Articles Tagged with ''CSP''

Conservation groups and the Biden administration  are betting big that the promise of direct payments to farmers will supercharge their interest in cover crops, a practice relatively few have tried despite documented benefits to soil health, greenhouse emissions and water quality.

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 provision of congressional Democrats' Build Back Better Act that would pay producers $25 per acre to plant cover crops is getting serious attention from sectors in the agriculture industry with ambitious climate goals, though others are unsure of how effective the measure will be in comparison to existing programs.

Democrats released a scaled-back, $1.8 trillion version of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan Thursday that includes key climate-smart ag provisions, including a new $25-per-acre payment for cover crops, while creating a new low-carbon tax credit for biofuels.

Agri-Pulse obtained a summary of the long-awaited $28 billion conservation plan that Democrats are circulating on Capitol Hill.

The Department of Agriculture is in touch with Capitol Hill as Democratic leaders work to craft legislation that has the potential to funnel more money into the farm bill and expand the number of producers who could receive funding and assistance for government conservation programs.

The Agriculture Department continues to insist that working lands will be included in the Biden administration’s goal of conserving 30% of the nation’s land and waters by 2030, as the administration prepares to flesh out some of the details of its 30x30 initiative.

Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., when adjusted for productivity, are down by 24% over the past 30 years, but farmers can do better if Congress and the Biden administration amp up assistance, says American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist John Newton.

The incoming chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow, says she’ll seek to use climate legislation to put more money into conservation programs that encourage growers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Providing some parting advice on climate policy, House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson said he was introducing legislation that would require the Agriculture Department to take 50 million acres of cropland out of production through the Conservation Reserve Program.