II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4845 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct surveys to collect data 

regarding the prevention, reduction, and mitigation of greenhouse gas 

emissions, soil carbon sequestration, and forest wood and tree carbon 

sequestration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 22 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 

Mr. ROBERTS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct surveys 

to collect data regarding the prevention, reduction, and 

mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, soil carbon sequestration, and forest wood and tree carbon sequestration, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agricultural Emissions 

5 Data Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SURVEYS TO COLLECT DATA REGARDING GREEN2 HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, SOIL CARBON SE3 QUESTRATION, AND FOREST WOOD AND 

4 TREE CARBON SEQUESTRATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture (re6 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’), through the ef7 forts described in subsection (c), shall conduct surveys, 

8 and other data collection and data analysis using advanced 

9 methods as appropriate, of farmers, ranchers, private for10 est landowners, cooperatives, and agricultural businesses, 

11 including nonprofit organizations, to collect agricultural 

12 subsector-specific information and data regarding— 

13 (1) the prevention, reduction, and mitigation of 

14 greenhouse gas emissions, including livestock emis15 sions reductions; 

16 (2) soil carbon sequestration; and 

17 (3) forest wood and tree carbon sequestration. 

18 (b) ESTABLISHING FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL BASE19 LINES.—The establishment of Federal agricultural base20 lines for the prevention, reduction, and mitigation of 

21 greenhouse gas emissions (including livestock emissions 

22 reductions), soil carbon sequestration, and forest wood 

23 and tree carbon sequestration shall be determined by mod24 eling based on, from the Department of Agriculture— 

25 (1) the information and data collected under 

26 subsection (a); and 


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1 (2) information and data, as appropriate, col2 lected through the efforts described in subsection (c) 

3 before the date of enactment of this Act. 

4 (c) SURVEY AUTHORITIES.—The Secretary shall con5 duct surveys, data collection, and data analysis under sub6 section (a) through— 

7 (1) the census of agriculture under section 2 of 

8 the Census of Agriculture Act of 1997 (7 U.S.C. 

9 2204g); 

10 (2) the preparation of annual agricultural sta11 tistics by the National Agricultural Statistics Service 

12 under— 

13 (A) the first section of the Act of May 27, 

14 1912 (37 Stat. 118, chapter 135; 7 U.S.C. 

15 476); 

16 (B) the first section of the Act of June 24, 

17 1936 (49 Stat. 1898, chapter 745; 7 U.S.C. 

18 951); 

19 (C) section 526 of the Revised Statutes (7 

20 U.S.C. 2204); 

21 (D) section 10016 of the Agricultural Act 

22 of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 2204h); and 

23 (E) section 7407 of the Farm Security and 

24 Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 

25 5925c); 


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1 (3) the agricultural resource management sur2 vey conducted by the Economic Research Service 

3 and the National Agricultural Statistics Service 

4 under— 

5 (A) sections 202 through 208 of the Agri6 cultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621 

7 et seq.); and 

8 (B) section 1 of the Act of June 29, 1935 

9 (49 Stat. 436, chapter 338; 7 U.S.C. 3104); 

10 (4) the dairy gas emissions model established 

11 by the Agricultural Research Service under section 1 

12 of the Act of June 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 436, chapter 

13 338; 7 U.S.C. 3104); 

14 (5) National Animal Health Monitoring System 

15 studies, including beef cow and calf studies, beef 

16 feedlot studies, swine studies, dairy studies, sheep 

17 studies, and poultry studies, and the health and pro18 ductivity audit, carried out by the Animal and Plant 

19 Health Inspection Service under the Animal Health 

20 Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8301 et seq.); 

21 (6) the forest inventory and analysis database 

22 established under section 3(e) of the Forest and 

23 Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 

24 1978 (16 U.S.C. 1642(e)); 


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1 (7) the natural resources inventory established 

2 under section 302 of the Rural Development Act of 

3 1972 (7 U.S.C. 1010a); and 

4 (8) additional surveys, data collection, and data 

5 analysis administered by the Department of Agri6 culture, as the Secretary determines to be appro7 priate. 

8 (d) SUBMISSION.—Consistent with section 1770 of 

9 the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 2276), the Sec10 retary shall submit to the Administrator of the Environ11 mental Protection Agency and the head of any other ap12 propriate Federal department or agency, and make pub13 licly available, the results of the surveys conducted under 

14 subsection (a), as the Secretary determines to be appro15 priate. 

Æ 


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