Good Afternoon, I hope everyone’s week is starting off well.  It’s been wet here in DC, but it’s good to be back in the nation’s capital after spending several days last week in the Midwest.  One of my stops was at the 2009 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in Kansas City where there was lots of talk about climate change legislation and farmers. There’s a new study out from the University of Tennessee that’s been gathering attention in the world of agriculture.  I won’t go into a lot of detail (that has already been done on a prior post), but it concludes that 8 out of 9 major crops would benefit from well-constructed clean energy legislation.  More importantly, it demonstrates that these benefits will not occur if the EPA ends up regulating green house gasses – which they are prescribed to do— by the Supreme Court—in the absence of legislation. Put simply, farmers should support clean energy legislation because it offers them new economic opportunities – the alternative does not. *Read the full report or the executive summary* I’m involved in my family’s farming operation, and I think of clean energy legislation in the context of the costs and benefits.  I remember well the pressure farmers felt in 2008 when the price of a barrel of oil hit $150 – production costs went through the roof!  Lots of people talk about the costs to farmers from clean energy legislation, but I think about the age-old question: Compared to what? Efforts like the currently proposed cap and trade legislation that help to move us to a post-carbon economy will be a catalyst for more renewable, domestic energy sources.  These sources aren’t likely to drive input costs for farmers beyond 2008 levels and will in turn, create a significant opportunity for agriculture to generate income from the production of renewable energy.  Sure there will be costs; but there are already unpredictable costs – just like we experienced in 2008.  The difference is that under clean energy legislation, farmers have the opportunity to offset these costs with a whole new set of income opportunities. I figure the sooner we act to address issues like climate change and renewable energy, the more likely we will avoid the kind of calamity another year like 2008 would have imposed on us. It is possible for agriculture to be part of the solution to the major problem of climate change and address in an orderly fashion some big economic vulnerabilities agriculture will face in the future through the normal course of events. But to take advantage of these, farmers must become more engaged in the process.  I hope the discussion around this new report and analysis will be the first step in the process. About the Author: Jon Scholl is President of American Farmland Trust.  Prior to AFT, he served as Counselor to the Administrator for Agriculture Policy at the United States Environmental Protection Agency.  Jon and his family operate a corn and soybean farm in McLean County, Illinois.