As the new year begins, farmers across our state are making plans for another planting season with hopes of something more than last year’s results of record fall rains putting a major dent in their harvest. They always face challenges from the weather, fuel, equipment and supply costs, along with taxes, but now they may even see competition from their own government. It is bad enough worrying about dry weather or even overly wet weather, but now with any possibility of the infamous Cap and Trade legislation making it through the Congress, its provisions could hit our food producers hard, driving up the cost of fuel, fertilizer and energy. Every farmer in Tennessee would be affected, regardless of method of production — modern, traditional or organic.
During the 91st American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Seattle last week, 33 Tennessee Farm Bureau voting delegates representing their state’s farmers back here in the Volunteer state, voted along side their fellow farmer members from around the nation to take a stand against the Cap and Trade legislation. The voting convention delegates approved a special resolution stating that Cap and Trade legislation would raise farmers’ and ranchers’ production costs, and the potential benefits of agricultural offsets are far outweighed by the costs to producers. Due to these and other concerns, the delegates strongly opposed “Cap and Trade proposals before Congress” and supported “any legislative action that would suspend EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.”
The special resolution passed by the delegates stated:
Whereas, proposed cap and trade legislation would result in significantly higher production costs for farmers;
Whereas, the potential benefits of agricultural offsets are far outweighed by the costs, unavailable to
many producers, and harm U.S. agriculture ““ one of the most productive systems in the world;
Whereas, the administration’s latest economic projections show that the proposed Cap and Tradelegislation would result in planting trees on 59 million acres of crop and pasture land thereby damaging the capability of U.S. agricultural producers to feed a growing world population and create the conditions for rising consumer food prices;
Whereas, cap and trade legislation would eliminate jobs, and could result in the loss of 2.3 million jobs in the U.S. over the next 20 years;
Whereas, emails made public call into question just how unsettled the science really is on climate change and demonstrate the unwillingness of many of the world’s climatologists to share data or even entertain opposing viewpoints;
Whereas, the recently completed Copenhagen summit resulted in demands for the U.S. to transfer billions of dollars to the developing world to fight climate change, but produced no meaningful agreement;
Whereas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s threats to selectively regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act would significantly burden all sectors of the economy, especially agriculture;
Therefore, be it resolved that this 2010 AFBF Delegate Body strongly opposes Cap and Trade proposals before Congress and strongly supports any legislative action that would suspend EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
And further, that the delegates attending this 91st Annual Meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation send the strongest possible message to Congress: “Don’t Cap Our Future.”
Following the delegate vote, American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman was quoted as saying, “As Congress returns to the issue of Cap and Trade this year, the message of Farm Bureau will continue to be: ‘Don’t Cap Our Future’ agricultural productivity and food security. We will now send that message even more strongly.”
“Congress should focus on renewable energy that is better for the environment and our domestic energy security,” he added, “but it should not tie the hands of U.S. producers, whose productivity, historically, has provided the world’s food safety net. We should not shrink U.S. agriculture at the very time when many are concerned about how to feed a growing global population.”
Tennessee’s convention delegates returned home from the west coast with a renewed interest to stop Cap and Trade at this time. They do have concerns about the weather, but as tractors prepare to head to the fields, the concerns at the moment are more about needed rains, sunshine and if they can get into the field this spring to plant the next season’s crop.