Proposed climate disclosure rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will drive up costs to consumers and potentially put more family farms out of business.
That’s the testimony of Bill Schwartz, a farmer from Mattawan who was in Washington, DC on Thursday at a hearing of the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations subcommittee.
Congressman Bill Huizenga is the chairman of that committee and invited Schultz to testify about the cost of complying with the Security and Exchange Commission’s proposed rule. If approved, the rule would require public companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks.
Schwartz says part of that compliance means anyone in a company’s supply chain would be required to collect and disclose the information — including family farms.
“Our industry’s focus is on growing the food, fuel, and fiber that this country needs. And being subjected to regulations intended for Wall Street does not advance that work.”
Schultz Fruitridge Farms has been family owned and operated for 70 years. The farm currently has fruits, vegetables, baked goods, meats, and hard ciders. Because it’s a busy U-pick farm, they’ve also opened a restaurant. Schultz says if the rule goes through as written, they will likely have to pass the cost on to consumers.
“From a down to earth point of view, everything has a cost. There’s a cause and effect. And so, there will be additional management, if you will, to this compliance.”
There are signals from the SEC that they might redraft the portion of the rule that would affect so-called Scope 3 parties — essentially those supply chain parties like family farms.
The agency maintains the core disclosure information is important for investors – so they know whether what they’re investing in is a positive or negative risk on climate.
