Author: VFB Governmental Relations

New Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Planning Grants Announced

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Governor Terry McAuliffe announced Monday the award of three planning grants from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) Fund.  The Commonwealth awarded a total of $56,000 to projects in the LENOWISCO Planning District Commission (PDC), City of Roanoke, and Nelson County to support the growth of agricultural and forestry industries in the Commonwealth.  The AFID planning grant program encourages local governments to promote agriculture and forestry and incorporate the needs of these industries into their strategic economic development plans.
Speaking about the AFID planning grants while on a trade and marketing mission to India and the Middle East, Governor McAuliffe said, “Today’s announcement is an excellent example of the important role that our diverse agricultural industry can and will play in building the new Virginia economy.  These AFID planning grants across the state are leveraging multiple aspects of economic development in Virginia – agriculture, tourism, community development, and food access, among others.  I am pleased to see so many localities across the Commonwealth taking advantage of this program to support the local and regional efforts paving the way for future economic success.”

“I applaud the LENOWISCO PDC, City of Roanoke and Nelson County for their strong commitment to Virginia’s agricultural and forestry industries, and we are pleased to give them the tools to help them support those industries,” said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore.  “The LENOWISCO PDC will utilize its grant funding to develop a regional agricultural development strategic plan that will have lasting impacts on the region’s economy.  The City of Roanoke Economic Development Authority (EDA) will strengthen the local food system and improve food access in the Roanoke Valley, while directly supporting local farmers and food entrepreneurs.  Finally, Nelson County will capitalize on their  wine, craft beer, and distilled spirits industries growing along the Route 151 Corridor and surrounding area to promote and complement the area’s burgeoning agritourism business while maintaining their quality of life.  These three initiatives will create economic growth in one of the Commonwealth’s largest economic sector, agriculture, furthering the Governor’s plan to build a new Virginia economy.”
The AFID planning grant program, developed in 2012, encourages local and regional governments to enhance their strategies for supporting and integrating agriculture and forestry-based industries into their communities’ job creation and economic development efforts.  The planning grants are part of the Governor’s AFID program, an economic development tool helping localities locate new and expanding agriculture and forestry-related businesses to the Commonwealth.  AFID grants are available for political subdivisions of the Commonwealth interested in growing and developing their agriculture and forestry industries by strategically targeting practices or integrating practices that add value to Virginia-grown agriculture and forestry-related products.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) administers the AFID program and planning grant applications are accepted on a rolling.  Successful funding requests must demonstrate strong support from local government and the agriculture and forestry community, and the ability to provide matching funds.   For more information, please visit http://vdacs.virginia.gov/agribusiness/planning.shtmlor contact AFID Fund Coordinator Stephen Versen at stephen.versen@vdacs.virginia.govor 804.786.6911.
Details on the grant awards are below:

1.       Project Title: Regional Agricultural Development Strategic Plan
          Applicant:     LENOWISCO Planning District Commission 
         (Counties of Lee, Scott and Wise and the City of Norton)
          Award:          $20,000
Summary:      The localities of the LENOWISCO PDC wish to develop a strategic plan to fully analyze and incorporate agricultural development into the region’s overall economic development efforts.  The plan will enable the region’s agriculture and economic development stakeholders to identify priorities, strategies and implementation projects, but also serve to further raise the profile of the local agricultural community, both locally and in the region.  The project will be overseen by a work group and steering committee representing a broad and diverse range of agricultural interests.
2.       Project Title: LEAP Community Kitchen Grant
          Applicant:     City of Roanoke Economic Development Authority (EDA)
          Award:          $20,000
Summary:      This project strengthens the local food system in the Roanoke Valley by funding additional food infrastructure, directly supporting local producers and food entrepreneurs, and increasing access to local food.  It consists of three components: a shared commercial kitchen space that will serve as a small business incubator; a small-scale local food hub; and the LEAP Mobile Market that will operate from the food hub.  Its goals are to (1) support an increase in production of local foods; (2) incubate food-based businesses; (3) expand access to healthy local foods in low-income, low-access neighborhoods; and (4) provide space for food, cooking and health education and programming.
3.       Project Title: Rockfish Valley Area Plan
          Applicant:     Nelson County
          Award:          $16,000

 Summary:        Nelson County’s Rockfish Valley, home to popular agritourism venues and craft beverage producers along Route 151, is experiencing significant increases in commercial development.  To ensure these changes do not negatively impact the special qualities that are the foundation of the area’s sense of place, quality of life, and economic vitality, the County is undertaking a comprehensive public-planning process to guide future development.  This plan will allow the County to proactively attract desired types of growth, direct development to appropriate areas, maximize Nelson County’s agritourism “brand,” support their thriving agritourism and agribusiness operations, and preserve the prime agricultural soils and landscapes that are the basis of their success.

Farm Bureau Launches Election Information Website

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A new website launched by American Farm Bureau Federation offers farmers critical information on the 2016 presidential candidates. The website highlights the industry’s perspective on the election and documents candidates’, as well as Farm Bureau’s, positions on key farming issues.

“We want to make sure that candidates, campaigns, staff or members and others understand where Farm Bureau stands on the issues that are impacting farmers, rural communities, as well as all of America,” explained Cody Lyon, AFBF’s director of advocacy and political affairs, in Thursday’s Newsline.

