WASHINGTON (USDA) — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Monday discussed how properly structured climate change and energy legislation will benefit America's farmers and ranchers in a speech at the National Farmers Union 2010 convention in Rapid City, S.D. USDA also released a memo looking at assumptions in the FASOM model—developed by researchers at Texas A & M University that the Environmental Protection Agency—to study the impacts of climate legislation.
"USDA is committed to helping Congress design and implement a carbon offsets market that will provide significant income opportunities to America's farmers and ranchers," said Vilsack. "USDA and third-party analyses, as well as our experience in implementing conservation techniques, make it absolutely clear that properly structured legislation will avoid unintended consequences and provide enormous benefits to our agricultural economy, and our environment."
To download the complete text of USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber's memo to Secretary Vilsack on the FASOM model, click here.
