On November 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) issued a request for information on the use of funds appropriated under section 21001 of the IRA. That section provides funding to NRCS to support the use of climate-smart practices on farms, ranches, and forestlands. The section directs NRCS to prioritize projects that improve soil carbon, reduce nitrogen losses from soil, or reduce, capture, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production.
In the Request for Information issued on November 21, NRCS seeks public input on how it should “quantify” greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration “at the field scale.” The Request indicates that “NRCS is specifically interested in public input and recommendations that NRCS can use to improve, expand, and/or build on scientifically-designed quantification systems to monitor and quantify improvements in soil carbon, reductions in nitrogen losses, and the reduction, capture, avoidance, or sequestration of [greenhouse gas] emissions, associated with agricultural production.” NRCS has indicated that it will use the information it receives “to identify and prioritize process improvements for the delivery of funding made available under IRA.”
Comments were due December 21, 2022.
Opportunities for Participation and Additional Resources:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/11/21/2022-25292/request-for-public-input-about-implementation-of-the-inflation-reduction-act-funding