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.
This Week’s Commodity Comments- May 21, 2014
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Ditch the Rule: Comment on EPA Proposed CWA Rule by July 21
On April 21, 2014, the EPA and the Corps of Engineers released their long-awaited proposed rule to expand the Clean Water Act.
AFBF has carefully analyzed the proposal. Simply put, EPA and the Corps are now attempting to regulate virtually all water, something Congress has explicitly chosen not to allow and which two U.S. Supreme Court decisions have rejected.
For example, normal farming and conservation activities, such as fencing, brush management and pruning shrubs and trees, were exempted by Congress and have never required permits under the Clean Water Act. EPA and the Corps would now require farmers and ranchers to meet otherwise voluntary Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) standards for these everyday normal farming activities and voluntary conservation practices, or else face Clean Water Act liability. By linking the normal farming exemptions to NRCS standards, the rule would make voluntary conservation standards subject to EPA enforcement.
This is unacceptable! AFBF President Bob Stallman recently said, “The American Farm Bureau Federation will dedicate itself to opposing this attempted end run around the limits set by Congress and the Supreme Court.” Read the full statement by clicking here.
Click here to read other stories on the EPA’s Water Rule:
How you can stand with Farm Bureau:
Go here to take action and send your messages to EPA and the Corps by the deadline of July 21, 2014.
Guide to Writing Your Comments:
A sample letter has been prepared with a required beginning and ending. We ask that you add details around your personal situation – where is your farm or ranch generally located (County/State), what do you raise and how long have you and your family been there?
Identical comments are not as influential as personalized letters, so your comments will have more effect if you can add details of the impact the proposed rule will have on your farm or ranch. Here are some important suggestions for your consideration.
• Talk specifically about some of the features of your farm—ditches, drainage ways, tilled fields and grassed waterways —that will likely be considered Waters of the U.S. under EPA’s proposed rule.
Your Key Message should be: The proposed rule significantly expands the scope of “navigable waters” subject to Clean Water Act jurisdiction. As I read the proposal it would allow the federal government to regulate most ditches, small and remote “waters” and ephemeral drains where water flows only when it rains. Many of these areas are not even wet most of the time and look more like land than like “waters.”
• Express your concerns about how your farm or ranch may be affected if the EPA is allowed to claim jurisdiction over ditches and washes on your land. Clean Water Act jurisdiction could result in severe restrictions on your farming or ranching—or even prohibit farming or ranching activities in or near ditches, washes or isolated “wetlands”—no matter the cost or the practical impact on you, your family and your farm or ranch.
Your Key Message here should be: Because of the proposed rule, farmers, ranchers and other landowners will face roadblocks to ordinary land-use activities—like fencing, spraying for weeds or insects, discing or even pulling weeds. The need to establish buffer zones around grassed waterways, ephemeral washes and farm ditches could make farmlands a maze of intersecting “no farm zones” that could make farming impractical.
• Explain any problems you or your neighbors have had dealing with wetlands or waters. If you personally have had problems with the narrow “normal farming” exemption, share your experience. Have you tried to build a farm pond and been told “no?” Have you tried to plant tree crops in areas where you farmed corn and been told “no?” Have you been told not to use certain tillage practices? Have you been told that you cannot use your prior converted croplands for some reason?
Your personal experiences or those of your neighbors are important and your Key Messages should include: The farming and ranching exemptions in current law are important, but they have been very narrowly applied by the agencies—and they will not protect farmers and ranchers from the proposed “waters” rule.
• Explain why those claiming that farmers and ranchers should have no concerns because they are “exempted” from the rule are wrong. It is important to convey that “normal farming and ranching” exemption only applies to a specific type of Clean Water Act permit for “dredge and fill” materials. There is no farm or ranch exemption from Clean Water Act permit requirements for “pollutants” like fertilizer, herbicide or pest control products. Under the proposed rule, many common and necessary practices like weed control and fertilizer spreading will be prohibited in or near so-called “waters” unless you have a Clean Water Act permit. Second, EPA’s new guidance on the “dredge and fill” exemption actually narrows an exemption that already existed, by tying it to mandatory compliance with what used to be voluntary NRCS standards. Third, EPA and the Corps of Engineers have interpreted the “normal” to mean only long-standing operations in place since the 1970s—not newer or expanded farming or ranching.
