National Farmers
Union
U.S. Agriculture and Global Climate
Change:
The Potential for Agriculture to Mitigate
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Combat Global Warming
Statement Submitted by
David J. Frederickson
President, National Farmers Union
Before the
Environment and Public Works Committee
Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change
and
Nuclear Safety
United States Senate
406 Dirksen
Washington, D.C.
July 8, 2003
U.S. Agriculture and Global Climate Change:
The Potential for Agriculture to Mitigate Greenhouse Gas
Emissions and Combat Global Warming
Statement Submitted by
David J. Frederickson
President, National Farmers Union
Before the
Environment and Public Works Committee
Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear
Safety
United States Senate
July 8, 2003
Washington, D.C.
Chairman
Voinovich, Ranking Member Carper, and Members of the Subcommittee, I am grateful to have the opportunity to submit a
statement on behalf of the National Farmers
Union 300,000 independent, diversified, owner-operated family farms and
ranches from 27 states across the nation. We commend your efforts today to
discuss the complex issues surrounding agriculture production, carbon
sequestration and climate change.
What we do know is that
farmland, rangeland, and forests will play an important role in meeting the
challenge of climate change through carbon sequestration and renewable
bioenergy. Farmers Union members historically have been very interested in, and
our stated policy has specifically called for, increased funding for carbon
sequestration and bioenergy research, development, and deployment.
We encourage you to
significantly expand efforts to conduct a comprehensive scientific inventory of
carbon stored in U.S. soils and to develop methods to predict how soil carbon
levels would be affected by different practices and policies. For example, over
the past few years the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has invested
over $3 million in projects to demonstrate and test various means of reducing
greenhouse (methane) gas emissions in agriculture, such as compost–based
waste-handling facilities, rotational grazing systems, and improved feed and
forage systems. We suggest that this effort could be expanded and made more
comprehensive.
Our farmers and ranchers also
see opportunities for increased income and increased environmental benefits in
projects that will expand efforts aimed at broadening the use of biomass to
produce power, fuels, and chemicals. In the late ‘90’s we saw funding for this
specific research at a level of $251 million; $105 million for USDA and $146
million for the Department of Energy. We encourage you to keep a close eye on
the level of basic research funding that will provide the necessary data and
information that will hopefully make carbon sequestration and biomass energy
and fuels programs a reality for farmers and ranchers.
Our members are agricultural
producers, both row croppers and ranchers, and they participate in all of USDA
agricultural, rangeland, grassland and forestry conservation programs, in one
way or another. Our members also hope to participate in climate change studies
and pilot projects, especially if these studies and projects benefit the future
of America’s family-sized farms and ranchers.
Our members are anxious to
learn from experiences with farming methods that promote soil carbon
sequestration and improve soil quality and agricultural sustainability, as
these practices can identify additional benefits beyond carbon sequestration.
We have as well supported greater emphasis on improved farm management
techniques, because we believe that teaching farmers to be the best possible
stewards of their resources is a better long-term approach to sustainability
than simple land retirement.
It is said that the
feed-grain crops and soils most prevalent in the areas farmed by our membership
are among the highest in potential carbon sequestration, especially in our row
crop farming states. We will be glad to see the results of a National Soil
Carbon Inventory that might verify this claim, so that our farmers and ranchers
can better understand and realize the potential benefits they are producing for
climate change efforts, especially now that it is grasped that they might be
considered active participants in a global climate change carbon sequestration
program. Our farmers and ranchers want to contribute to and participate in
programs that produce potential environmental and biomass energy benefits for
our country.
Our membership is also very
interested in any studies that will help us better understand the potential
future consequences of global climate change as it affects the various farming
regions of the United States. We have seen that climate changes brought about
by the El Nino and La Nina events in the past few years have affected the U.S.
farming regions in different ways. We hope to better understand these phenomena
so that out family farmers and ranchers can plan for the future, and so that
policy makers can make voluntary climate change and agricultural policy more
effective for our producers.
However, if there are costs
associated with climate change and carbon sequestration policy approaches that
result in an undue burden borne by the family farm and ranch, we will ask that
Congress actively seek an appropriate mechanism that will provide incentives
for the cash-strapped family-owned farm and ranch to participate fully in these
initiatives.
We as well look forward to
the further development of legislative initiatives that have already been
offered (that we are aware of) in this Congress such as Senator Carper’s Clean
Air Planning Act of 2003 (S.843); Senator Lieberman’s Climate Stewardship Act
of 2003 (S.139); and Senator Jeffords’ Clean Power Act of 2003 (S.366). We
think the voluntary programs that have been described in these types of
legislative vehicles could be valuable in pushing forward initiatives that
could create useful opportunities for farmers and ranchers.
Thank you for the chance to
offer our comments today and we look forward to working with you and your
staff’s on these important issues.