Article Details

Outlet: Bloomberg Government

Date of Publication: April 23, 2023

Link: https://www.bgov.com/next/news/RTFD75T0AFB4

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Beers for Climate Fears

Agricultural conservation programs don’t always grab a ton of attention on the Hill. But beer does.

Climate activists set up shop at City-State Brewing Co. last night to make the case for environmentally-friendly beer production. As is, breweries tend to use a huge amount of industrial water, and producing crops like barley adds to beer’s environmental footprint.

One major priority is keeping the government’s promise to offer almost $20 billion for climate-smart agriculture, said the Environmental Defense Fund’s Andrew Lentz.

Some Republicans are interested in shuffling those dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act elsewhere, which I unpacked in an earlier Farm

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) visited City-State Brewing Co. to promote climate-smart agriculture practices on Wednesday.

“These conservation programs are vital,” Lentz said. “Farmers really want them there because it helps them build that on-farm resilience and adapt to a changing climate, which is making farming much harder to do.”

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), himself a former brewpub owner, told the crowd of Defend Our Future members and others that working across the aisle will be key to getting support for climate-smart agriculture.

Mitigating climate change will take a lot of work in “rural areas of America, which we’ve neglected,” Hickenlooper said. “They’re going to feel the brunt of climate change in many ways.”