BISMARCK, North Dakota Sept. 16, 2022 Ducks Unlimited has partnered with Trust In Food, the sustainability division of Farm Journal, to help producers in the prairie Midwest improve their climate resiliency while maintaining profitable farming operations.

Trust In Food was awarded a $40 million USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant for its Climate-Smart Connected Ag Project. The project focuses on supporting farmers and ranchers with the information they need to be competitive in a climate-smart marketplace, including access to personalized support services, data coaches and direct payments for eligible participants.

The Connected Ag Project will help close the digitized farm data gap and share those learnings across row crop, livestock, specialty crop and integrated farms and ranches. Organizations collaborating to deliver the project will provide producers with products, services and other benefits, including on-farm data management tools, technical support to implement climate-smart practices and a virtual help desk.

Ducks Unlimited is one of several grant partners and will emphasize outreach to row-crop and livestock producers in North Dakota and South Dakota.

We will provide technical assistance in the Prairie Pothole region to help producers implement climate-smart practices related to livestock fencing for grazing of cover crops and water management to avoid conversion of lands that would release greenhouse gases contained in soil, said Jonas Davis, Ducks Unlimited director of conservation programs in the prairies. This is a tremendous opportunity for farmers to connect with experts to improve their sustainability while maintaining an economically strong operation.

Other Trust In Food grant partners are AGI/Farmobile, AgriWebb, AMVAC/SIMPAS, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Certis Biologicals, Ducks Unlimited, Farm Journal Foundation, National Pork Board, The Sustainability Consortium, Trimble and Tuskegee University.

Production and management data is key to unlocking the potential of climate-smart agriculture for producers, says Amy Skoczlas Cole, executive vice president of Trust In Food. Yet we know there are many real and perceived obstacles to the transition to digitally connected operations. Were honored to put the nearly 150-year history of Farm Journals service to agriculture to work by helping producers through this next big revolution in agriculture.

Producers interested in learning more can visit https://www.trustinfood.com/climate-smart-commodities/ for contact information and program details.

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 15 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org.

Media Contact:

Chris Sebastian

(734) 649-4680

csebastian@ducks.org