News/Commentary

GOP agriculture commissioners launch fight against U.S. banks to protect farmers from ‘catastrophic’ ESG agenda

January 30, 2024 | | Print Article

American farmers are fighting back against the leftist climate agenda as Republican agriculture officials confront woke investing by U.S. banks.

A dozen Republican state agriculture commissioners formed a coalition to face off with major banks about their membership in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), vowing not to “bend the knee” to the United Nations and its left-wing climate agenda.

“Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture requires a complete overhaul of on-farm infrastructure — one of the goals of the NZBA,” reads a letter from the GOP officials to executives at Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

“This would have a catastrophic impact on our farmers. Proposed net-zero roadmaps describe dramatic, impractical, and costly changes to American farming and ranching operations such as switching to electric machinery and equipment; installing on-site solar panels and wind turbines; moving to organic fertilizer; altering rice-field irrigation systems; and slashing U.S. ruminant meat consumption in half, costing millions of livestock jobs,” the letter on Monday continued.

“To make matters worse, these changes will increase food costs and decrease food production at a time when global food demand is expected to rise dramatically,” continued the commissioners from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

“This is compounded by the fact that, the average American has been struggling to keep up with inflation during the tenure of the Biden Administration. The reality could be much worse. These effects will hit the poor the hardest,” they cautioned.

ADVERTISEMENT

They further warned that the banks’ pursuit of net-zero goals could “permanently damage American agriculture and endanger our country’s food security.”

“American farmers should not be forced to put our food supply at risk,” the letter concluded.


Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper told Fox Business that the UN’s Net-Zero Banking Alliance poses a national security threat for the U.S. and “must be stopped.”

“American agriculture is sending a clear signal: we will not bend the knee to the failed, left-wing climate agenda of the United Nations that seeks to cripple one of our country’s most critical industries,” he said.

“Now more than ever, banks that do business with America should be unquestionably supporting American industries — and that starts with the one that puts food on our tables, clothes on our backs, and shelter over our heads,” Harper added. “The UN’s Net-Zero Banking Alliance would be the equivalent of a run on the bank for our nation’s agriculture industry and pose a serious threat to our national security — and it must be stopped.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Another of the letter’s signees contended the alliance of the major banks with NZBA is “a politically motivated attempt to appear environmentally sensitive.”

“I am deeply troubled by the lack of rationale for jeopardizing the well-being of agriculture producers and the food systems they support,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement. “If we do not move quickly to halt this globalist agenda, we will lose our farmers and ranchers and without them, there is no food. This policy must be stopped at all costs.”

Will Hild, the executive director of watchdog group Consumers’ Research called out the “existential threat” the leftist agenda creates for American farmers and ranchers.

In Europe, the climate agenda seems to have hit a wall of incoming protests by farmers.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

 

Frieda Powers
Latest posts by Frieda Powers (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles