Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) is calling on USDA to launch pilot projects to explore creating a carbon bank, an idea not popular with Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The group released recommendations for how USDA should think about a potential carbon bank. But the report comes after several GOP lawmakers have made clear they prefer a private industry approach rather than getting USDA and the government involved in creating a carbon bank.
Initial reviews of the alliance recommendations were that they reflected a committee approach that lacked specifics. One of the FACA members is the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), and its leader Zippy Duvall has indicated he was still not totally on board with the concept.
There also remains a question on whether or not USDA has the authority under the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to create and/or operate a carbon bank.