FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mike Lavender

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

mlavender@sustainableagriculture.net 

Tel. 734.417.8710

Comment: NSAC Applauds USDA Investments to Improve Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Washington, DC, July 12, 2023 – In response to USDA’s release today on investments the agency is making in improving the measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification of greenhouse gas emissions, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) issued the following comment, attributable to Cathy Day, NSAC Climate Policy Coordinator. 

“The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) applauds USDA’s commitment of funds to improve the tracking and analysis of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. As the agency increasingly focuses on implementing incentive-based support for reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, effective measurement becomes ever more vital. Our understanding of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture has developed substantially over the past decades, but remains inadequate for fully understanding the best paths toward greenhouse gas reductions in agriculture. The $300 million USDA is investing in developing measurement systems will be key to expanding our understanding of how crop and livestock systems can best be improved to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions to far below their current levels, and perhaps even to make agriculture a system with potential for net greenhouse gas sequestration.”

“Addressing climate change is a central goal of NSAC in this Farm Bill. As a part of that goal,  NSAC believes that federal conservation programs must address the current challenges of agriculture holistically to ensure that biodiversity loss and related challenges are addressed at the same time as the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The money spent on measurement will be important to informing that path forward, but in its application to USDA programs should not be used in isolation from information on soil loss, water quality, air quality, species loss, and human health. Addressing all of the above holistically will be the only means of ensuring we do not replicate the environmental harm that results from our current food system.”

“NSAC looks forward to seeing the outcomes from the administration’s measurement of greenhouse gasses, and is eagerly following USDA’s comprehensive and holistic response to the conservation challenges of U.S. agriculture.”

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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more and get involved at: https://sustainableagriculture.net