Facing rising criticism from many legislators on the hill who are frustrated by the lack of action on several Free Trade Agreements, the Obama administration is gearing up for what it calls, a “new strategy” on trade.
In an address to the 2010 Commodity Classic in Anaheim last week, Sec. Tom Vilsack told the assembled producers that his department understands that every market is not the same and that the administration will be doing all it can to approach each market on its own.
“This market strategy reflects the understanding of the sophistication that now takes place in trade – one size does not fit all. And, it’s important for us to tailor our approach in trade to the individual market conditions that we find and we’re prepared to do that.”
Vilsack deflected criticism from former Secretary of Ag Mike Johanns, who told AgriTalk last week that the Obama administration has not done enough to open up expanded trade with Japan. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley this week criticized the administration’s “apparent lack of urgency” in resolving outstanding issues with current FTA’s up for consideration.
Is Ag taking the blame for someone else’s problem?
The 'dead zone'
Sally Schuff over at Feedstuffs takes a good hard look at one of the sticks the enviros are using to beat farmers and ranchers over the head with. The Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ unexpectedly shrank last year, prompting some to call for additional studies as to the cause of the hypoxia zone.
Last summer, scientists who study the so-called “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico were startled to find that the area had shrunk to 3,000 square miles — just half of the zone’s average size and far below the 7,500-8,500 square miles forecasted for 2009.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration scientists theorized that the unexpected shrinkage of the hypoxic zone was due to the year’s weather conditions, but they were curious enough to call for additional study. Measurements of the dead zone will continue this year.
The finding did not surprise the Missouri Water Quality Commission, which had successfully kept the Army Corps of Engineers from dumping phosphorus-laden sediments into the Missouri River since early 2008. The Missouri River is a major tributary to the Gulf.
Others are now joining in the call for a study to determine if agriculture is simply taking the blame for nutrient loading in the nation’s waterways when the nutrients are actually coming from other sources.
Since part of the upper Missouri River watershed is in North Dakota, state agriculture commissioner Doug Goehring said in a January statement that Missouri’s problems with the Corps have “serious implications for North Dakota and for American agriculture.”
Across the country, Farm Bureaus are making safety a top priority this spring through the Agricultural Safety Awareness Program. As a part of ASAP, March 7-13 has been designated as Agricultural Safety Awareness Week.
This year’s theme, “Growing the Most Important Crop,” emphasizes making farms and ranches safer for farmers, their family members and employees with special emphasis on children.
People of all ages, but particularly children, are at risk of injuries on the farm. Educating adults about reducing risks to the children in their care is critical to preventing farm and ranch incidents and fatalities.
“Too many children are injured or hurt each year,” said Richard Connell, safety and health coordinator for Colorado Farm Bureau. “We hope that our participation in this program, will help us teach farmers and their families how to be safe and protect their children on the farm.”
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, 100 children die in farmaccidents every year in the U.S. and many others are injured, often seriously.
CFB Regional Manager Tony Hass demonstrates the dangers of an operating PTO shaft.
That’s why during Ag Safety Awareness Week and throughout the year, state Farm Bureaus are focused on making farms and ranches safer for farmers, their family members and employees.
“We strive to educate as many people as we can, about as many topics as we can each year,” Connell said. “The CFB Safety and Health trailers have really helped our organization bring the safety message to rural Colorado.”
The CFB Safety Trailers attend events around Colorado in which children and adults are shown critical farm and ranch safety and health demonstrations. The hand-on nature of the demonstrations is the best way to ensure that a safety message will be remembered according to Connell.
The annual Ag Safety Awareness Week also recognizes the rich tradition of our farming and ranching culture in producing the safest and most abundant food in the world.
Voters in Switzerland this weekend roundly rejected a proposal that would have provided abused animals with defense lawyers. The rejection was a disappointment for animal advocates in Switzerland, a country that currently has the worlds strictest animal care laws on the books. According to the AP…
Tiana Angelina Moser, a lawmaker for the Green Liberal Party, said animal rights advocates would look for other ways to make sure laws against animal abuse are properly applied and those who hurt animals receive appropriate punishment.
