Crops, Cattle and Carbon (6/14/11)

Published: June 15, 2011, 9:45 p.m.

b'Crops, Cattle and Carbon Cynthia Cory, Director of Environmental Affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation Paul Martin, Director of Environmental Services, Western United Dairymen Jeanne Merrill, California Climate Action Network Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture Making California\\u2019s farms more energy efficient, and ensuring that farmers can adapt to a warmer planet, will be a decades-long challenge, agrees this panel of experts gathered by Climate One. That a serious conversation on the linkages between agriculture and climate change even exists in California is largely thanks to passage of the state\\u2019s landmark climate change law, AB32. Cynthia Cory, Director of Environmental Affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation, says the way to sell this new reality to her members, most of them family farmers, is to focus on the bottom line. \\u201cWhat they think makes sense, is energy efficiency,\\u201d she says. Jeanne Merrill, Policy Director, California Climate and Agriculture Network, elaborates on what AB32 could mean for farmers. The proposed carbon trading system, currently under development by the California Air Resources Board, would enable a farm, she says, \\u201cto reduce its own emissions, voluntarily, by being part of the carbon market.\\u201d Still other opportunities await farmers. A cap-and-trade system would generate revenue, a portion of which, her organization argues, \\u201cshould go for the key things that we need to assist California agriculture to remain viable when temperatures rise and water become more constrained.\\u201d Paul Martin, Director of Environmental Services, Western United Dairymen, says farmers should be guided by a three-legged stool of sustainability: ethical production, scientific and environmental responsibility, and economic performance. His distilled message: \\u201cWe need organic food because people want it. We need grass-fed because people want it. We need natural because people want it. And we need conventional because people want that kind of food.\\u201d California\\u2019s new Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary, Karen Ross, is encouraged that food had finally entered the policy debate, and expresses optimism that young people will carry it forward. \\u201cThere\\u2019s a renewed interest in where our food comes from, how it\\u2019s produced, and who is producing it.\\u201d She highlights the role of cities in shaping a more sustainable food policy. \\u201cIt\\u2019s the real intersection of agriculture, food, health, and nutrition,\\u201d she gushes. \\u201cCities are saying, \\u2018We can do something about this.\\u2019 It\\u2019s about identifying open plots for community gardens. It\\u2019s about making sure access to nutritious, locally grown food is available. It\\u2019s about understanding what it takes to help those farmers on the urban edge, or right in our local communities.\\u201d This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on June 14, 2011\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'