January 13, 2010

 

US farm group wants a stop in greenhouse gases regulation

 

 

The largest US farm group called on Congress on Tuesday (Jan 12) to prevent the government from regulating greenhouse gases if lawmakers kill the climate change legislation.

 

The six-million-member American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) underlined its firm opposition to legislation to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

 

Delegates at the AFBF annual meeting voted to support any legislative action to suspend authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gases under air pollution laws.

 

Phil Nelson, president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, noted that EPA regulation would significantly burden all sectors of the economy and drive up food prices, a notion greatly supported by delegates.

 

While opposing a mandatory cap-and-trade system, the AFBF supports voluntary carbon credit trading, development of alternative energy sources and incentives to industries trying to reduce emissions.

 

Delegates also voted to "strongly support" creation of a stopgap disaster aid programme for losses due to bad weather in 2009. Arkansas Farm Bureau president Randy Veach said a disaster programme created by the 2008 farm law probably would not provide payments for another year.

 

Bills pending in Congress would release US$2.2 billion in payments, US$1.3 billion of it to growers who have land in areas with a disaster declaration. Critics say money could go to farmers who did not suffer a loss under that approach.

 

AFBF president Bob Stallman also had strong words for the climate legislation, which he described as "misguided". He said the federation will continue to fight animal rights activists.

 

American farmers and ranchers must aggressively respond to extremists and misguided activist-driven regulation, Stallman said. A USDA study said up to 8% of crop and pasture land, or 59 million acres, would be converted to woodlands by 2050 because carbon-capturing trees would be more profitable than crops. The USDA is taking a second look at its analysis because of complaints about the economic models that were used.

 

Converted lands could eliminate about 130,000 farms and ranches, said Stallman, adding that animal rights activists destroy the meat industry's ability to produce the meat that Americans want to eat by barring modern production methods.

 

The Ohio Farm Bureau led a successful referendum last fall to create a 13-member state board, with strong farm representation, to set livestock handling rules. The vote pre-empted an expected drive this year to ban practices that activists regard as cruel.

 

Seven states have moved to ban sow gestation crates, including Michigan in 2009. Action against the cages began in Florida with a referendum in 2002. Five states have acted against veal crates and two bar "battery" cages for hens.

 

Ohio's action was a huge victory which the meat industry must duplicate far and wide, said Stallman.