Major farm and environmental groups announced the formation of the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, a coalition focused on pushing climate policy priorities.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, Environmental Defense Fund, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and National Farmers Union co-chair the alliance.
The group established more than 40 policy recommendations on soil health, livestock and dairy, forests and wood products, energy, research, and food loss and waste for Congress and the presidential administration. The plan unveiled by the group contains objectives and specific federal policy moves the groups view as critical to achieving those goals.
Explaining the catalyst for creating the alliance, AFBF President Zippy Duvall said the groups were able to break through “historical barriers” and did so with the recognition that “our collective voices are stronger than our individual voice” for advancing new climate policies.
The three guiding principles of the joint recommendations are to support voluntary, market- and incentive-based policies, advance science-based outcomes and promote resilience and help rural economies better adapt to climate change, the alliance said, with six key areas of focus: Soil health, livestock and dairy, forests and wood products, energy, research and food loss and waste.
The groups urge a “menu of voluntary federal policy options” to encourage carbon sequestration in the soil, including a new tax credit modelled after the existing “45Q” carbon sequestration credit and a new carbon bank backed by USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).
The CCC carbon bank proposal echoes a proposal included in Joe Biden's campaign climate plan.
The key for farmer support for any such plan will be how a carbon market is established.