Agricultural News
Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow Touts Climate Smart Ag Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act
Mon, 08 Aug 2022 05:32:46 CDT
On Sunday, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, announced that with the Senate passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, she has secured nearly $40 billion to tackle the climate crisis, lower costs for families, and create good paying jobs in rural America.
“With the passage of this historic bill, Americans will see their energy costs go down while we tackle the urgent threats we face every day from the climate crisis,” said Chairwoman Stabenow. “We are equipping farmers, foresters, and rural communities with the necessary tools to be a part of the solution. At the same time, we are investing in good-paying clean energy jobs to grow small towns and rural economies.”
According to the Chairman, the climate-smart agriculture, forestry and rural energy programs in the Inflation Reduction Act are supported by more than 1700 farm groups, companies, environmental advocates, leading economists, local elected officials and municipalities, and trade associations.
A one-page description of the legislation has been prepared by the Majority side of the Senate Ag Committee and can be found by clicking here.
The bill now advances to the House- and a final vote may happen as early as Friday.
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According to DTN's Chris Clayton- Republican senators declared Democrats had succeeded in passing a "reckless" or "damaging tax and spend bill" that would do more to harm the economy and increase inflation rather than help it.
"When it comes to agriculture policy, this bill sets a particularly bad precedent for farm bill programs," said Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., ranking member of the Ag Committee, during a floor speech. "If they go down this road, we very well might be looking at reconciliation as the only way future farm bills get written. Whoever holds the pen wields the fate for vital programs that farmers, ranchers and foresters depend on. Not to mention nutrition programs that help low-income families and policies that allow conservationists to achieve our shared goals."
The bill carves out $20 billion to support climate-smart agricultural practices for farmers. The funds would go to encourage farmers to adopt practices that reduce greenhouse emissions, reduce nitrogen loss or sequester carbon in the soil. The funds could also help with drought resilience in western states as well.
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The National Milk Producers Federation immediately praised the climate-smart funding in the bill. The programs will help dairy farmers achieve an industry goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
According to NMPF- the funding will help dairy farmers advance their proactive sustainability leadership by enhancing farm bill conservation programs with an emphasis on key dairy areas of opportunity, including feed management. The new investments will provide important voluntary technical assistance to dairy farmers who undertake such stewardship practices, including targeted new funding that emphasizes critical farm practices that yield significant environmental benefits for dairy.
“Dairy farmers seize environmental sustainability opportunities whenever possible,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “The funding increases in this package will better position dairy farmers to effectively implement the dairy sector’s Net Zero Initiative and fulfill its 2050 environmental stewardship goals. We are very grateful to Chairwoman Stabenow for her success and leadership in securing this meaningful new conservation investment, which will be a game-changer for dairy.”
Dairy farmers in 2020 committed in their Net Zero Initiative to become greenhouse gas neutral or better by 2050, while also maximizing water quality and optimizing water use around the country.
Key wins for dairy among the climate-smart ag provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act include:
• $8.45 billion in new funds for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which provides important technical assistance to dairy farmers, targeted toward stewardship practices that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• $25 million annually for Conservation Innovation Trials, with new funding targeted toward initiatives that use feed and diet management to reduce the enteric methane emissions that can comprise roughly one-third of a dairy farm’s greenhouse gas footprint. NMPF is excited for this opportunity to amplify its focus on reducing enteric emissions; and
• $6.75 billion in new funds for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which funds locally developed, targeted partnership projects, emphasizing initiatives that incentivize or target reduced methane emissions.
NMPF and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives last year led a coalition of 12 agricultural and conservation organizations on a letter advocating for significant new funding for climate-smart agricultural practices while opposing tax policy proposals that could have undermined the transfer of family farms from one generation to the next. NMPF is pleased that those tax policy proposals are not included in this legislation and thanks the many members in both parties who advocated against them.
NMPF also looks forward to continuing to work with both Republicans and Democrats to enact climate and conservation policy into law. Last year, the Senate passed the Growing Climate Solutions Act, authored by Senator Mike Braun, R-IN, and Chairwoman Stabenow by a vote of 92-8. More recently, the House Agriculture Committee adopted the SUSTAINS Act authored by Ranking Member Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-PA, by a voice vote. Last month, NMPF worked with Reps. Jim Baird, R-IN, and Jimmy Panetta, D-CA, to secure new funding for animal feed additive approvals in pending appropriations legislation.
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