RIPE100 Federal Policy Proposal: $100/Acre Or Animal Unit For Stewardship
A solution for farmers, ranchers and the environment.
American producers have a pivotal role to play in tackling climate change, but they shouldn’t sacrifice their own livelihood in the process.
Current public and private carbon programs rely on a cost-share model and participation is costly to farmers. At Rural Investment to Protect Our Environment (RIPE), we believe farmers and ranchers should be fairly rewarded for carbon plus all the public benefits conservation practices provide.
The RIPE100 policy plan would allow farmers and ranchers who voluntarily implement conservation practices to earn payments that reflect the benefits they deliver to soil health, water, air and climate combined, with payments above implementation costs, economic losses during transition to new practices, and future climate policy costs.
Legislators on both sides of the aisle are interested in the RIPE100 policy but need to hear from producers before moving forward.
Here’s how RIPE100 will work for you:
- Allows producers to receive a reasonable return.
- Enables all farmers and ranchers to participate with a producer-friendly program that is simple and practical.
- Rewards early adopters and demonstrates greenhouse gas “additionality.”
- Compensates voluntary stewardship at levels that align with the combined environmental values delivered.
- Promotes equity and inclusion.
- Does not compete for funds against existing safety net programs.
- Complements existing markets and programs by allowing stacked payments up to the public value delivered by the practice.
Support for RIPE
Farmers should be rewarded for their efforts to work against climate change, and the RIPE100 policy would do that. I like that the plan does not have mandates or regulations or punishments. It’s voluntary and you can include as many acres and practices as you want. And if you are already using these practices, you’ll still get your payments. It has a lot of potential.
Eunie BielRIPE Board Vice President, Dairy Farmer
As farmers, we create public benefit not only through producing food for the world, but also by being stewards of our natural resources. RIPE is about making sure that producers get fair compensation for that.
Matt PerdueRIPE Steering Committee member, North Dakota farmer
I believe RIPE100 can be the incentive to move the conservation needle significantly across our agriculture landscape to the benefit of the producers and our communities that thrive off the stewardship of our natural resources.
Kevin NortonFormer USDA Associate Chief for NRCS
76%
of farmers support a climate policy that pays $100 per acre for voluntary adoption of conservation practices
Independent survey of farmers conducted by Trust In Food
78%
of farmers support a policy that pays for practices that improve soil health and water quality as well as carbon capture over a policy that pays solely for carbon capture