Achieving economy-wide net-zero greenhouse gas  (GHG) emissions will require seizing mitigation  opportunities in agriculture. In 2018, gross GHG emissions  from agriculture accounted for roughly 9 percent of  the US total (Figure 1).1  Although this is less than many  other sectors of the US economy, reducing agricultural  emissions (even as output expands to meet growing  global demand) contributes to net zero by reducing the  need for “negative emissions”—that is, carbon capture  and storage in sectors other than agriculture.

Discussion of alternatives for mitigating ag-GHG  emissions has been spurred not just by reauthorization of  the Farm Bill but also by the passage of the 2022 Inflation  Reduction Act (IRA). In Title II, Sections 21001 and  21002 of the act call for about $20 billion in new funding  for several USDA conservation programs to support  voluntary ag-GHG mitigation