Published Fall 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a far-reaching $750 billion health care, tax, and climate bill, into law. The bill makes historic investments in federal programs to address the climate crisis and aims to reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030.
The bill allocates $40 billion for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand climate-focused programs, notably including roughly $20 billion in additional conservation funding. This includes boosts to historically over-subscribed and underfunded programs, especially the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the program with the strongest suite of tools to support farmers as they mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. While these investments do not directly allocate funding for climate adaptation and instead focus on the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, they represent forward progress on climate at a critical time, especially looking forward to the 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization.
The Inflation Reduction Act also includes more than $3 billion in dedicated funding to provide debt relief to distressed farmers who hold Farm Service Agency direct or guaranteed loans as well as over $2 billion to be paid to farmers who have experienced discrimination in USDA lending programs. While overdue, this funding still does not meet the needs and expectations of organizations serving farmers of color.
Adapted from information from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (https://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/release-biden-signs-historic-inf...)
For a more information on provisions of the act, go to Inflation Reduction Act of 2022: A Deep Dive on an Historic Investment in Climate and Conservation Agriculture. https://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/inflation-reduction-act-of-2022-a-deep-dive-on-an-historic-investment-in-climate-and-conservation-agriculture/