November 29, 2000

Two weeks of negotiations among 160 countries at the recent United Nations global climate change summit in The Hague concluded Sunday with no agreement on how to tackle the problem. Frustrated negotiators vowed to reconvene in a few months to try again. Many blame the U.S. proposal for the breakdown in the talks.

To the U.S. delegation, one proposal had merit: Allow crop, pasture and range land activities that sequester carbon in the soil to meet international obligations established in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. This approach would encourage conservation and new farming technologies, proponents said and would help the United States meet its reduction goal half way, thus avoiding serious economic distress, especially to the ag industry.

But opponents, led by the European Union, charged that the idea was a way for the United States to evade its treaty commitments. "The EU views this approach as ‘business as usual' for the United States because of our geographic landscape," said Jon Doggett, an American Farm Bureau Federation senior director of governmental relations. "We have carbon sinks, the EU doesn't."

The U.S. agriculture industry is seeking ways to incorporate more efficient technologies into their operations, Doggett said. "There is a lot farmers and ranchers can do to reduce carbon in the air. The trick is to find an affordable means to accomplish the end. Farmers want to use the latest technology they can afford."