Glasgow — Iowa farmers who attended the “COP 26” climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland say agriculture is finally being welcomed to the discussions. Ray Gaesser of Ankeny represented the group, “Solutions from the Land,” as one of the nearly 40,000 official participants. Gaesser says after years of fighting to get into the meetings, farmers are being given a seat at the table.
USDA officials contacted the group prior to the 26th annual COP, or Conference of the Parties, asking members to meet with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Gaesser says they provided input on how agriculture can help to slow climate change.
Gaesser says agriculture is utilizing nature’s energy sources in solar and wind as well as biofuels. He hopes those elements will be integrated into USDA’s climate change mitigation and a possible climate bank.
Still, he says farmers at COP 26 faced more aggressive anti-meat rhetoric about how methane emissions from livestock globally have grown over time and production should be eliminated. Gaesser says much of the animal agriculture message was just not accurate.
