Not Agreeing On Cap & Trade
Not Agreeing On Cap & Trade. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.
Cap & Trade. No one can seem to agree whether it is a good thing or bad. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has been trying to sell the
VILSACK: A viable carbon offset market, one that rewards farmers, ranchers and forest owners for stewardship activities has the potential to play a very important role in helping America become energy independent as well as in our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And Vilsack see this as a money making venture for agriculture.
VILSACK: A significant opportunity to create wealth and revitalize communities in rural
Recently, USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber issued a report on how the present cap-and-trade proposal would affect agriculture. Nebraska Senator and former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns reflects on that report.
JOHANNS: (He) said basically 59-million acres of cropland and pasture would go out of production and be planted into trees by 2050. He went on to say that the cost of fuel and oil and electricity will increase by about 22%. And then he pointed out that crop production and beef/pork production will all go down and that food prices would go up.
Johanns called Glauber’s report a very important report.
JOHANNS: And it’s not good, let’s just be honest about it; this is eye-popping information. Well then a little while later the Secretary of Agriculture, and of course I was in that position, the Secretary of Agriculture starts talking that report down and saying I think there’s more current information out there and maybe more thorough information. And here’s what I would say to that…it’s the responsibility of the Secretary to make sure that the report of the economist is thorough and complete.
Johanns wants to know, what’s going on here.
JOHANNS: And I don’t get it. I don’t understand why you would talk down a report that hasn’t even been released yet although there’s been public statements about what it’s, what’s in the report. It is that current and that recent and so I just said, what’s going on here?
That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
