The Senate Agriculture Committee has scheduled a hearing for later this month on the Role of Agriculture and Forestry in Global Warming Legislation that is expected to discuss even more safeguards for farming and biofuels in the Senate’s version of a climate change bill.

Senate Ag Committee Chair Tom Harkin told Energy & Environment News in an article published in the New York Times this week that they want to make sure the Senate bill includes all the provisions House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson secured for agriculture in the House bill and more. Harkin says he would like to include an increase in the ethanol blend rate for gasoline to 15 percent in the Senate bill.

Senate leadership decided this week to delay the climate bill until later in September. Under a deal made Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and White House energy and climate policy chief Carol Browner, the deadline for committees to finish work on the bill is now September 28th instead of September 18.

The Senate Ag Committee hearing is scheduled for July 22 at 2:30 pm. No witness list has been released yet.