This legislation will help our farmers

BY SUSAN HOLCOMBE

House Resolution 2820 — called the Growing Climate Solutions Act (GCSA) — is legislation that will help farmers, ranchers and foresters navigate and access carbon markets, helping the environment and boosting farm income by providing the legal and regulatory framework for these markets.

Nearly 90% of farmers rely on second and third sources of income just so they can farm. We can do better by providing them with additional revenue streams.

Carbon markets sell carbon credits to companies and individuals wanting to offset their carbon emission. Using soil health and regenerative farming techniques, producers are paid to increase soil carbon or the equivalent, such as decreasing methane by improving animal feed efficiency and manure management and reducing nitrous oxide by decreasing applications of synthetic fertilizers to soil.

Farmers and ranchers also would be paid for using techniques that protect our water ways from farm runoff that contains nitrogen, phosphorous and even antibiotics.

Carbon sequestration in the soil “draws down” greenhouse gases, but also restores and maintains topsoil by increasing soil organic matter. We’ve lost close to 30% of the topsoil in the United States and without topsoil we can’t grow food. So, the GCSA incentivizes and rewards producers for adopting and maintaining soil health practices that make the soil more resilient to severe weather, including flooding and draughts, improves soil nutrition and, therefore, the nutrient value of food, and reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, saving producers money and protecting water quality and habitat.

The Growing Climate Solutions Act supports the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a “one-stop shop” for carbon credits, providing legitimacy and transparency for carbon markets so farmers can trust the process. It might even increase the price farmers are paid for carbon.

The USDA will provide technical assistance and verification for producers, helping farmers, foresters and ranchers successfully utilize the carbon credit system if they choose to. Currently, carbon credit markets are a bit of the wild west, tricky for producers to navigate.

The USDA is a trusted voice so it is a common-sense strategy to have the USDA involved.

Producers need capital to transition to soil health practices and carbon markets can provide those funds. Some markets even pay farmers for adopting these practices retroactively, two to five years.

The Farm Bureau strongly supports the GCSA. “We appreciate lawmakers putting aside their differences to work on bipartisan solutions to the challenges facing farmers and ranchers,” said American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall. “The Growing Climate Solutions Act acknowledges the potential of climate-smart farming while ensuring farmers would be respected as partners who can build on our strong foundation of environmental stewardship.”

The Growing Climate Solutions Act passed the Senate with large bipartisan support on June 24, 2021: 92 yeas to 8 nays (from 4 Democrats, 1 independent and 3 Republicans).

Encourage our U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, via email: Bergman. constituent@mail.house. gov or by using his website https://bergman.house.gov/ contact/ to join his 30 (92 total) Republican colleagues in the House and 19 Conservative Caucus members and co-sponsor and vote for the GCSA.

About the author: Sue Holcombe is a retired large animal veterinarian and professor from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She combined her knowledge and practical experience in animal agriculture with a strong interest in environmental activism and now volunteers with the Citizens Climate Lobby — Grand Traverse.

Holcombe