Why food companies must act now to protect public funding for climate-smart agriculture | EDF

The Importance of the Farm Bill in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

The reauthorization of the farm bill, which offers critical funding to support farmers and food businesses, is currently being debated in Congress. This is a crucial moment to support farmers and businesses—and major food companies need to make sure they take advantage of it.

What is at stake? Billions of dollars in funding intended to help American farmers adopt innovative practices and protect their businesses from climate-related disasters. If done right, food companies will see increased farmer engagement in climate-smart agriculture, supporting farmers in remaining competitive and in participating in new markets as consumer trends shift to more sustainably produced products.

How this impacts companies

The farm bill has advanced emissions mitigation and landscape resilience through voluntary on-farm conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentive Program and Conservation Stewardship Program. Boosted significantly by the IRA, which allocated nearly $20 billion specifically for adopting climate-smart agricultural practices, these widely embraced and oversubscribed programs are garnering even more interest from farmers.

While USDA conservation programs largely provide resources and assistance directly to farmers, these investments can be felt by food companies as they:

• Enhance supply chain resilience: As farmers and ranchers already grapple with extreme heat, drought, and other extreme weather events, conservation programs that increase the resilience of U.S. farms will help stabilize supplies of agricultural ingredients that serve as the base of the food supply chain.
• Create public-private partnership opportunities: USDA provides funding opportunities for food companies and other stakeholders to partner with them to address resource concerns in local supply sheds through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The IRA provided an additional $4.95 billion for RCPP.
• Establish standardized climate-focused agriculture supplier practices: USDA’s work on climate-smart agricultural practices sets a credible baseline for companies to start from when working within their supply chain. This gives consumers confidence about claims made by companies and creates more predictable supplier standards for businesses.

What’s at risk

This injection of funds into popular conservation initiatives has the potential to significantly enhance the resilience of farms, rural communities, and food companies’ supply chains, while also mitigating the impacts of extreme weather events and protecting critical natural resources.

However, some lawmakers are contemplating removing the requirements that funding be spent on climate-specific conservation practices within the farm bill. Such a move threatens crucial programs that support farmers in corporate supply chains who are reducing emissions and improving resilience, which is why it’s important for companies to speak up now.

For more information on how your company can work with EDF to protect this funding, please contact Katie Anderson, EDF’s Senior Director of Business, Food and Forests.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDG 2: Zero Hunger

   • Target 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding, and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
   • Indicator 2.4.1: Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture.
   • Indicator 2.4.2: Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status.

2. SDG 13: Climate Action

   • Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
   • Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
   • Indicator 13.1.1: Number of deaths, missing persons, and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.
   • Indicator 13.2.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning into primary, secondary, and tertiary curricula.

3. SDG 15: Life on Land

   • Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains, and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements.
   • Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area.
   • Indicator 15.1.2: Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas, by ecosystem type.

Analysis

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

The issues highlighted in the article are connected to SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 13: Climate Action, and SDG 15: Life on Land.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• Under SDG 2: Zero Hunger, the specific target identified is Target 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices.
• Under SDG 13: Climate Action, the specific targets identified are Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters, and Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
• Under SDG 15: Life on Land, the specific target identified is Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, there are indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:

• Indicator 2.4.1: Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture (related to SDG 2).
• Indicator 2.4.2: Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status (related to SDG 2).
• Indicator 13.1.1: Number of deaths, missing persons, and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population (related to SDG 13).
• Indicator 13.2.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning into primary, secondary, and tertiary curricula (related to SDG 13).
• Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area (related to SDG 15).
• Indicator 15.1.2: Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas, by ecosystem type (related to SDG 15).

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Copyright: Dive into this article, curated with care by SDG Investors Inc. Our advanced AI technology searches through vast amounts of data to spotlight how we are all moving forward with the Sustainable Development Goals. While we own the rights to this content, we invite you to share it to help spread knowledge and spark action on the SDGs.

Fuente: blogs.edf.org

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