Your Key Message should be: EPA’s so-called exemptions will not protect farmers and ranchers from the proposed “waters” rule. If farmlands are regulated as “waters,” farming and ranching will be difficult, if not impossible.
The Farm Bill: How it Works
The American Farm Bureau Federation has produced a new series of webinars and launched a website to help farmers, landowners and other stakeholders better understand the provisions of the 2014 farm bill. Featured content includes videos on key commodity program and crop insurance provisions of the farm bill.
“We have distilled down a massive and complex piece of legislation-the 2014 farm bill-into several ‘bite-size’ pieces, with the goal of helping farmers and managers understand how it will affect their farms,” said John Anderson, deputy chief economist with AFBF.
“Now that safety net and risk management tools important in crop planning are in place, along with the new program for dairies, the next step is for farmers to be able to move forward with confidence in determining the best options for their individual farms,” Anderson said. “We created the farm bill video series with that goal in mind.”
The webinars include a farm bill overview describing the basic provisions of the commodity title, including a description of the decisions related to program participation that will need to be made by farmers and landowners. Four other webinars go in-depth on the Price Loss Coverage and Supplemental Coverage Option, the Agricultural Risk Coverage Program, the Stacked Income Protection Program for Cotton and the Dairy Margin Protection Program.
Links to useful farm bill information from USDA, land-grant universities and other organizations also are available on the website.
Virginia Farm Bureau plans on hosting information Farm Bill meetings across the state in late summer after USDA has finalized some of the rules for the major program changes. Once those meetings have been been set, they will be announced on Plows and Politics.
This Week’s Commodity Comments- May 14, 2014
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.
Virginia Wind Forum to be held June 3 in Harrisonburg
According to data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Virginia’s onshore wind potential at 80 meters hub height is 1,800 megawatts. Virginia’s offshore wind potential is more than 18,000 megawatts at 90 meters. But to date, Virginia has no installed capacity.
Virginia wind stakeholders will be gathering at James Madison University on June 3rd to discuss the opportunities for, benefits of, and challenges to Virginia’s wind energy future. In the morning, attendees will hear from AWEA’s senior VP of policy on the national wind energy situation, as well as the regional electricity context in which Virginia operates. GE will review the wind-natural gas economic picture. The morning will conclude with the first of 5 Virginia-focused panels, composed of various Virginia stakeholder groups; this panel will focus on the history of wind development in Virginia (panelists will include representatives from the utility, industry, state agency, advocacy, and academic sectors).
Lunch will focus on small group topical roundtables where each attendee will have an opportunity to speak to experts in 20 specific wind energy topics, including economics, myths, utility integration, wind for schools, siting and permitting issues, to name a few.
The afternoon will include panel sessions on distributed and community wind, land-based utility–scale wind, off-shore wind, and to wrap up the day, Virginia wind futures. Panelists will represent a broad array of Virginia stakeholders and leaders, with various experiences, approaches, and perspectives.
The agenda can be viewed at http://www.awea.org/events/Event.aspx?EventID=27946. Please consider joining your Virginia colleagues on June 3 at JMU in Harrisonburg by registering at http://www.awea.org/events/Event.aspx?EventID=27946&SubSectionID=6336.
Tell EPA to "Ditch the Rule" Tuesday During Twitter Chat
Join experts from EPA for a Twitter chat on the proposed rule to clarify Clean Water Act protection for certain types of streams and wetlands. The chat will take place on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern Time through EPA’s water Twitter account @EPAwater or https://twitter.com/EPAwater. To participate in the chat or ask a question go https://twitter.com/EPAwater or follow the hashtag #USwaters on Twitter.
Tuesday’s Twitter chat would be a great opportunity to let the EPA know you want them to “Ditch the Rule!” Go to http://ditchtherule.fb.org/#filter=.gosocialfor tweets to send the EPA during the Twitter chat.
