In a Nov. 11 issue of the Corn E-Digest, I asked readers to respond to recent legislation being debated in Washington on climate change and cap-and-trade issues. Grant Corley, a farmer from Westphalia, KS, wrote in with these thoughts about the Obama administration’s proposed carbon credit program:
“I see nothing in it for the no-till farmer who has already been no-tilling. I started no-till in 1971, and after talking to our Natural Resources Conservation Service in Washington, D.C., I don't see enough money in it to pay for the paperwork that will be involved. It’s likely to pay far, far less to the farmer than it will cost us in increased energy costs and red tape to take part in.”
On the topic of manmade climate change, Corley shared these thoughts: “What a Scam! Global warming and climate change were here long before man. The advance and retreat of the glaciers is proof that climate change occurs with or without participation from mankind. I see climate-change legislation as just one more way government to increase taxes so that it can spend more and more of our money.
“Every economy on this earth that is still growing is doing so via increased energy consumption,” adds Corley. “There is simply no other way to accomplish it. Man has to create more food than is possible with only his own energy to survive. Just look at any third-world country to see that when they have no way to utilize a machine to multiply what they can do, they are living only at starvation levels.”
If you have thoughts you’d like to express on what’s currently happening in Washington that could either harm or help your farming operation, I’d like to hear from you. When writing, please let me know your name, where you farm or work, what your comment is and whether or not I have permission to use your comment in a future Corn E-Digest newsletter. You can contact me (John Pocock) at: john.pocock@penton.com.
As food for thought, I encourage you to view the Obama administration’s new budget proposals to mitigate climate change, which can be found at this Web link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/environmental.pdf.
You're also welcome to write to me if you have concerns or questions about this newsletter or if you have ideas on topics you’d like to see me write about for future issues. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for your readership – and farm on!