USDA Makes Changes to Cut Farms’ Environmental Footprint

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working to make farming less environmentally damaging. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced February 20 that the USDA was setting goals to cut the carbon footprint of the industry by half.

One of the goals is to increase production by 40% while reducing Pollution and other emissions. The other targets include: reducing food waste 50% by 2030, reducing water Pollution from nutrient loss by 30% by 2050, and increasing feedstock production to make biofuels 30% of the United STates’ fuel supply.

To meet these goals the farm industry will use technology and practices to reduce emissions while sequestering carbon in trees and soil.

Secretary Perdue said in a statement at the Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, “It’s a stretch goal, but it should be and we think we can get there. It’s going to take alignment to do that between the public sector and the private sector. That’s how we define doing right and feeding everyone as we go forward. We need to make sure that we do it in a way that preserves privacy. We know that farmers are very private about their individual data, the same way we would be about our tax returns.”

The farming industry is notoriously damaging to the environment. Pollution from factory farms includes pesticide runoff that affects waterways and drinking water. Cows and meat production contribute significantly to global emissions. And pesticide practices affect biodiversity that includes birds and bees.

The National Farmers Union said in a statement, “We’re encouraged that USDA is moving to address the issue of sustainability. That being said, we have lost a lot of ground during the last several years of federal inaction. This is the single greatest threat to American farmers and national food sovereignty — one we should have been tackling head-on for the past thirty years. The White House and USDA need to treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves.”

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