US Agriculture Secretary says farmers could profit from fighting climate change - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

US Agriculture Secretary says farmers could profit from fighting climate change

Ag Secretary says farmers could lead the fight against climate change

Farmers could profit from climate-friendly commodities and farming practices.
Rick Barrett

WAUKESHA – Small and midsize farms could have a better chance of survival if they pursue markets that fight climate change, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday while visiting an organic farm.

The mantra of “get big or get out” of farming doesn’t necessarily have to be the case, Vilsack said while promoting the USDA's investment of $3.1 billion for projects that will expand markets for climate-smart farming.

“To help small and midsize producers, we need to give them multiple income streams,” Vilsack said, and that could include everything from carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gases to improved access to local and regional food buyers.

Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, noted that around 7% of farms now get nearly 90% of all farming income. And while he said those big operations are important, it’s vital that small farms receive a greater share of the revenue in order to stem the loss of wealth and population in rural America.

“I think it's important not just for farming. It’s important for the communities who depend on farm families,” Vilsack said while visiting Gwenyn Hill Farm.

Nationwide, the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is investing $3.1 billion in pilot projects testing the production and marketing of environmentally friendly products.

Some farmers are implementing sustainable farming practices, such as reduced tillage or cover crops, and are getting paid for it through carbon credit markets.

“You’re seeing farmers beginning to respond and markets beginning to respond. I think there’s momentum for an entire system that will allow small and midsize producers to profit in multiple ways, making it easier for them, and better for them, to be able to stay on the farm,” Vilsack said.

Organic Valley Cooperative, based in La Farge, received a $25 million Climate-Smart grant to provide technical and financial resources aimed at accelerating the adoption of 1,200 carbon reduction projects on 500 farms across the United States.

Through the program, the cooperative will provide direct farmer payments for carbon reduction and removal and cost-sharing dollars for design and implementation of climate-smart agricultural practices.

“It allows us and others to innovate in a meaningful way with farmers and bring to the market climate-friendly food,” said Nicole Rakobitsch, the cooperative’s director of sustainability.

“Organic Valley is creating a model approach to reducing carbon emissions, and we believe that model can be replicated across the food sector,” she said.

Biofuels could also be part of the solution, according to Vilsack.

Some of the nation’s largest dairies have installed anaerobic methane digesters that convert manure gas into fuel used to run vehicles like buses and trucks. The digesters have become a profitable sideline for farms seeking additional ways to use millions of gallons of livestock waste.

More: 'The poop is worth a lot': State's largest dairy farmers are cashing in by converting methane from cow manure into natural gas

Wisconsin has more methane digesters than nearly any other state, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

Under a complex but lucrative system, petroleum companies source renewable fuels and emissions reductions — from anywhere in the country — in order to balance out their use of fossil fuels. It allows them to meet the strict vehicle emissions limits in California, a state too big to ignore because it has around 12% of the nation's population, 400,000 miles of roads, and significant air quality problems.

That "carbon credits" system has spawned a methane-digester gold rush on large dairy farms.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh has partnered with a California company, Agra Energy, to develop manure-to-fuel technology at a test site near Oshkosh. It’s expected to produce liquid fuel that could be used in diesel-powered vehicles without modifications to the engine. The project could also make jet fuel which is similar to diesel.

“You can convert agricultural waste into a whole lot of things. And that becomes a new set of commodities,” Vilsack said.

Critics of carbon markets say the credits are geared toward the largest agribusinesses and aren’t much of a solution in fighting climate change. The programs will increase corporate control of agriculture, according to a report titled “Agricultural Carbon Markets, Payments and Data: Big Ag’s Latest Power Grab” by Open Markets Institute and Friends of the Earth.

“We can’t trust the very corporations that got us into this climate crisis to get us out of it on their terms and timeline.Corporations are designed to serve their investors, not the public, and that’s exactly what these carbon offsetting schemes will do by locking farmers into their networks, protecting product sales, and stalling meaningful regulation,” Claire Kelloway, Food Program Manager for the Open Markets Institute, said in a statement.

The USDA grants are meant to promote climate-friendly farming practices but not mandate them. If the practices aren’t profitable, they’re not going to be widely adopted, according to Vilsack.

“You convince a farmer by saying that if they do this, their soil is going to be more productive. And if it’s more productive, their yields are going to be greater,” he said.

Wisconsin has lost thousands of small and midsize dairy farms, even once profitable organic operations, no longer able to turn a profit or whose family owners decided there wasn’t much of a future for them in the business.

More: New generation of Wisconsin dairy farmers look for a future that keeps them on the land, following their passion

Small dairies could survive if their operating costs are low enough, they have off-farm income, or a unique product that fetches a higher price. They'll likely boost their revenue with alternative crops, such as maple syrup and hazelnuts, and become better connected to local food markets.

Some may even create a future out of thin air with industrial-scale photosynthesis that captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and with sunlight, converts it into fuels fuels. Solar and wind power will generate electricity which farmers can sell to the grid.

Trade wars, diminished natural resources and environmental pressures could favor farming on a local scale, reducing greenhouse gases emitted when food is transported long distances.

“I think agriculture has an enormous opportunity” to lead the way in fighting climate change, Vilsack said.