As the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill moves forward in the House, Big Ag interest groups are circling their plows and sharpening their pitchforks. Some of the largest corporations in the agribusiness sector-including the GMO-and-herbicide giant Monsanto-are pushing to control how agriculture would fit into the bill's cap-and-trade scheme.

The main agent for their will is House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who has launched a veritable jihad to make sure the historic climate legislation hews to the interests of "production" (i.e., industrial) agriculture. Via Farm Policy blog, here's an MP3 clip of Peterson's latest harumphing on Waxman-Markey, in an interview with a radio program called Agritalk, which is sponsored by Monsanto, Syngenta, and Archer Daniels Midland.

Peterson has vowed to line up 35 to 40 Democratic representatives from ag-heavy states to vote against the bill on the House floor if his agenda isn't accepted-giving him something close to de facto veto power. In the AgriTalk segment, Peterson says, "I don't think it [Waxman-Markey] has the votes" to prevail on the House floor. Translation: If I don't get what I want, I'm squashing it.

The current version of Waxman-Markey contains almost no language on agriculture. (As I've written before, agriculture is exempt from any cap on greenhouse-gas emissions.) But farming projects would still be eligible for offsets through an offsets-review board that the legislation would set up within the EPA. Big Ag isn't content with that arrangement. In the coming days, the game will be to insert specific language around ag offsets into the legislation-and promote a certification process developed by Big Ag itself.

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