Growing Climate Solutions Act introduced in U.S. Senate

The U.S. Senate Ag Committee plans to take up the Growing Climate Solutions Act this Thursday during a committee hearing to coincide with Earth Day.

Chair Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, says the bill has added more producers to an advisory board, prioritizes equity, and provides startup funds for USDA to create a structure of climate incentives after feedback from Republicans. “We want something that is bipartisan, is workable, that’s voluntary, and that’s producer-led,” she says.

Indiana Republican Senator Mike Braun, a tree farmer, says the bill cracks the door for future climate legislation. “I think it reflects, in the year and a half that we’ve been discussing it, that there is broad interest in our country,” he says.

Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, supports the legislation. “This bill empowers USDA to provide information about carbon market options, and develops a certification program to verify the legitimacy, in somewhat of a referee type-stye,” he says.

Indiana corn and soybean farmer Brent Bible says carbon markets have a lot of opportunity once a sense of confidence can be established, which the bill provides. “We really don’t understand fully yet what is a carbon credit and what does it take to generate a carbon credit, and what companies can represent that well,” he says.

A bipartisan group of more than 30 Senators introduced the measure Tuesday.  It is supported by more than 60 ag and environmental groups.