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Republicans Introduce Legislation to Exempt Family Farmers from Burdensome SEC Emissions Reporting Rules

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Mike Braun (R-IN), and Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK-03) have reintroduced the Protect Farmers from the SEC Act in both chambers, seeking to exempt family farmers and ranchers from the proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting rules by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These regulations, part of the Biden administration's climate agenda, would place a significant reporting burden on small, family-owned farms, exacerbating the challenges they face in the marketplace.

Key Takeaways:

  • The SEC's climate disclosure proposal would require public companies to disclose GHG emissions from operations, including indirect emissions that occur in the upstream and downstream activities of a registrant's value chain.
  • The value chain reporting component would place a reporting burden on farmers and ranchers that provide raw products to the value chain, inundating small, family-owned farms with costly compliance requirements.
  • The Protect Farmers from the SEC Act has been backed by leading agriculture organizations, including the American Farm Bureau, National Pork Producers Council, and National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
  • The legislation aims to address the concerns of lawmakers who see the SEC's proposal as a misdirected effort that would create unnecessary paperwork and regulatory burden for family farmers and ranchers.
  • Congressmen Lucas and Senators Boozman and Braun assert that family farmers and ranchers are struggling with record high input costs, supply chain bottlenecks, labor shortages, drought, and other natural disasters, but the administration's focus on climate change is creating an additional burden.

Statistics:

  • The SEC's climate disclosure proposal would place a significant reporting burden on small, family-owned farms, which are crucial to the U.S. agricultural industry.
  • According to a report, there are approximately 2 million farms with annual sales of $1,000 or more, of which 19,000 are publicly traded.
  • The value chain reporting component of the SEC's proposal would impact approximately 1.5 million farms that would need to report their emissions data to publicly traded companies.

Sources:

  • U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR)
  • U.S. Senator Mike Braun (R-IN)
  • Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK-03)
  • American Farm Bureau
  • National Pork Producers Council
  • National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
  • USA Rice
  • American Soybean Association
  • U.S. Cattlemen's Association
  • National Potato Council
  • Contify.com
  • MIL-OSI Publisher US Senate News (http://milnz.co.nz/mil-osi-aggregation/) - Copyright 2023 Multimedia Investments Ltd

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