Washington, D.C.—“We’re tremendously excited that the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 tonight,” says Jimmy Daukas, Managing Director of American Farmland Trust’s Agriculture & Environment Campaign. “It’s certainly historic in that hundreds of millions of acres of farm and ranchland will come under greater conservation and stewardship practices, and help our country address one of the most critical environmental challenges of our time.”

“By taking this step forward in addressing climate change with agriculture’s participation, we will be able to recognize real conservation gains, new farm income and a new era of American farm ingenuity,” said Daukas.

Daukas believes House leaders deserve great credit. “We want to thank all the members who recognized the historic significance of this vote—especially the yeoman’s efforts undertaken by the House leadership: Speaker Pelosi (D-CA), Majority Leader Hoyer (D-MD) and Chairman Peterson (D-MN). They secured agreements to include agriculture in a more meaningful way, to recognize the key contributions our sector can make to provide carbon sequestration, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and to provide low-carbon renewable energy for our country.”

“American Farmland Trust looks forward to the next stage in this legislation—working with the Senate and other organizations to eliminate any last concerns regarding agriculture, and moving this legislation to the President’s desk.”

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