President-elect Barack Obama rode to victory on a campaign of change. While both Obama and McCain promised change, exit polls show that most voters felt Obama was more likely to bring about change.

So now that the Democratic Party has control of the White House and the Congress, what kind of change will we see on one of the most pressing issues facing agriculture: energy? This issue - in particular - has been one that for the past eight years Democrats have resisted change.

So now it is time to put away the rhetoric and start producing some action.

As the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy once joked, “Never say anything in a national campaign that anyone might remember.”
Here are some of the things Barack Obama said about energy during the campaign:

•Require the United States to produce at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol a year by 2030.

•Build an ethanol distribution infrastructure.

•Mandate that all new vehicles be “flex fuel” by end of his first term.

•Produce 2 billion gallons of “cellulosic” ethanol from non-corn sources such as switchgrass and wood chips by 2013.

Obama would cut carbon dioxide emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050; reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020; require U.S. utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar and geo-thermal by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025; and modernize the electric grid.

Obama would raise vehicle fuel economy standards by 4 percent per year and give automakers $4 billion in assistance to retool plants for making new fuel-efficient cars; provide a $7,000 tax credit for purchasing “advanced technology” vehicles, and put 1 million plug-in hybrid cars that get 150 miles per gallon on the road by 2015.

If even part of these initiatives are accomplished, it will dramatically change the energy picture in this nation. It will also cost a boatload of federal dollars. Obama’s energy plan calls for a $150 billion investment in clean technologies alone. Whoever is chosen as Energy Secretary will have his or her hands on a lot of that money.

According to Reuters, some of the names being tossed about include: Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee; Wesley Clark, retired Army General; General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; and Dan Reicher, director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org

US News and World Report is reporting that Philip Sharp, a former Democratic Congressman from Indiana and current president of Resources for the Future, as a possible Energy Secretary.

Bloomberg is reporting that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will challenge Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) for chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the committee, which will appropriate the funding for all this.

As you look through the list of proposed ideas and the people likely to be in charge of implementing them in the new administration, you notice a lack of agriculture-related programs. In a Time magazine interview just prior to Election Day, Obama made it clear he sees modern agriculture as a contributor to greenhouse gasses.

American Agriculture has a vital role to play in helping this nation overcome its dependence on imported oil and must have a seat at the table when crafting our energy future.

“A commitment to renewable energy will help strengthen this economy by providing jobs that won’t be shipped overseas,” said Toni Nuernberg, Executive Director, Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC).

In a post-election analysis, she went on to say that the goal of energy independence won’t be easy.

It is going to take hard work, innovation, investment, conservation, collaboration and patience - both from the biofuels industry and the public.

It also is going to require change to a more diversified energy portfolio of clean homegrown alternative fuels and renewable energy - energy sources which also will help reduce greenhouse gasses that cause climate change.

Is our nation ready for this kind of change? Only if we are willing to back up all the words with more than just a mark on an election ballot.

Only if we ourselves are willing to make tough choices and hold our elected leaders to making those same tough choices will we achieve Obama’s goal.

In his acceptance speech on Tuesday night Obama referred to “new energy.” That new energy cannot just come from the ground, the sun, or the wind but from us as Americans.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.