Ag Interests Debate Impact of Climate Change Bill on Mississippi Farmers

Opponents of a climate change bill now before the Senate say it will raise costs for farmers, especially small operators, like Brown Dairy in Yocona.

Everyone agrees that the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 will have a big impact on farmers. But whether the pending legislation will help or hurt is up for debate. MPB’s Cari Gervin reports.

The bill Democrats are touting as “climate-change” legislation narrowly passed the House at the end of June. Representative Bennie Thompson was the only Mississippi legislator to vote for it.

Supporters say the bill will fight global warming with its “cap-and-trade” approach. On the one hand, you “cap” carbon emissions with stricter standards. On the other hand, you allow companies with a lot of pollution to “trade” emissions – that is, to buy carbon-offset credits.

The United States Department of Agriculture says these credits will generate billions of dollars in revenue for landowners. USDA press secretary Caleb Weaver:

“Our economists believe that this legislation will actually help farmers and ranchers by giving them more options and more ways to use their land and make money doing it.”

But detractors of the bill say farmers won’t benefit from carbon-offset sales. David Waide is the president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau.

“I don’t think there’s any question it’ll be extremely detriment to the farmers in Mississippi – an extreme detriment. Because it’s going to run fuel prices and fertilizer prices through the roof.”

And farmers like Billy Ray Brown are already cutting back on fertilizer.

“It got so expensive that you literally – it was $800-and-something a ton. I remember paying $150, $200 for it. You just, you just cannot buy it.”

Brown runs a small beef and dairy farm just outside Yocona. He’s milking his cows at the end of a long day – he says he doesn’t really know what to think about the legislation because he’s too busy farming to keep up with the news. But Brown says he does care about the issues involved.

“The American farmer is probably the best environmentalist there is, because the better he treats his soil, his farm, the better it treats him.”

The Senate is expected to take up the legislation after the August recess. Senator Roger Wicker has stated his opposition to the bill in its current form. Senator Thad Cochran has expressed concerns about the bill’s effect on agriculture.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin in Oxford.