Congressman Tim Holden of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research, held a hearing Dec. 2 to review economic analyses that consider the potential economic impacts of climate change on the farm sector.
USDA’s chief economist Dr. Joseph Glauber and witnesses representing academic institutions and research organizations provided testimony about the results of analyses of the potential economic impacts on agriculture associated with climate change and climate change legislation.
Tomorrow, the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research will hold a second hearing to focus on research related to the potential costs and benefits of agriculture offset proposals to address climate change.
“It is clear from today’s hearing that there is still a lot of uncertainty with some of the modeling assumptions and data used to estimate the potential impact of climate change and climate change legislation on agriculture. The expert testimony of our witnesses from USDA and those analysts and economists on the front lines of climate change research reaffirm that additional questions must be asked and answered before we draw any definitive conclusions,” Subcommittee Chairman Holden said.
“Today’s hearing demonstrated that there are serious economic consequences for our farmers under cap and trade due to higher energy prices and increased operating costs associated with it. We need to continue to study the impact climate change legislation would have on the future of agriculture,” said Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA).
Written testimony provided by the witnesses is available on the Committee website: http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html.
A full transcript of the hearing will be posted on the Committee website at a later date.