Greenhouse gas emissions reduction: agriculture.

Existing law sets forth various powers and duties of the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and the Department of Food and Agriculture. Existing law, the Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995, requires the department to establish and oversee an environmental farming program to provide incentives to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat, and requires the secretary to convene a Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming for the purpose of providing advice and assistance to federal, state, and local government agencies on issues relating to air, water, and wildlife habitat. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. This bill would require the secretary to establish and convene the California Agricultural Climate Benefits Advisory Committee to advise the state board on strategies to support agricultural activities that reduce global warming impacts that may negatively impact agriculture and the rest of the state. The provisions of this bill would become inoperative on July 1, 2013, and would be repealed on January 1, 2014.