Sierra Club members traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby the U.S. Congress to ensure climate-smart agriculture programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) become standing agriculture policy.
Eight volunteers representing the Food and Agriculture Grassroots Network Team descended on the U.S. Congress to advocate for a better Farm Bill. Volunteers hailed from Montana, Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Minnesota—states with critical interest in the bill's outcome and with Congress members on influential panels.
The Farm Bill sets national agriculture policy, and a new one is meant to be passed every five years. The last full-fledged Farm Bill was passed in 2018. Presently, there is a brief extension of that law, which ends at the close of the federal fiscal year.
Volunteers made clear in 30+ meetings with staff and members of Congress, as well as get-togethers with entire state delegations, that farmers are looking to Congress to pass a new Farm Bill this year and that the law must include turning the $20 billion for climate-smart agriculture programs in the IRA into standing agricultural policy. These investments support activities that improve yields, soil health and water conservation while drawing down massive amounts of carbon.
Democrats committed to stand strong and block any Farm Bill that fails to advance historic climate investments. Republicans failed to name actual problems with the popular and oversubscribed activities funded by the climate-smart programs beyond not wanting to hand Democrats a 2024 climate win.
In meetings with Democrats and Republicans, the volunteers heard concerns that the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the office that administers climate-smart funding, needs better organization and greater capacity. One senior senator expressed interest in Sierra Club talking to the Farm Bureau and encouraging the United States Department of Agriculture to administer funds swiftly and proportionately. The senator hopes to create the venue for Sierra Club to forge this indomitable alliance.
Many thanks to the volunteer leads of the lobby trip, including Cheryl Ruble (MI), Susan Patton (KY), Hank Graddy (KY), and Iliana Paul, Gwyn Jones, Shruti Bhatnagar, Bob Bingaman, Bradley Williams and Anna Medema.