Election Information Website

Farmers Urge Congress to Make Tax Extenders Permanent

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With the year quickly coming to end, farmers continue to ask Congress to reinstate and make permanent a number of expired tax provisions that help improve the economic viability and stability of food, fiber and fuel production.  Among those provisions are section 179 small business expensing and bonus depreciation, which farmers need to help them make business purchases while dealing with uncontrollable weather and unpredictable markets that farm profitability.

Earlier this fall, Farm Bureau and more than 2,000 other companies and organizations sent a letter to lawmakers explaining why continuing these provisions, most of which expired at the end of 2014, is so important.

“Failure to extend these provisions is a tax increase,” the groups wrote. “It will inject instability and uncertainty into the economy and weaken confidence in the employment marketplace. Acting promptly on this matter will provide important predictability necessary for economic growth.”

More recently, in a letter to House and Senate leaders, Farm Bureau urged them to promptly pass legislation to permanently extend “tax provisions that are critically important to farm and ranch businesses as they engage in year-end business taxes and prepare to file their 2015 taxes.”

“Only with passage will farmers have the certainty they need to make long-term business decisions that will grow and expand their operations,” the group continued.
In July, the Senate Finance Committee extended through 2016 a package of tax provisions, including a number of those important to farmers and ranchers.

The Farm Bureau-supported provisions in the tax extender package include:

· Section 179 Small Business Expensing: The maximum amount that a small business can immediately expense when purchasing business assets instead of depreciating them over time is $25,000. Last year, the maximum amount was $500,000, reduced dollar for dollar when expenditures exceed $2 million.
· Bonus Depreciation: An additional 50 percent bonus depreciation for the purchase of new capital assets, including agricultural equipment.
· Incentives for renewable fuels and energy, including biodiesel, wind power and refueling property.
· An enhanced deduction for donated food.
· A provision encouraging donations of conservation easements.

On the House side, in February lawmakers in that chamber passed the permanent extension of Section 179 small business expensing (H.R. 636), the tax deduction for donating food (H.R. 644) and the tax deduction for donating conservation easements (H.R. 644).

In addition, the House Ways and Means Committee in September approved a bill (H.R. 2510) to permanently extend 50 percent bonus deprecation. The measure would also expand the provision to include fruit- and nut-bearing plants with pre-productive periods of two or more years.

Farm Bureau Asks Supreme Court to Stop EPA Abuse of Clean Water Act Powers

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AFBF General Counsel Ellen Steen
The American Farm Bureau Federation and a coalition of agricultural and builder groups today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that allows the Environmental Protection Agency to micromanage local land use and development decisions under the guise of implementing the federal Clean Water Act. The lower court’s ruling, according to the petition, “opens the door for a dramatic expansion of federal power” and must be overturned.

The lawsuit arose in the context of EPA’s so-called “blueprint” for restoring the Chesapeake Bay, but Farm Bureau points out that the issue at stake is national in scope.

Click here for more information: http://www.fb.org/newsroom/news_article/366/?utm_campaign=SupremeCourtTMDL&utm_source=ENWList&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Nov2015

“It’s about whether EPA has the power to override local decisions on what land can be farmed, where homes can be built, and where schools, hospitals, roads and communities can be developed,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “This is nothing less than federal super-zoning authority. As much as we all support the goal of achieving a healthy Chesapeake Bay, we have to fight this particular process for getting there.”

Twenty-one states, 39 members of Congress and a group of counties within the Bay watershed supported AFBF’s legal challenge in the lower courts.

“We certainly hope for even more support in asking for Supreme Court review,” said AFBF General Counsel Ellen Steen. “There has been a lot of attention to EPA’s recent rule expanding its jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. EPA’s overreach in the Bay ‘blueprint’ is just as aggressive, and its impact on communities and businesses is just as dramatic. From the beginning, this was designed as a model that would be followed around the country.”

According to today’s court filing, the greatest practical, local harm of the Bay blueprint is that it “locks in” decisions made in 2010 and “deprives state and local governments of the ability to adapt their plans to take account of changes in societal needs, developing technologies, or new information. It prevents them from exercising their own judgment about the best and most efficient ways to achieve the goals for the Bay.” Implementation of the blueprint is expected to cost roughly $28 billion to $30 billion in Maryland and Virginia alone.

Senate Fails to Take Action on WOTUS

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The Senate on Tuesday failed to achieve the necessary 60 votes for cloture on S. 1140, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act, which would have required the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw the final Waters of the U.S. rule and re-propose a new regulation.

The final vote was 57-41. Kaine and Warner were both nays.

“While the effort to send the flawed Waters of the U.S. rule back to the drawing board fell a few votes short, we applaud members of the U.S. Senate who today stood up for farmers and ranchers,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said in a statement. Stallman expressed disappointment in the vote but noted “We know this issue will remain a critical one for America’s farmers and ranchers, and we will continue our fight to protect them from federal regulatory overreach.” 


However, the Senate on Wednesday voted 53-44 to pass a resolution to disapprove the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the U.S. rule. The resolution, introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in September, now heads to the House for consideration, although the White House has already issued a veto threat to all WOTUS efforts.

Because the measure was a resolution considered under provisions of the Congressional Review Act, it only required a simple majority, rather than 60 votes, to advance. Sen. Kaine and Sen. Warner were, again, nays.