BONNER SPRINGS, KANSAS, June 6, 2003 — Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today announced that for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will give consideration to management practices that store carbon and reduce greenhouse gases in implementing forest and agriculture conservation programs.
"Farmers, ranchers and forestland owners can play a unique role in reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S. economy," Veneman said. "Last year, President Bush requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommend ways to help reduce greenhouse gases and to increase carbon storage through targeted incentives for landowners. Today, I am pleased to announce a series of actions we are taking to meet the President's challenge.
As part of his strategy, President Bush in February 2002 committed to reducing America's greenhouse gas intensity – the ratio of emissions to economic output – by 18 percent during the next decade.
The Department will invest almost $3.9 billion in agriculture and forest conservation on private land in 2004, an increase of $1.7 billion over 2001 levels. Due to the increase in conservation investments and a focus that includes carbon sequestration efforts, USDA estimates these actions will reduce and sequester a total of more than 12 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (measured in carbon equivalent terms) annually by 2012. This amount is 12 percent of the Bush Administration's national goal.
"The technologies and practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration also address other conservation objectives, such as improving water and air quality and enhancing wildlife habitat. This is good for the environment and good for agriculture," Veneman said.
USDA will consider greenhouse gas management practices when evaluating applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP). Department actions to reduce greenhouse gases and store carbon will include financial incentives, technical assistance, demonstrations, pilot programs, education and capacity building, along with measurements to assess the success of these efforts.
Specifically, USDA will take actions that include recognizing and rewarding practices that reduce greenhouse gases within the EQIP ranking system and promoting carbon sequestration through the FLEP. Vegetative cover that sequesters carbon will be taken into account when land is enrolled in the CRP and USDA also recently announced it will target 500,000 acres of continuous signup enrollment in the CRP toward hardwood tree planting beginning this summer, which is expected to sequester one million metric tons of carbon equivalent by 2012.
The Department's biomass energy initiatives also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by assisting land and small business owners to develop renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements. USDA has made available $44 million to expand the economic and environmental promise of biomass and increase energy production and efficiency.
Additionally, USDA has an active research program focused on further actions that can help mitigate net greenhouse gas emissions. The application of research findings will aid efforts to assess greenhouse gas reductions and will underpin new accounting rules for greenhouse gas sequestration.
Information on these programs is available online.
Page Last Modified: August 7, 2008
