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Vilsack asks for support for net-zero pilot farms

The head of the U.S. Dairy Export Council says the dairy industry’s new Net Zero Project is a significant step toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and improving water quality.

“You cannot ask farmers to do this on their own, they simply do not have the resources.”   

During this week’s Senate Ag Committee hearing on Climate Change, Tom Vilsack encouraged the USDA to help create pilot farms to show farmers how to get to net-zero emissions.

“This would allow us to measure and verify the conservation and emission results.  It would also allow us to identify the costs associated with this type of farm.”    

He says NRCS programs need to be more fully funded and amenable to innovation to increase the adoption of sustainable practices on farms.

“There are literally thousands of business opportunities in terms of agricultural waste being converted into chemicals, materials, fabrics, fibers, fuel, and energy.  We ought to be committed as a country to creating this bio-economy which would create a multitude of new revenue streams.”

Vilsack says New Zealand and Europe are in the process of approving feed additives that help cows reduce methane emissions and the slow nature of the U.S. regulatory system is putting farmers at a competitive disadvantage in sustainability markets.