President Joe Biden tries this week to sell congressional Republicans on his massive spending plans and tax proposals, while his nominee for the No. 2 position at the Agriculture Department moves closer to a final Senate vote.

Conservation groups praised the Biden administration’s first step in conserving 30% of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030, but the nation’s largest farm group said the initiative still lacks specifics, and a key farm-state senator said he was worried about removing too much land from production.

Voluntary conservation efforts by farmers and ranchers play a central role in the Biden administration’s strategy for conserving 30% of the nation’s land and marine waters by 2030.

A broad coalition of farm and conservation groups says a USDA-run carbon bank should be used to test ways to establish carbon accounting guidelines, expand the use of climate-friendly farming practices and enable small-scale farms and minority producers to benefit from carbon markets.

The Environmental Protection Agency has taken legal action to repeal three waivers from the nation’s biofuel mandate that were granted in the waning days of the Trump administration.

Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat who’s one of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s newest members, is jumping into a range of farm policy issues, including pushing for as much as $20 billion a year in new conservation spending to be part of an upcoming climate and infrastructure package.