The Obama administration will announce today that it will propose opening vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling. The proposal would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of [...]
Archive for March, 2010
31 Mar
CFB Women’s Committee to Host Leadership Workshops
Colorado Farm Bureau is holding two Women’s “Ag-Vocates” for Agriculture Conferences. These conferences are being sponsored by the state women’s committee and all women in Farm Bureau are invited. Women who are not members are welcome too. The purpose of the conferences is to provide easy tips and tools to help women become more active [...]
31 Mar
CFB Opposes EPA Effort to Regulate GHGs
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a final rule Monday that will phase in greenhouse gas emissions control requirements for new and modified stationary sources such as power plants starting Jan. 2, 2011. This rule is a key move by EPA to begin regulating GHGs under the Clean Air Act. EPA’s action on Monday is a [...]
31 Mar
Organic Food Poised for Comeback
While sales of organic food have taken a hit in recent months, new research shows that consumers will be purchasing more of the product in the next few years. The natural and organic food and beverage category saw rapid growth of more than 24 percent from 2006 to 2008 but stalled during the recession in [...]
30 Mar
Fought by DOW, Habitat Stamp Bill Lost in House Committee
In 2009, SB 09-235 was passed to reauthorize the Habitat Stamp Program. It required an ongoing dialog between stakeholders to focus on finding solutions to outstanding issues of concern. These stakeholders, including the largest sportsmen organizations and the Sportsmen’s Advisory Group (SAG), sat down and discussed how to make the Habitat Stamp Program work for [...]
30 Mar
The ‘Cowgate’ Warming ‘Error’
Last Monday, a professor and air quality expert at U.C. Davis told a conference of Chemists that despite often repeated claims, it is simply not scientifically accurate to blame livestock for climate change. Professor Frank Mitloehner’s study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Advances in Agronomy. It took on the oft repeated notion that CAFO [...]
29 Mar
Ag Groups Worry Over NCBA Structure
Several U.S. farm groups have expressed what they call “grave concerns” with how the new governance structure of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) could threaten the autonomy of the national beef checkoff. That according a report on feedstuffs.com. Groups including the American Farm Bureau and National Farmers Union sent a letter to Ag Secretary [...]
29 Mar
Budget Debate Begins
The 2010 Long Bill (HB 10-1376) has been introduced. The March 2010 forecast indicates that General Fund revenues will increase by $389.4 million (5.8%) for fiscal year 2010-11. General Fund appropriations subject to the statutory limit for fiscal year 2010-11 total $6,938.6 million. This is a 4.6% ($308.3 million) increase. In addition to the Long [...]
29 Mar
Bullish on Ag Banks
According to a piece in the U.S. Banker Magazine, agricultural and rural community banks outshine their peers on profitability and credit quality. The return on assets for all commercial banks averaged 0.04 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with 0.76 percent for those with at least one-fourth of their loan portfolios in the agricultural sector. [...]
29 Mar
Groups File River Initiatives
As the debate on the Senate version of HB 1188 heats up in the media, John Leede and Charles Thrailkill, members of the Creekside Coalition, filed 20 ballot measures, limiting the use of rivers or targeting rafters with strict liability provisions. Rafting interests filed 4 of their own initiatives. They say they filed their ballot [...]
29 Mar
Officials Fear Grasshopper Infestation
A federal survey of farm areas taken last fall found high numbers of adult grasshoppers in parts of Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Idaho. Each female lays hundreds of eggs so that high count could turn into costly grasshopper infestations this summer. Making matters worse is the prevalence of migratory species in [...]
29 Mar
Administration Plans to Look at ‘Outdoors’
Obama Administration officials announced on Friday that they will host a White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors on April 16. Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Agriculture Secretary of the Interior, Tom Vilsack are leading the conference. The conference is touted by the White [...]
