How Carbon Will be the Meat of Future Farm Bills
There is an enormous piece of legislation that helps farmers survive the ups and downs of a risky business, assists in feeding the hungry, and establishes guidelines for how the US will protect the land, water, and air. It’s called the farm bill, and the next version is set to be enacted in 2023. Often we don’t think or hear much about the farm bill as it just hums along in the background and is buried in dense and rarely read governmentese, but by prioritizing conservation, climate, and carbon policy now, public policy efforts can empower farmers and give them agency to ensure the health and prosperity of our soils in the future and help improve our overall climate.
Congress and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have a history of shaping progressive agriculture policy around soil and natural disasters. In the 1930s, our country was in both economic and environmental crisis, and the Dust Bowl prompted Congress to establish the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) with the purpose of protecting our nation’s soils for the future. Now, nearly 100 years later, we are again facing extreme soil erosion, but this time, climate change is intensifying the problem. Our farmers and the general population are experiencing an increasing amount of natural disasters caused by floods, drought, and fires. We are reminded more than ever of the critical importance of healthy soils and the need to protect and promote them for future generations.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines climate and weather disasters as “billion-dollar events.” They reported that 2020 set the new annual record with 22 “billion-dollar events”. This frighteningly shattered the previous annual record of 16 events that occurred in both 2011 and 2017. Last year, agricultural producers reported that they were unable to plant crops on more than 10 million acres of land, according to the USDA. Planting was prevented due to floods, drought, and other natural disasters. This makes it clear that drastic losses can not be tolerated for many more years to come. Yet, without change, more of this is in store.
While we have little control over most regularly occurring natural disasters, we can invest in and incentivize mitigation activities like regenerative agriculture which improves soil health in order to build resiliency and protect land for long-term productivity. Efforts to increase organic matter and sequester carbon in soils have shown critical benefits including; improving crop growth, water-holding capacity, and reducing the need for chemical fertilizers. This, in turn, would reduce toxic runoff, as well as retain necessary water in our soils to help during periods of drought. Prioritizing government spending and innovation on regenerative agriculture will allow farmers to better face weather and climate disasters all while securing crop yields.
We Have the Infrastructure Needed to Pay Farmers for Climate-Smart Agriculture
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is an agency within the USDA that is funded through the farm bill and assists private landowners (farmers, ranchers, and foresters) in implementing conservation practices that benefit the soil, water, and air. The principal conservation programs for farmers within the farm bill include the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). These programs give farmers incentives to improve natural resource stewardship while increasing their profits and longevity of their operations.
The success of conservation programs is tied directly to the funding for the conservation title within the farm bill, which is our nation’s largest public investment in sustainable agriculture. Even with their clear benefits, these conservation programs were a source of conflict during deliberations over crafting the 2018 farm bill. It took a lot of convincing to secure a mere 7% of the $867 billion dollar bill targeted directly for conservation efforts. But, funding alone does not guarantee the adoption and success of any program. This is where public policy efforts for conservation have historically missed the mark with farmers, by trusting conservation dollars with private entities over local stakeholders to implement critical conservation programs. It is important to remember that conservation programs are not one-size-fits-all and that regenerative methods vary greatly depending on crops and local conditions. It is clear that the future goals of conservation programs should both reward farmers for continuing to be good stewards of their land, and establish new markets for them to increase their on-farm income. This is where the need for carbon policies and incentives within farm bill programs comes in.
Crafting the 2023 Farm Bill
While the White House has committed to taking executive action to tackle the climate crisis while advancing conservation efforts, proposals for federal programs to encourage the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices with existing infrastructure (CSP, EQIP, etc.) are lackluster. By doubling down on incentive-creation for regenerative agriculture practices leading up to the 2023 farm bill, the USDA can begin to build soil health and fertility nationwide, while sequestering carbon and reducing GHG emissions from the sector and directly impacting rural economies. This is the best way to position the conservation title within the 2023 farm bill.
In April 2021, the Biden administration announced plans to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., but unfortunately tip-toed around how agriculture could contribute to those efforts. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, U.S. agriculture contributes nearly 11% of total U.S. greenhouse gas, yet it is the only carbon-emitting industry that can effectively return emissions from the atmosphere to its source (the soil). Agriculture must be a primary part of the climate agenda in a formal way, especially when the industry can directly benefit from climate-smart policy provisions.
In the future, we aren’t going to be able to pay our way out of the climate crisis through disaster relief dollars, so we must start employing foresight in policy-making by sequestering carbon in our soils today. The Biden administration has a massive opportunity to usher in agriculture policy that starts taking soil health seriously in order to reduce atmospheric CO2, increase agricultural resilience to natural disasters, and boost on-farm income for farmers through carbon markets. It’s time for a well-crafted conservation title within the farm bill that praises farmers and affords them the agency to better the health of our earth and soils.
