Big cut in emission credits to farmers and landowners could hinder climate bill

Plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions have been sold to farm groups as a potential cash cow for growers, but new government estimates suggest farmers would make a lot less money than previously believed. Citing changes in farm practices and energy policy, analysts at the Environmental Protection Agency have sharply lowered their estimates of the potential carbon credits for which farmers and landowners would likely qualify. That could make it more difficult than it already is for Democrats and the Obama administration to sell a climate bill to farm-state members of the House and Senate. The bill Democrats are pushing through the House would allow farmers, landowners and others to get payments for up to a billion tons worth of annual reductions of carbon emissions through measures such as planting trees, leaving crop residue in the soil or using manure gas to generate electricity. The credits would be sold to utilities, refiners and others that would be required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. However, in an analysis of the bill's impact, the Environmental Protection Agency said the billion-ton cap won't be reached, and that there will be very few emission credits at all for agricultural practices...DesMoinesRegister