Articles Tagged with ''Climate Change''

Senate Republicans used the debate on a $3.5 trillion budget framework to force votes on energy and environmental issues that exposed potential fractures among Democrats.

Californians identified water supply and drought as their top environmental concern in a recent survey, and the number of respondents who said they believe climate change is contributing to drought increased.

Senate Democrats released a fiscal 2022 budget resolution that calls for $3.5 trillion in new spending, including as much as $135 billion for agriculture and child nutrition programs, funded largely by a border carbon tariff and tax increases on capital gains and high-earning individuals.

The leader of the UN Food Systems Summit says the initiative aims to get countries to reform their own food systems in ways that address climate change, hunger and other pressing challenges, rather than enabling countries to impose their practices on other nations.

Senate Democrats are proposing a tariff on carbon-intensive imports that critics say could increase farm production costs and invite retaliation by countries that would see the tax as unfairly protectionist.

Fewer acres of California farmland are dedicated to growing stone fruit compared to 10 years ago when growers of freestone peaches and nectarines voted to end the California Tree Fruit Agreement. But apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, prunes (which USDA distinguishes from plums in its data) and sweet cherries continue to perform well.

Livestock producers across the West and northern Plains are relying heavily on rangeland insurance policies this year, even as the Agriculture Department considers changes to the program that could limit future indemnities for some farmers and ranchers.

The House Appropriations Committee approved a funding bill Wednesday for the Agriculture Department, Food and Drug Administration and Commodity Futures Trading Commission that would boost spending by more than 10%, including hefty amounts for ag research and climate-change-related programs.

A bill that would lay the groundwork for ag carbon markets by putting USDA in charge of certifying farm advisers and credit verifiers won easy Senate approval Thursday in a defeat for some progressives and fossil fuel advocates on opposite sides of the climate issue.