American farmers would get more incentive
to pursue additional sustainable agricultural methods under the $370
billion climate spending package announced by Senate Democrats this
week.
The proposed
bill includes $20 billion for “climate-smart agriculture
practices” largely geared toward reducing carbon and nitrous oxide
emissions. Lawmakers hope the added conservation funding -- if the
bill is approved -- will make US farmers less reliant on nitrogen
fertilizer, a large contributor to emissions that threaten the ozone
and trap heat in the atmosphere.
“There’s going to be a
lot more opportunity for farmers, who are the best stewards of the
land, to adopt practices that will make them less reliant on
chemicals, that will sequester more carbon and create a lot of other
environmental benefits,” New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker
said in a Thursday interview. Booker, who sits on the Senate’s
agriculture committee, advocated for inclusion of the farm funding in
the bill.
The funding should
increase approval rates for farmers applying to US conservation
programs, of which less than a third are granted, said Ben Lilliston,
a director at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
The move comes as nascent
carbon credit markets
gain momentum, with companies such as Indigo Ag increasing what
they’re paying farmers to sequester carbon and selling credits to
companies seeking to cut their own emissions. Funding, whether through
government programs or private markets, can drive change, Indigo Ag
Chief Executive Officer Ron Hovsepian said.
“They care about their
soil and want to do the right thing,” he said in an interview. “But
when you speak to a farmer, it’s an economic discussion first.”
