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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Climate Change Bill May Pay Farmers For Sustainable Farming

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Friday, September 11, 2009   

STAUNTON, VA - Virginia's farmers may get a boost for burying carbon in the soil thanks to new federal legislation that's currently before Congress. Federal lawmakers returned this week to consider a bill that, for the first time, addresses climate change. Farmer's groups, such as the National Farmers Union and the American Farmland Trust support the bill, in part because the unpredictable weather conditions that are likely to occur due to climate change will greatly affect farming. In addition, the bill contains provisions to pay farmers for working to lower their environmental impact.

Nathan Lott, of the Virginia Conservation Network, says farmers have heard that the legislation may increase their fuel, oil and fertilizer costs, but he says those increases will be offset by new types of payments.

"Farmers might actually have a new revenue stream to be paid for helping to keep carbon out of the atmosphere; to put the black back into the soil, as they say."

The legislation provides payments for farmers who use sustainable practices, such as no-till crops or replacing the nutrients in the soil, rather than using commercial fertilizers that lay on top, adds Lott.

"The farmer saves money by using less fertilizer, and then generates a carbon credit and might receive some payment for having helped to reduce global warming by keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere."

These practices and others will be discussed at this weekend's .

More detailed information about how farmers can fight climate change and continue to feed the world will be discussed at the Virginia Environmental Assembly in Staunton this weekend.




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