Most people are aware of the negative water and air quality impacts of CAFOs. Cows also emit a lot of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. However, it's probably not realistic, given the meat lobby, to get rid of CAFOs altogether. Also, as bad as high intensity livestock may seem, it does have some advantages in that it's generally more efficient than pasture systems. This means that high intensity systems like in the US and EU emit lower levels of greenhouse gases per pound of meat produced. So one step toward more sustainable beef production is to limit CAFO's current eligibility for Farm Bill conservation funding to actual conservation practices. Currently, CAFOs can receive conservation funding to implement practices they have to anyways because of the Clean Air Act, thus taking those funds away from farmers who need the funds to implement new practices.

EQIP--Environmental Quality Incentives Program--is one of the Farm Bill working lands conservation programs (programs that are implemented on working farms, as opposed to programs that take farmland out of production.

Working lands conservation programs do not currently meet the funding or technical assistance needs of farmers. In other words, many more farmers are interested in implementing conservation and climate-friendly practices than the last Farm Bill had funding for. The Farm Bill will be reauthorized in 2023 for five years. Now the IRA is passed, the Farm Bill is the next HUGE opportunity to impact climate policy at the federal level for the next five years. The Farm Bill is in fact $160 billion larger than IRA expenditures. I just listened to a NY State hearing on the Farm Bill and a bunch of farmers and farm businesses testified. They all mentioned climate--it's really important to them and we can help them be part of the solution. Here's the link if you want to get a feel for how people in upstate NY are talking about the Farm Bill. https://www.facebook.com/nyagandmarkets/videos/608723470691426