House Climate Change Report and Agriculture

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Taylor in Farming Resources, News, Policy, Politics, Sustainable Agriculture // 0 Comments

Information about the new House Climate Change Report and Agriculture from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and National Farmers Union:

Release: Report Provides Legislative Path for Climate Resilient Agriculture

On June 30, 2020 the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis released its long-awaited report offering climate policy recommendations to the standing committees, laying the groundwork for broad climate legislation in the near future. In addition to recommendations on energy and transportation programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the country, the report includes a chapter on agriculture and its role in addressing the climate crisis. Check out our comments in our blog here for more information about the House climate change report and agriculture: READ MORE

Agriculture Underscored in House Climate Committee Report

While transportation, energy, and economic development generally get top billing in climate legislative discussions, food and agriculture has a major role to play in addressing climate disruption. From a farmer perspective, it is worth celebrating the inclusion of an agriculture chapter in the long-awaited action plan of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis that was released last Monday. Read NSAC’s rundown of the agricultural recommendations highlighted in this chapter: READ MORE

More on the House Climate Change Report and Agriculture from the National Farmer Union

In response to the mounting challenges caused by a rapidly changing climate, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis this week published a report outlining an economy-wide blueprint to both mitigate the threat of climate change and adapt to its effects.

The plan recognizes not only the threat climate change presents to agriculture, but also the role that family farmers and ranchers must play in the solution. Specifically, it calls for:

providing financial and technical support for on-farm conservation practices that sequester carbon and build resilience to extreme weather events
promoting crop and livestock management practices and technologies that reduce agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions
supporting on-farm renewable energy production and efficiency
ensuring the success of young, beginning, and socially disadvantaged agricultural producers
protecting farmland from development
reducing food waste and the distance between food production and consumption

On top of its agricultural-specific provisions, the plan also includes support for rural communities. This includes expanding public transportation, strengthening infrastructure so it can withstand increasingly extreme weather, improving energy efficiency in rural businesses and establishments, and expanding rural broadband to facilitate smart grid technologies and improve reliability in the case of disaster.

In a statement of support, National Farmers Union (NFU) President Rob Larew said he was “encouraged to see the comprehensive consideration… of how to best use USDA conservation, research, energy, and other programs” to meet the growing challenge of climate change, which he called the “single greatest threat facing family farmers and the global food supply.”

Read the full report here.