House committee could begin climate legislation mark up this week

Farm and Ranch May 4, 2009 U. S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman postponed until this week a markup of his climate and energy legislation amid requests by fellow Democrats for modifications. The delay was welcomed by many agricultural groups, many of whom have a bunch of concerns over how agricultural offsets are addressed and whether or not USDA will be given a regulatory role in determining guidelines and protocols for farmers to participate in a greenhouse gas offsets market. Mark Maslyn is executive director of public policy at the American Farm Bureau. Maslyn: "We are talking about a fundamental shift in the way this country runs in terms of energy. And it is going to cost people money. It is going to cost a lot of money." Higher fertilizer prices are a given, according to National Council of Farmer Cooperatives President Chuck Conner, who was USDA Deputy Secretary in the Bush years. Connor: "There is some analysis out there saying that first year cost on corn could as much as $40 an acre higher production costs. Even at $4 corn, a very good price, that means you would have to bump you yields 10 bushels an acre just to make even, and that is probably not going to happen. So these are very, very large numbers." House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson says he has been involved in internal discussions representing agricultural interests. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.