Reducing Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions through “Climate-Smart” Markets, Technical Innovation, and Emissions Credit Trading

We examine three pathways for reducing agricultural greenhouse gas (ag-GHG) emissions in the United States that complement the Farm Bill’s Title II programs:support for the development of markets for “climate-smart” agricultural productsresearch and development (R&D) support by the public sector for technical innovation that improves capabilities to reduce ag-GHG emissionsag-GHG emissions credits that can be used by other GHG sources to offset a portion of their own emissions-reduction obligationsClimate-smart agricultural products have lower GHG emissions in their supply chains. In addition to how those reductions are accomplished and validated, a key issue is what demand there will be for such products if their costs exceed those of conventional alternatives.Agricultural R&D is supported under Title VII of the Farm Bill and through other means. Key issues are broadening the range of ag-GHG mitigation practices receiving R&D support and ensuring the fruits of agricultural R&D are relevant for and available to a diverse array of producers.Ag-GHG emissions credits facilitate lower costs for achieving emissions mitigation, which may also increase ambition for mitigation. To have ag-GHG emissions credits that are both environmentally sound and affordable, several measurement and validation challenges need to be addressed, including establishing that the claimed ag-GHG emissions reductions would not have happened anyway (in other words, they are additional).