Below is BEEF Daily article by Amanda Radke on the 2015 National Beef Ambassador program. The National Junior Division winner was Phillip Saunders from Nelson County, who is a neighbor of mine, and I am friends with the Saunders family. Congratulations to him!

It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since I served as a South Dakota and National Beef Ambassador. Beef Ambassadors is an elite team of young people selected as advocates to travel the country for one year, promoting beef, educating consumers about beef, and addressing misconceptions about beef. The 2015 National Beef Ambassador contest was held last week in Denver, and I’ll admit that the event left me feeling just a little bit nostalgic about my experiences with this great program. 

Thirty of the industry’s best young people competed in the senior and junior divisions this year. The winners in the senior division include: Rachel Purdy (Wyoming), Will Pohlman (Arkansas), Alicia Smith (Texas), Kalyn McKibben (Oklahoma) and Demi Snider (Ohio). In the junior division, the first-place winner was Phillip Saunders (Virginia), while Brett Lee (Louisiana) was second, and Abbey Schiefelbein (Minnesota) was third. The program is funded in part by the beef checkoff and managed by the American National CattleWomen, Inc., a contractor to the beef checkoff. 

When I competed in the contest eight years ago, the competition consisted of a simple speech and interview. Today’s contestants are judged in many areas that prepare them to become outstanding advocates for the beef industry. 

These include how well they can promote beef to consumers,their ability to answer questions from the media,their knowledge of the industry presented in addressing beef misconceptions in a letter-to-the-editor, and their efforts to educate students through ag-in-the-classroom projects. 

Sounds impressive, right? I believe the National Beef Ambassador Program is one of the best investments of our beef checkoff dollars. 

In the next year, these Beef Ambassadors will travel the nation promoting beef, answering consumer questions and serving as a voice for all of us ranchers back home. 

Not only do these young people support beef producers, but the program is a great way to build the future leaders of our industry. I certainly wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today without the networking, travel experiences and training I received as part of the program. You can bet these rising stars have exciting careers ahead of them after their year is complete. 

You can follow their adventures on Twitter at @beefambassador, or check out the National Beef Ambassador Facebook page. 

Look for these ambassadors in the red shirts to be leaders in how we should respond to industry issues and the best way to reach the millennial audience. Congratulations to all 30 participants in this year’s contest. Thank you for all you do to promote beef! 

Have you seen Beef Ambassadors, past or present, in action? Take a minute to thank them or offer them words of advice in the comments section below, and I’ll be sure to pass your thoughts along. Thanks!

Click here for this week’s Commodity Comments, a weekly newsletter designed to provide agricultural producers with an analysis of current market trends by Farm Bureau Market Analyst Jonah Bowles.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision not to appeal a key federal ruling in favor of West Virginia farmer Lois Alt highlights the cynicism that drives the agency’s water agenda, the American Farm Bureau Federation said on Sept. 22.

The U.S. Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled against the EPA and in favor of Alt in October 2013, rejecting the agency’s contention that the Clean Water Act regulates ordinary stormwater runoff from non-production areas of large livestock or poultry farms.

Since no federal court had ever addressed the question of stormwater runoff from farms such as Alt’s, the lower court’s ruling carries implications for tens of thousands of poultry and livestock farms nationwide. An appellate court decision upholding that ruling would make it even harder for the EPA to persist in imposing wide-scale federal permitting requirements on large animal farms. The agency’s voluntary dismissal of its appeal signals a desire to avoid a likely loss.

“EPA knows its effort to regulate perfectly well-run farms cannot withstand legal scrutiny, and the agency doesn’t quite know how to deal with that,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “Apparently the agency would rather move on and continue pursuing its regulatory agenda farm to farm but not defend it in court.”

Both AFBF and the West Virginia Farm Bureau joined the suit on the side of Alt.

Stallman called the agency’s move “cynical and cowardly” and said Alt “should be proud of her environmental stewardship and her courage in standing up to EPA. She won an important court victory that will benefit many others, and we are proud to have supported her efforts.”

The EPA’s dispute with Alt began when the agency issued an order threatening her with $37,500 in fines per day unless she applied for a Clean Water Act permit for stormwater runoff from a non-production area of her farm. The agency cited no deficiencies in Alt’s farming practices but contended that stormwater containing even miniscule amounts of manure triggered Clean Water Act liability and permitting obligations.

Alt responded with a lawsuit challenging the order. Her complaint cited the long-standing Clean Water Act exemption of “agricultural stormwater discharges.” The EPA first attempted to back away from the fight about six months after Alt filed suit and just weeks before briefing was to begin. The agency withdrew its order and asked the court to dismiss the suit. The court refused, finding that EPA had not changed its legal position and that the Farm Bureau groups had an ongoing interest in resolving the validity of that position.

Travis Hill

Carrie Hileman Chenery

Carrie grew up on a family farm in Lexington, Virginia, and received her B.S. in Environmental Policy & Planning and Agricultural & Applied Economics from Virginia Tech.  She also served as Governor’s Fellow in the natural resources secretariat under Governor Kaine and is a graduate of the 2013 Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership Political Leaders Program at the University of Virginia. 

Martha Moore V.P. of Governmental Relations

• Virginia Cooperative Extension was spared from cuts during this process. 
• The Ag BMP Cost Share Program had $1 million removed from the current fiscal year leaving ($24 million available) and $1 million removed for FY16 ($6.6 million available).  The Governor and the General Assembly will likely tap into a reserve fund during the 2015 General Assembly to add additional dollars to the program.

Andrew Smith Senior Assistant Director

A majority of Virginia’s forestland is privately own, much in conjunction with farms. The Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program (VFLEP), develops a newsletter to inform landowners of information and opportunities to best manage their forest resources. We plan to begin sharing this newsletter as it’s available on Plows and Politics. You can read the latest issue here. September 2014 issue

Click here for this week’s Commodity Comments, a weekly newsletter designed to provide agricultural producers with an analysis of current market trends by Farm Bureau Market Analyst Jonah Bowles.

Note: There will be no Commodity Comments for the next two weeks. 

Virginia Exhibitors