PERRYSBURG, OHIO (Aug. 13, 2009) - Ohio Farmers Union (OFU) President Roger Wise today joined U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown at Owens Community College as part of a Summit on Clean Energy and Agriculture. The summit focused on how clean energy or climate change legislation could be crafted to benefit Ohio’s farm familes.
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PERRYSBURG, OHIO (Aug. 13, 2009) - Ohio Farmers Union (OFU) President Roger Wise today joined U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown at Owens Community College as part of a Summit on Clean Energy and Agriculture. The summit focused on how clean energy or climate change legislation could be crafted to benefit Ohio’s farm familes.
In addition to Wise and Brown, other participants included William Hohenstein, director, USDA Global Change Program Office; Dwayne Siekman of the Ohio Corn Growers Association; and Dennis Nuxoll of American Farmland Trust.
“While climate change legislation may generate different points of view, there is no question Congress is looking to enact clean energy policy. It is vitally important that any policy enacted is beneficial to Ohio’s farmers,” said Wise. “The agriculture industry needs to be at the table. Ohio Farmers Union is doing that on behalf of our members and consumers.”
Brown’s summit recognizes a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) analysis which shows the economic benefits to agriculture from the climate change legislation would potentially exceed the costs in the short term, with lasting long-term economic benefits.
OFU works with other groups to build support for a practical and workable climate change policy. “We believe these policies should strengthen farm income. OFU supports giving USDA the primary role in administering the agricultural offsets policy,” said Wise. “If designed appropriately, it’s estimated that the offsets policy could provide farmers with a new market worth as much as $3 billion dollars annually in the first few years and as much as $9 billion dollars by 2030.”
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