use annual performance reports to provide information on the status 
of agency efforts toward meeting its performance measures in the area 
of climate change. 

USDA Response: 

In 2010, for the first time, USDA included efforts to address climate 
change in our Strategic Plan. Strategic Plan Goal 2 calls on the 
Department to "ensure our national forests and private working lands 
are conserved, restored, and made more resilient to climate change, 
while enhancing our water resources." USDA's strategic plan outlines 
several performance measures related to climate change. Under 
Objective 2.2., the Department will "lead efforts to mitigate and 
adapt to climate change, drought, and extreme weather in agriculture 
and forestry." 

As GAO notes, the Department does not report on specific performance 
measures under Objective 2.2 in our Annual Performance Reports. USDA's 
Office of Budget and Program Analysis and the Climate Change Program 
Office will work with relevant USDA Agencies to identify a set of 
annual performance metrics and include them in future Annual 
Performance Plans and Annual Performance Reports. 

We note that USDA currently reports annual greenhouse gas emissions 
and carbon sequestration from agricultural and forest sources as part 
of the U.S. Government's Greenhouse Gas Inventory report to the United 
Nations (UN). USDA also reports on the effectiveness of conservation 
and energy programs in addressing greenhouses gases in biennial 
reports to the UN. The latest of these reports, the U.S. Climate 
Action Report for 2014, was submitted to the UN last spring. USDA has 
prepared a formal Climate Adaptation Plan and intends to release it 
this fall. The USDA Adaptation plan will include specific measures and 
actions that could serve as metrics for annual performance reporting. 
We intend to draw on these sources to establish measures in support of 
Strategic Plan Objective 2.2. 

In addition, USDA's Annual Performance Report includes several 
measures that can assess performance in addressing climate change, 
although these measures are reported under other goals and objectives. 
For example, USDA reports the amount of lands enrolled in various 
conservation programs. Using this information, the Department can 
describe how it is helping to mitigate climate change through 
agriculture in the U.S. Similarly, USDA tracks the annual acres of 
public and private forest lands restored or enhanced and the acres of 
wildland-urban interface treated to reduce the risk of catastrophic 
fire. 

Recommendation: 

4. Develop and provide readily accessible information to farmers on 
the farm-level economic costs and returns of taking certain actions in 
response to climate change. 

USDA Response: 

Providing information to the agriculture and forestry communities 
continues to be a priority for USDA. Historically, that information 
has been provided through extension services and technical assistance, 
and we are currently working to provide climate change information to 
farmers and forest owners through similar programs. There are two 
specific efforts to note. 

Recently, USDA recently established its Climate Hubs, which will serve 
as a conduit to provide information on climate change to national, 
regional, and local stakeholders. In addition, the GAO report 
acknowledges USDA's report describing the options and costs for 
mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector. The 
findings from that report are being combined with an additional report 
on potential greenhouse gas mitigation technologies to provide tools 
for farmers and ranchers to assess the costs and impacts of adopting 
specific mitigation technologies. 

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on this report. We 
look forward to working with you on future USDA engagements. 

Sincerely, 

Signed by: 

[Illegible] for: 
Joseph W. Glauber: 
Chief Economist: 

[End of section] 

Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

GAO Contact: 

John Neumann, (202)512-3841 or neumannj@gao.gov: 

Staff Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the individual named above, Anne K. Johnson (Assistant 
Director), Cheryl Arvidson, Thomas Beall, Carol Bray, Kevin Bray, 
Christine Broderick, Andrew Burton, Frederick K. Childers, Elizabeth 
Curda, Scott Heacock, Richard P. Johnson, Leah Marshall, Susan Offutt, 
Dan Royer, and Sarah Veale made key contributions to this report. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] Melillo, Jerry M., Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and Gary W. Yohe, Eds., 
Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National 
Climate Assessment, U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), 
(Washington, D.C.: May 2014). The USGCRP is a federal program that 
coordinates and integrates global change research across 13 federal 
agencies. It is required by the Global Change Research Act of 1990 to 
conduct a National Climate Assessment, which is an important resource 
for understanding and communicating climate change science and impacts 
in the United States. 

[2] For the purposes of this report, we are focusing on USDA agencies 
that are working with farmers and ranchers, which we collectively 
refer to as farmers. We are not examining the efforts of the U.S. 
Forest Service, a part of USDA that manages the 193 million acres 
comprising the nation's 155 national forests and grasslands. GAO 
recently completed a report that examines U.S. Forest Service 
adaptation efforts. See GAO, Climate Change: Various Adaptation 
Efforts Are Under Way at Key Natural Resource Management Agencies, 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-253] (Washington, D.C.: 
May 31, 2013). 

[3] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-283] (Washington, D.C.: February 
2013). 

[4] GAO, Climate Change: Future Federal Adaptation Efforts Could 
Better Support Local Infrastructure Decision Makers, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-242] (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 12, 
2013) and Climate Change Adaptation: Strategic Federal Planning Could 
Help Government Officials Make More Informed Decisions, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-113] (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 7, 
2009). 

