Rising to the Climate Challenge
U.S. farms, ranches and forests are on the frontlines of climate change — from more frequent droughts to heavier and more variable rainfall. The increase in extreme weather events and shift in growing seasons impedes crop and livestock production, threatening food and agricultural livelihoods and undermining global food security.
Farmers, ranchers and forest owners are innovating and rising to the challenge. As stewards of the land, they have enormous opportunities to drive solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience throughout the food and forestry value chains. Federal policy can and should provide incentives and support to ensure that farmers, ranchers and forest owners benefit from their role in developing and driving climate solutions.
Policy Recommendations from an Unprecedented Alliance
The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) consists of organizations representing farmers, ranchers, forest owners, the food sector, state governments and environmental advocates that are working together to define and promote shared climate policy priorities.
Together, we developed a set of policy recommendations for federal lawmakers in six areas: soil health, livestock and dairy, forests and wood products, energy, research, and food loss and waste. These recommendations share an overarching goal to do no harm.
FACA’s policy recommendations include:
- Providing voluntary, incentive-based tools for farmers, ranchers and forest owners to maximize the sequestration of carbon and the reduction of other greenhouse gas emissions, as well as increase the resilience of the land.
- Supporting the development and oversight of private sector markets for GHG credits.
- Promoting public and private sector tools to incentivize farmers, ranchers and forest owners to prioritize and scale climate-smart practices.
- Offering incentives for farmers to reduce energy consumption, increase use of on-farm renewable energy, and make continued progress toward reducing the lifecycle GHG emissions of agriculture- and forestry-based renewable energy.
- Streamlining consumer-facing packaging and implementing a publicprivate-partnership to reduce the GHG impact of food waste and loss within the food value chain.
- Increasing federal investment in agriculture, forestry and food-related research substantially and continuously.
What’s Next?
FACA members look forward to sharing these ideas with members of Congress and the public. We invite other groups to join us, and welcome further discussion about the recommendations.
Alliance Membership
Policy recommendations were developed collaboratively by the following organizations:
- American Farm Bureau Federation
- Environmental Defense Fund
- FMI-The Food Industry Association
- National Alliance of Forest Owners
- National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
- National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
- National Farmers Union
- The Nature Conservancy
Visit agclimatealliance.com to read the full policy recommendations. Email inquiries@agclimatealliance.com with questions or comments about membership or our recommendations.