“It’s definitely disappointing, I thought it would have been a closer vote,” said Moser. “I don’t think it’s a ‘no’ to animal protection, but a ‘no’ for this particular measure.”
The country’s 160-page animal protection law states exactly how much space owners must give Mongolian gerbils (233 square inches) and what water temperature is required for African clawed frogs (18-22 degrees Celsius; 64-72 degrees Fahrenheit)
It is quite sad that such a proposal made it to the ballot box in the first place, but we think the outcome is worth breathing a sigh of relief over.
Agricultural interests continue to express frustration with the lack of progress on pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with Columbia, Panama and South Korea. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley this week criticized the administration’s “apparent lack of urgency” in resolving outstanding issues with those countries.
An official of USDA’s Foreign Ag Service, deputy undersecretary Darci Vetter, spoke at an ag conference in Nebraska Thursday. Vetter agrees the FTAs would be very beneficial to agriculture. But in each case, she says there are other issues involved—tax evasion issues in Panama, labor violence in Columbia and automobiles in South Korea.
In a guest editorial in The Hill, a leading Congressional newspaper, American Meat Institute president J. Patrick Boyle urged Congress to pass the agreements. He says rising meat consumption in other countries is a great opportunity for the U.S.—but in his words, “if the U.S. is not there to fill their plates, other major exporting nations will.”
SB 165 specifies that no water well permit will be required for the use of nontributary/non-CBM water produced from oil & gas wells if that water is being used by oil & gas operators within the geologic basin where the groundwater is removed to facilitate or permit the mining of minerals. Language was added in the House to specify that permitting determinations pursuant to this bill neither confer a water right nor preclude determination of a water right by the water court.
The bill also extends the well permitting and substitute water supply plan compliance deadlines established in HB09-1303 from March 31, 2010 to August 1, 2010 in order to give the State Engineer time to process all of the permits that are expected to be submitted. Water well permit applications for current oil & gas wells must be submitted before April 30, 2010. The bill has one more vote in the House before it goes back to the Senate for confirmation.
Russia and the United States have reached an agreement paving the way for shipments of U.S. pork products to resume, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Friday.
USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office have been in negotiations with the Russian Veterinary Service since December 2009, when Russia notified USDA it would restrict pork shipments from 13 U.S. pork plants that accounted for more than 90 percent of U.S. pork exports to Russia.
The talks resulted in development of a new veterinary certificate to ensure U.S. pork exports meet specific Russian microbiological and tetracycline-group antibiotic residue requirements, USDA said.
The U.S. fish and Wildlife Service today issued its finding on the potential listing of the Greater Sage Grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service has determined that, based on accumulated scientific data and new peer-reviewed information and analysis, the Greater Sage-Grouse warrants the protection of the Endangered Species Act but that listing the species at this time is precluded by the need to address higher priority species first. The greater sage-grouse will be placed on the “candidate list” for future action.
According to FWS officials, the official listing of the bird is, at this time, precluded by the need to address other listings of higher priority. The “candidate” status of the species will be reviewed on an annual basis and according to officials, may be removed before any listing action can be taken.
By stopping short of listing the bird under the ESA, public lands within the birds habitat will remain open to multiple use activities including grazing, recreation and natural resources development.
The finding does not afford the species protection under the ESA and states will still be responsible for managing the bird’s populations as they see fit. The finding makes note of the fact that Sage Grouse population remains large enough and is spread across a large enough range that the “immediate threat of extinction is low.”
“This development has provided important benefits, but we must find common-sense ways of protecting, restoring, and reconnecting the Western lands that are most important to the species’ survival while responsibly developing much-needed energy resources,” said Interior Secratary Ken Salazar.
Colorado is on the front lines of federal land acquisition, fighting to keep the federal government out of our backyard on multiple fronts.
