After three years of sidelining climate change research and thinning its roster of scientists, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a new five-year scientific plan this week to help American farmers cope with the worsening effects of the climate crisis. The “USDA Science Blueprint” was unveiled at a conference Wednesday by Scott Hutchins, a former pesticide industry executive who heads the agency’s research divisions. The plan, intended to guide “USDA’s science priorities,” lays out a broad agenda across a range of areas, from soil health to weather impacts on agriculture to data collection, and specifically mentions climate change. The new plan , welcomed by advocacy groups and the industry, represents a hopeful sign that the agency will realign its research priorities, especially in the wake of a series of weather disasters that have battered American farms and cost billions . “Climate […]