'Climate Smart' Label Spells Trouble for Farm Bill

July 09, 2024

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by Marc Heller (E&E News) Lawmakers are at odds over how to define climate-friendly farming. -- Lawmakers looking to use the 2024 farm bill to fight climate change are running into another complication: Not everyone agrees on what makes agriculture "climate smart."

Shifting definitions — and a reluctance from some Republican lawmakers to utter the term at all except in criticizing it — continue to frustrate efforts to reduce greenhouse gases through certain farming practices.

Democrats and Republicans disagree about whether Congress should try to tailor the farm bill to climate change through conservation programs. Democrats say they won’t accept a farm bill that doesn’t do that, while Republicans say a bill that does would put those programs out of reach for some producers.

Divisions on how to address climate change are one reason the five-year bill may be delayed until after the November elections and possibly into 2025 — two years behind schedule.

The farm bill isn't the only place "climate smart" agriculture is wrapped up in conflict. It's proving a battleground in debates surrounding fiscal 2025 spending and threatening to limit the scope of a federal tax credit for renewable fuels set to take effect next year. READ MORE

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Excerpt from E&E News PM: Congress might be better off leaving an already overdue five-year farm bill unfinished in 2024, Arkansas Republican Sen. John Boozman said Tuesday.

At a forum sponsored by POLITICO at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Boozman — the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee — said extending the 2018 farm bill for the second year in a row would be preferable to passing a bill without significant changes in policy.

“We simply have to reset the safety net,” Boozman said in a discussion with House Agriculture Chair Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (R-Pa.), citing the effects of inflation and other economic stresses in farm country since the 2018 legislation.

Farmers, Boozman said, “realize that we need substantial changes or we’re better off where we are.”

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At a minimum, Thompson said, the House farm bill will wait until annual appropriations bills are finished — in September at the earliest.

Hanging in the balance is about $15 billion for conservation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, already provided in the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats want to move that money, with the climate-related focus, into the farm bill; Republicans want to remove that focus and wrap the money into conservation more broadly.

Thompson has been stalled, too, in a disagreement with the Congressional Budget Office on how much savings the bill can generate in some areas to cover other policy changes. The gap is tens of billions of dollars over the 10-year budget window.

For instance, Thompson is seeking significant increases in the target prices that trigger commodity payments to farmers, which could ease the effects of inflation since the 2018 farm bill. That proposal relies on savings elsewhere in the bill.

Depending on the results of November’s elections, Republicans could hold majorities in both chambers and retake the White House. But given the regional — rather than partisan — nature of farm bill politics, an electoral sweep might not make a farm bill any easier to pass next year, Boozman said.

If Republican retake the Senate majority, Boozman would be in line to chair the committee. Stabenow is retiring, with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar potentially in line for the top Democratic spot.

An incoming Trump administration’s approach to farm programs remains a potential wild card, especially if officials resist expansion of crop insurance subsidies or call for reductions in conservation programs. Both were features of the past Trump administration’s budget requests.

Thompson said he’d want to see a new secretary of Agriculture work more closely with Congress, reflecting his complaints that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pursues programs on climate change and other issues unilaterally. READ MORE

Excerpt from DTN Progressive Farmer:

Farm leaders from opposite sides of the aisle agree the country needs a new farm bill, but they are split on taxes, regulations, trade policies and just how farmers and the agricultural economy will fare under the next presidency.

The Farm Foundation on Monday hosted a live-streamed forum at the National Press Club to look at farm policy differences between the presidential candidates. The event touched on a wide range of issues, including trade, the farm bill, tax policy, China, climate-smart programs and nutrition.

The forum offered an amicable policy debate leading up to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump's debate scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Speaking for former President Trump's campaign was Kip Tom, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. Tom, an Indiana farmer, is co-leader of the Farmers and Ranchers for Trump 47 coalition.

Citing statistics from a conservative business group, Tom said the Biden-Harris administration has imposed $1.6 trillion in new regulations that are costing the American economy and costing farmers. Talking about inflation, Tom said, "Kamala Harris needs to look no further for price gouging than to look in the mirror at herself."

Standing in for Vice President Harris' campaign was Rod Snyder, former senior adviser for agriculture at EPA under the Biden administration, and former staff member of the National Corn Growers Association and CropLife.

Referring to the first Trump term in which the average net farm income was one-third less than it was under Biden, Snyder said farmers lost $29 billion in exports during the trade war in 2018 and 2019.

"The four years of the Trump presidency was defined by chaos and uncertainty for the farm economy, and a second term would be even more severe."

TRADE

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Tariffs are a key to Trump's trade policies. He has proposed a 10% tariff on all imports and a 60% tariff on imports from China. Trump said those tariffs would generate more federal revenue that would be used to pay down the budget deficit.

Harris so far has said little on trade policy but seems in line with President Joe Biden by focusing more on protecting manufacturing and labor, but no specific negotiations for broader trade agreements. Like Biden, she largely would hold the current tariffs on China in place.

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Snyder pointed to more access for ethanol to Japan and the Biden trade negotiators opening Mexico for potatoes for the first time in decades. Snyder said relying on tariffs is unsustainable. "The American consumer pays for that," he said.

TAX POLICY

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LABOR, DEPORTATIONS

Agriculture relies heavily on migrant labor with studies showing a high percentage of workers may be in the country illegally. Farmers also have increasingly turned to the H-2A guest-worker program, which now brings in more than 300,000 workers a year.

While Trump has pushed for more aggressive deportations, Tom said he did not think that would have a major ripple effect on agricultural and food processors such as meatpacking plants.

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Snyder noted Congress has repeatedly attempted bipartisan agricultural labor bills that have been blocked by Republicans in Congress. "I think largely our friends on the right have torpedoed that because they really don't want to solve the problem," he said.

CLIMATE, GREEN POLICIES

Tom said farmers are already using less chemicals and fertilizer and improving the air and water quality. Tom suggested he doesn't support the Biden administration's climate-smart funding.

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Snyder said the federal government plays a critical role in helping fund conservation practices and boosting support for programs to create Sustainable Aviation Fuel and accelerate demand. He also said climate-smart programs at USDA are voluntary and have generated a high volume of demand from producers. "This is about voluntary, incentive-based programs that can help meet the market demand."

USDA first provided $3.2 billion in climate-smart grants for more than 140 projects nationally. Then the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, adding $19.5 billion to be spent by USDA's traditional conservation programs by 2031. Snyder said, "These voluntary programs have been a tremendous success story."

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FARM BILL

Both Snyder and Tom agreed with farm groups that Congress needs to pass a farm bill as quickly as possible and not wait until the next administration to get it done. "American agriculture wants Congress to get this done as quickly as possible," Snyder said.

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The full two-hour forum will be posted on the Farm Foundation's website: https://www.farmfoundation.org/…. READ MORE