Farmers should support financial tools to fight climate change

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the only active farmer in the U.S. Senate, identified the problem when he said, “I just came off the worst year ever on my farm. We need to do something on climate change. I think we spent $144 billion this year on disasters and I don’t think that included crop insurance. So we need to do something on climate, too.”

Agricultural producers are on the front lines of climate change and are experiencing the impacts now. Mega droughts, fire, floods and other extreme weather events cost $145 billion in 2021. And that’s before crop insurance payments are accounted for. More t...