They prolly have lots to teach you, if you only open yourself to the possibility. You could even learn something from ranchers in Montana.
Farmers Union publishes reports on climate change effects on agriculture
The Billings Gazette
13 minutes ago • By Tom Lutey
t’s been seven bruising political years since farm organizations dared utter the “c word” when discussing extreme weather and drought, but farmer Alan Merrill says climate change can’t go unmentioned any longer.
“We’re just trying to educate people that it is here, and maybe if there is something we can do about it, as people living on farms or people living in cities, we should take a look at it,” Merrill told The Gazette.
Merrill is president of the Montana’s Farmers Union. The group began publishing reports this week about how climate change is affecting Montana agriculture. The reports are based on research by Montana State University.
Merrill plans to hold frank discussions about climate change at community meetings over the next several months. He knows some farmers won’t be receptive.
Farmers are mostly a conservative lot, and with Republicans either denying climate change entirely or not recognizing the man-made pollution as a contributor, discussing the issue has been difficult.
But climate change talk hasn’t always been taboo in farm country. In 2005, agriculture was poised to play a major role in federal plans to regulate greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide. The Environmental Protection Agency, under President George W. Bush, issued the Clean Interstate Rule, which relied on a “cap and trade” system in which farmland played a key role in offsetting pollution from fossil fuel-burning factories and power plants.
Cap and trade policy limited the amount of carbon dioxide polluters could produce, but allowed those over the legal limit to make up for their pollution by paying other entities to curtail pollution. Under the plan, farmers could be paid for not tilling their fields, thereby leaving leaving carbon undisturbed in the ground.
The crops they planted into untilled stubble then cleaned the air by consuming carbon dioxide and pushing that pollution into the soil, as well.
Businesses invested in no-till farm operations by buying carbon credits through exchange markets. The Montana Farmers Union and the more conservative Montana Farm Bureau Federation both promoted carbon credits to their members.
But the carbon credit market went bust after Congress’ view of cap-and-trade soured. Climate change went from something both Republican and Democratic candidates for president agreed existed in 2008 to something conservatives mostly disputed in 2009. Pollution caps were seen by conservatives as too expensive for polluters and consumers.
The Farm Bureau now opposes federal limits on greenhouse gases and doesn’t believe pollution controls by the United States can affect global temperatures or the weather. Farmers Union officially opposes cap and trade unless it’s imposed worldwide.
Merrill said moving the climate change discussion beyond the political debate means focusing on climate changes upon which farmers can agree. Farmers are meticulous recorders of the daily weather conditions and know there are differences.
Seeds are being sown weeks earlier than they once were, Merrill said. Harvest is coming sooner for crops like winter wheat.
“In our country, we’re done seeding by the third week of April,” said Merrill, who farms in the central Montana grain belt known as the Golden Triangle. “You never used to start seeding in April.”
Since 1900, the average temperature in Montana has increased 2.4 degrees, according to EPA. The number of days considered extremely hot has tripled. Eastern Montana also receives 10 percent less precipitation than it did a century ago. Those statistics were included in this week’s Farmer’s Union publication, which also cited Montana State University research about problematic cheatgrass growing better in warmer temperatures and air with increased carbon dioxide levels.
Read more: billingsgazette.com |
