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Food & Agriculture Climate Alliance unveils recommendations

On Nov. 17, an alliance of groups representing farmers, forest owners, the food sector, state governments and environmental advocates unveiled an unprecedented set of recommendations to guide the development of federal climate policy.

Together, the group developed more than 40 recommendations based on three principles: agricultural and forestry climate policies must be built upon voluntary, incentive-based programs and market-driven opportunities; they must promote resilience and adaptation in rural communities; and they must be science-based. These recommendations share an overarching goal to do no harm. Climate policies will impact farmers, forest owners, ranchers, rural and limited-resources communities, wildlife and natural resources and must be thoughtfully crafted to account for any potential inequities, consequences and tradeoffs.

“We are proud to have broken through historical barriers to form this unique alliance focused on climate policy,” said Zippy Duvall, FACA co-chair and American Farm Bureau Federation president. “We began discussions not knowing whether we would ultimately reach agreement. It was important to me to reject punitive climate policy ideas of the past in favor of policies that respect farmers and support positive change. Our final recommendations do just that.”

The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) was formed in February by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Environmental Defense Fund, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and the National Farmers Union. The alliance has since expanded to include FMI – The Food Industry Association, National Alliance of Forest Owners, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and The Nature Conservancy.

An overview of climate policy recommendations:

• Provide voluntary, incentive-based tools and additional technical assistance for farmers, ranchers and foresters to maximize the sequestration of carbon and the reduction of other greenhouse gas emissions, and increase climate resilience;

• Foster the development of private sector GHG markets. The public sector should ensure that verifiable reductions occur and provide farmers and forest owners with the technical support needed to participate;

• Use an array of public and private sector tools to incentivize agricultural and forestry producers to prioritize and scale climate-smart practices;

• Incentivize farmers to reduce energy consumption and increase on-farm renewable energy production, and make continued progress toward reducing the lifecycle GHG emissions of agriculture- and forestry-based renewable energy;

• Reduce the GHG impact of food waste and loss by streamlining confusing consumer-facing packaging and implementing a public-private partnership to achieve a meaningful and workable food date-labeling program;

• Increase federal investment in agriculture, forestry and food-related research substantially and continuously.

Read the full recommendations at www.agclimatealliance.com. They cover soil health, livestock and dairy, forests and wood products, energy, research, and food loss and waste.

The alliance welcomes additional members. Email inquires@agclimatealliance.com with questions about membership or the group’s climate policy recommendations.

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