Bonus Online Feature: Help a Farmer, Save the Rainforests
Ending global deforestation could boost U.S. ag revenue by an estimated $190 - $270 billion from 2012-2030.
Compiled by staff
Published: Jul 15, 2010
"Saving rainforests isn't just for treehuggers anymore," says Fred Yoder, Plain City, Ohio corn and soybean farmer. "It is in all of our best interests to protect forests."
Every second, one acre of rainforest is destroyed. This deforestation has allowed large-scale low-cost expansion of timber, cattle and agricultural production to flood world markets with cheap commodities that undercut American goods.
A new report, "Farms Here, Forests There: Tropical Deforestation and U.S. Competitiveness in Agriculture and Timber," quantifies that ending deforestation will boost revenue for U.S. producers by between $196-$267 billion by 2030 – approximately equivalent to the entire amount projected to be spent by farmers on energy during that time. This increase includes $141 to $221 billion in direct benefits from increased production of soybeans, beef, timber, palm oil and palm oil substitutes.
Soybean-producing states like Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and Nebraska each stand to gain between $2.6 and $6.8 billion in increased revenue if tropical deforestation is halted by 2030.
Oilseed-producing states across the US (including Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and the Dakotas) stand to gain a total of $18-40 billion by 2030 if deforestation is halted.
The U.S. beef industry would gain between $53 and $68 billion by 2030 if deforestation is halted, with the largest increases in revenue going to Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Joining with Environmentalists. A handful of farmer groups are joining with environmental groups to encourage an international offset program in proposed climate legislation. According to the report, tropical forest offsets cut the cost of climate legislation by a quarter to a half.
The report also finds that tropical forest offsets would save US agriculture and related industries an estimated $49 billion in compliance costs due to lower energy and fertilizer costs.
Clearing and burning of tropical forests by unsustainable overseas agriculture industries produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars, trucks, tractors and farm equipment in the world combined.
Yoder states international offsets can help turn some of the world's biggest emitters into the best solutions. If the United States can help direct the efforts, it can put the U.S. in a leadership position and help stop the continual erosion of competitiveness for U.S. ag, he says.
In Brazil, for instance, one of the biggest drivers of deforestation is not soy production, but cattle ranching, with between 60-80% of new land cleared for ranching. Land squatters take the revenue from selling forest products and clearing land to buy cattle, exhaust the resources on the land and then move on and clear more land.
The report notes that the value of land varies from $480 to $1,200 per acre for deforested land. Carbon prices in Europe are currently trading at about $48/acre. As a recent World Bank report put it, "Farmers are destroying a $10,000 asset to create one worth $200."
The lynchpin is to create an offset program that provides an economic incentive that brings more value to standing forest than destroyed forests and help steer away from illegal activities.
The report is available at adpartners.org/agriculture, along with state-by-state and industry-by-industry data on the effect of tropical deforestation on U.S. agriculture and timber producers.
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Tagged: soybean, ranching, farm, soybeans, fertilizer
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