Biden promises 'climate-smart' agriculture that misses the point
(Unsplash)
(LIBERTY NATION) – President Joe Biden has kicked off an “Investing in Rural America Events Series,” which he claims will boost economic growth in rural America and bolster farms. However, inspecting under the hood of the new $5 billion in Inflation Reduction Act spending reveals that “climate-smart” agriculture is geek-speak for selling farmers renewable energy technologies and little else. Not much in the proposed funding concerns farming directly; mostly, it is a sales tour for solar panels and other green gimmicks.
This election-eve spending push to woo rural Americans promises goodies, though it appears chiefly to guarantee expanded revenues for solar panel and generator manufacturers, internet installers, and other sellers of high-tech products to farmers. The “smartest” climate agriculture incorporates soil-restorative practices, particularly rotationally grazed livestock that sequester massive amounts of carbon dioxide without the need to produce more techno-toys for corporate profit. Though a few aspects of the proposed spending may support these best practices, most will churn out more manufacturing pollution in the short term and do little to spark any “new” agricultural revenue streams.
Some of the proposals are simply counter-productive to environmental health. The USDA is dispatching $900 million “to spur the production of independent, American-made fertilizer,” which will fortify sales and investment for yet another chemical corporation while undermining environmental health: Synthetic fertilizers destroy the soil, increasing erosion, water loss, and waterway pollution. The best fertilizer is manure – but no corporation holds the patents or production rights to peddle that product to farmers.
The post Biden promises 'climate-smart' agriculture that misses the point appeared first on WND.