by Bill Hagy (Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc./ Biofuels Digest) … One of President Biden’s Clean Energy initiatives includes partnering with farmers, ranchers and businesses engaged in livestock production to implement environmentally sound agriculture practices and deploy methane digesters that generate new sources of energy and revenue.
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Anaerobic digesters convert livestock waste into value added renewable energy including renewable natural gas (RNG), electricity, or combined heat and power (CHP) and value-added products such as fertilizers, compost, biochar, and bedding materials.
Only 263 of the projected 8,000 large dairy and hog operations where biogas recovery systems are technically feasible have been constructed. …
There are numerous federal programs and resources available to assist agriculture producers and businesses to determine the feasibility for and construction of anaerobic digesters. More on that here.
A growing focus on climate change continues to include agriculture as part of the solution, and sitting at the table is the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) who also is expanding its membership. As Congress and the White House look to tackle the impact of climate change and the role government plays, the initial 40 plus recommendations offered last fall by FACA will take on increasing importance in guiding the discussion for agriculture’s role.
Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Committee plans to host its first hearing on climate change on Thursday at 12:30 ET. (Note this is an updated time, changed from originally scheduled on Tuesday.) The livestream of the hearing can be viewed here. It’s likely the hearing will feature questioning on USDA’s ability to create a carbon bank and tapping into the Commodity Credit Corporation to make payments to farmers. The CCC currently pays out farm bill programs and also the pot of money tapped into for recent ad hoc payments i
It’s not yet clear exactly how the word “conserve” will be applied to the 30% of lands and oceans that proponents are touting be done by 2030. However, President Biden has penned his support and put into motion the process of planning to meet this proposal. Biden signed a Jan. 27 executive order, creating the National Climate Task Force consisting of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and other department heads.
According to the order, the “Task Force shall facilitate the organization and deployment of a government-wide approach to combat the climate crisis. This Task Force shall facilitate planning and implementation of key federal actions to reduce climate pollution; increase resilience to the impacts of climate change; protect public health; conserve our lands, waters, oceans and biodiversity; deliver environmental justice; and spur well-paying union jobs and economic growth. As necessary and appropriate, members of the Task Force will engage on these matters with state, l