Payouts to livestock farmers soar with climate change - eenews.net
Payouts to livestock farmers soar with climate change - E&E News by POLITICO
The federal government is spending steadily more to compensate farmers when pastures for their livestock go dry — and the cost could more than double in the coming decades, the Department of Agriculture said.
In a pair of reports, USDA’s Economic Research Service said climate change is driving up costs for the livestock forage disaster program and that the government can expect to routinely pay ranchers billions of dollars annually, depending on how sharply greenhouse gas emissions climb.
The reports, based on county-level modeling of temperatures and rising greenhouse gas emissions, come as persistent drought endures in parts of the Southwest and builds in the Northwest, although conditions are much improved in much of the Plains states compared to a year or more ago.
The sometimes spotty nature of drought conceals a longer-term trend toward more dry periods than wet ones, and toward especially severe droughts when they do occur.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”