By ALLISON WINTER of ClimateWire
The New York Times
January 11, 2010
The largest U.S. farm group will “aggressively” fight back against any attempts to change the landscape of American agriculture — including the farm bill or animal rights campaigns, American Farm Bureau Federation Bob Stallman said yesterday.
In a fiery speech that kicked off the powerful farm lobby’s four-day convention in Seattle, Stallman said farmers and ranchers must unite to respond to “misguided, activist-driven regulation.”
“A line must be drawn between our polite and respectful engagement with consumers and how we must aggressively respond to extremists who want to drag agriculture back to the day of 40 acres and a mule,” Stallman said. “The time has come to face our opponents with a new attitude. The days of their elitist power grabs are over.”
The remarks were harsher than usual for Stallman, who leads the 6-million-member farm group. Representatives from Farm Bureau chapters across the country are in Seattle this week for the group’s annual conference. Members are likely to vote on resolutions declaiming cap-and-trade legislation, according to members of the organization.
The self-described “national voice of agriculture,” the Farm Bureau has chapters in every state. Among agriculture groups, the bureau has been one of the most strident critics of cap-and-trade proposals in the House and Senate, arguing that it would cost too much for farmers because of potentially higher fertilizer and fuel prices.
The article continues at NYT.
