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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Sunday, January 05, 2025
The chairman of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday accused Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack of exploiting a “loophole” in USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp. account to fund $3 billion in climate-related projects.
Congressional leaders released a massive year-end bill Tuesday that would provide $3.7 billion in disaster aid for farmers and enact the Growing Climate Solutions Act to facilitate ag carbon markets.
Congressional negotiators are nearing agreement on a massive year-end bill that’s expected to include billions in agricultural disaster aid as well as a compromise version of the Growing Climate Solutions Act and special aid to rice growers.
An Agriculture Department program that is set to play a big role in the Biden administration's efforts to deploy renewable energy and increase energy efficiency on farms and in rural areas has been steering the bulk of its funding into solar projects, but USDA officials will be looking to diversify technologies somewhat with a historic infusion of new funding from the Inflation Reduction Act
The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, heads to Capitol Hill this week to face lawmakers who are sharply divided over the agency’s plan to require corporations to track and disclose greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains.
The Democratic-controlled Senate on Sunday passed an historic package of financial incentives for cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including a dramatic increase in farm bill conservation programs aimed at spurring farmers to adopt climate-related farming practices.
A revised climate funding package Democrats are pushing through the Senate this weekend scraps a debt relief program for minority farmers that was blocked by the courts and replaces it with new programs earmarked for “distressed” USDA borrowers as well as farmers the department has discriminated against.
The Food and Drug Administration will take a look at its policy for approving animal feed ingredients, which has been criticized for treating them as animal drugs subject to lengthy reviews.
The demise of President Joe Biden’s climate funding plan on Capitol Hill makes it a lot harder, but not impossible, to help farmers ramp up climate-related practices. But the administration retains a powerful tool in the Commodity Credit Corp., and there will be pressure to steer farm bill funds into climate priorities.
