Source: Bloomberg 

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, whose department has been criticized for suppressing research on climate change, announced an initiative to reduce the environmental impact of American farming.

Climate change is gaining greater public attention after years of record-high global temperatures, rising sea levels, dramatic wildfires in California and Australia and widespread spring floods last year that delayed planting in the U.S. Midwest. The issue of agriculture’s role in climate change has surfaced in Democratic presidential primaries, with leading candidates calling for reductions in farming’s carbon emissions through incentive payments.