Greensburg, IN — Former USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agriculture Affairs Ted McKinney was the keynote speaker at an Ag Breakfast Saturday at First Baptist Church in Greensburg.
Mc Kinney spoke on a wide array of topics but a common theme was to embrace innovation on the farm but strongly consider how to pay for new ways of doing things. He said there is room for wind and solar on the farm, and that fossil fuels should remain in the equation. McKinney is urging the agriculture community to treat this as an investment portfolio in that an energy “portfolio” of fossil fuels combined with wind and solar would accomplish that goal.
In addition, he said denying new developments could shrink the local tax base, which would lead to throwing more taxes at farmland and on agricultural property owners.
The event was co-sponsored by the Greensburg/Decatur County Chamber of Commerce and Decatur County Farm Bureau and was a fundraiser for the Indiana Ag Law Foundation.
