Briefing Series: Farm Bill 2023 in Focus

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to watch our briefing on what you need to know about this year’s Farm Bill, including key bipartisan opportunities for addressing the climate crisis. The Farm Bill is an omnibus, multiyear law that Congress renews every five years to address numerous issues from conservation to crop insurance. The Farm Bill is the most impactful piece of legislation related to U.S. agriculture, affecting how and what food is grown, food access and nutrition, natural resources, rural development, and more. With the 2018 Farm Bill expiring this September, Congress has already begun the process of developing the next Farm Bill.

This briefing will help Congressional staff get up to speed on the basics of the Farm Bill, including the process for passing the bill, the history of the Farm Bill, and opportunities for a bipartisan path forward. Staff will develop an understanding of how to meaningfully engage with the 2023 Farm Bill, regardless of their member’s committee assignments.

Key Takeaways

• The Farm Bill has been enacted about every five years since 1933. While its scope has grown, the legislation is still mostly processed by the House Committee on Agriculture and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

• The Farm Bill is incredibly extensive, covering commodities, conservation, trade, nutrition, credit, rural development, research, forestry, energy, horticulture, crop insurance, and other miscellaneous topics.

• The Farm Bill includes both mandatory and discretionary funding.

• The political strength of the Farm Bill is in its coalitions. There is a set of interests around direct assistance for farmers, direct assistance for food for low-income households, and assistance to producers on conservation. Passing the Farm Bill is possible because of the votes that come together to support one or more of these three areas. The Farm Bill is usually passed on a bipartisan basis.

• About 215 members of the House of Representatives, or about half of the chamber, have never voted on a Farm Bill, underscoring the need for Congressional education in the 118^th Congress.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to watch a briefing on promising win-wins made possible by Farm Bill provisions. Agriculture accounts for about 11 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, farms, ranches, and forests across the country continue to be negatively impacted by climate-related events like drought, flooding, and extreme heat. Farm Bill programs—spanning from conservation to rural development—can bolster both climate change mitigation and adaptation while creating economic opportunities for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. 

During this briefing, panelists explained how the Farm Bill helps agricultural producers and communities drive down greenhouse gas emissions while also building climate and economic resilience, with discussions of the role of agroforestry, urban agriculture, distributed energy resources, and agricultural research and innovation.

Key Takeaways

• The 2023 GAO report, Climate Change: Options to Enhance the Resilience of Agricultural Producers and Reduce Federal Fiscal Exposure, summarizes actions that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has taken and can take to help producers enhance their resilience to climate impacts.

• Agroforestry refers to the practice of combining trees with agricultural fields and is a promising way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining productive farms. A $60 million Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant is set to promote agroforestry, with $36 million of this funding going directly to farmer incentive programs.

• Urban farms can be designed to address mental wellness and food security as well as to promote organic farming and economic development through agriculture, as exemplified by Hope Center in Blue Island, Illinois.

• Agrisolar is the co-location of solar energy production on agricultural lands, including cropland, grazing pastures, beekeeping apiaries, and dairies. The AgriSolar Clearinghouse includes an information library, best practices, fact sheets, case studies, and financial assistance maps.

• Biochar is an overbaked organic material that can make soils more fertile while trapping carbon. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service recently passed a soil carbon amendment protocol to incentivize farmers to increase their soil carbon levels, including by using biochar.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to watch a briefing on Farm Bill policies and programs that help farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and rural communities drive down greenhouse gas emissions, generate jobs, and stimulate the economy. Rural communities face numerous challenges, such as high energy costs, low investments in climate-resilient infrastructure, and increasingly severe weather. The Farm Bill plays an important role in helping rural America develop strong economies and build climate resilience and mitigation.

During this briefing, panelists discussed how Congress can bolster key programs in the rural development and energy titles of the Farm Bill, such as the Rural Energy Savings Program, Rural Energy for America Program, and water and wastewater technical assistance programs. These provisions help rural communities improve energy efficiency, access electrification retrofits, upgrade water systems, and build out broadband capabilities.

Key Takeaways

• The rural development title of the Farm Bill provides clean water, housing, utilities, and business assistance to rural communities. The Farm Bill provides a significant source of financing for technical assistance programs in each of these areas.

• Federal investments have an important role in supporting rural cooperative businesses. Examples include the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program (RCDG), the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), and the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP).

• Policies targeted at rural communities must be flexible to fully address and support each community’s diversity. Policies should allow for people on the ground to provide for their communities in the best ways possible.

