Food and agriculture will play an ever-larger role in climate negotiations on the world stage, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack after participating in the UN climate summit underway in Egypt. Global warming also will be a top issue for the U.S. farm sector, he said, notwithstanding skeptical views among some Republican lawmakers.
Discussions were ongoing but Vilsack said on Monday that he expected the UN climate conference, known as COP 27, to devote “more than a line or a sentence” to agriculture in its concluding statement. “Agriculture and food has been elevated in the climate discussion for the first time ever,” he said during a teleconference. “Agriculture will have a significant role to play at COP 28” next year.
Republicans gained seats in the House in last week’s midterm elections and were likely to hold a majority in the congressional session opening in January. As a group, GOP lawmakers have been cool to President Biden’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
“Climate is still going to be a focus,” he said, because farmers, ranchers and foresters recognize the importance of action on global warming.
At COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Vilsack announced USDA would award $300 million to 65 projects from the second pool of applications to the administration’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative. It would increase USDA spending on the pilot projects to $3.1 billion this year.
Vilsack showcased the administration’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative at COP27 as an example of U.S. climate leadership. The demonstration projects, with at least $1.4 billion in private sector funding, would cover 25 million acres of farmland while looking for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and creating new revenue streams from sustainable products.
Agriculture, forestry and other land use generates 24 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, mostly from agriculture and deforestation, according to an EPA estimate. In the United States, agriculture accounts for 11 percent of emissions.
The United States will host the AIM for Climate summit from May 8-10 with a focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning, said Vilsack. The summit, to be held in Washington, also will be a call to action for the venture capital community to invest more heavily in technology to increase agricultural production and reduce the impact on climate, he said.