The American Farm Bureau Federation has asked its members to resist a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that it says will impose unworkable regulations on the nation’s farms.
Published Monday in the Federal Register, the more-than-111,000-word “Waters of the U.S.” proposed rule reflects the EPA’s latest interpretation of the 1972 Clean Water Act. The rule could ultimately lead to the unlawful expansion of federal regulation to cover routine farming and ranching practices as well as other common private land uses, such as building homes.
“This rule is an end run around congressional intent and rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, alike,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said. “Congress and the courts have both said that the 50 states, not EPA, have power to decide how farming and other land uses should be restricted. It’s time to ditch this rule.”
Among other things, the rule would expand federal control over land features such as ditches and areas of agricultural land that are wet only during storms.
EPA says its new rule clarifies the scope of the Clean Water Act. However, EPA’s “clarification” is achieved by categorically classifying most water features and even dry land as “waters of the United States.”
If carried out, Farm Bureau says, ordinary field work, fence construction or even planting could require a federal permit. The result will be a wave of new regulation or outright prohibitions on routine farming practices and other land uses.
“Congress, not federal agencies, writes the laws of the land,” Stallman said. “When Congress wrote the Clean Water Act, it clearly intended for the law to apply to navigable waters. Is a small ditch navigable? Is a stock pond navigable? We really don’t think so, and Farm Bureau members are going to be sending that message.”
EPA contends that an entire set of exemptions will protect many farmers from the burdensome new rule. But Stallman counters that those exemptions will only apply to farming that has been ongoing since the 1970s, not new or expanded farms. Even for those farms, the exemptions do not cover weed control, fertilizer use or other common farm practices. The already narrow exemptions, Stallman said, have existed for years but have been further narrowed by EPA guidance issued simultaneously with the proposed rule.
“The EPA exemptions offer no meaningful protection for the hundreds of thousands of farmers and ranchers whose operations and livelihoods are threatened by this expansion of EPA’s regulatory reach,” Stallman said.
“EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have said the WOTUS rule provides clarity and certainty. The only thing that is clear and certain is that, under this rule, it will be more difficult for private landowners to farm and ranch, build homes or make changes to the land—even if the changes that landowners propose would benefit the environment. This is pure and simply wrong, and it is why we need to ditch the rule.”
From the Field: County Farm Bureaus Support Youth Livestock Shows and Clubs
From the Field is a bi-monthly column written by Mark Campbell, Farm Bureau Field Services Director for the Central District. He writes about Farm Bureau member benefits and County Farm Bureau activities.
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| Champion market lamb showed by my son, Daniel, and judge Corey Childs. |
Now that spring is finally here, several livestock shows are taking place across the state, and county Farm Bureaus are very supportive of the youth livestock exhibitors.
How, you may ask? County Farm Bureaus support the livestock shows and county fairs mostly in a financial manner, but many individual Farm Bureau members volunteer with the logistics. County Farm Bureaus buy animals at the sale after the show, sponsor a buyers’ dinner, or make a contribution to the 4-H livestock club. The contributions are often significant reaching several thousand dollars per year.
On May 3rd, the Central Virginia Livestock Show and Sale was held at the Lynchburg Livestock Market. It was a regional show with the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell, and Nelson represented.
The buyers’ dinner was sponsored by Campbell County Farm Bureau. Campbell County Farm Bureau was also a significant buyer in the sale by purchasing several animals. Bedford County Farm Bureau and Bedford Young Farmers were buyers as well. Both of these county Farm Bureaus helped support the sale and offered a better price for the kids. These two county Farm Bureau names were called by the auctioneer several times throughout the sale. Their financial support was spread over many kids.
At most sales like these, the county Farm Bureau purchases are as “support,” which means that they pay the difference between the final purchase price and the established floor price. The animals purchased as “support” are then resold to a buyer or packer at market price. There are other buyers at the sale too which include businesses and families. A large portion of these purchases at the Central Virginia Livestock Show and Sale went for processing for people that wanted to fill their freezers with some high quality meat.
