Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act

What it does

If Congress passes it, this bill would help slow climate change by encouraging soil carbon sequestration and improve agricultural resilience. Specifically, the bill would direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to:

• Develop consistent and standardized soil carbon measurement methodologies based on the best available science and in consultation with producers, soil carbon scientists, and diverse stakeholder groups;
• Leverage the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to develop new tools to measure, monitor, report, and verify greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration;
• Conduct on-farm demonstrations to improve producer understanding and adoption of soil carbon sequestration practices;
• Establish a Soil Carbon Inventory and Analysis Network led by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to inventory, monitor, and analyze soil carbon and greenhouse gas changes on agricultural land over time;
• Develop modeling tools grounded in direct measurements and the best available science that allow users to estimate changes in soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions resulting from implementing conservation management practices.

Who supports this bill?

The Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act is a bicameral, bipartisan bill, which means it has some support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as among both Republicans and Democrats. Senator Tina Smith introduced the bill. In the Senate, this bill is referred to as S. 2241, and these Senators are already supporting the bill.  In the House, this bill is referred to as H.R. 5160, and these Representatives are already supporting the bill.

This bill is endorsed by Soul Fire Farm, Union of Concerned Scientists and a broad coalition of other farming and climate action organizations.

Want to support this bill?

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected with your elected officials. An operator will ask for your address and then forward your call to friendly staff who work for the people elected to represent you. As a constituent in their district, your voice matters!

If your Senators and House Representative aren’t already on the list of cosponsors who support the bill:

• Ask your two Senators to “cosponsor the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act, S. 2241.”
• Ask your House Representative to “cosponsor the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act, H.R. 5160 .”

If your elected officials are already supporting the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act, you can always contact them to thank them and help spread the word among your networks.

Resources

If you’d like to learn more about the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act, you can:

• Find detailed instructions for calling or writing your Senators and Representatives (tip: enter your address)
• Track the bill’s progress on Congress.gov or GovTrack
• Learn why lawmakers support this bill (Senator Tina Smith’s press release)
• Read the full bill text

See more bills worthy of your support in the 2023 Farm Bill.