Achieving Deep Decarbonization in the Hudson Valley Region

The Hudson Valley Region is a case study in deep decarbonization efforts happening across the entire United States.

 But why? And what can we learn from this part of the country to apply to others?

 Let’s tackle exactly what deep decarbonization looks like and what its best possible outcomes would be. From there, we’ll examine what’s happening in the Hudson Valley Region in particular that can set a precedent for farm land and other types of terrain throughout the US.

Deep decarbonization and its impact on the environment

Deep decarbonization is, as the name states, an acute effort at decarbonizing the planet from greenhouse gas emissions. This is done in a number of ways, including the actual removal of that carbon buildup and deposits as well as actively choosing alternatives to CO2 and related greenhouse gasses. Where “deep” decarbonization happens is at the global level, with industries and governments alike working to make these efforts more commonplace.

Every industry plays a role in greenhouse gas emissions, with agriculture taking up 11% of the pie and transportation at 27%. The transportation industry has been making decarbonization strides by introducing hybrid and electric vehicles and encouraging public transportation and carpooling.

In the farming industry, “soil management, enteric fermentation, and manure management from livestock are the largest sources. Agricultural emissions are projected to increase 3 percent to 9 percent above 2005 levels by 2050” (C2ES). Now more than ever, farmers and landowners need to feel empowered to take deep decarbonization efforts into their own hands on their own land.

We’re seeing this happen in the Hudson Valley Region, which is home to thousands of small, often family-owned farms — many of whom are looking for ways to improve their environmental impact while maintaining (or even improving) profits from their crops through practices like agroforestry.

What the Hudson Valley Region has right about deep decarbonization (and what we can recreate in other areas)

Deep decarbonization efforts are being led regionally by the state government and even locally in cities across the Valley. Agriculture and those who contribute to the industry are so important to the area and, as noted above, largely contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonizing these practices not only positively impacts the surrounding environment, but can in many ways add economic value to the thousands of local farms where needed:

“According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 Census of Agriculture, there are 5,536 farms totaling 898,014 acres within the 12 counties that comprise the Hudson Valley and the surrounding region. The total market value of the agricultural product from those farms is estimated to be over $651 billion. Yet, even that seemingly immense value may only be a small percentage of what the Hudson Valley has to offer in terms of agricultural earnings potential,” as Valley Table notes.

This intersection of deep decarbonization and profit for small farmers lies in agroforestry. In short, agroforestry is “the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits.” All across the Hudson Valley, farms are practicing agroforestry in an effort to achieve deep decarbonization by creating additional local food sources and planting trees to mitigate deforestation and other tree removal acts.

One of the biggest opportunities for widespread agroforestry adoption is education and funding. In the Hudson Valley, both government and private funding allows small farmers to supplement their own crops with viable, profitable vegetation.

Across the region, farms like GreatWonder in the Hudson Valley are harnessing the revenue-generating power of agroforestry to create legacy profit from their crops while expanding the land’s biodiversity. 

In turn, farms are doing good by the planet and their own wallets.

This can (and should) include more farms across the country. Despite varying biodiversity, land type, soil type, and crop viability, more farms across the country can take note from the HVR and implement their own agroforestry practices into their unique situations and land plots. 

To achieve nationwide deep decarbonization through agroforestry, these farms need more than just funding to understand their individual impacts on carbon emissions and how they can make a difference.

They need technology.

Let’s look at how farms in this part of the country are leveraging solutions that farmers and landowners in every part of the country can utilize to better understand their own unique opportunities.

Solutions for the Hudson Valley Region and beyond

At Propagate, we created Overyield with farmers and landowners in mind. Small business and technical service providers can also find Overyield useful to help landowners better tend to their land.

The solution is simple: Help farmers and landowners understand the land they have, including viable soil, crops, vegetation, and water sources. From there, Overyield helps them optimize that crop mix and monetize it, providing financial projections as far out as 30 years.

In fact, many of our partnering farms in the Hudson Valley Region have been encouraged by local and regional legislative efforts to achieve deep decarbonization on their own land by way of agroforestry. 

Providing technical solutions was the missing link to helping landowners attempt their own decarbonizing efforts, and there continues to be a gap in farms or with land owners in other parts of the country. Our goal at Propagate is to empower individual owners or businesses to achieve deep decarbonization using agroforestry which will, in addition, help them turn a profit.

Want to see Overyield in action? Check out how Joe Tatelbaum of GreatWonder Farm in the Hudson Valley Region monetized his crops and did good by the planet using Propagate’s solutions.