Senator Jim DeMint took to the pages of the Washington Post this morning to raise the alarm about a planned, 10 million acre Western land grab by the Obama administration.
A secret administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico, halting job- creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining and energy development. Worse, this land grab would dry up tax revenue that’s essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers.
President Obama could enact the plans in this memo with just the stroke of a pen, without any input from the communities affected by it.
The leaked document lists 17 sites in 11 states that could be designated as national monuments through the federal Antiquities Act. Over 380,000 acres in Colorado are designated in the memo under the heading “Prospective Conservation Designation.”
Two more op-eds were published in Colorado newspapers opposing HB 1188. Opposition to the measure has been slowly growing across the state as more and more people realize that the bill goes far beyond simply clarifying the current system of floating on Colorado’s rivers.
Larimer County Farm Bureau President Bob Bee was published in the Ft. Collins Coloradoan yesterday, writing in opposition to the proposed ‘Right to Trespass’ bill that is currently up for consideration in the Senate Judiciary committee. Another op-ed was also published in the Aspen Times calling for the measure to be killed on the grounds that it completely ignores landowners.
Consumer Group Reminds Americans that Less than One Percent of Donations to HSUS Benefit Local Pet Shelters
Seventy-one percent of Americans questioned in a new opinion poll wrongly believe the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an “umbrella group” for America’s local humane societies. Sixty-three percent incorrectly think their local “humane society” is affiliated with HSUS. And fifty-nine percent falsely believe HSUS “contributes most of its money” to local organizations that care for cats and dogs.
The poll, which sampled the opinions of 1,008 Americans, was commissioned by the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) and conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) of Princeton, New Jersey.
“These numbers indicate that Americans don’t really know what the Humane Society of the United States is all about,” said CCF Director of Research David Martosko. “HSUS intentionally uses those sad dogs and cats in its TV infomercials as props in an animal rights fundraising shell game. Meanwhile, thousands of American pet shelters are underfunded and struggling.” Martosko blogs about HSUS at www.HumaneWatch.org.
According to the federal income tax return filed by HSUS for the tax year 2008, less than one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the organization’s budget consisted of grants to hands-on pet shelters. HSUS does not run a single shelter for dogs or cats anywhere, and it is not affiliated with any local “humane society” organizations.
Reports out of Washington indicate three key senators—John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham—are actively engaged in an overhaul of climate change legislation. And while Senator Graham has been quoted as saying that cap and trade is dead, other reports indicate the new plan won’t abandon that concept entirely.
A bill may be introduced as early as next week that will initially cover only the electric power sector. However, Reuters quotes a Senate aide as saying the public details of the plan are still “weeks away.”
Lieberman said he aims for a floor vote in late spring, after consideration of health care and financial reform. Other members of the Senate say a climate bill is not likely this year.
The bill is expected to include a tax on the carbon content of fuels, which would remove the transportation sector from proposed cap-and-trade provisions, according to the Bureau of National Affairs. The bill will likely include mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
“There’s got to be a cap because it’s all about reducing carbon emissions,” Lieberman said.
On the other side of D.C., Energy Secretary Steven Chu maintains that cap-and-trade is still alive. “It is not dead. We need a comprehensive bill. We would very much want and need it this year,” Chu told Bloomberg TV.
Over the years, Fort Collins has developed a very dynamic economy. Originally just a hub for agriculture with an emphasis in sugar beets, Fort Collins has prospered in recent decades by moving toward high technology.
Ever since Hewlett-Packard began moving into Northern Colorado, fostering a whole new wave of technology jobs, Fort Collins has started to focus its emphasis away from agriculture and resources and more toward jobs that require the educated workforce that CSU creates.
That said, the Northern Colorado economy still does rely on agriculture and natural resources to create many jobs, and I fear we may be threatening those jobs with our unrelenting push toward clean and green industries.
