Request for Public Comment on 2023 Update to USDA's Farm- and Forest-Scale GHG Quantification Methods
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) invites public comment on the 2023 update to Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity‐Scale Inventory, Technical Bulletin Number 1939, Office of the Chief Economist, USDA, Washington, DC. This report provides methods to quantify entity-scale greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the agriculture and forestry sectors. The updates to this report were drafted by more than 60 authors, including USDA scientists, university researchers, and experts from non-governmental organizations and research institutions. This update adds new methods, improves existing methods where appropriate, and enhances the usability of the report. Comments received under this notice will be used to further refine the update to this report in preparation for publication as a USDA Technical Bulletin. Comments submitted will help USDA to ensure the new and updated quantification methods reflect the state of the science.
Interested parties should visit https://www.regulations.gov/docket/USDA-2023-0007 to access the updated report and to provide feedback.
The original 2014 report Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity‐Scale Inventory was developed in response to the 2008 Farm Bill, Section 2709, which states that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shall prepare technical guidelines that outline science-based methods to measure the carbon benefits from conservation and land management activities. This report provides scientifically rigorous, Department-wide guidelines for quantifying GHG emissions and carbon sequestration at the farm-, forest-, and entity-scale. The guidelines are intended for use with landowners, nongovernmental organizations, and other groups assessing increases and decreases in GHG emissions and carbon sequestration associated with changes in land management. The report and associated materials, including an erratum published in 2019, are available at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDATB1939_07072014.pdf
