Biden, Vilsack are gentle with animal agriculture on climate

President Biden wants American agriculture "to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions before any other nation, but his administration has shied away from difficult discussions about how to curb the flow of methane from livestock and dairy production, which represents a significant piece of all agricultural emissions," reports Politico's Weekly Agriculture newsletter, passing along the guts of a story in its Pro Ag subscriber-only service by Ryan McCrimmon.

"It’s an incredibly touchy subject: The culture wars have already seized on any whiff of Washington meddling with the way Americans consume meat. And the influential farm lobby remains opposed to new environmental regulations that stray beyond voluntary measures," Politico notes. Instead, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is leaning into financial incentives and innovations like digester systems that capture methane fumes from manure pits and convert them into a source of energy."

That's not enough for many climate advocates, who "want stricter oversight of large-scale animal operations and fewer taxpayer subsidies for such businesses," Politico reports. "Some progressive lawmakers favor the sort of changes that environmentalists are seeking, including more federal support for alternative protein like plant-based meat. House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro recently called for parity in research funding for such products and traditional meat — a key statement coming from the top lawmaker who's in charge of allocating more than a trillion dollars in annual spending."

On the other hand, "Meat industry groups say U.S. producers are already way ahead of their foreign counterparts when it comes to sustainable farming and ranching," Politico notes.