Thanks to an outcry from those in the ag community, Pilot Travel Centers has suspended all future donations to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). A similar event occurred earlier last month between the ag community and Yellow Tail winery.
After discovering that Pilot Travel Centers was making donations to HSUS, hundreds of farmers mobilized on Twitter to flood the brand’s Facebook page in protest. Within 24 hours of the ag community’s outcry at the proposed donation, Pilot issues this statement…
“We sincerely regret any actions that led to the misperception of our support of this organization. Pilot Travel Centers is a strong supporter of agriculture interests in our home state of Tennessee and across the country.
“Since 2007, less than $52,000 in voluntary donations from customers and employees were collected in stores as part of an employee-driven charity event. The money went to three specific areas: rural animal veterinary care services, disaster relief and a foreclosure fund to help rescue animals left behind in homes during the foreclosure crisis.
“In order to avoid any further misunderstandings, employees will immediately cease collections of donations to HSUS. Pilot corporate has never matched a single dollar of these donations and will not support any organization that has an agenda that works against agriculture interests.”
For the second time in as many weeks, shining the spotlight of publicity on who gives money to HSUS has resulted in a change in policy by supporters of this anti-animal agriculture group. Again, the rapid dissemination of information via the social media networks has played a role and has demonstrated the power of social media in coordination with grassroots campaigns.
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and PF President and CEO Howard Vincent at National Pheasant Fest 2010.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack received a standing ovation Saturday at Pheasant Fest in Des Moines, Iowa, when he announced a new Conservation Reserve Program general signup will occur in late spring or early summer. “I can guarantee you we will have a general signup for the first time since 2006,” he declared. “No program is as important as CRP (in controlling wind and water soil erosion).”
The new general CRP signup slated for later this year will be the first general signup since 2006. It arrives in time to address the 4.4 million acres of CRP expiring on September 30, 2010. An additional 14.2 million acres of CRP are slated to expire between 2011 and 2013.
Secretary Vilsack also signed a first ever MOU between the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, and Pheasants Forever. The MOU establishes the framework for the three groups to work together in partnership toward common goals; specifically the implementation of Farm Bill conservation programs. The MOU facilitates the free flow of information among the groups and provides a foundation for Pheasants Forever to deliver conservation technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, and landowners.
Ranchers speak with legislators in the Utah capitol.
The Colorado Farm Bureau and other groups in opposition to House Bill 1188, the controversial “Right to Float” bill, are praising the Utah House of Representatives for killing a similar measure introduced into that body. Last Tuesday, the Utah House defeated a measure that would have given recreational water users the right to trespass on private property along streambeds, so long as they could have seen the high water mark, and remained below it
Colorado Farm Bureau President Alan Foutz said upon hearing the news, “Both parties in the Utah House understand the importance of private property rights and I hope Colorado’s state senators to do the right thing and kill HB 1188, the ‘right to trespass’ bill.”
“We have heard over and over again from HB 1118 proponents that Colorado is the only Western state with unsettled law on the ‘floating’ issue. I think this action proves otherwise.”
As in Colorado, agricultural and landowner interests in Utah opposed the taking of private property rights that the two similar bills represent and reject the notion that recreation and access is under assault. Groups opposed to the bill say that direct cooperation between landowners and recreational users has been successful in balancing the interests of all parties.
“Frankly, the on-going success of the floating industry in both Colorado and Utah is a testament to the effectiveness of the current system. That the recreational water users in both states have grown and thrived under the current system, argues for more local cooperation and less statewide intervention,” concluded Foutz.
Colorado’s HB 1188 has been passed by the House, and has yet to be assigned to a requisite committee for consideration in the Senate. The Colorado Farm Bureau, 26 member organizations of the Colorado Ag Council, 11 other state level organizations and several newspapers around the state oppose HB 1188.
