Biden mulls giving farmers billions to fight climate change. Even farmers are unsure about the plan.
Some question the effectiveness of paying farmers to sink more carbon into their soil, while others worry it could let polluters off the hook.
By ZACK COLMAN, LIZ CRAMPTON and HELENA BOTTEMILLER EVICH
03/29/2021 04:30 AM EDT
The Biden administration's ambitious plan to create a multibillion-dollar bank to help pay farmers to capture carbon from the atmosphere is running into surprising skepticism, challenging Agriculture Department officials to persuade the industry to get behind the massive climate proposal.
"There's a balance between moving really quickly and also being deliberate enough that we can bring folks along with us,†said a senior USDA official, who believes the doubts can be addressed.
The plan is to roll out some type of action this year, the senior official said, who was granted anonymity in order to discuss the department's thinking.
Arguably one of the federal government’s most ambitious attempts to combat climate change, the concept aims to use market forces to produce sharp reductions in the human-made emissions that are the primary cause of global warming.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/29/biden-carbon-bank-proposal-478224
