HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $5 million to the University of Guam to work with forestry managers and farmers to produce more eco-friendly and sustainable materials and practices, the university announced in a press release.
UOG’s project will test climate-smart commodities, which aim to reduce greenhouse gas release in agriculture and forestry systems, UOG said in the release. In addition, the project will develop solutions to make local commodities more marketable and affordable.
The USDA defines “climate-smart commodities” as produce and other products such as fruits, vegetables, livestock and lumber that were cultivated or raised through practices that achieve reductions in greenhouse gas and carbon emissions.
Practices include reforestation, wetlands management, soil conservation and planting of cover crops. Grants will be provided to farmers willing to test and incorporate these practices.
Technical workshops will also be conducted for farmers and forestry managers to showcase climate-smart practices and their benefits.
“We will be working with an interdisciplinary team of farmers, forestry and soil experts, agricultural specialists and economists at UOG and GovGuam to find more efficient ways to produce commodities while reducing emissions. We will also aim to improve sales of these local commodities and better connect farmers with buyers,” said the project’s principal investigator, Romina King, who holds a doctorate in geography.
The project will offer workshops to farmers and forestry managers to showcase climate-smart practices and their benefits.
This project is one out of 141 selected projects across the United States that is funded by the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities.
An orthomosaic map of the Yigo Triton Research Farm is seen on Dec. 2, 2022.
