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exploring ways for design to reframe and reshape agricultural landscapes.


Reframe

Animal Agriculture
Drainage 
Nutrients
Agroecology
Commodities
Mapping
Aquaculture


Reshape

Rural Climate Action
Participatory Planning  
 Water Management
 Tile Drains
Pond Design
Livestock Fencing


Information
Contact 

©2024 Forbes Lipschitz

exploring ways for design to reframe and reshape agricultural landscapes.




From the Ground Up

Using on-farm research and collaboration to accelerate adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices in the Midwest” USDA NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems.



Over the past century, U.S. agriculture has achieved remarkable productivity and efficiency, ensuring an abundant and affordable food supply. However, this success has come with significant environmental and economic costs, including declining soil health, biodiversity loss, water quality degradation, and increased vulnerability to market and weather shocks. In response, there is growing interest in sustainable, regenerative, and climate-smart practices like cover crops, diversified crop rotations, reduced tillage, and livestock-crop integration, which have demonstrated environmental and resilience benefits. Despite this, adoption remains low due to inconsistent performance, community-level barriers, and insufficient market or policy support. To address these challenges, our approach empowers farmers to lead the development of tailored technical, management, and policy innovations, ensuring solutions are practical and effective for their specific contexts.

As Co-PI, I am co-leading the off-farm research with Noel Aloysius from the University of Missouri. Our research focuses on identifying and addressing off-farm knowledge gaps that hinder the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices among key local actors such as landlords and consultants. The approach involves a three-stage research and participatory design process in Ohio and Missouri.

Team
PI: Douglas Jackson-Smith.  Co-PI(s): Sakthi Kumaran, Tunsisa Hurisso, Ernie Shea, Gurbir Singh, Mohan Acharya, Clement Akotsen-Mensah, Noel Aloysius , Addissu Ayele, Benjamin Brown, Justin Calhoun, Kerry Clark, Stephanie Clark, Scott Demyan, Amanda Douridas  Denise Natoli Brooks, Felix Fritschi, John Fulton, Elizabeth Hawkins, James Ippolito, Jon Henry, Sami Khanal , Forbes Lipschitz, Steve Lyon, Theodoros Skevas, Aaron Wilson.

Funding
USDA NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems. $10,000,000.
January 2024- December 2028.

Learn more here.