Week of Oct. 22-26 Archive
26 24 23 22
October 26
AFBF COMMENTS ON SENATE AG FARM BILL---The American Farm Bureau Federation on Thursday released this statement by President Bob Stallman following the Senate Agriculture Committee’s approval of its version of the farm bill:
“The comprehensive farm legislation that emerged from the Senate Agriculture Committee today is a significant improvement over the initial legislative package the committee started with earlier this week. We will work with key senators to further improve the bill so it provides a reliable safety net for America’s farmers and ranchers when weather and market conditions are unfavorable.
“We are pleased the Senate Agriculture Committee completed this important step and urge Senate leaders to commit to scheduling floor time for further consideration of this vital legislation in early November.
“We remain concerned that when the budget numbers on the final Senate Agriculture Committee bill are finalized, we will find that commodity title funding will have been reduced in order to increase funding for other priorities such as conservation, nutrition and rural development.”
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---SENATE AG FARM BILL NEWS AND NOTES---Congressional observers anticipate the full Senate is likely to debate the farm bill during the week of Nov. 5. The Senate Agriculture Committee’s Web site contains a list of all accepted amendments, video and more.
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), former chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) are expected to bring their plan to cut commodity funding to the floor.
In addition, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said they intend to bring their payment limits plan before the full Senate.
AFBF opposes these concepts and also has other concerns with the bill that emerged from committee on Thursday.
For a round-up of a few news reports about this week’s committee action, read the Brownfield Network article, The Associated Press article, The Des Moines Register article and The Washington Post article.
A number of senators released statements at the conclusion of committee action. To explore individual senators’ Web sites for statements, click on the “senators” tab near the upper-left corner of the Senate’s home page.
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HOUSE AG ALSO AT WORK ON THURSDAY---The effects of various weather-related disasters on farms and ranches nationwide was the subject of a House Agriculture Committee hearing on Thursday. Zippy Duvall, Georgia Farm Bureau president, testified about the devastation drought has caused in his state. To read Duvall’s testimony or watch video of him presenting it, visit Georgia Farm Bureau’s Newsroom Web page.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press and The Associated Press published accounts of the hearing, which also featured testimony by Gov. Mike Easley (D-N.C.) among others.
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---FFA MEMBERS GIVE BACK TO INDIANAPOLIS---Some of the 55,000 FFA members, teachers and related individuals in Indianapolis for the 80th National FFA Organization convention participated in community service projects on Thursday. About 1,700 FFA members volunteered in soup kitchens, cleaned parks, put up siding on a home and more after being matched with a dozen local charities. The FFA convention continues through Saturday.
- · The Indianapolis Star article
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---FRIDAY’S FARM FACT---
Canada and Mexico are the two largest trading partners of the U.S. Together, they account for one-third of all U.S. agricultural exports. (Source: FAS-USDA.)
Order your copy of the updated Farm Facts book at http://farmfacts.org or http://www.ageducate.org. State and county Farm Bureaus may be invoiced for orders.
October 24
SENATE FARM BILL ACTION BEGINS TODAY---The Senate Agriculture Committee began its markup of the farm bill today. Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) were expected to unveil the chairman’s mark on Tuesday, but a planned news conference was cancelled when Harkin was detained managing floor debate of the funding bill for Labor, Health and Human Services programs.
The American Farm Bureau Federation has several concerns with the bill, but the overarching one is the movement of money from the Commodity Title to other titles. AFBF President Bob Stallman expressed those concerns in a recent letter to Harkin and other committee members; please note, you must be registered on SILO, AFBF’s intranet Web site, to download the letter.
National Public Radio interviewed AFBF’s Tara Smith, director of congressional relations, in advance of the markup. “This is a five-year bill,” Smith said. “Prices are great now, but we have all seen market prices collapse. We know that markets are cyclical. Those prices are going to come down eventually, and we need to have a plan in place to take care of U.S. farmers when that happens.”
NPR also interviewed Harkin, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the Environmental Working Group’s Ken Cook for the piece, which is available on NPR’s Web site. (Click the red “Listen” button near the upper-left corner of the Web page.)
An AFBF-supported provision to create a new meat and poultry inspection program that would result in the interstate shipment of state-inspected meat is included in the chairman’s mark. There are nearly 2,000 state-inspected meat and poultry plants in 27 states. An article in today’s issue of The Des Moines Register notes the legislative compromise would apply to plants that employ up to 25 employees. Ohio Farm Bureau Bob Peterson, president, participated in a Capitol Hill news conference in support of this issue earlier this fall.
Today’s edition of The New York Times profiles Harkin, who is reported to have been “mostly thwarted” in his efforts to reform farm legislation.
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October 23
SENATE AGRICULTURE MARKUP OF FARM BILL THIS WEEK---The Senate Agriculture Committee appears poised to markup its version of the farm bill beginning Wednesday morning. Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) will unveil their version during a Capitol Hill press conference today, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.
In advance of the markup, AFBF President Bob Stallman expressed Farm Bureau’s concerns with several expected provisions in a detailed letter to committee members.
Of particular concern, “Farm Bureau strongly urges you not to adopt a farm bill that shifts money from the commodity title to increase funding for other programs including nutrition, conservation and rural development,” Stallman wrote. “In 2002, Congress committed to spend an annual average of $16.5 billion to fund the commodity title from 2002 to 2007. The current CBO baseline provides an annual average of only $7 billion for the commodity title for the next six years. With increases in most other titles, it strongly appears the Senate Ag Committee mark reduces that annual average even further.”
In addition, “The basic structure of the 2002 farm bill should not be altered,” Stallman wrote. “Farm Bureau members are clear about their support for maintaining the ‘three-legged stool’ of non-recourse marketing loans, direct payments and countercyclical payments to support farm income during times of low prices for the major program commodities.”
