by Jeffrey T. Manuel and Thomas D. Rogers (The Hill) President Biden has placed the Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the center of his administration’s focus on climate change. “We see farmers making American agriculture first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions and gaining new sources of income in the process,” Biden said in December. He proposes that USDA create a carbon bank from which it “would conduct a reverse carbon credit auction by offering to buy tons of carbon and GHG reductions from producers and forest landowners generated through improved land management practices.”
Excitement about carbon sequestration markets in agriculture has spread to the private sector as well, with several companies vying to tap into this new stream of revenue from farms. Policies that encourage farmers to sequester carbon are undoubtedly a good idea, but as historians who have studied ethanol policies, we urge policymakers to heed the lessons of the Renewable Fuel Stan