Farmers Seek Funding for Sustainable Practices

By Leah Douglas

(Reuters) – Farmers in the United States raising livestock in large industrial operations could receive funding from President Joe Biden’s climate law to transition to more environmentally friendly practices, as bills were introduced in both the House and Senate on Wednesday.

Why It’s Important

Agriculture contributes approximately 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from livestock production and fertilizer application.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted in 2022, allocated nearly $20 billion to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the farm sector.

Context

There are about 1.7 billion animals raised on U.S. industrial livestock farms, which generate twice as much waste as the human population, according to the environmental group Food & Water Watch. These facilities result in considerable air and water pollution.

The bill, introduced by Alma Adams in the House and Cory Booker in the Senate, aims to utilize IRA funds to aid industrial livestock farmers in reducing their environmental impact by transitioning animals to pasture or shifting to organic crop production.

This initiative may encounter opposition from Republicans seeking to allocate IRA funds to other programs within the long-delayed farm spending bill being crafted by Congress.

In February, Adams, Booker, and a dozen congressional colleagues sent a letter to the USDA advocating for the allocation of IRA funds solely for the most effective climate-smart farming practices.

Environmental groups have raised concerns that the benefits of certain USDA-defined climate-smart practices, like methane capture from animals for energy conversion, are overstated.

Key Quote

“Farmers want to produce food in ways that are good for people and the planet but aren’t always empowered to do so in a consolidated food system like ours,” said Adams in a statement. The bill “unlocks climate-forward conservation dollars to assist producers who want to transition out of the factory farm model.”