Die zentrale These des Beitrags ist, dass die Einführung steuerlicher Anreize für Permakultur die effektivste Lösung darstellt, um den neuen Schwerpunkt des USDA auf Bodengesundheit im Rahmen des Programms zur Agrarreform zu unterstützen.
(USDA ist das Landwirtschaftsministerium der Vereinigten Staaten)
Text von publichealthpolicyjournal.com:
Why tax-break incentivized permaculture is the answer to USDA’s new soil-health focus agriculture reform program
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The Real Incentive System: Taxes
Right now, farms get to deduct fertilizer costs with little scrutiny (under IRS Section 180). But if they invest in cover cropping, managed grazing, or perennial planting? They enter a complex and restrictive system, with caps (like the 25% income limit under Section 175), deferred benefits, and red tape. Our incentive structure is upside-down.
If we want to regenerate America’s soils, we need more than grants and planning. We need to reroute the river that shapes farm decisions: profit. Farmers don’t just make decisions based on morals or ideology. They make decisions based on margins, predictability, and long-term viability. That’s not cynicism. That’s stewardship.
A Practical Offer: Tax-Free Income for Verified Conversion
Here’s the proposal: If a farm converts 10% of its operated land to a certified permaculture system, then 10% of its gross income from farming becomes tax-free for five years. In year two, convert another 10%, and earn another five-year break on that tranche. Stack the benefit year by year. Eventually, half your income could be tax-free—but only if half your acres are proving it.
Not forever. Not in perpetuity. Just enough to recognize the risk and reward the transition.
It’s the kind of simple, transparent incentive that could turn USDA’s $700 million pilot from policy to movement.
What Counts as “Permaculture”? Let the Soil Speak
This isn’t about branding. This is about systems.
Permaculture, in this context, means practices that build soil instead of mining it: cover cropping, perennial polycultures, silvopasture, alley cropping, on-contour planting, and closed-loop fertility. These aren’t fringe methods. USDA’s NRCS already recognizes them through existing conservation practice codes—like Alley Cropping (311), Silvopasture (381), Tree/Shrub Establishment (612), and Prescribed Grazing (528).
And verification? That’s already baked in. The USDA’s new regenerative pilot requires soil health testing in both the first and last years of each contract. Use that model. If you build soil, you earn the break. If you don’t, you don’t.
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