HB 1123 unanimously passed the House Judiciary Committee this week. This measure declares that a person can not be charged for an arson offense if they started and maintained a fire as a controlled agricultural burn in a reasonably cautious manner and there was no personal injury as a result. “Controlled Agricultural Burn” is defined in this bill to mean a technique used in farming to clear the land of any existing crop residue, kill weeds and weed seeds, or reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of a future fire. We believe this is a positive bill for Ag. CFB thanks Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg for bringing this bill forward.
HB 1101 was amended and passed the House Transportation & Energy Committee this week. This bill deals with Farm Truck Registration. CFB was supportive of the amendments to this bill. This measure now declares that if a farm truck is used primarily for agricultural production on a farm or ranch owned or leased by the owner of the truck and the land on which it is used has been classified as agricultural land (for taxing purposes). Currently, a county clerk may require that a person demonstrate that the person’s primary business is agriculture and show proof of this income in order to register a motor vehicle as a farm truck.
The Senate passed the Budget Supplemental Bills for the 2009-10 fiscal year. They now go to the Governor’s Desk. As for HB-1327, the objectionable Section 9 was deleted. It was replaced with Section 8 that transfers $2 million from the CWCB Perpetual Base Account to the General Fund.
NextWeek – The House committees will hear SB 165 – ‘Adjust Oil and Gas Well Regulation’, SB 34 – ‘Pesticide Act Refillers Requirements’, SB 38 – ‘Organic Certification Act’, SB 19 – ‘Valuation of New Hydroelectric Facilities’, and SB 52 – ‘Alter Designated Groundwater Basin Area’. On Tuesday, the Senate State Affairs Committee will hear HB 1107 – ‘Urban Renewal Area regarding Ag Lands’.
The Sentinel Editorial Board writes in Fridays paper that…
It makes sense to take more time to examine the issues in greater detail — and try to come up with cooperative solutions — than to pass a contentious bill that all but guarantees lawsuits over issues such as private property rights and what constitutes a navigable river.
The Daily Sentinel supports the notion that rafters, canoers and kayakers should be able to float on the larger rivers of this state, so long as they don’t trespass on private property along streambanks. But there are several problems with Curry’s bill, reasons we think the Senate should kill it and allow new ideas to develop.
While the paper and Farm Bureau don’t exactly see eye to eye on some the other major problems with the bill, we agree that the issue needs to be studied more so that an equitable solution can be agreed upon by all interests. The spirit of cooperation that long has prevailed among many rafters and property owners should be fostered, not quashed, as HB 1188 will most certainly do.
*** Members are encouraged to write Letters to the Editor at the Sentinel and thank the paper for taking a common sense stand on this issue. Please send all letters to letters@gjsentinel.com Letters should include name, address and telephone number and should be no longer than 300 words.
Another way to help win the debate is to submit comments to each story on the Sentinel website, just like you do frequently here on The Pulse. Just click the links to either story at the top of this post, scroll to the bottom of the page and leave a comment. Tell readers how you feel about the issue, how it will impact you; or reply to other commentors and set the record straight.
Ag Land Valuation Bill Amended….Legislation that created a 13-member land assessment and classification task force for the purpose of studying the assessment and classification of agricultural land was heavily amended in the House State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee on Tuesday. HB 1293 now simply creates a “task force” that will be made up of four members who are owners/lessees of agricultural property (participants must be actively involved in farming or ranching), 2 county commissioners (one from each side of the continental divide) and 2 county assessors (one from each side of the continental divide).
The Task Force will be chaired by the State Property Tax Administrator and will meet at least 4 times over the interim. The Task Force is directed to submit a written report of its findings by October 15. CFB was extremely concerned with the introduced version of the bill due to requirements that would have lead to specific legislation being introduced in 2011. CFB worked closely with other agricultural organizations to get the appropriate representation on the task force.
Right-to-Float Bill Update…HB 1188 has still not been assigned to a committee in the Colorado Senate for debate. This indicates that our efforts in reaching out to our Senators and expressing our opposition is working! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! Please continue to contact your Senators and encourage a NO vote on HB 1188.
