Ag Policy Blog

Early in Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate when asked about the impacts of Hurricane Helene and need to take steps to reduce climate change, Ohio Sen. JD Vance talked about expanding domestic energy production while Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz talked about the impact of climate on farmers.

Vance and Walz debated a range of issues. Vance argued the country was better economically and the political situation globally was more stable under former President Donald Trump. Walz countered that Vice President Kamala Harris has a more positive vision for the country compared to Trump's rhetoric of division.

Vance responded the question on climate and noted "I think this is a very important issue. A lot of people are justifiably worried about all of these crazy weather patterns. I think it's important for us, first of all, saying Donald Trump and I support clean air and clean water. We want the environment to be cleaner and safer."

Vance added Democrats have placed a lot of emphasis on reducing carbon emissions, "This idea about carbon emissions drives all the climate changes, but let's just say that's true, just for the sake of argument, so we're not arguing about weird science."

Vance added, if the focus of climate mitigation is reducing carbon emissions, what should you do? "The answer is you want to restore as much American manufacturing as possible and you want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America because we're the cleanest economy in the entire world," Vance said. "What Kamala Harris' policies have actually done is led to more energy production in China, more manufacturing overseas, doing more business in some of the dirtiest parts of the entire world … So, if we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people."

Walz countered that the Biden administration has made the largest investment in clean energy in the country's history. "We've seen massive investments, the biggest in global history. We've seen that in the Inflation Reduction Act that has created jobs all across the country."

Walz said the IRA has led to more than 200,000 jobs in clean energy such as solar plants.

Climate change is real, reducing our impact is absolutely critical, Walz said. He then touched on the impacts to farmers.

"My farmers know climate change is real. They're seeing 500-year floods. They've seen 500-year droughts. But what they're doing is adapting, and this has allowed them to tell me, 'Look, I harvest corn, soybeans, and harvest wind.' We're producing more natural gas and more oil any time that we ever have. We're also producing more clean energy. So, the solution is for us to continue to move forward that climate change is real. Reducing our impact is absolutely critical."

Walz also said he hears from farmers on the issue. "These are not folks that are Green New Deal folks. These are farmers that have been in drought one year and massive flooding the next year … Look, our No. 1 export cannot be topsoil from erosion from these massive storms. We saw it in Minnesota this summer, and thinking about, how do we respond to that?"

Walz said Minnesota is "starting to weatherproof some of these things."

Vance brought the argument back that if Harris believes in climate change, then there would be more investment in the U.S. than spending taxpayer dollars on solar panels built in China. "No. 1, you're going to make the economy dirtier. We should be making more of those solar panels in the United States."

Highlighting investments in clean energy, Vance noted the U.S. hasn't built a nuclear facility in the past 40 years. Vance later in the debate talked about lowering energy prices and embracing "drill, baby drill."

Throughout the debate, Vance reminded people watching that inflation was lower and the economy was performing better under the Trump administration -- before the pandemic -- than under the Biden-Harris administration. When asked why he changed his views on Trump from 2016 to now, Vance said, "Rising wages, rising take home pay, an economy that works for normal Americans, a secure southern border, a lot of things frankly that I didn't think he'd be able to deliver on."

Vance said, "We can do so much better to all of you watching. We can get back to an America that's affordable again."

Vance later added, "If we open up American energy you will get immediate price relief for American citizens."

Walz struggled to explain rising inflation under the Biden administration or Harris' plans to ease inflation. Walz said Harris' tax proposals for small businesses and families buying homes would help ease costs for Americans. "We save money in the long run and we do the right things for families."

Walz said Trump's plans to raise tariffs on all imports would lead to a 20% consumption tax on all Americans. Walz suggested that would hurt farmers who export commodities.

"We produce soybeans and corn. We need fair trading partners. That's something we believe in."

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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