Animals that are shown in breeding classes such as heifers, ewe lambs, gilts, and does are not sold and usually return back to the herd or flock back home at the family farm. The Amherst and Nelson County Farm Bureaus make donations to the 4-H livestock club, and Appomattox donates to the FFA chapter which has its own small farm and a large number of exhibitors. This kind of support is not isolated to central Virginia. In fact, many county Farm Bureaus all over the state are supportive in similar fashion.
The county Farm Bureaus recognize the importance of supporting the next generation of agriculturalists and realize how vital they are to the future of the agriculture industry. These livestock exhibitors are members of 4-H, FFA, or both. They put in a lot of time and effort into preparing their animals for the shows which begins months prior. Their livestock project teaches them about animal husbandry, nutrition, and business management.
All of the exhibitors have to complete a record book, which is very detailed listing such things as cost of feed/head/day, feed labels, calculated average daily gain, and management activities. The cost of inputs and price of the animal all add up, and getting a good price at the sale is essential in having a profitable project. The kids are strongly encouraged to get buyer interest for their animals prior to the sale, and this helps with communication skills and builds confidence.
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| Champion market goat shown by Phillip Saunders of Nelson County with buyer W.P. Johnson of Bedford County Farm Bureau |
The Amherst/Nelson 4-H livestock club swept up by having grand champion steer, market lamb, market goat and market hog all from Nelson and Amherst counties. These lessons of animal care, business management, and leadership and communication skills learned by the youth livestock exhibitors are strong reasons that county Farm Bureaus are more than willing to support the livestock shows and sales. Some shows taking place this month that I know about are in Blackstone and Fredericksburg. Check with your county extension office to find out when the closest show is to you. It is an enjoyable time to watch the next generation of agriculturalists and a good opportunity to support the youth.
Until next time,
Mark
This Week’s Commodity Comments- May 7, 2014
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.
Franklin County Women’s Committee Receives AFBF Food Link Grant
Franklin County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee was one of four county Farm Bureaus to receive a $700 grant from the American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee to help fund “Our Food Link” activities.
Other grant recipients include Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Utah Farm Bureaus; Dickey County (North Dakota), Franklin County (Virginia), Jerome County (Idaho) and Summit County (Ohio).
Grant-winning programs demonstrate a strong connection between the food system and agriculture, while creatively engaging consumers in a way that encourages them to learn more about food and agricultural products.
“Year-round outreach through ‘Our Food Link’ is more important than ever because the average American is now at least three generations removed from the farm,” explained Terry Gilbert, a Kentucky farmer and chair of the AFBWLC. Farm and ranch families make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population today.
Throughout the year, Farm Bureau members help consumers of all ages and backgrounds connect with sources of clothing, food, shelter and energy in their communities. Program activities range from outreach at supermarkets or farmers’ markets to hosting interactive booths at community events, speaking with lawmakers and neighbors about food or visiting a classroom to help students understand agricultural topics.
Franklin County’s activities answer the question “Where does our food come from?” and will be in two phases. Phase 1 will be an all-day event at a local elementary school where students and staff explore various aspects of agriculture, including compost, worms, soil and honey bees, healthy plants and finish with farm to table activities in 12 interactive stations that encourage different learning styles (hands on, auditory, visual and written). Phase 2 will continue using the same stations at the Franklin County Fair.
“Though a rural county, there is a growing number of “transplants” whose exposure to agriculture is limited,” said Debbie Brubaker, Franklin County Women’s Committee Chair. “We will provide unique learning opportunities that allow participants to explore the start to finish process of agriculture products and services. There will be a variety of agriculture fields covered using hands-on activities, interactive discussion, taste testing, age appropriate visuals, make and takes and live animals.”
“Our Food Link” activities may also include the collection of food and monetary donations for Ronald McDonald House Charities or other charities.
The launch of the program was spearheaded in January by the AFB Women’s Leadership Committee, although Gilbert noted, “All Farm Bureau members are invited and encouraged to consider participating in ‘Our Food Link’ activities. The flexibility of the program makes it a great fit for anyone looking for creative ways to reach the non-farming public with information about today’s agriculture,” she said.
This Week’s Commodity Comments- April 30, 2014
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.
Plows and Politics 