Climate change is a worldwide challenge, but it also offers the opportunity to boost farm income for those who adopt climate-smart practices, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at a food and agriculture conference on Wednesday. “I can guarantee you farmers will embrace this,” he said. “I am truly confident. I think agriculture gets to net-zero before most of the major industries.”
Vilsack pointed to the potential of sustainable aviation fuel to double the size of the biofuel industry and to the outpouring of interest in pilot projects to test climate-smart practices and develop markets for the products. The USDA expanded the climate-smart initiative to $3.1 billion after receiving some 1,000 project applications.
“It’s not just about climate,” said Vilsack at the Universal Food Forum, hosted by Michigan State University at a federal building in Washington. “It’s about farm income. It’s about preserving opportunities for small and midsized producers as well.”
Farm Belt opposition was a key factor in thwarting President Obama’s proposal a decade ago for a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases. The Biden administration faces opposition to its proposals, too. The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee voted last month to restrict Vilsack’s access to a $30 billion USDA reserve fund that makes crop and conservation payments. Vilsack used the fund to launch the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative.
The House restriction is a rider on the annual USDA-FDA spending bill and could go to a floor vote this month. Three Republican senators filed a bill earlier this week to block withdrawal of money from the $30 billion fund, known as the Commodity Credit Corp., unless the outlay was specifically authorized by Congress.
“You know, people talk about the [climate] crisis, and I get it,” said Vilsack at the forum. “But sometimes we forget the opportunity side of this, and it is enormous.” During the 2020 presidential campaign, President Biden often said that U.S. farmers could combat climate change and make money doing it. Biden has set a goal of halving U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Early on Wednesday, the administration said it would spend $300 million to improve the measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in climate-smart agriculture and forestry. More precise measurement will be the “linchpin” connecting practices on the farm with markets ready to pay for proof of greenhouse gas and carbon reductions, Vilsack said.