Hidden inside the Inflation Reduction Act: $20 billion to help fix our farms – By Benji Jones (VOX) / Aug 15, 2022
Farming destroys the environment. Biden’s inflation bill could help blunt the impact.
The single greatest threat to the environment isn’t hunting or suburban sprawl or invasive species. It’s farming.
Farms cover roughly 40 percent of the country, and they’ve replaced countless ecosystems with vast fields of soybeans, corn, and cattle. Agriculture also accounts for about 11 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions.
The Inflation Reduction Act could help blunt some of those impacts.
Alongside more headline-grabbing investments in clean energy and health care, the bill — which President Biden is set to sign into law this week — includes nearly $20 billion to make farmland more environmentally friendly. The funds are designed, in part, to help farmers create more habitat for pollinators like bees, store more carbon in the soil, and make farms more resilient in the face of extreme weather.
