NAWG asks USDA for more analysis on climate change legislation
Farm and Ranch September 1, 2009 National Association of Wheat Growers President Karl Scronce of Oregon has written Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack requesting USDA to provide further analysis of the effects of pending climate change legislation. USDA has issued a study of the costs and benefits of climate change legislation on agriculture but Scronce is asking that the department also do a comparison of studies that have been published by other sources along with the range of conclusions drawn from each. In the letter the NAWG president wrote that there is deep concern about the economic impacts of climate change regulations either through legislation or in the form of administrative regulation. During a telephone interview with Secretary Vilsack last week from California, I asked him about what benefit there will be from climate change legislation for farmers who do not sequester carbon because they can’t no-till. The Secretary referred to the USDA analysis. Vilsack: “And our conclusion was that in the long term agriculture and ranching will be net benefactors under the proposed climate change legislation in terms of agricultural offsets and allowances that will mitigate fertilizer cost increases for an extended period of time, and that will reward farmers for a variety of practices that extend far beyond just no-till. That is certainly one strategy but by no means the only strategy.” Vilsack also said American ingenuity will likely create new opportunities. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ?
