Farmers Fighting New Legislation

Farmers Fighting New Legislation

New climate change legislation could soon be taken up in the US senate, and that has many Michigan farmers fighting back. Dozens gathered at a rally in Livonia to oppose the bill. Some say it could threaten Michigan farming as we know it. Electricity, natural gas and petroleum, those are the ingredients that keep Michigan farmers in business.

Ken Nobis, Dairy Farmer: "Agriculture is heavily dependent on energy, and any way that energy prices are increased is going to have a dramatic effect on us."

Increased prices that critics say could happen if the American clean energy and security act is passed.

Ken Nobis: "There's no one out there that doesn't use energy input in their operation, so every single farmer in Michigan is going to see an increase cost in production. Fertilizer we use on the farm for example, is dependent on energy prices, it's directly related, so it can, probably would have a huge impact on agriculture and the cost of food."

According to the Farm Bureau, the Environmental Protection Agency report says, if the act is given the green light, the cost of natural gas and electricity could shoot up by 30 percent. Petroleum could rise by 15 percent. They're jumps that have farmers worrying about how to feed their families and everybody else's.

Ken Nobis: "If the prices go up from where they are now, we won't be in business unless the income goes up dramatically. Either we're going to lose our farms and we're going to have to bring in our food from another country, or our neighbors are going to have to pay more for our food."

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