The American Farm Bureau Federation and six agricultural groups sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, saying Wall Street rules should not extend to family farms.
At issue is a proposed rule by the SEC to require publicly-traded companies to report on Scope 3 emissions throughout their value chain. Public companies that produce goods from agricultural products would need to report emissions from the relevant agricultural operations. The ag group’s concern is that the rule will burden family farmers and ranchers for no real environmental benefit.
The organizations stated, “This tracking will be extremely expensive, invasive, and burdensome for farmers and ranchers, at the cost of improved production practices that generate actual environmental gains. Family farms, particularly smaller ones, will be hardest hit, with the rule driving greater consolidation and fewer family farms. The easiest path for registrants will be to source their inputs from larger corporate operations with greater resources and more sophisticated data-gathering and reporting systems. Alternatively, registrants may simply vertically integrate their supply chains, leading to further consolidation.”
The Agricultural Retailers Association, American Soybean Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Pork Producers Council, and North American Meat Institute all signed onto the letter.
Story via American Farm Bureau Federation