• Tribes need to be trusted and recognized as capable of participating in projects and programs. The Farm Bill needs to take down barriers that prevent tribes from managing multiple projects and receiving appropriations for programs directly.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and U.S. Nature4Climate invite you to view a briefing on opportunities to advance climate-friendly forestry in this year’s Farm Bill. The forestry programs and incentives in the Farm Bill can provide greenhouse gas emission reduction benefits, as well as build resilience to climate impacts such as wildfire risk and extreme heat. At the same time, these programs generate jobs and present opportunities for innovation. 

During this briefing, panelists explained forestry-related programs in the Farm Bill and cover essential forestry topics, including wildfire management, innovative wood products, carbon markets, and urban forestry.

Key Takeaways

• Natural climate solutions are essential to addressing climate change. Forestry has an outsized role in these solutions. Forests also provide many co-benefits, from water filtration and pest control to flood protection and food resources.

• Urban forests have the added benefit of improving public health and equity. Increased tree canopy coverage in cities reduces temperatures, mitigates the risk of heat-related illness and death, and improves mental health in underserved communities.

• The 2023 Farm Bill presents opportunities to leverage forest management as a natural climate solution, including by providing benefits and incentives to landowners to maintain working, healthy forests.

• The upcoming Farm Bill can encourage more equitable administration of forest conservation programs, with consideration of cost-share exemptions and match flexibility.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to watch our briefing on opportunities to cultivate climate-smart conservation programs in this year’s Farm Bill. The conservation title of the Farm Bill contains important programs and policies that help agricultural producers, forest managers, and rural communities take advantage of opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate impacts, while also generating other benefits such as improved water and air quality, soil health, biodiversity, and jobs.

Conservation of private, public, working, and nonworking lands can take many forms, from regenerative agricultural practices to conservation easements. Panelists described conservation opportunities, barriers to access the many Farm Bill conservation-related programs, as well as ways to advance conservation through research, technical assistance, and financial support.

Key Takeaways

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers opportunities and assistance for agricultural producers to adopt sustainable soil management and other conservation practices. These programs are locally-implemented and operate on well-vetted, science-based standards. American Farmland Trust’s recent report, Improving on and Increasing Access to Conservation Programs in the Next Farm Bill, provides suggestions on how to further strengthen these programs.

• Floodplains provide benefits such as carbon sequestration, water filtration, and economic opportunities. A report by American Rivers, The Multiple Benefits of Floodplain Easements, highlights the utility of placing flood-prone agricultural land under permanent conservation.

• Conservation practices used in agroecology—including the introduction of native plants and the use of cover crops—mimic natural ecosystems, which cultivates a diverse agricultural landscape. These methods also work to conserve water, prevent and mitigate erosion, and build resilience to droughts and floods.

• The 574 tribes remaining in the United States hold ancient ecological knowledge of the land, and accordingly are key to the success of government conservation efforts. Tribes also require funding, technical assistance, training, and capacity-building to support the conservation goals of the federal government.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to learn from our briefing which explored the latest advancements in agricultural research, technology, and practices. As climate change continues to trigger extreme weather of increasing frequency and severity, farmers and ranchers are looking for innovative techniques to bolster crop resilience and ensure food security. Research in areas ranging from drought-resistant crops to carbon sequestration and precision agriculture can provide new ways of mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Department of Agriculture-supported research programs and partnerships are generating creative, climate-smart solutions to enhance resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on farms and ranches. During this briefing, panelists will discuss innovations in agricultural research, as well as how to invest in, scale up, and evaluate effective practices. The briefing also explored how new policies could further support ongoing agricultural research.

Key Takeaways

• Publicly-funded agriculture research and development provides a scientific foundation that enables farmers to produce more food with less land, labor, fertilizers, pesticides, and, notably, fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

• The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) are dependent on the Farm Bill for funding, and these programs are critical to climate mitigation research in the agriculture sector.

• The Federally-Recognized Tribes Extension Program (FRTEP) was created through the 1990 Farm Bill to address the inequities in agricultural education (extension) offered to Native American farmers and ranchers. However, due to a lack of funding, FRTEP has not reached its full potential.

• Research conducted by land-grant universities can cover broad issues involving the agriculture sector, such as nitrate pollution and eutrophication. Research can also explore on-farm challenges like soil erosion and yield sensitivity to extreme weather events as well as how policies, like crop insurance, relate to on-farm activity.

• The biggest barrier to providing incentives for farmers to implement climate-friendly practices is a lack of data surrounding which methods are effective. To start to address this challenge, the Inflation Reduction Act allocates $300 million for measuring, monitoring, verifying, and reporting carbon sequestration and methane and nitrous oxide emission reductions.