Please note, you must be registered on SILO, AFBF’s intranet Web site, to download the letter.
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---CHINN RESPONDS TO IMMIGRATION MISINFORMATION---Chris Chinn, chair of the AFBF Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee, responded to online criticisms and misinformation spread by opponents of comprehensive immigration reform. Chinn, in a blog entry posted on the Web site of the Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal on Monday, wrote that she was angry and shocked by some of the disparaging comments made about farmers.
Chinn described her family farm to illustrate the challenges of finding reliable, hard workers in rural communities. “Our livestock farm employs no illegal immigrants and our average salary for a male is $10,000 above the median income for a man in Shelby County,” she wrote. “And we still have a hard time finding people who want to do the physical labor. Also, we do the physical labor ourselves and don’t sit back and watch our employees do it alone. We work alongside them doing the very same work. The same goes for every farmer I know.”
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---CATTLE SUPPLIES TIGHT, PRICES STRONG INTO 2008---Today’s tight cattle supplies and strong prices are likely to remain in place through the first quarter of 2008, according to AFBF analysis of the Agriculture Department’s most recent Cattle on Feed report.
About 10.97 million cattle and calves were on feed in the country’s largest feedyards—those with the capacity to feed more than 1,000-head at a time—as of Oct. 1. That figure was 4 percent lower than a year earlier. The news was contained in USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed report of activity in the nation’s cattle feedyards, released Oct. 19.
“More cattle were placed on feed during September than industry insiders expected,” Jim Sartwelle, AFBF Livestock economist, said. “That is the only piece of bearish news in this latest report. We expect fed cattle prices to remain in the low- to mid-$90s per hundredweight through the rest of the year.”
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---KANSAS FB UNVEILS TV DOCUMENTARY ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT---A new Kansas Farm Bureau-produced documentary, “Rural Kansas: Hope Endures,” is scheduled to air on public television stations in that state and on RFD-TV in November.
“Despite the trends, small, rural communities—the ones most Kansans call home—have the ability to find innovative and meaningful ways to heal themselves,” according to KFB. The documentary “will tackle that notion head-on and make a compelling case that the small, rural communities can reinvent themselves.”
This documentary follows the popular 2006 KFB television documentary, “Rural Kansas: Heritage Lost?,” which showed the political, social and economic dynamics of human migration and shifting populations within the borders of Kansas. The latest documentary “will introduce a new way of thinking about rural development based on the fundamental notion that truly meaningful and sustainable change must emanate from within the community.”
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GATLIN BROTHERS TO PERFORM AT AFBF CONVENTION---The Gatlin Brothers are slated to perform at AFBF’s 89th Annual Convention in New Orleans, La., in January 2008.
The Grammy-winning trio of brothers—Larry, Steve and Rudy—will perform for Farm Bureau members on Monday night, Jan. 14.
The legendary country music performers started their career in the dusty music halls of Abilene, Texas, four decades ago. Since then they have performed with distinction at the White House and on Broadway, in addition to scoring more than a dozen “Top 10” country hits. They have also captured Academy of Country Music awards, including Top Male Vocalist, Album of the Year and Single of the Year for “All the Gold in California.”
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October 22
SENATE FARM BILL MARKUP SET FOR WEDNESDAY---The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to markup the 2007 farm bill on Wednesday, starting at 9:30 a.m. Eastern.
Fact sheets on the proposed sections of the bill are available online.
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---USDA BEGINNING FARMER PROGRAMS ASSESSED---The Government Accountability Office has issued recommendations for the future direction of the Agriculture Department’s programs for beginning farmers and ranchers. According to GAO, USDA’s lending and conservation assistance for beginning farmers has been substantial and continues to grow. For fiscal years 2000 through 2006, the Farm Service Agency provided $6 billion while the Natural Resources Conservation Service distributed $233 million to beginning farmers through two key programs.
However, according to GAO, USDA is not doing enough to demonstrate the success of these programs in helping beginning farmers. USDA should start setting goals for the programs that identify desired outcomes and are linked to agency performance goals. Progress toward achieving the stated goals should also be initiated, according to GAO.
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---NEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE SLATED FOR EPA---The Environmental Protection Agency has announced the formation of a 25-member federal advisory committee on agriculture. This will be the first advisory committee on agriculture at EPA. The agency currently has 26 advisory committees.
According to Jon Scholl, spokesman for EPA, the new committee will address three issues: climate change and renewable energy, an environmental strategy for livestock operations, and the development of a constructive approach to advancing sustainable protection of the environment.
The panel is expected to consist of 25 members and will meet twice a year. The members will represent farmers, processors, academics, researchers, tribal agricultural groups, environmental groups and conservation groups. EPA will issue a call for nominations to the committee in March.
---EPA TESTING FOR TOLERANCE TO ETHANOL BLENDS---The Environmental Protection Agency is testing cars and trucks now on the market to see how they fare when fueled with ethanol blends higher than E10, the mixture of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent conventional gasoline. The testing is being done on vehicles now in use to determine if blends with more ethanol will impair performance or cause damage.
E15 (15 percent ethanol) and E20 (20 percent ethanol) are two of the blends being tested. Widespread use of either blend would increase U.S. ethanol consumption.
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---MONDAY’S MISCONCEPTION ABOUT AGRICULTURE---
It’s a misconception that half of all farm acreage in the United States is used to produce feed for livestock. Less than 18 percent of all the harvested cropland in the U.S. is used to produce animal feed. And not all of that feed is edible by humans-much of it is used for silage and hay for livestock.
Order your copy of “Addressing Misconceptions About Agriculture” at www.ageducate.org.
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