At Agriculture and Rural Development Day in Copenhagen, farmers in rich and poor nations split

Saturday was “Agriculture and Rural Development Day” at the United Nations conference in Copenhagen on climate change. It was "quite a historic meeting ... never before has agriculture been elevated in such a prominent position" in such negotiations, Lucy Knight, chief political correspondent for Rural Press in Australia, reported in a video report with her story.

Knight wrote, "The key theme was to discuss ways agriculture can be part of any new climate change deal, and how the sector can adapt and mitigate climate change but still secure food production. . . . It looked at the strategies needed to address climate change while farmers are still faced with the task of needing to double food production in the next 40 years."

Here's the part we found most interesting: "There was an obvious rift between developed and developing agricultural nations, as there is at the top level of the broader talks," Knight writes. "African farmers in particular are adamant the focus of any deal for agriculture must be on funding for climate-change adaptation, while other developed nations have stressed the need for recognising the role agriculture can, and does already, play in mitigating carbon, and why international accounting rules under Kyoto need to change to reflect this." (Read more)