President Barack Obama spoke on taking the lead to combat climate change with commitments to agricultural issues at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York on Tuesday.

“For all the immediate challenges that we gather to address this week — terrorism, instability, inequality, disease — there’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate,” he said.

Obama said international coalitions are working together for solutions to planting more durable crops, reducing methane emissions and launching free trade agreements for environmental goods to ensure food security amidst a changing climate.

The White House also released a fact sheet that includes programs to address agriculture climate change issues, including the formation of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, which a number of agriculture groups including ASA, have signed on to help lead.

The Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture

The United States is a founding member of this group which hopes to bring together governments, businesses, farmers’ organizations, civil society groups, research bodies and intergovernmental entities to address food security in the face of climate change. The United States will bring its existing food security and climate programs to this effort, including:

• Feed the Future — The U.S. Presidential initiative for food security, invests in technologies to deliver drought tolerant seeds, fertilizer and water efficiency technologies, and other tools to help farmers become more climate-smart in achieving its objectives of inclusive agricultural sector growth and improved nutrition.
• The Agriculture Initiative of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) — The United States co-chairs CCAC’s Agriculture Initiative, which seeks to reduce methane and black carbon emissions while promoting agricultural livelihoods and advancing broader climate change objectives on adaptation and mitigation.
• The Agriculture Department’s Regional Climate Hubs — Will deliver information to American farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to help them adapt to climate change and weather variability.