According to the Farm Bill Legal Enterprise, "Given the crucial and growing role of Climate Hubs, Congress should ensure their continued operation with sustained, consistent funding. Mandatory funding through the farm bill will allow the critical functions of the Hubs to meet current demands and grow.

Currently, the Hubs are not explicitly authorized in the farm bill and instead rely exclusively on discretionary and unpredictable funding. There is increasing resistance in Congress to appropriate funds for ongoing programs that are not included in authorizing legislation. To solidify the Climate Hubs’ role in supporting producers and land managers as they adapt to and mitigate climate change, Congress should include explicit authorization for the Climate Hubs in the next farm bill, coupled with mandatory funding of $50 million." Note also that the hubs do not currently focus on mitigation but only on adaptation; hence the strong need to broaden their mission.

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!