The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) supports climate change science activities to empower farmers, foresters, ranchers, land owners, resource managers, policymakers, and Federal agencies with science-based knowledge to manage the risks and challenges of climate change and to reduce emissions of atmospheric greenhouse gases and enhance carbon sequestration. USDA conducts and sponsors a broad range of research that supports USGCRP, focused on evaluatibg risk to natural resources, estimating the role of forestry and agricultural activities in greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration, and developing practical management strategies and approaches to manage emissions and adapt to changes. USDA’s research program seeks to determine the significance of terrestrial systems in the global carbon cycle; promotes the capture and use of methane emitted from livestock waste facilities for on-farm power generation; assesses the potential of bioenergy as a substitute for fossil fuels; identifies agricultural and forestry activities that can help reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and increase carbon sequestration; quantifies the risks and benefits arising from environmental changes to agricultural lands and forests; and develops management practices that can adapt to the effects of global change, including potential beneficial and adverse effects.

Visit the Department of Agriculture's Climate Change website. 

The USDA also houses the Forest Service, which is active in the research activities covering a wide range of topics on climate change. For more than 20 years, Forest Service scientists have been studying and assessing climate change effects on forests and rangelands.  The Forest Service Global Change Research Program is a part of  USGCRP; research in this program aims to restore, sustain, and enhance the Nation’s forests and grasslands, provide and sustain benefits to the American people, and provide science-based applications and tools for sustainable natural resource management.