IATP submitted the following comment to the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on November 21. 

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The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) thanks the Committee for seeking input on the climate crisis, the most critical challenge of our time. IATP is a 33-year-old nonprofit 501(c)3 organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. IATP works to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. For more than a decade we have advocated for policies at the intersection of climate, agriculture and trade policy that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while supporting and empowering farmers and rural communities to both adapt to and mitigate climate change.

IATP has worked on-the-ground with Minnesota rural communities to develop local climate action plans. We have advocated at the national level to integrate climate goals within the Farm Bill and financial regulation. We have pushed for reforms in United States trade policy to enable climate action and reduce GHGs. IATP has been an advocate at United Nations agencies, including the Committee on World Food Security, to advance agroecology as a solution to food security and climate challenges. And IATP has actively attended most of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties over the last decade.

IATP believes the climate crisis demands urgent and bold action, grounded in equity, to reshape our economy. For this reason, IATP supports the structural reforms and integration of social and racial justice goals outlined within the Green New Deal. Farmers and rural residents are on the front lines of the climate crisis with deep ties to natural resource-based economies. Farmers are dealing with six straight years of low prices, often below the cost of production, and rising debt and farm bankruptcies. Climate policies need to reflect these economic challenges and provide a path forward that reduces emissions and spurs a more equitable economy.

In this comment to the Committee, IATP identifies a series of concrete policy recommendations in the following broad areas: 

• The Farm Bill and other agriculture-related programs
• Regulating GHG emissions 
• Financial regulations
• Trade policy

As a whole, IATP believes these reforms would result in real GHG emission reductions and aid farmers and rural communities in making a transition toward more climate-resilient and economically just systems – both in the U.S. and around the world.  

Download the full comment to read more.