Climate Change Bill

In regard to the recently passed climate change bill there appears to be no love loss on behalf of the ag industry. This legislation which seeks to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by placing a cap on them will impose strict fuel efficiency standards and mandate greater use of renewable energy sources. Carbon intensive industries will be allowed to buy carbon offsets that will permit them to continue emitting greenhouse gases until said time that they are running more efficiently. There is no way around the fact that this legislation will be costly to the agriculture industry, but it comes as no surprise. We knew it was coming. Waiting to impose such legislation would not make it any easier or less costly; it would only prolong the inevitable. As much as most farmers would have liked to have avoided this there is no way around it. Like most hard decisions it doesn’t get any easier the longer you put it off. Yes, it is going to be costly in the onset, but to think we can continue down the same path without regard to our environment could be even more costly indeed.