Tell Congress to Help Farmers and Ranchers Combat the Climate Crisis!

Farmers and ranchers are on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Now is the time to make sure that farmers and ranchers are included in future climate legislation and that Congress provides the tools and resources they need to be active leaders in our efforts to combat the climate crisis. In any future climate legislation, agriculture needs to have a robust title with policy solutions that empower and reward farmers for being climate stewards.

Ready to take action ? Here’s what you can do:

1. Ask your Member of Congress to co-sponsor the Agriculture Resilience Act!

The changing climate is bringing new challenges to the people who grow our food. By implementing climate-stewardship practices, farmers and ranchers can build healthy soils that allow farms to adapt to and mitigate climate change. We can address climate change and strengthen our food system by making investments in resilient farming practices.

The Agriculture Resilience Act offers a roadmap to achieve net-zero emissions in agriculture by 2040 by investing in and empowering farmers. Take action today by asking your Members of Congress to cosponsor the bill!

Here’s how:

  • MAKE A CALL: Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and leave a message for your Senators and Member of Congress like this:

“Hi, my name is ____ and I’m a constituent and a ____ [farmer, parent, concerned citizen, etc.]. As your constituent, I care about climate change! The Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA) will support the transition to sustainable and climate-friendly food and agriculture systems, while setting ambitious yet realistic goals for agriculture to be part of the solution to the climate crisis. Will you consider cosponsoring the ARA? Thank you!”

Learn more about the Agriculture Resilience Act here.

Share our blog post summarizing the House Select Committee’s report and the agriculture fact sheet with your legislators    

The Select Committee’s action plan lays out the steps Congress needs to take to put our country on a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The agriculture section of the Select Committee’s report includes seven major components: increasing carbon sequestration and resilience, decreasing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, improving technical assistance and research, supporting on-farm renewable energy and energy efficiency, supporting the next generation of farmers, preserving farmland, and reducing food waste. 

2. Share farmer stories on social media. 

The most effective thing you can do is share your own story in your own voice — with photos. Most importantly, speak up about:  

  • The impacts of climate change you are seeing on your farm or a neighbor’s farm
  • The innovating and implementing of conservation practices you are doing to combat the effects of climate change 
  • Why it’s important that Congress supports farmers like you who are mitigating the effects of climate change

You don’t need to have all the answers – just be willing to speak up in your own words! Your own stories, photos, and questions are most important, as is tagging your Members of Congress and using our hashtag: #farmers4climate (bonus: if you use this hashtag, NSAC will be able to share your post!) 

I am increasingly seeing the impacts of climate change on my farm in [your state/district]. This is a photo of [your fields, your crops, etc] – [share your story here – how has your farm been impacted and what does the photo illustrate?]. We are doing our best as environmental stewards to mitigate the effects of climate change through [what methods are you using?], but we need Congress to provide the resources we need to be leaders in combating the climate crisis. @[your member of Congress] #farmers4climate

3. Share with your network! 

Do you work with a network of farmers and “ag-vocates”? As allies and advocates, we want to be able to support farmers and ranchers in a way that is productive and effective. You can encourage farmers and partners you have relationships with to weigh in via social media and by sharing their stories with their Members of Congress directly using the resources/asks above.