About
Agriculture as a Climate Solution
Agriculture's Untapped Climate Potential
A sector positioned to lead.
Agriculture accounts for ~10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the only sectors in the U.S. not currently projected to decrease emissions in the next 15 years. Livestock and cropland are the largest sources of methane and nitrous oxide — two potent pollutants with far greater warming impact than carbon dioxide. However, because they dissipate from the atmosphere quickly, cutting them delivers measurable climate progress fast.
As a major exporter of food and agricultural technologies, the U.S. can lead in curbing agriculture's climate impact at home and globally by changing how, what, and where we farm.
What Drives Us
Vision & Mission
Farmers and ranchers are at the heart of a net-zero vision.
Unlocking agriculture as a climate solution will require a transition, at scale, of farmers and ranchers adopting practices, technologies, and production systems that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon storage, which, if done right, will increase productivity, build resilience, and improve the financial health of farmers and ranchers and their communities.
Our Approach
The Platform takes a comprehensive and coordinated approach to grantmaking across three strategic programs.
The Platform works across three critical levers of change — policy, markets, and innovation — to enable U.S. farmers and ranchers to adopt at scale the practices, technologies, and production systems that reduce emissions and sequester carbon, all while increasing yields, efficiency, and resilience.
Our Approach
The Platform provides grant funding to support work across our three interconnected programs: policy, markets, and innovation.
Grants by invitation
We invite applications from mission-aligned organizations which we review on a rolling basis to provide nimble, flexible, and collaborative support.
Diverse grantee portfolio
Our grantees represent a variety of perspectives and approaches to climate solutions including environmental and climate NGOs, policy advocacy, state and local grassroots networks, ag-tech, universities and research labs, and producer-serving organizations.
Farmer-centered approach
A throughline of our grantmaking strategy is to support tribal, state, and local organizations who work authentically and directly with farmers and ranchers.
Collaborative partnerships
We view our grantees as partners, working alongside them to refine strategies, share learnings, and amplify impact across the field.
Our Team
The people behind the work.
Click any team member to read their full bio.
Joe Shultz
Executive Director
Valerie Leung
Director of Operations and Impact
Dayna Gross
Markets Program Director
Bidisha Bhattacharyya
Policy Program Director
Doc Brown
Innovation Program Director
Katie Hanson
Tribal Nation and State Program Director
Natalie Carr
Grants Manager
Diamond Rodriguez
Operations and Development Coordinator
Joe Shultz
Executive Director
As The Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation Executive Director, Joe draws on more than 15 years of leading food and agriculture policy in the U.S. Senate and his work on the past three bipartisan Farm Bills. A graduate of The Ohio State University and Cornell University, Joe is active in the management of his family's fourth-generation farm. Joe is based in Washington, D.C.
Valerie Leung
Director of Operations and Impact
Valerie is a mission-driven operations director with over a decade of experience in non-profit management. Before joining the organization, Valerie led programmatic and business functions at The Nature Conservancy, most recently with the North America Agriculture Program and, prior to that, the Eastern U.S. Legal Team. A pragmatic problem-solver and strategic thinker, Valerie is adept at connecting people, resources and ideas across complex systems and strategies. She resides in Washington, D.C. with her partner, two cats and a rotating cast of foster dogs.
Dayna Gross
Markets Program Director
Dayna brings deep experience collaborating with farmers, ranchers, companies, and NGOs to advance sustainability goals. Most recently, she served as the Manager of Programs & Partnerships on the North America Sustainability team at Syngenta. For seventeen years prior, she led a variety of teams at The Nature Conservancy in roles ranging from Senior Corporate Engagement Advisor to Silver Creek Preserve Manager. Dayna lives in Idaho where she enjoys exploring the outdoors with her husband, two teenage boys, and their border collie, Olive.
Bidisha Bhattacharyya
Policy Program Director
Bidisha has spent 15+ years working in climate policy and strategic project leadership across the public, nonprofit and private sectors. Most recently she was a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she led major strategic initiatives around climate and smart agriculture and landscape scale conservation. Previously she served as Director for Climate and Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress and VP of Emerging Markets at impact-investment firm Village Capital. She has held policy rols in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and has also spent time deploying renewable energy solutions overseas. She is a graduate of St. Olaf College and Harvard University and lives in the DC area with her husband and son, though she still calls Minnesota home.
Doc Brown
Innovation Program Director
Dr. Denali "Doc" Brown is the Innovation Director at The Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation. Previously, they launched Spark Climate Solutions' livestock methane program and started the non-profit livestock methane measurement project, CowBell Labs. They led data science and field measurement at the biological fertilizer company Pivot Bio; co-founded the agriculture machine vision company Mineral at Google X; and led development of the soil carbon measurement and mitigation funding program ROOTS as an ARPA-E Fellow at the US Department of Energy. As a consultant, they've advised deep tech organizations spanning healthcare, energy, and agriculture on fundraising, innovation strategy, and operations. Doc received their Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech, and S.B. in Physics from MIT.
Katie Hanson
Tribal Nation and State Program Director
Hanson brings years of philanthropic experience partnering with nonprofits to create positive environmental change. In her previous role with Crown Family Philanthropies, Hanson managed a portfolio with over 50 nonprofits through all phases of the grant cycle. She has deep working relationships across the environmental sector, including with agriculture and food system funders and nonprofits. Hanson is a graduate of Northwestern University and earned her Master's in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. She is based in Chicago.
Natalie Carr
Grants Manager
Natalie brings significant experience in grants administration and program evaluation. Most recently, Natalie was an associate at Arabella Advisors, a philanthropic consulting firm, where she supported a variety of philanthropies and nonprofits to advance their social impact goals through strategic development, grants administration, and evaluation projects. Natalie has always had a passion for climate justice and sustainable agriculture; she studied Environmental Sociology and graduated from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is based in Chicago.
Diamond Rodriguez
Operations and Development Coordinator
Diamond brings significant experience in strategic operations, project management and stakeholder engagements. Most recently, she was a Special Advisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture where she supported the Office of the Deputy Secretary. Prior to advising the Deputy Secretary she was in the Office of the General Counsel. A Florida native, she currently resides in Washington, D.C.