"Farmers Are Warming Up To The Fight Against Climate Change
According to this article on NPR the American Farm Bureau Federation, who previously fought against legislation to slow down global warming, has announced they have "...formed a coalition that plans to push the government to adopt dozens of policy changes that would make it easier for farmers to reduce emissions from agriculture." Unfortunately, the proposals they suggest are "...voluntary and sometimes involve paying farmers to reduce emissions...". I can kind of understand the part about paying farmers to reduce emissions; new cleaner farm equipment, upgrading farm infrastructure, and changing to more time-intensive but ecologically friendly practices, are all extremely expensive. But to have Food and Agriculture Climate Aliance be voluntary, kind of makes me feel like it doesn't go far enough. A big positive on the other hand though is that groups that previously were adversaries, are now working together. The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance includes not only the big national farm groups and organizations, but also The Nature Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund. Another positive is the incentive to increase the use of on-farm renewable energy. It may not make the kind of impact that is needed, but its a good sign that at least people are willing to have the conversation and work together.
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I'm surprised farmers have not, as a group, been more actively engaged in the climate fight. They're on the front lines, as evidenced in Wendell Berry's work. This is an encouraging story.
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