The Center for American Progress strongly supports cementing and building on the $19.5 billion for conservation and climate-smart agriculture 10 and the $13.3 billion for farm bill energy programs 11 invested through the Inflation Reduction Act to unlock historic progress in the agriculture, forestry, and rural energy sectors. After drastic cuts to conservation title funding below historic levels in previous farm bills, IRA investments represent sorely needed stepping stones to establish the long-term, durable funding needed to meet today’s needs. 4 As a lifeline to farmers, forest owners, and others who are doing their part to conserve “America the Beautiful,” farm bill conservation and forest programs are critical to achieving the national conservation mission launched by President Biden and supported by community leaders across the country. In recent years, America has lost roughly a football field’s worth of natural area every 30 seconds to development, and more than three-quarters of that loss is occurring on private lands, which is where farm bill programs focus. New farm bill program investments through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) recognize the fundamental link between conservation and climate and direct resources toward practices that achieve conservation, resilience, and greenhouse gas reduction goals, all while supporting rural clean energy solutions that are building more resilient, reliable, and affordable energy systems. land conservation goal has the potential to reverse that trend and yield an additional 215 MMT CO2e stored by nature-as much savings as taking 47 million cars off the road. 3 However, achieving President Joe Biden’s U.S. 2 Additionally, a 2021 CAP analysis found that nature loss in the United States is driving the emissions of 140 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMT CO2e) each year. emissions coming from the agricultural sector and abundant opportunities to reduce emissions through improved practices and land use, the farm bill’s voluntary incentive programs hold tremendous potential to deliver meaningful gains for farmers and the climate. Climate-smart agriculture represents a crucial front in the fight against climate change. With 10 percent of U.S.
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