Articles Tagged with ''climate-smart agriculture''

Lawmakers are staring at yet another government funding deadline with little sign of progress on a deal for fiscal 2022 spending, while ag groups await the Biden administration’s launch of its signature initiative for developing markets for low-carbon agricultural commodities.

Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee are raising concerns the Biden administration is putting too much emphasis on promoting climate-related ag practices, with one GOP member suggesting the policy was increasing food prices.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack assures lawmakers the Biden administration is holding China to account for its failure to fulfill “phase one” trade commitments, but he stopped short of saying what steps the administration would take.

Some $80 billion in climate-related agriculture funding hangs in the balance as President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats try to save at least part of his $1.7 trillion Build Back Better spending package.

Agri-Pulse has obtained the Senate's revised ag provisions for the Build Back Better bill. They would increase funding for conservation technical assistance by more than $2 billion and provide more modest increases for ag research.

The Biden administration and congressional Democrats are aiming to use the agriculture provisions in the Build Back Better bill to jump-start farmers’ work on climate-related farming practices and potentially create permanently higher levels of funding for conservation programs.

A potential “climate-smart” label for food and USDA’s authority to fund large-scale pilot projects using the Commodity Credit Corporation was among the many issues addressed in nearly 400 comments submitted on USDA’s proposed Climate-Smart and Agroforestry Partnership Initiative.

The Senate has confirmed an important member of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s team at USDA, approving the nomination of Robert Bonnie to be undersecretary for farm production and conservation.

In a setback for President Joe Biden's climate priorities, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., withheld his endorsement of the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill, saying it would take time to study its long-term cost and potential impact on the economy.

The White House released a $1.75 trillion spending agreement with congressional Democrats, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed colleagues to vote Thursday for a separate infrastructure bill.