SOURCE:  POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/8/21

Vilsack and Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) participated in a fireside chat on Saturday at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, to discuss the need for innovation to increase productivity and build up resilience in the food and ag system.

Focus on local: Stabenow touted funds from the latest Covid-19 relief package for USDA find ways to bolster the food supply chain against disruptions. “We need more than four meatprocessing operations in the United States. We need local, we need regional,” she said. “What do we do to build in redundancy and resiliency in our systems and be able to address things more from a local standpoint?”

A shout-out to biofuels: “I get the electric car thing, but I am not quite as sold on electric planes yet,” the secretary quipped, adding that the need for fuels for aviation and other transports opens up the door for more biofuel investment. “That’s the intersection of transportation and agriculture.”

AIM for Climate: Vilsack also promoted the new Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate, a recent partnership between the U.S. and United Arab Emirates to raise investments in climate-friendly food and ag innovations.

According to Vilsack, the effort has already reached its target of $4 billion in commitments; the new goal is to reach $8 billion by the next U.N. climate gathering.