Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has argued that for
American agriculture, the income benefits from climate and clean
energy legislation will outweigh the costs (see “USDA: Economic
benefits of climate bill for farmers ‘easily trump’ the costs“).
Unrestricted greenhouse gases emissions would certainly be a
disaster for farmers (see “A Stormy Forecast for U.S.
Agriculture“). In this CAP repost, guest blogger Tom Kenworthy,
looks at some recent studies on the direct economic benefits a
climate and clean energy bill would have for farmers. When it
comes to legislation cutting carbon pollution, two Iowans
steeped in agriculture policy take very different views of the
likely impact on rural America. “The agriculture industry and
rural communities will be some of the hardest-hit areas,” says
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “For American agriculture, the
income benefits will outweigh costs, particularly over the long
term,” says Tom Vilsack, Iowa’s former governor and now
secretary of agriculture in the Obama adm