In March 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a climate disclosure proposal that will require public companies to disclose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This would conceivably require each contractor to a quoted Company such as Tyson Foods or even suppliers of agricultural commodities to track and report GHG emissions.

U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and committee member Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) have introduced the Protect Farmers from the SEC Act.  The intent of this proposed legislation is to exempt family farmers and ranchers from reporting requirements, absolving them of the obligation to track and report on-farm data.

Senator Boozman stated, “The authors of the SEC rule clearly lack an understanding of how agriculture functions.  The publicly traded corporations overseen by the SEC won’t be the ones tasked with complying with these onerous value chain rules.  The responsibility would fall on America’s family farmers and ranchers who would be forced to deal with unprecedented amount of unnecessary paperwork.”

Senator Braun noted, “I have been a leading voice for the climate benefit of farming, but this SEC regulation was drafted to meet out-of-touch climate metrics, not to meet reality.”

The Protect Farmers from the SEC Act is supported by agricultural organizations, including the American Farm Bureau, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, USPOULTRY, United Egg Producers and the Agriculture Retailers Association in addition to commodity groups.

Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OA) has introduced a companion bill into the House of Representatives.