Trump admin’s removal of climate information puts farmers and food systems at risk
April 15 is traditionally when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, reporting the latest data on the country’s climate emissions in key sectors including agriculture. The EPA has published the inventory every year since 1997—but didn’t do so last week. The troubling climate silence from the EPA appears to be part of the Trump administration’s effort to block public access to government information on climate change, putting farmers and the food system at great risk.
The 2023 National Climate Assessment outlines a challenging picture for farmers and the food system. “Climate change—especially shifts in precipitation, air temperature, and soil moisture—is disrupting agricultural production and food systems, and is projected to reduce the availability and affordability of nutritious food,” it states. “Impacts are distributed unevenly, with farmworkers, subsistence-based communities, and rural populations facing increasing risks.”
The impacts are already being felt in farming communities across the U.S.— in the last year, farmers in Southeast U.S. were hit by a series of hurricanes. The Oglala Aquifer, which provides water for farmers in several Midwest states, dropped a foot in western Kansas. The Texas citrus industry has been hit by a hurricane, winter freeze and now drought. The Farm Bureau estimated farmers lost $20 billion due to weather-related disasters in 2024. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported 27 different billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. last year.
The annual EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory is submitted to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), charting U.S. progress on its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement. But in an executive order issued on day one, the Trump administration notified the UNFCCC that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, effectively reneging on its climate commitments.
As it does each year, the EPA posted an initial draft of the 2023 GHG Inventory in January for public comment, including the agriculture chapter. The EPA has since removed that full draft of the inventory from its website, but the draft Agriculture Chapter remains available at regulations.gov. The draft Agriculture Chapter shows the sector contributing 9.6% of the country’s emissions, with most of those emissions coming from nitrogen fertilizers and livestock. The EPA data shows a slight increase in agricultural emissions from 2022, due mostly to a rise in emissions from the potent GHG nitrous oxide. This can largely be explained by the growth of corn acres, which relies on heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer which releases nitrous oxide. Farmers expanded U.S. acres in corn from 88 million in 2022 to 94.5 million in 2023. Livestock-related methane emissions declined in 2023, due to a steady fall in the U.S. cattle herd, tied to a multi-year drought in the western part of the U.S.
Understanding trends in U.S. agriculture emissions is important for steering future farm and climate policy. From the Inventory, we can see that when fertilizer prices rose in 2022 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, farmers planted less corn, used less nitrogen fertilizer and there were fewer nitrous oxide emissions. As the U.S. cattle herd shrinks, at least partially due to drought, so do livestock methane emissions from the cows themselves. The historical EPA data points to the rise of large-scale industrial livestock production with liquid manure systems, particularly in dairy and hogs, as a cause for increasing manure-based methane and nitrous oxide emissions. The EPA data should inform policymakers on the types of farming systems we need to reduce agricultural emissions. Now, it appears there will be a gap in reporting, hiding the sources and scale of emissions and making it difficult to identify effective solutions.
The missing EPA inventory follows a ProPublica report that the agency is halting the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which reports on emissions from some of the nation’s largest polluters. That information provides essential data for the EPA’s GHG Inventory each year. Aside from emission reporting, the Trump administration has waged its own brand of climate disinformation by cutting off essential information about how the climate crisis is affecting peoples’ lives. Here are a few recent examples:
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), home to critical resources for farmers, has scrubbed the words “climate change” from USDA websites. Farmers are suing the USDA for suppressing information about climate risk.
- USDA announced this week it has ended the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program, which funded more than 100 projects designed to reduce emissions. Ending the program means that climate-related learnings from farming projects all over the country will likely be lost.
- The Trump administration wants to cut scientific research at the National Oceanic and Air Administration which includes an early warning system for natural disasters and research tracking climate change. Massive cuts within NOAA will leave the agency without enough meteorologists to do timely and effective forecasts.
- NOAA support for the High Plains Regional Climate Center, which served farmers in five Midwest states, was cut off. The Nebraska-based Center reported on weather and climate conditions, including the Drought Mitigation Center and the Automated Weather Data Network designed to inform farmer decisions on irrigation. Regional Climate Centers in the Midwest and South were also closed.
- The Trump administration cut resources devoted to the National Climate Assessment, which informs policymakers and the public about climate risk and adaptation, including a devoted chapter on agriculture.
- The administration removed a series of government websites designed to provide interactive and easy-to-access information for anyone looking to track climate-related risks or pollution in disadvantaged communities.
- The Security Exchange Commission voted to stop defending new corporate disclosure rules in court, abandoning requirements that publicly traded companies, including agribusiness and food corporations, inform investors and the public about their climate risk and emissions.
- The National Institutes for Health has indicated it will halt research on climate change and health. This research, particularly critical for farmers and farmworkers working outside, focuses on the effects of climate change on health and strategies to mitigate damage.
Ending climate programs and removing greenhouse gas data does not change the reality of the climate crisis, but hiding government climate information from the public leaves us all less prepared. Policymakers are in the dark on actions we should pursue to limit the damage of climate change. Farmers and food companies are left without critical information they will need during this growing season and in the years to come.
Congress could act to require the Trump administration to reinstate climate reporting, staffing and resources. Some states are trying to fill the gap, and a number of states are advancing new corporate climate disclosure requirements. But the Trump administration’s decision to block information on the climate crisis will undoubtedly increase risk and costs for us all.
