In ESG Debate, Some See Threat to Livelihood, Traditional Values

Charlie Masters, a farmer in Kentucky, has watched the prices rise.
Diesel fuel and nitrogen fertilizer, two of the most critical ingredients for running his Fleming County beef and produce operation, are still costlier than just two years ago. That’s partly due to recent fluctuations in the prices of oil and natural gas.
What’s behind those trends?
“I’m sure there are other market forces at work—we can all blame Putin or somebody—but I put a lot of the blame on ESG,” Masters told The Epoch Times in a Dec. 8, 2022, interview.
Kentucky farmer Charlie Masters with his cows. (Courtesy of Charlie Masters.)
ESG stands for environmental, social, and corporate governance, an investing approach that has picked up steam in the past few years….