U.S. Climate Policy and Agriculture

This paper reviews the role of agriculture within U.S. climate policy discussions. The United States, one of the world’s largest GHG emitters, has seized upon agriculture and forestry-related sequestration as a mechanism to reduce its overall GHG emissions. Recent U.S. cap-and-trade legislation proposals have set no caps for agriculture emissions. Rather than considering agriculture in its entirety—what practices would be best for not only the climate, but also for farmers, consumers, the soil, air and water—U.S. climate policy instead reduces agriculture to a carbon storage coffer, enabling other sectors to avoid real emission reductions.