Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 1/14/19

House Democrats are facing mounting pressure from the party's progressive wing to use their new majority to put a policy spotlight on climate change. But House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson , a Minnesota farmer and one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, isn't joining the calls for a sweeping congressional response, our Catherine Boudreau writes today.

Climate issues were left off House Ag Democrats' list of 2019 policy priorities, despite rising consequences for the ag industry as droughts, hurricanes and wildfires grow more intense. And in a recent interview with POLITICO, Peterson was noncommittal about holding hearings on climate change mitigation, saying it would "depend on the context." The panel hasn't held a hearing specifically on climate change since 2009, according to a review of the committee archives.

— "What is our goal? Planting all those trees? I'm actually cutting down the forest," Peterson told reporters last month, shortly after he began logging his own land.

Peterson told POLITICO recently that the ag industry has already taken steps to reduce its environmental footprint, citing a conservation program that provides 27 million acres of grassland under the new farm bill, H.R. 2 (115). "I think we're already doing a lot of things that we're getting no credit for," he said.

Against the grain: Speaker Nancy Pelosi called climate change an "existential threat" in her opening address this month, but Peterson seems to be more aligned with the White House and some Republicans on the issue. Still, he could be something of a wild card, having ultimately backed the "cap and trade" effort in 2009.

— The so-called Green New Deal backed by many liberals in the House, a plan that would transition the U.S. economy to renewable energy only, calls for complete de-carbonization of the agriculture sector. Pro Energy's Zack Colman looks into challenges Democrats will face in defining what the Green New Deal will entail.