Senate Agriculture Committee holds Climate Change Hearing
On March 11, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing titled “Farmers and Foresters: Opportunities to Lead in Tackling Climate Change”. Farmers who participated in the hearing as witnesses warned that policies to incentivize climate-friendly farming should not leave out producers who have already adopted conservation practices, such as cover crops. These farmers may not qualify for participation in carbon markets or other programs that only reward farmers for future improvements.
“Right now everybody wants new carbon. Very few companies right now seem willing to pay for any sort of past performance, and there are huge risks with that model," said Cori Wittman Stitt, an adviser to the Environmental Defense Fund who has a diversified crop and cattle operation in Idaho and served as a witness during the hearing.
Several legislative efforts are underway to shift the U.S. food and farm system to incentivize climate-friendly farming practices and move towards net-zero emissions in agriculture. NOC has endorsed and is urging passage of the Agriculture Resilience Act introduced by Rep. Chellie Pingree in the last Congress (H.R. 5861) to incentivize climate friendly farming practices - including organic agriculture, increase research related to agriculture and climate change, and advance efforts to measure progress in on-farm carbon sequestration goals. We are expecting the bill to be reintroduced in the near future with a Senate companion.
NOC also supports the Climate Stewardship Act (S. 2452 and H.R. 4269 in the last Congress) introduced previously by Senator Booker and Rep. Haaland, which also incentivizes climate friendly farming practices and expands climate change research related to agriculture, including organic research. This bill is also expected to be reintroduced in the House and Senate soon.
In February, Senator Booker was appointed to the Senate Agriculture Committee. During the recent climate change hearing, Senator Booker describes four principles for shifting to climate-friendly farming, including his focus on making use of existing USDA conservation programs to incentivize good practices. Senator Booker’s statement during the climate change hearing on March 11 can be viewed here.
Senators Debbie Stabenow and Mike Braun have also introduced the bipartisan Growing Climate Solutions Act to establish a structure at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help farmers and foresters implement climate-smart practices by tapping into voluntary carbon markets. They are expected to release a new version of the bill soon.
NOC has concerns that this approach will not recognize and encourage the continued use of practices by farms that are already using good practices, including organic operations. In addition, carbon markets can lead to consolidation in the agricultural sector and in some cases may only benefit corporations and the largest operations. Carbon markets have also often exacerbated pollution hot-spots in low-wealth communities and communities of color.
A video and witness testimony from the Senate hearing on climate change is available here.