South Carolina Farm Bureau

October 27, 2009

Federal Climate Change Legislation

For Immediate Release

Contact: Reggie Hall (803) 936-4409 rshall@scfb.org

Federal Climate Change Legislation Will Cost

South Carolina Farmers and Consumers

Cayce, SC - South Carolina farmers will be at a great economic and trade disadvantage if Congress passes climate change legislation under consideration. The South Carolina and American Farm Bureau Federations are calling on their members to tell Congress that House and Senate bills will force higher prices for fuel, fertilizer, and energy for farmers, as well as impose higher energy and retail food costs on consumers.

While South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation (SCFB) President David Winkles, a Sumter County farmer and member of the American Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors agrees there need to be limits on carbon emissions, he said, “If the US House or Senate climate change bills pass with ‘cap-and-trade’ provisions, America’s taxpayers will foot the $200 billion annual cost. That would be a huge tax equivalent to a 15 percent personal income tax hike. There are better ways to motivate industries to cut pollution and decrease our dependence on foreign oil.

“Farmers already operate on very thin profit margins determined by commodity markets, world trade, weather patterns, and other volatile economic environments. Legislation that bribes farmers to take land out of active agricultural production serves only to drive up food prices and export our domestic food production to foreign countries where food health and safety issues are of little or no concern,” Winkles said. “We’ve already seen the adverse affects in countries where food production is not closely regulated and additives like antifreeze end up in baby formula. I dare say we don’t want that to happen here at home. The US has the safest, most abundant, and affordable food supply in the world. Let’s not tamper with that.”

The term “cap-and-trade” comes from provisions in the legislation that would limit (or cap) air pollution emissions. Industries that pollute at levels greater than the caps allow would be able to buy credits (or trade) from those who pollute less.  

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman, a Texas farmer, who was in South Carolina to meet with the SCFB Board of Directors, said, “The consequences of climate legislation far outweigh the benefits and aren’t worth capping America’s future.” Stallman is scheduled to testify Thursday before the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, co-sponsor of the Boxer-Kerry bill. The Boxer-Kerry bill would not prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from continuing to move forward to regulate all greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The bill also does nothing to provide alternative sources of energy to fill the energy deficit left by the reduction in fossil fuels, nor does it prevent the EPA from using controversial indirect land use principles that penalize ethanol, according to Stallman.

"Both the Senate and House bills would bring higher fuel and fertilizer costs to American farmers and ranchers, which puts us at a competitive disadvantage in international markets with other countries that do not have similar carbon emission restrictions," Stallman said. "For the future prosperity of the US economy and American agriculture, climate change legislation must be defeated by Congress."

Stallman outlined an AFBF-generated grassroots campaign entitled “Don’t Cap Our Future,”  “With the familiar farmer’s cap driving our efforts, the endeavor is a traditional grassroots approach that involves sending cards and letters to members of Congress, and hand-delivering farm caps to congressional offices at the state level. Farm Bureau members nationwide are voicing opposition to climate legislation. For the future prosperity of the U.S. economy and American agriculture, climate change legislation must be defeated by Congress.”

SCFB leaders signed caps Farm Bureau will deliver to the local offices of South Carolina US Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint asking them to prevent passage of the climate change legislation currently under consideration.

The American Farm Bureau Federation is the nation’s largest general farm organization with more than 6 million member families. The SC Farm Bureau Federation is the state’s largest general farm organization with more than 110,000 member families.

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