One opportunity to reduce emissions in the Farm Bill is to include incentives for farmers to diversify their operations (integrate multiple crops). Crop insurance programs that favor multiple crops none farm, or diversified whole-farm systems, can help farmers and the planet reap the benefits of diversified systems, such as less need for fertilizers and pesticides which require significant energy to produce. As we diversify farming systems, we will need to carefully monitor different systems so as to maintain productivity in order to feed a growing population.

The Farm Bill is a super important piece of legislation. The estimated expenditure for the next 5 years are $648 billion, which is about $160 billion larger than the Inflation Reduction Act expenditures. The Farm Bill only gets reauthorized every five years and the next reauthorization is in 2023.  Watch for Farm Bill congressional hearings near you. NY, CA and other big ag states are also conducting Farm Bill hearings sponsored by the state agriculture departments. I testified at one and found our state folks very open to communicating messages re climate to their USDA colleagues working on the Farm Bill.

By the way, if any of you want to work with me more on the Farm Bill, my name is Marianne Krasny and my email is mekrasny@gmail.com. I am posting numerous Farm Bill actions on Climate Action Now.

Thanks for supporting strong climate action in the Farm Bill!