As Farmers Split from the GOP on Climate Change, They’re Getting Billions to Fight It
by Scott Neuman (NPR) … The government’s conservation programs are meant to bolster farmers’ response to climate change, as (Iowa farmer Robb) Ewoldt and others like him are forced to confront worsening droughts on the one hand, and unprecedented rainfall and flooding on the other. But even with billions more in federal assistance on the way, there is little sign the massive infusion of money from Democrats’ recently passed Inflation Reduction Act will reshape politics in the solidly Republican state of Iowa, nor move the dial for farmers in other rural areas where the GOP maintains a seemingly irreversible foothold.
Farmers will be getting billions more for conservation
The CSP was enacted as part of the 2008 Farm Bill, but the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Democrats on a straight party-line vote, has added a whopping $20 billion to it and other conservation programs specifically aimed at helping farmers combat the effects of climate change.
“This is a big chunk of funding relative to what they’ve had in recent years,” says Cathy Day, climate policy coordinator with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. She says in the past, the programs have been stretched so thin that “we generally have somewhere in the range of 3 to 4 times the farmers applying compared to those who actually get contracts.”
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A survey published in 2021 indicates that about 80% of farmers now believe climate change is occurring. That’s a huge shift from just eight years ago, when a four-state survey indicated that most did not accept the concept of climate change nor believe its impact would reduce their crop yields.
The time period over which that switch has occurred coincides with the warmest seven years on record globally, as well as climate-fueled fires, floods and heat waves in the U.S.
Even so, as a group, farmers have remained steadfast in their support of Republicans, despite the party’s history of being closely associated with denying the scientific consensus on climate change. (Although among Republican voters in general, there’s been a significant shift from just a decade ago).
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Tim Dufault, 62, works 1,600 acres in northwestern Minnesota, near the town of Crookston. He’s seen a lot of changes in farm fields in the state in the past several decades that he attributes to climate change.
“It’s hard to refute that the world is getting warmer,” he says.
The mix of crops in his corner of the state is a lot different than when he started farming four decades ago. “There’s hardly any barley, sunflowers, [or] potatoes anymore because it’s gotten warmer and wetter and it’s harder to get a good quality crop,” he says.
“In the meantime, warm season crops like soybeans and corn have moved up into this area. So, you know, that kind of really tells the story,” says Dufault, who describes himself as “a moderate, but mostly Democrat.”
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(South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott) VanderWal says Trump’s trade dispute with China hurt farmers in South Dakota, but now his frustration with President Biden is in not moving past his predecessor’s policies.
In 2020, Phase 1 of a new trade agreement with China went into effect, with Beijing agreeing to purchase $80 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products in the first year.
VanderWal wonders what comes next. “We’ve asked them what the future [is],” he says. “It’s almost two years now, and we’ve heard almost nothing about international trade.” READ MORE
