In passing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 yesterday, the Senate approved the largest investment in climate smart agriculture programs in history. These investments are in addition to new agricultural, forestry and water management funds provided last year in the bipartisan infrastructure act to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners sustainably intensify production, improve resilience and reduce or sequester GHG emissions. Of the more than $369 billion that was approved for climate change and clean energy investments, approximately $40 billion, or roughly 10 percent of the funds will go to USDA for climate smart agriculture programs, biofuel development, forest restoration work, renewable energy tax credits, conservation technical assistance and rural electric cooperative carbon capture and storage and resilience projects.
“SfL has been at the forefront of efforts to scale up federal investments in climate smart agriculture systems and practices and many of the programs that were included in the Inflation Reduction Act were recommended by SfL and the North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance,” said SfL President Ernie Shea. “We applaud the Senate for prioritizing agricultural and forestry climate and clean energy investments, and we look forward to the House of Representatives approving these historic measures next week.”
For additional information, contact Shea at 410-952-0123, or by email at Eshea@SolutionsfromtheLand.org.
