House Democrats are driving the climate change agenda in the 116th Congress.  Major Leader Pelosi created the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis to make a recommendation to Congress on policies and innovations to achieve substantial and permanent carbon reduction. 

As part of its effort to engage the various segments of the economy, the Select Committee solicited the agriculture industry for ideas and will release those policy ideas in a March 2020 policy paper.

The Organic Farmers Association responded to the request for policy priorities and submitted a letter late November to the Select Committee where we encouraged Congress to recognize the immediate availability of organic soils to store carbon.  

We followed up our comments with a meeting with Select Committee staff on the Hill.  In this meeting, OFA reviewed the policy priorities outlined in our letter and provided feedback on aspects of the report they are considering for the expected March 2020 report.  Some issues were brought to the OFA policy committee for discussion and then reported back to the Select Committee with feedback. We hope to continue to provide feedback from Organic Farmers Association into this process. 

Organic Farmers Association encouraged the Subcommittee to proceed with a “whole-farm view” as they establish policy priorities for the carbon-sequestration potential. This approach brings hope and practical solutions for climate stability. Organic farming’s potential can be magnified with Congress’s help to update federal policies considering climate change and evolving food systems. 

We will continue our engagement with the Select committee staff as it works to write its agriculture section of the March 2020 report.