A new generation of fledgling farmers.
By Steve Groff
In his campaign to become our nation’s 46th president, Joe Biden argued that President Donald Trump had “pursued a damaging and erratic trade war,” and that farmers were among those who paid the price.
Those same farmers will be looking perhaps with a mixture of hope and skepticism to see whether they are going to be better off under the Biden presidency. On inauguration day, prices for corn and soybeans are the highest they’ve been since 2013.
Anytime a new administration takes over in Washington, there’s plenty of uncertainty. Questions abound about what promises the new president might actually keep and whether Congress will go along with those plans.
Photo credit: Joe Raedle, Getty Images staff President Biden repeatedly described climate change as an existential threat during the fall campaign. Now that he is in office, his administration will rely on the pocketbook rather than the rule book when it comes to agriculture’s contribution to slowing global warming. Voluntary participation by farmers, aided by financial incentives, has been a hallmark of USDA stewardship programs since their earliest days. The “climate emergency” is second only to the pandemic on the White House list of immediate priorities. In its first 100 days, the administration could launch pilot projects to encourage farmers to sequester carbon in the soil and begin work on databases that quantify the greenhouse gas savings from conservation practices information that could be useful for launching carbon markets, experts say.
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