Washington, DC—Today, farmer and United States Representative John Rose led 117 Members of Congress in sending a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler expressing concerns that a proposed rule mandating extensive climate disclosures by public companies would negatively affect farmers.
The proposed rule on “Enhanced and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” would require public companies to include climate-related information in their annual reports. This could potentially include disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related risks, processes for identifying climate-related risks, and other downstream supply chain information. This poses a significant threat to farms as it could prevent them from being able to sell their products to public companies as most do not have the resources necessary to gather all the information required by the proposed rule.
The agriculture sector of the U.S. economy provides nearly every raw product that goes into the supply chain, with a valued contribution of over $1 trillion to the U.S. GDP. While farmers and ranchers would not be required to report directly to the SEC, in reality many of the regulatory burdens of this rulemaking could fall on farmers as a condition of doing business with public companies covered by this disastrous rule.
U.S. Representative John Rose released the following statement:
“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington who have never stepped foot on a farm should not have such an intrusive and detrimental influence on how farmers take care of their land,” Rep. Rose said. “The SEC has clearly overstepped its bounds and proposed a rule that would have devastating effects on our farmers. They should listen to farmers and reverse this terrible proposal before putting our entire nationwide supply of safe and affordable food and agricultural products at risk.”
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall released the following statement:
“The Securities and Exchange Commission plays an important role in protecting investors, but its reach has never extended to America’s farms. The bipartisan letter sent to the SEC recognizes the proposed rule’s overreach of an agency whose mission should be focused on Wall Street,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We appreciate the lawmakers who have stepped forward to raise concerns about the proposed rule, which has the potential to significantly increase costs and uncertainty for America’s farmers and ranchers.”
Tennessee Farm Bureau President Eric Mayberry released the following statement:
“We are extremely concerned about the impact the SEC proposed rule could have on our farmers,” said Tennessee Farm Bureau President Eric Mayberry. “We have never been more committed to producing a safe and affordable food supply while continuing to protect our natural resources with climate-friendly, science-based smart practices, and this rule could have serious unintended consequences for our family farmers by forcing them to comply with extremely burdensome regulations they cannot afford.”
You can read the full letter sent to the SEC here.
Original source can be found here.
