Michigan Farmers Want Climate Change Legislation

Bay City Times

A group of Michigan farmers has declared its support for federal climate change legislation they say would boost clean energy production in the United States.

They say the legislation is necessary to ensure the future of America's farming industry.

Maynard Beery, owner of Beery Farms in Mason, said in a statement released this week by Clean Water Action that extreme weather caused by climate change is already impacting crop yields. Berry said attempts by some in Congress to weaken the authority of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions would have disastrous effects for his farm.

"We aren't going to solve anything by sticking our heads in the sand," Berry said. "We need to act on climate change, or else we're going to be in a world of hurt."

Berry made the statements during a press call hosted by hosted by Clean Water Action and 1Sky. The farmers discussed how their industry could contribute to greenhouse gas reduction through carbon sequestration in the soil, low-impact practices and leasing land for the placement of solar panels and wind turbines.

All this while the American Farm Bureau Federation doesn't "believe" in human-induced climate change.

The Farm Bureau maintains that "there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment on ... carbon emissions from human activities, their impact on past decades of warming, or how they will affect future climate changes," according to Michigan Farm News.

The New notes, correctly, that "scientific institutions worldwide have concluded that human activity is causing global warming."