Ag Conservationists
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. American Farm Bureau Federation Vice President Scott VanderWal testified last week to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in support of the Livestock Regulatory Protection Act.
VanderWal says he wanted to stress that agriculture has been tremendously innovative over many years and with the subject of greenhouse gas emissions, we want them to understand the tremendous strides we've made …
VANDERWAL … “Of course, agriculture is always looking to improve. We've become much more efficient both from an input standpoint and also from greenhouse gas emissions standpoint per unit of productivity.”
The legislation would prohibit the EPA from regulating agriculture based on greenhouse gas emissions …
VANDERWAL … “The strides that we've made have been voluntary and market-based over the years and that needs to continue. We can't have mandatory generalizations or instructions from the government handed down to us because that causes a tremendous economic and time impact.”
VanderWal adds farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists …
VANDERWAL … “Farmers and ranchers want to leave their land and the resources in better conditions than they found it and that's certainly very important because we live on the land, we drink the water that's under the ground, and we depend on those resources to make our living, and there's no reason we would ever abuse those.
In fact, VanderWal says, they do their best to take care of them at all times.