[5] USDA, 2012 Census of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: May 2014). 

[6] USDA, Farm Economics - Record High Agriculture Sales; Income and 
Expenses Both Up (Washington, D.C.: May 2014). 

[7] USDA, Farm Size and the Organization of U.S. Crop Farming 
(Washington, D.C.: August 2013). The "midpoint acreage" defined in the 
report is a measure in which half of all cropland acres in the United 
States are on farms with more cropland than the midpoint number and 
half are on farms with less. 

[8] For the purposes of agricultural sales in this report, "livestock" 
refers to traditional livestock, poultry, and their products. 

[9] USDA, FY2010-2015 Strategic Plan. 

[10] When fertilizers that contain nitrogen are not absorbed by 
plants, this nitrogen can transform, via complex processes, into 
nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. One pound of nitrous oxide 
has about 300 times the warming potential of a pound of carbon dioxide. 

[11] Methane emissions from livestock are primarily from enteric 
fermentation, which is the livestock digestive process. Together, 
grazed lands and managed waste also represent a large portion of 
livestock emissions. About 71 percent of all livestock emissions come 
from methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. One pound of methane has 
about 20 times the warming potential as a pound of carbon dioxide. 

[12] Precision agriculture uses computer-or satellite-assisted 
information gathered during field operations to calibrate input (such 
as fertilizer) application and equipment fuel use. Examples of 
precision agriculture technologies include yield monitors, variable-
rate application technologies, guidance systems, and GPS maps. 

[13] USDA, On the Doorstep of the Information Age: Recent Adoption of 
Precision Agriculture, (Washington, D.C.: August 2011). 

[14] USDA, Departmental Regulation 1070-001: Policy Statement on 
Climate Change Adaptation (Washington, D.C.: June 2011). 

[15] USDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture Climate Change Adaptation 
Plan (Washington, D.C.: June 2012). 

[16] 5 U.S.C. § 306(a). 

[17] USDA's three other strategic goals outlined in both the 2010-2015 
and 2014-2018 Strategic Plans are to (1) assist rural communities to 
create prosperity so they are self-sustaining, repopulating, and 
economically thriving; (2) help America promote agricultural 
production and biotechnology exports as America works to increase food 
security; and (3) ensure that all of America's children have access to 
safe, nutritious, and balanced meals. 

[18] USDA's 2014-2018 Strategic Plan also included a fifth strategic 
goal: create a USDA for the twenty-first century that is high-
performing, efficient, and adaptable. 

[19] Extension services are also provided on such topics as financial 
literacy, natural resources, leadership development, and a youth 
program, known as 4-H. 

[20] USDA, NOAA, The Role of Extension in Climate Adaptation in the 
United States: Report from the Land Grant - Sea Grant Climate 
Extension Summit (Washington, D.C.: June 2013). 

[21] USDA, Climate Change Science Plan (Washington, D.C.: December 
2010). 

[22] CRS, Federal Climate Change Funding from FY2008 to FY2014 
(Washington, D.C.: September 2013). This funding includes the Forest 
Service. According to OMB, the Forest Service received $25 million in 
funding for forest and rangeland research in fiscal year 2013. Because 
this report focuses on production agriculture, and because GAO has 
previously assessed climate change efforts at the Forest Service, we 
are not including additional information about the Forest Service in 
this report. 

[23] This total does not include funding for the Forest Service. 

[24] OMB, Federal Climate Change Expenditures Report to Congress 
(Washington, D.C.: August 2013). Funding levels for 2013 in this 
report represent current funding as reported by OMB. Current funding 
reflects funding available calculated as the amount appropriated 
during the annual budget process (fiscal year 2013) minus reductions 
triggered by the Budget Control Act of 2011. 

[25] The National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Natural 
Resources Conservation Service also devote small amounts of money to 
climate change research under the USGCRP. 

[26] USDA ERS, Agricultural Adaptation to a Changing Climate: Economic 
and Environmental Implications Vary by U.S. Region (July 2012). 

[27] Annual greenhouse gas emission targets are for the entire 
agricultural sector, including forest lands. We are not discussing 
forest lands or the Forest Service in this report. 

[28] NRCS receives compensation from FSA for providing the necessary 
technical assistance to farmers applying for FSA programs. An approved 
conservation plan is needed before a Conservation Reserve Program 
contract may be approved. 

[29] USDA officials told us that the department does not consider 
funding under OMB's clean energy technology crosscut to be climate 
change funding because the aim of these programs is to displace fossil 
fuels; climate change impacts are ancillary effects of the programs. 
However, OMB does consider these programs as climate change-related. 

[30] A kilowatt hour is a measurement of electricity. For example, 60 
kilowatt hours is the amount of electricity that one thousand 60-watt 
bulbs use in an hour. 

