Farm bill with climate-smart provisions is critical to solve climate change --- allows U.S. to lead the world on innovation in this area

The stakes are high as Congress begins serious discussions to reauthorize the farm bill, which expires at the end of September 2023. Among other things, this legislation represents a major opportunity to enable private landowners, farmers, ranchers, and rural communities to take action to address the crises of climate change and nature loss.

In fact, in a divided Congress where House majority leadership has staked out an obstructionist position on most climate action, the must-pass farm bill may represent the only meaningful opportunity to make progress on these issues in the 118th Congress. Conversely, if extreme positions prevail and Congress strips away farm bill program investments made in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, America will take a massive step backward on climate, conservation, and rural prosperity.

Scale of the climate and nature opportunity

Farm bill conservation programs represent the largest source of federal funding for private landowners to preserve and steward their lands, waters, and wildlife for current and future generations; yet demand for these programs significantly outpaces supply, and competing pressures are growing.1 Meanwhile, as the climate crisis deepens, farm bill support can enable U.S. agriculture to lead the world in climate-smart innovation, help farmers and ranchers benefit from greenhouse gas-reducing practices, and build cleaner and more reliable energy solutions for rural America.

Climate-smart agriculture represents a crucial front in the fight against climate change. With 10 percent of U.S. emissions coming from the agricultural sector and abundant opportunities to reduce emissions through improved practices and land use, the farm bill’s voluntary incentive programs hold tremendous potential to deliver meaningful gains for farmers and the climate.2 Additionally, a 2021 CAP analysis found that nature loss in the United States is driving the emissions of 140 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMT CO2e) each year.3 However, achieving President Joe Biden’s U.S. land conservation goal has the potential to reverse that trend and yield an additional 215 MMT CO2e stored by nature—as much savings as taking 47 million cars off the road. New farm bill program investments through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) recognize the fundamental link between conservation and climate and direct resources toward practices that achieve conservation, resilience, and greenhouse gas reduction goals, all while supporting rural clean energy solutions that are building more resilient, reliable, and affordable energy systems.

In recent years, America has lost roughly a football field’s worth of natural area every 30 seconds to development, and more than three-quarters of that loss is occurring on private lands, which is where farm bill programs focus.4 As a lifeline to farmers, forest owners, and others who are doing their part to conserve “America the Beautiful,” farm bill conservation and forest programs are critical to achieving the national conservation mission launched by President Biden and supported by community leaders across the country.5

“America the Beautiful” is an all-of-government initiative anchored around conserving at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030—America’s first national conservation goal, established by President Biden on January 27, 2021. The initiative focuses on supporting inclusive, collaborative, respectful, and locally led conservation efforts for the benefit of all people.6

The farm bill helps conserve tens of millions of acres of farmland, grassland, wetland, and forest on an ongoing basis; improve water quality; protect and restore valuable wildlife habitat; and support hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation.7 The federal government estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act’s new investments in these programs could support conservation on an additional 125 million acres of land—representing an area larger than the state of California—by reaching up to 280,000 farmers and ranchers over four years.8 Additionally, independent analyses have projected that IRA investments will create tens of thousands of agriculture-related jobs annually.9

Importantly, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implementation of new conservation and climate-smart investments can also ensure that historic inequities in farm bill funding distribution are actively addressed to guarantee that benefits flow to marginalized, underserved, and historically disadvantaged communities. These targeted investments are needed to achieve the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative and other equity commitments.

Recommendations

The Center for American Progress strongly supports cementing and building on the $19.5 billion for conservation and climate-smart agriculture10 and the $13.3 billion for farm bill energy programs11 invested through the Inflation Reduction Act to unlock historic progress in the agriculture, forestry, and rural energy sectors. After drastic cuts to conservation title funding below historic levels in previous farm bills, IRA investments represent sorely needed stepping stones to establish the long-term, durable funding needed to meet today’s needs. As the USDA deploys new funding for climate-smart agriculture and conservation12 and rural energy projects,13 Congress must have the back of farmers, ranchers, landowners, and communities who are stepping up to lead on conservation and climate change.