Earth Day brings major soil health legislation!
With the arrival of Earth Day, there was a flurry of legislative activity in the US Congress, including some major proposals that impact soil health and agriculture.
We are thrilled to see some of Land Core’s key messages incorporated into a number of bills, with language supported by both parties and in both chambers!
This includes:
The need for consistent outcomes verification protocols (in the Growing Climate Solutions Act and America’s Clean Future Fund Act);
Discounts on crop insurance premiums for producers who use risk-reducing, soil health farming practices (in the Agriculture Resilience Act);
Creating a new, permanent program through EQIP at NRCS with $100M in funding for producers who adopt soil health practices, building on the success of the Soil Health Demonstration Trials (in the Healthy Soils Healthy Climate Act); and
New incentives programs that provide payments and technical assistance to producers who are transitioning their farms to soil health cropping systems (as in the NO-EMITS Act).
Read on for a recap of “need to know” bills, head to our federal bill tracker for more details, and if you’re up for it, let us know which bills you are supporting, or are aligned with your values and priorities.
H.R.2803 - Agriculture Resilience Act of 2021:
The Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA) was reintroduced by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1) on April 22. This comprehensive legislation aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. agriculture by 2040, and incentivizes the transition to regenerative agricultural practices in multiple ways, including by:
Directing USDA to adopt soil health benchmarks as goals and to establish an action plan
Quadrupling funding for research and extension, including support for USDA Climate Hubs
Boosting the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) in both mandate and funding; funding the development of state or tribal soil health plans
Authorizing USDA to offer performance-based crop insurance discounts for practices that can be demonstrated to reduce risk on agricultural land
Supporting farmland preservation and farm viability
Establishing pasture-based livestock management on 100 percent of grazing land by 2040
The ARA will be a guiding star for the development of the 2023 Farm Bill, and Rep. Pingree reportedly sees several other opportunities to move the bill forward in the current session, including through Biden’s upcoming infrastructure bill.
S.1251 - Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021:
The bipartisan Growing Climate Solutions Act (GCSA) was reintroduced by Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), along with 38 other cosponsors, this Tuesday. This bill would create a program at USDA to certify credit verification services and technical assistance providers, and help connect/reduce barriers to entry for farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners to participate in voluntary environmental credit, including carbon markets.
Reflecting negotiations over the original version of the Act, the new bill expands on the program’s intent, adds protection for farmers, revises the membership of an advisory committee, and includes funding for the USDA program.
We’re pleased to note that the reintroduced bill incorporates feedback that Land Core advocated for in comments to the Senate Agriculture Hearing, including that the “composition of the advisory council be not less than 51% farmers, ranchers, or private forest owners, including socially disadvantaged or historically underserved farmers and ranchers”.
We’re standing by for additional, important protocols relating to calculations, sampling methodologies, accounting principles, systems for verification, monitoring, measurement, and reporting, and are prepared to work on these details during the implementation of this bill at USDA, if passed.
The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the legislation on Thursday. According to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Braun (R-IN), in PoliticoPro, “the goal is to do a stand-alone bill because of the broad support behind it. But if that isn’t feasible, it could be attached to infrastructure or other bills that might be on the move."
S.1072 - Climate Stewardship Act of 2021:
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced the Climate Stewardship Act on April 12, 2021, a bill to expand and provide billions in funding for existing USDA programs to incentivize the adoption of soil health building practices among producers, including through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). This new funding is dedicated to 37 "climate stewardship practices" (see full list of practices on page 5 of the bill section by section summary). The bill also doubles funding for agricultural research, triples funding for conservation technical assistance, and creates a new “Soil Health Equipment Grant Program”, among other provisions to expand renewable energy production on farms and plant billions of trees.
The bill claims to provide support for voluntary climate stewardship practices on over 100 million acres of farmland across the US, and Sen. Booker (D-NJ) is said to be positioning portions of the bill for inclusion into President Biden's upcoming infrastructure and climate packages.
S.1356 - Healthy Soils Healthy Climate Act of 2021
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) reintroduced this Act on April 22, which encourages farming practices that improve soil health and crop resilience, and sequester carbon, by creating permanent payments within the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for soil health practices and carbon sequestration monitoring.
The program would provide $100 million to producers who adopt practices designed to improve soil health through increasing carbon levels, prioritizing funding for underserved farmers. This support would build on the Soil Health Demonstration Trials introduced in the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill would also establish protocols for measuring soil organic carbon levels before and after these practices begin in order to determine which farming practices store the most carbon, meeting a significant need for more science and data to determine which conservation methods are most effective at improving soil health.
S.685 - America’s Clean Future Fund Act
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) reintroduced the Act on March 10, which includes a section that would establish a new program to pay farmers and ranchers for implementing practices that sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, aimed at financing the transition to improved practices that will allow producers’ participation in greenhouse gas credit markets.
We’re pleased to see expanded language on data collection and reporting, including the direction to “establish an outcomes-based measurement system that uses the best available science and technology for cost-effective recordkeeping, modeling, and measurement of farm-level greenhouse gas emissions on eligible land enrolled in the program”. Land Core has long advocated for standardization of outcomes and outcomes-verification infrastructure both via Congress and at USDA.
5-bill Republican House Agriculture climate action package:
On Friday, April 16, House Agriculture Committee Republicans announced the introduction of five pieces of legislation to “address climate change in agriculture through natural solutions”. Committee Republican Leader, Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA-15), positioned the slate of bills as an alternative to other legislation on agriculture and climate change, including the Growing Climate Solutions Act.
Of these, the two most relevant for soil health and conservation ag are Rep. Rodney Davis’ (R-IL-13) NO EMITS Act (H.R.2508), which creates a Soil Health Transition Program, expands activities of and increases funding for the On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials, establishes a grant program for States and Indian Tribes addressing soil health on agricultural lands, and establishes a special technical assistance initiative for climate change; and Rep. Thompson’s SUSTAINS Act (H.R.2606), which encourages public-private partnerships to finance conservation practices.
Read more about the details of each bill on our tracker, and let us know your thoughts. Find an overview about the package here.
S.Res. 166 - Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal
On Tuesday, Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) reintroduced the Green New Deal resolution to tackle climate change while investing in jobs, infrastructure, and equity. Among the goals set out by the resolution is “working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible, including— (i) by supporting family farming; (ii) by investing in sustainable farming and land use practices that increase soil health; and (iii) by building a more sustainable food system that ensures universal access to healthy food”.
This resolution reflects the shift in public awareness about the role of agriculture in tackling the climate crisis and creating meaningful jobs.
The legislative landscape for soil health is rapidly evolving! Keep our federal bill tracker close at hand to stay up-to-date on new bills, action in Congress, and major emerging opportunities to address soil health and resilience across the United States; and join the Land Core Bill Tracker Alerts list to receive updates directly to your inbox!