President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement has been met with mixed reactions from agriculture companies, groups and representatives.
The Paris Agreement is an accord among 192 nations that aims to combat the effects of climate change.
Cargill Chairman and CEO David MacLennan said, despite the U.S. exit from the agreement, the company is still committed to addressing climate change in its supply chains around the world.
“It is extremely disappointing. Exiting international accords like the Paris Agreement will negatively impact trade, economic vitality, the state of our environment, and relationships amongst the world community. And it positions the U.S. as an outlier on this important issue,” MacLennan said in a statement. “It would have resulted in U.S. economic growth and job creation.”
“That said, we have no intention of backing away from our efforts to address climate change in the food and agriculture supply chains around the world and in fact this will inspire us to work even harder. Caring about sustainability of the planet is not only the right thing to do for people and the environment, it is also good business,” he said.
NFU: Decision ‘rejects science’
The National Farmers Union (NFU) said the president’s decision “rejects science and U.S. leadership in an effort that requires global attention. Family farmers and ranchers are already enduring consequences of climate change, and projections indicate these effects will worsen without an immediate and significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.”
“We cannot sustain a viable food system if climate change is left unchecked,” the NFU said in a statement. “By refusing to limit U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and lead the world in this space, President Trump is allowing increasingly unpredictable and destructive weather to wreak havoc on family farm operations, future generations, and food prices and availability for years to come.
Like Cargill, the NFU says it will continue to address the effects of climate change, despite exit from the Paris Agreement.
“NFU will seek opportunities to collaborate with nonprofits and private industry to address climate change productively. Decisive action is urgently needed to avoid catastrophic climate impacts on the food system,” it said.
Perdue supports Trump’s decision
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue supports Trump’s decision, saying the Paris Agreement was “not in the best interests of the United States.”
“In addition to costing our economy trillions of dollars and millions of jobs, the accord also represented a willful and voluntary ceding of our national sovereignty. The agreement would have had negligible impact on world temperatures, especially since other countries and major world economies were not being held to the same stringent standards as the United States,” Perdue said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will continue to develop better methods of agricultural production in a changing climate, he said.
