Local Food and Agriculture

Collaborate to advocate for and seek new or additional financial incentives and technical assistance, to improve management of manure to reduce methane and nitrous oxide losses including: i. Cover manure stockpiles and storage facilities, ii. Optimize timing and direct incorporation of manure application to soil, iii. Increase use of fertilizer and manure stabilization products (N-serve, MTM, etc.) to reduce gaseous losses

FA 4-4 Implement a Manure Pit Roof and Cover pilot project to illustrate effective strategies (cost and emission reduction potential) for their implementation. Establish an educational and communications campaign to advance their adoption by farmers community wide. Encourage an National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) CIG project (Conservation Innovation Grant) to demonstrate benefits and then get NRCS to provide incentive funding

FA 4-5 Establish a educational and communications campaign to promote low emissions manure management practices.

FA 5: Increase adoption of carbon positive soil and crop management practices, achieving 25% adoption by 2030.

FA 5-1 Strengthening the farmer-to-farmer learning and social networks to increase knowledge, skills, and access to resources to implement regenerative practices and business management. Hire, train, and coordinate Champion Farmers across region to serve as mentors focused on adopting and sustaining regenerative systems and supporting business plans. Where appropriate, have these farmers train and mentor service providers, host on-farm demonstrations and research trials, and speak at events. Prioritize support and networks for farmers of all production types and facilitate peer-to-peer guidance for innovative production systems.

FA 5-2 Establish a Regenerative Agriculture Coordinator position to coordinate Champion Farmer activities and support regenerative agriculture projects and practices within this plan as well as others such as composting, perennial cropping, silvopasture, tree intercropping, multi-strata agroforestry, alley cropping, and biochar utilization.

FA 5-3 Collaborate with partners to establish a farm equipment rental or cooperative ownership program for machinery. Focus should be on equipment to improve regenerative farming practices and reduce dependency on chemicals.

FA 5-4 Collaborate with partners to improve data on existing regenerative practices within the region. Identify existing agricultural practices using a combination of currently available data from state and federal agencies and strategic surveys to local farmers. This action should focus on establishing a baseline as well as identify farmers who can serve as Champion Farmers supporting farmer-to-farmer network mentorship.

FA 5-5 Collaborate with partners to develop or expand on a list of emissions, sequestration, and ecosystemservice beneficial practices that can be used in the region and the area's range of cropping contexts (e.g., for corn, soybean, vegetables, etc.). These can be ranked in terms of potential impact, cost, and feasibility. Practices include cover cropping, reduced tillage, nurse cropping, alley cropping, multi-story cropping, stripcropping, conservation cover and crop rotation, low/no chemical practices, and forage and biomass planting.

Local Food and Agriculture

FA 5-6 Collaborate with partners to establish an educational and communications campaign to strategically trial, measure, then expand use of the practices identified within this plan. Costs can also be tracked to understand incentives that may be required. Adoption should be tracked to assess progress. Consumers and the broader community can also be made aware of these positive practices through events, messaging at grocery stores, etc.

FA 5-7 Collaborate with partners to work with local farmers to promote the use of regenerative agriculture systems (e.g., no-till practices, perennial groundcover, alley cropping, silvopasture, succession planting, rotational grazing practices, etc) through incentives, workshops, and demonstration projects in order to increase carbon sequestration on farmland while also improving soil health and increasing resilience to climate impacts such as drought and flooding.

FA 5-8 Collaborate with partners to advocate for new and additional funding and technical assistance resources to support the practices identified within this plan.

FA 5-9 Collaborate with partners to establish a Region 4 Continuous Cover Program to expand perennial native plantings and promote regenerative agriculture practices including continuous cover, prairie strips, and riparian buffers.

FA 5-10 Collaborate with local governments to promote West Central Initiative’s Agricultural Land Gift program focused on converting land to regenerative practices. Encourage local governments to convert any and all local government-owned farmland to regenerative agriculture systems also.

FA 6: Increase use of anaerobic digestion, achieving 15% adoption by 2030

FA 6-1 Conduct an Anaerobic Digester Master Plan study to identify the current manure volume community wide available for use in new Anaerobic Digesters (single farm or shared facilities), identify financially viable Anaerobic Digester installations to serve the unmet need while maximizing manure volume handled, identify financing mechanisms and ownership scenarios, and establish an implementation plan

FA 6-2 Collaborate with partners to commission a feasibility study of the potential costs, benefits, barriers, and opportunities associated with a biomass “upcycling” facility to convert marginal biomass streams into value -added biomass products. The upcycling facility could include a regional manure composting operation, a mixed substrate composting operation, and a processing operation for biomass harvested from nutrient catch strips and agricultural buffer strips.

FA 6-3 Collaborate with partners to support and catalyze the development of anaerobic digesters in the region through incentives and an educational and communications campaign.

FA 6-4 Collaborate with regional partners to explore the development of a large scale regional, or network of subregional anaerobic digesters.

GT 1: Increase tree cover, particularly in areas of increased vulnerable population shares 5% by 2040. (an increase of 40,000 acres total)

GT 1-2 Support local governments in creating comprehensive community tree plans. Tree plan should focus on increasing urban canopy cover and include elements such as 1) conducting an inventory of street trees and community-wide canopy cover, 2) determining canopy goals, 3) developing a planting guide that prioritizes carbon sequestration, climate change resilience, and other equitably-distributed co-benefits including reduction of micro-heat islands and increased resilience for areas of highest population vulnerabilities, and 4) devising a plan for retiring trees and addressing unintended consequences such as sidewalk uplifts. The plan should also include potential ways to support trees on private property. Plan should anticipate and account for tree loss.

GT 1-3 Conduct a study to identify public properties throughout the region that could be converted to forest instead of lawns; collaborate with local partners to establish pilot educational "Climate Action Forest Projects" by planting fast-growing, zone-appropriate, high carbon-storing trees.

GT 1-4 Collaborate with regional partners to establish incentive programs and tools to help reduce or share the cost of tree planting and maintenance for residents and businesses, particularly for portions of the region with high micro-heat island risk and vulnerable population shares.

GT 1-5 Educate local elected officials and key government staff on Tree City USA program, benefits of participation, highlight regional Tree City role-models (Fergus Falls, Detroit Lakes), and steps to receive this designation. Include support of public awareness of program.

GT 1-6 Collaborate with regional partners to preserve existing forested areas through practices that re-purpose already developed areas, such as establishing codes that retain minimum canopy cover on new developments and minimize removal of native soil, ground cover, and shrubs.

GT 1-7 Encourage local governments, other regional partners, and private land owners to use a diverse selection of native tree and plant species in new plantings, particularly those that will be most resistant to the stresses of climate change.

GT 1-8 Encourage local governments, other regional partners, and private land owners to manage forests to retain biodiversity, resilience, and ecosystem function and services in the face of climate change. Use best available science to inform fire management and planning to manage ecosystem health, community safety, and carbon storage.

GT 1-8 Support and encourage local governments to establish landscape ordinances including a minimum tree coverage per lawn area or per impervious surface coverage for all new construction or expansion projects. Explore options for decrease of turf grass/lawn coverage and increase of wildflower/prairie grass coverage requirements.

GT 1-10 Encourage local governments to require soil profile rebuilding (by contractor) at all building project sites or compacted soil conditions to reduce erosion and runoff contaminated with fertilizers, increase soil carbon stores, support long-term soil building, and improve new tree survival and growth rates.

GT 1-11

Collaborate with local partners and governments to establish a "free" or reduced cost tree program to support increased tree planting by residents, farms, and businesses throughout the region.