Critics are questioning how effective the Conservation Reserve Program is in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Food and Environment Reporting Network says that a lot of the land within CRP goes into ten to fifteen-year contracts, where trees and grasses are planted to sequester carbon. However, once the contract is up they claim that the land is tilled again for crops.
That causes the captured carbon to go back into the atmosphere.
The network says that the program does not take this into consideration. Agriculture contributes to about 10 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
President Biden says that programs like CRP are vital to his Climate Mitigation program.
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