Large scale agriculture has traditionally been at odds with organic and regenerative farming practices with the American Farm Bureau Federation as a powerful lobbyist against climate change legislation. In a fortunate turn of events, the group recently announced an unexpected alliance to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
The Farm Bureau’s “Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance” includes collaborations with food, forest, farming, and environmental groups that plan to work with lawmakers and the Biden administration to reduce the food system’s contribution to emissions and climate change. Among the proposed actions is a plan to reward farmers across the country for lowering their emissions. Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall said in a call with reporters, “We’re proud to have broken through historical barriers to achieve a unique alliance.”
Other members of the alliance include the Environmental Defense Fund, the Nature Conservancy, the National Council of Farm Cooperatives, and the National Farmers Union. Although the alliance was only recently announced, the members have been working together for over a year and already have 40 policy proposals they hope will make their way into legislation such as incentives for carbon capture in soil.
“We’re not going to agree with them on everything going forward, but It was remarkable how we could find some common ground,” said Elizabeth Gore, senior vice president for political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund.
