Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, 153 organizations and businesses submitted a set of recommendations to USDA-NRCS calling for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds to support soil health and regenerative agriculture.
The recommendations, prepared in response to NRCS’ request for input, were submitted on behalf of the 113 members of the Regenerate America coalition – the leading coalition of farmers, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals elevating the voices of farmers and ranchers demanding that the 2023 US Farm Bill shift resources and support towards regenerative agriculture – and an additional 39 non-coalition organizations and businesses. The comments were prepared following consultation with producers across the country as well as high-level NRCS staff.
The $20 billion for climate-smart conservation in the IRA is a historic level of funding and represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to accelerate the shift to a more resilient, regenerative agriculture system. The growing interest among farmers and ranchers to adopt risk-reducing, soil-building practices has created unmet demand that NRCS has a significant opportunity to address using these funds.
To achieve these goals, the letter calls for targeting conservation practices and programs that will advance regenerative agriculture and soil health, including suggestions for bundling key practices, soil health equipment and testing access, standardized monitoring systems to make best practice data widely available, and much-needed education, training and technical assistance, including expanding partnerships to get more boots-on-the-ground support to small and historically underserved producers.
By implementing these immediately actionable steps, NRCS can deploy all funds authorized for FY2023 while laying the groundwork to leverage the full authorized amounts by FY2026, and serve more American farmers and ranchers who want to adopt regenerative agriculture practices that build soil health, reduce greenhouse gasses or sequester carbon, create a more resilient, profitable agriculture system, and demonstrate that practices that are good for the environment are also good for farmers.
A huge thank you to all organizations and individuals who supported these recommendations! The Regenerate America coalition stands ready to work with NRCS to ensure swift, inclusive and impactful implementation of IRA funds for regenerative agriculture.
See the formal submission on regulations.gov.