We can’t let up now!
HB 1188 has huge implications to private property rights in Colorado and we must send the message that private property rights matter in Colorado. Efforts in Utah paid off this week when the Utah House of Representatives defeated similar legislation. Let’s match the efforts in Utah and defeat HB 1188!!!
Just what makes a family farm a “Family Farm?” Journalist and NPR contributor Michelle Mercer recently spoke with Farm Bureau member John Leach of Lincoln County about what the term “Family Farm” means to him. Listen below or at KRCC in Colorado Springs.
With John Deere’s stock price (DE- $56.22) posting healthy gains in the last few weeks, the rural focused website DailyYonder decided to take a closer look at 40 leading ‘rural’ stocks and see how the segment is faring in a recovering economy. What writer Bill Bishop found out was that…
“Since the beginning of 2009, the Yonder 40 is up over 42%, slightly better than the NASDAQ and nearly double the increase in both the Dow and the S&P 500…
Deere is up nearly 15% since the beginning of February and, indeed, many ag-related stocks are doing well in 2010. Andersons is up more than 17% this month. Andersons produces ethanol and fertilizer.
Meat producers are all doing well so far this year. Hormel — the maker of Spam and Dinty Moore Beef Stew — saw its first quarter earnings rise 37% and its stock is up more than 7% in February.
Smithfield Foods is up more than 12% this month alone and Tyson, the chicken producer, has risen more than 22%.”
The story is an interesting take on ‘corporate’rural america and reflects other projections that the ag economy is well positioned well to begin exiting the recession at or above the speed of the national economy.
Longtime Farm Bureau member and Ignacio sheepman J. Paul Brown on Tuesday announced his candidacy for the 59th House District seat which is being vacated by Rep. Ellen Roberts.
Brown, a La Plata County commissioner for four years and an Ignacio school board member for 12 years, announced his candidacy on the steps of the County Courthouse before about 40 family members and friends. The theme of his announcement was aimed at reining in galloping government, taxation and regulation.
“Our country and our state have been governed too long by folks who think that government is the whole answer,” Brown said. “I believe in a citizen legislature, one in which representatives go to the Capitol, govern only part time, and then return home to work, make payroll and pay taxes.”
Congratulations to J. Paul! We at The Pulse wish him the best of luck in his campaign.
Facing rising criticism from many legislators on the hill who are frustrated by the lack of action on several Free Trade Agreements, the Obama administration is gearing up for what it calls, a “new strategy” on trade.
Across the country, Farm Bureaus are making safety a top priority this spring through the Agricultural Safety Awareness Program. As a part of ASAP, March 7-13 has been designated as Agricultural Safety Awareness Week.
SB 165 moves quickly through legislative process. 
Two more op-eds were published in Colorado newspapers opposing HB 1188. Opposition to the measure has been slowly growing across the state as more and more people realize that the bill goes far beyond simply clarifying the current system of floating on Colorado’s rivers.
Consumer Group Reminds Americans that Less than One Percent of Donations to HSUS Benefit Local Pet Shelters
Reports out of Washington indicate three key senators—John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham—are actively engaged in an overhaul of climate change legislation. And while Senator Graham has been quoted as saying that cap and trade is dead, other reports indicate the new plan won’t abandon that concept entirely.
Over the years, Fort Collins has developed a very dynamic economy. Originally just a hub for agriculture with an emphasis in sugar beets, Fort Collins has prospered in recent decades by moving toward high technology.
Thanks to an outcry from those in the ag community, Pilot Travel Centers has suspended all future donations to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). A similar event occurred earlier last month between the ag community and 
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel has published an 
Longtime Farm Bureau member and Ignacio sheepman J. Paul Brown on Tuesday announced his candidacy for the 59th House District seat which is being vacated by Rep. Ellen Roberts.
Shawn Martini
Chad Vorthmann
Rachel Vermillion
Garin Vorthmann
Crystal Korrey
Troy Bredenkamp