Engage in environmental conversation or be left out

I co-founded the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus because I believe that if those of us with experience in agriculture who have lived conservation in the real world aren’t part of the conversation on addressing environmental concerns, then we’ll also be left out of crafting solutions and end up with more top-down, big government answers to these important problems.

American voters are calling on Congress to act on climate solutions, and it is our responsibility to act in a sane manner that recognizes the reality of our situation, and understands that we must protect the vibrancy of our economy and American energy security.

Shortly after I arrived in Congress, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) introduced the so-called “Green New Deal.” This massive, multi-trillion bill represented a terrifying misunderstanding of American agriculture.

Our farmers are more efficient, cleaner and greener than any in the world. Those who have built their life in agriculture appreciate more than anyone the need to preserve our land and natural resources for the next season and the next generation, and we need to reward farmers for the progress they’ve made. The Green New Deal is unreasonable, unsustainable and clearly not the way forward.

But Republicans have to bring ideas to the table as well, and they need to be smart solutions that have been crafted with farmers in mind.

In the coming weeks, I will be reintroducing the Growing Climate Solutions Act, a bill I first introduced with Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) that helps farmers access voluntary, privatesector carbon markets.

As Hoosier farmer Brent Bible put it, this legislation rewards farmers for their sustainable practices:

“Farmers, at their core, are businessmen, but they are also conservationists and they are also environmentalists. Farmers want to do the right thing for their farms, their ranches, so that they can sustain those operations, not just over their lifetime, but over generations. This Act gives us the opportunity to do those things and have some guidance and direction in what practices are good for the environment and there is an economic benefit for doing those particular things.”

The Growing Climate Solutions Act creates a certification program at USDA to help solve technical entry barriers that prevent farmer and forest landowner participation in carbon credit markets. These issues – including access to reliable information about markets and access to qualified technical assistance providers and credit protocol verifiers – have limited both landowner participation and the adoption of practices that help reduce the costs of developing carbon credits.

The Growing Climate Solutions Act has more than 60 organizations endorsing it, including Indiana Corn and Soybean and the American and Indiana Farm Bureaus.

This bill is an alternative to the bureaucratic Washington approach, where D.C. calls the tune and farmers are forced to dance to it. The Growing Climate Solutions Act will help us ensure that federal policy recognizes the important role agriculture plays to promote America’s energy and food security.

I hope that you will consider supporting this legislation publicly, and get in touch with my office if I can be of assistance to you.

Thank you for all you do as the backbone of the Hoosier economy.