[31] The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) within the office of Rural 
Development provides loans and loan guarantees to borrowers seeking to 
furnish electrical services in rural areas of the United States. Of 
the 11 power plants RUS has supported since 2009, one is 
hydroelectric; five are natural gas-fired; three are wind-driven; one 
is woody biomass-based; and one is a high-tech coal plant, called an 
Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle plant, that is planning to 
capture and store a portion of its carbon dioxide emissions. According 
to RUS officials, the last traditional coal fired-power plant RUS 
funded was in 2007. 

[32] USGCRP, The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A 
Strategic Plan for the U.S. Global Change Research Program 
(Washington, D.C.: April 2012). 

[33] Pub. L. No. 101-606, §104(d)(3), 104 Stat. 3096, 3100. 

[34] NIFA was created following the passage of the 2008 Farm Bill. 

[35] OMB, Federal Climate Change Expenditures Report to Congress. 

[36] FSA, Environmental Benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program 
(2013). 

[37] NRCS was originally known as the Soil Conservation Service and 
was established in large part to reduce erosion following the severe 
drought of the 1930s. 

[38] NIFA, Agroclimate Science Portfolio Strategic Plan. 

[39] USDA, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants 
Program, Climate Change FY 2010 Request for Applications (Washington, 
D.C.: 2010). 

[40] The grantees were not given this money in a lump sum up-front. 
Rather, they need to submit progress reports on an annual basis, a 
process known as continuation. During this process, NIFA officials 
review progress reports from the grantees on what they have 
accomplished and make a decision on whether to continue providing 
funding. 

[41] This project is funded through a 5-year grant that provides $1 
million annually. 

[42] USDA, Charter of the Executive Committee of the Regional Hubs for 
Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change (Jan. 31, 2014). 

[43] The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities is a 
research, policy, and advocacy organization representing 234 public 
research universities, land-grant institutions, state university 
systems, and affiliated organizations. 

[44] We found that staffing levels at NRCS had declined about 1.4 
percent annually on average between fiscal years 2003 and 2012. See 
GAO, U.S. Department of Agriculture: Workforce Decisions Could Benefit 
From Better Linkage To Missions And Use Of Leading Practices, 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-288] (Washington, D.C.: 
Mar. 31, 2014). 

[45] These advisors are certified by the American Society of Agronomy 
through a process that involves passing exams, having a certain level 
of experience or education, and earning 40 hours of continuing 
education every 2 years. 

[46] In developing these scenarios, the report focused on the climate 
impacts of two emissions pathways. One pathway, A2, is known as the 
"high emissions" case where greenhouse gas emissions increase through 
the year 2100. In the "low emissions" case, B1, greenhouse gas 
emissions increase at a slower rate until 2050 and then begin to 
decline. 

[47] National Research Council, A National Strategy for Advancing 
Climate Modeling (Washington, D.C.: 2012). 

[48] 31 U.S.C. §§ 1115, 1116. 

[49] In its FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, USDA has set a performance 
goal to increase the "percentage of public and private forest and 
grazing land with conservation or management applied to improve or 
sustain productivity and ecological health." 

[50] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-113]. 

[51] The El Niño/Southern Oscillation is a naturally occurring event 
in which large areas of warm water periodically move to the surface in 
the Pacific Ocean near the Equator and affect climate conditions 
around the world. In the United States, El Niño events usually lead to 
warmer winters in the northern part of the country and additional 
precipitation from California to Florida. 

[52] There can also be costs to terminate cover crops prior to a 
farmer planting a cash crop. 

[53] See GAO, Agricultural Conservation: Farm Program Payments Are an 
Important Factor in Landowners' Decisions to Convert Grassland to 
Cropland, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-1054] 
(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 10, 2007). 

[54] Several factors--including crop prices, crop production 
technology and farm program benefits--may affect farmers' decisions 
about whether to grow crops on marginal land. However, it is difficult 
to assess the relative importance of these factors in farmers' 
decisions. The Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) generally 
made farmers who convert highly erodible land or wetlands to 
agricultural purposes ineligible for crop insurance premium subsidies. 

[55] There was a 26 percent response rate for this survey. Of those 
farmers who responded, 31 percent reported that there was not enough 
information to determine whether climate change was occurring, and 4 
percent reported that it was not occurring. These numbers do not sum 
to 100 percent due to rounding. This research was done as part of the 
CAP grant examining corn farming in the Midwest, known as Sustainable 
Corn. J. Gordon Arbuckle. Climate Change Beliefs, Concerns, and 
Attitudes Toward Adaptation and Mitigation among farmers in the 
Midwestern U.S. (Apr. 9, 2013). 

[56] USDA, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: 
Effects and Adaptation, Technical Bulletin 1935 (Washington, D.C.: 
February 2013). 

[57] ICF International, Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Options and Costs 
for Agricultural Land and Animal Production within the United States 
(Washington, D.C.: February 2013). 

[58] GAO, Internal Control: Standards for Internal Control in the 
Federal Government, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1]. (Washington D.C.: 
November 1999). 

[End of section] 

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