A coalition of 21 agriculture groups says the industry is doing its part to control greenhouse gas emissions and wants a seat at the federal policy table as Congress focuses on climate change, but largely avoided using that term at a Wednesday briefing.
 
Instead, members of the newly formed Farmers for a Sustainable Future used terms like "climate smart," sustainability, climate policy and climate issues. Farmers and ranchers, they said, can help the environment with tools such as efficient water use, improved manure management, use of cover crops that can capture and store carbon and nitrogen, and ethanol and biodiesel to reduce car emissions.
 
Michael Formica of the National Pork Producers Council said the terms coalition leaders use, or whether they believe humans contribute to climate change, are irrelevant.
 
“I don’t know if it is human induced or naturally induced, the climate is changing. I think the end result is what matters, that you reduce your emissions,” said Formica, the group's counsel and domestic affairs assistant vice president. He highlighted a study the industry financed that shows that North Carolina pig farmers reduced ammonia levels from manure lagoons by 22 percent to 54 percent over 17 years.
 
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