Democratic Platform Calls for Net-Zero Ag Emissions by 2050

By Ryan Hanrahan

Farm Progress’s Joshua Baethge reported Tuesday that “Democrats are vowing to reduce agriculture emissions to net-zero by 2050. The declaration is part of the party’s 2024 platform released Monday to coincide with its national convention. It calls for expanded federal programs to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners pursue ‘high-productivity, lower-emission, and generative agricultural practices,’ that improve regional food systems.”

“Democrat and Republican leaders release updated platforms every four years in conjunction with their party conventions,” Baethge reported. “They are meant to affirm the goals and principles the parties stand for. While they don’t necessary reflect the views of individual candidates, the platforms are considered an indication of what party members expect to prioritize in upcoming legislation.”

Baethge reported that the platform says that “Democrats will partner with farmers to make the American agriculture sector the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions, opening up new sources of income for farmers in the process. We will substantially improve water security and ecological health through conservation, protection, and maintenance of our water infrastructure, including water systems for home, commercial, industrial, and agricultural use.”

Successful Farming’s Chuck Abbott reported that “it was one of the first times (an emissions) target date has been attached to the first-in-the-world goal for agriculture.”

“During Biden’s first days in office in 2021, the White House aimed for a ‘clean energy revolution’ that would put the country on course for a net-zero economy by 2050,” Abbott reported. “Agriculture accounts for 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.”

What Else Does the Platform Say About Ag?

Agri-Pulse’s Steve Davies reported that “the Democratic platform contains four paragraphs specifically on agriculture, saying that ‘American farmers are the backbone of our country’ but that — in an echo of Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack’s ‘whiteboard’ speech — ‘over the years … Big Agriculture moved in, telling too many small farms that the surest path to success was to get big or get out. As a result, we lost over 400,000 farms in America in the last 40 years, and rural communities have paid a steep price.”

“In addition, ‘the Inflation Reduction Act is helping farmers and ranchers adopt climate-smart practices, boosting farm incomes and connecting them to new markets. The [Biden] administration has also supported independent meat and poultry processing, reducing producers’ reliance on big companies to buy their product; and it’s working to make livestock and poultry markets fairer and more transparent,'” Davies reported. “The document also says Democrats ‘are working to improve workers’ safety at meat processing facilities, and we will continue to enforce and advance labor and environmental rules [by], for example, promoting organizing rights and requiring overtime pay, and boosting protections against harmful pesticides and extreme heat.'”

“The Democratic platform also includes a proposal on tax policy that would risk a fight with many ag groups,” Davies reported. “‘We’ll eliminate the ‘stepped-up basis’ loophole for the wealthiest Americans, so they can’t avoid paying taxes on their wealth by passing it down to heirs,’ the platform says. The only time it mentions the estate tax is to criticize Republican plans to eliminate it entirely.”