Economist envisions shrinking ag under cap and trade

Farm Bureau’s chief economist says climate change proposals present the nation with a dilemma. Cap and trade proposals will shrink agriculture in the U.S., according to Bob Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau, who says not allowing the offsets will jack up production costs and force some producers to quit, while allowing offsets will result in land brought out of production to be put into trees.

“I think the real question then becomes do you like the agriculture you end up with,” Young told Brownfield during an interview. “It’d be a much more brittle agriculture, it’d be much less resilient to short crop situations, because you just wouldn’t have the dirt to respond with, and that, I think becomes the real question: do you like what you end up with at the end of the day.”

AUDIO: Bob Young (4 min. MP3)

Young observes that most of the carbon reductions come from changing the mix of electricity generation as well as paying offsets to other countries to keep land in trees. He says that if that’s the case, it should be done without cap and trade provisions.