USDA recently announced it will establish a farmer-led advisory council to help people access environmental and carbon credit markets.

Dubbed the Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program Advisory Council, USDA is seeking nominations for membership.

“The program authorized by the Growing Climate Solutions Act will enable USDA to reduce market confusion by connecting qualified providers and third-party verifiers who can offer technical expertise with producers seeking to obtain carbon credits,” Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

“The purpose of the Advisory Council is to support the program in making it easier for farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners, including beginning, underserved, limited resource and veteran farmers, to participate in voluntary environmental credit markets offering credits that represent real, additional, lasting, unique, and independently verified emissions reductions or removals,” USDA wrote.

The council will review and recommend changes to protocols for generating credits, and required qualifications for groups that provide technical assistance to farmers, among other responsibilities. They’ll also advise the ag secretary on methods used in voluntary environmental credit markets; ways to reduce barriers to entry and costs; and on how to strengthen markets that ensure consistency, effectiveness, efficiency and transparency.

The council will also submit an initial assessment to Congress about the program and will consult with the ag secretary regarding subsequent periodic assessments.

The secretary of agriculture will appoint 32 members to the council, which must be comprised of at least 51% farmers, ranchers and private landowners, and will designate a chairperson.

In addition to ag stakeholders, membership will represent USDA; the EPA; the National Institute of Standards and Technology; relevant scientific research communities, including land-grant colleges and universities and others; along with private-sector businesses that participate in voluntary environmental credit markets.

Council members will meet at least once a year. They’ll normally serve two-year terms, but the first slate of appointees will serve staggered terms of one to three years. Members won’t be paid but will be reimbursed for travel expenses.

More information on nomination packages, which must be submitted before Oct. 15, are available here.

To learn more about the Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program or the establishment of this council, click here.

Source: USDA, Michigan Farm Bureau