The National Cotton Council (NCC) has announced that the Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 will help producers and forest landowners to adopt carbon sequestration practices, thus helping lower greenhouse gas emissions. The NCC helps cotton industry segments to compete profitably in the raw cotton, oilseed, and US-manufactured product markets.
The bill, introduced by Senate Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senate Mike Braun (R-IN), is scheduled to be marked up by that committee. The bill has 34 co-sponsors, among them Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) and other Cotton Belt Senators: Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA), according to NCC.The National Cotton Council (NCC) has announced that the Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 will help producers and forest landowners to adopt carbon sequestration practices, thus helping lower greenhouse gas emissions. The NCC helps cotton industry segments to compete profitably in the raw cotton, oilseed, and US-manufactured product markets.#
Mark McKean, a Californian cotton producer who chairs the NCC’s American Cotton Producers (ACP) and serves on the ACP’s Climate Policy Working group, noted that the bill includes a USDA certification component that lowers barriers to entry in the credit markets by reducing confusion and improving information for farmers looking to implement practices that capture carbon, reduce emissions, improve soil health, and make operations more sustainable, NCC said in a press release.
The bill would require USDA to provide periodic assessments of current agriculture carbon markets; findings by the Agriculture Secretary that programme establishment will fulfil the Act’s purposes to benefit farmers; and the Secretary to hold notice and comment rulemaking on the publication of a list of protocols for voluntary environmental credit markets and qualifications for certified technical assistance and verification providers, NCC said.
Among the other key elements of the bill would be the establishment of a 32-member Advisory Council, 51 per cent of which must be farmers, ranchers or private forest landowners, and strong confidentiality provisions to prevent USDA disclosure of farmer-specific or confidential business information.
“The US cotton industry fully supports this legislation which will direct USDA to provide producers with reliable information and remove technical barriers to participating in private carbon credit markets,” NCC chairman Kent Fountain, a Georgian cotton producer and ginner said in a statement.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)
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