27 Mar
YF&R State Committee Meets in Glenwood
The state YF&R committee is currently conducting their yearly planning meeting in Glenwood Springs. The committee is working on developing their social media strategy, creating a framework for collegiate farm bureaus, and charting the course for the program in the coming year.
26 Mar
Deere Says Health Care Law Will Raise Costs $150 Million
Deere & Co. announced Thursday that the health care law signed this week by President Barack Obama will raise its costs this year by $150 million. The biggest U.S. maker of farm equipment became the second major company to say it would take a charge for fiscal 2010. Deere and Caterpillar Inc., which reported that [...]
26 Mar
AFBF Files Suit Against Corps of Engineers in CWA Case
The American Farm Bureau Federation has filed an action against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for what the organization calls another example of regulatory overreach. The suit, filed by AFBF and the U.S. Sugar Corporation in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., takes the Corps to task for non-compliance with its own rules [...]
25 Mar
Nutritionists: No Need to Eat Organic to be Healthy
USDA, which runs the National Organic Program, considers organic agriculture a “production philosophy” and has stated that an organic label does not imply that a product is superior to conventionally produced foods. Nutritionists are saying there is no need to eat organic to be healthy, and it is more important to choose less processed food [...]
25 Mar
Obama Aides Meet With Reid on Senate Climate Bill Push
Aides to President Barack Obama met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Democratic committee leaders to map out a strategy for gaining the 60 votes needed to pass a comprehensive energy and climate change bill when lawmakers return from the April recess. The hour-long meeting in Reid’s office Wednesday included White House legislative [...]
25 Mar
Health Insurance Costs of New Law a Farm Bureau Concern
The American Farm Bureau Federation continues to study the massive 2,000-page health care law that was signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Patricia Wolff, AFBF health care specialist, notes a major Farm Bureau concern is increased health insurance costs. “One of the big concerns is what will happen to health insurance costs because the [...]
25 Mar
2nd Flaming Gorge Project gets Feasibility Study
A coalition of Colorado and Wyoming public water providers will study the feasibility of building a pipeline more than 500 miles long, at a cost of $3 billion, to carry water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, on the border of Wyoming and Utah, to the eastern, more populated areas of the two states. The study [...]
22 Mar
House Approves Health Care Reform Bill
Late Sunday the House approved health care reform legislation on a 219-212 party line vote. Approval of the legislation, which was previously cleared by the Senate, sets the stage for what many are calling the greatest expansion of the nation’s social safety net in the past 50 years. Farm Bureau strongly favors health care reform, [...]
22 Mar
News Round-up: HB 1188
Rafting bill hits rough water GJ Sentinel – The Daily Sentinel The Colorado Senate did the prudent thing Friday and halted a rafting-rights bill that had been sailing through the … Raft bill sinks in legislature Grand Junction Sentinel - Charles Ashby – Not only would river rafting outfitters have earned the right to float through [...]
20 Mar
Legislative Calendar
Monday – March 22 HB 1101 – Farm Truck Registration (Senate State Affairs – 1:30 p.m.) Tuesday – March 23 HB 1361 – Habitat Stamp Program Enhancement (House State Affairs – 1:30 p.m.) Wednesday – March 24 DOW Briefing on Habitat Stamp Program Pursuant to SB09-235 (Joint Ag Committee – 7:30 a.m.) SB 139 – [...]
20 Mar
State Revenues Bouncing Back?
For the first time in recent memory, the economic forecast that was released today had a more positive story to tell. Due to corporate and individual income tax collections that came in higher than expected, the state budget is approximately $35.1 million ahead of where the General Assembly had originally planned for. Governor Ritter’s economic [...]
20 Mar
HB 1188 Amended to a Study
Today, the controversial right-to-trespass bill, HB 1188, was amended to become a study by the Colorado Water Congress. Senator Al White ran the amendment, which recognizes the need to study and potentially clarify the existing law concerning civil and criminal trespass by boaters on rivers and streams flowing through private property in Colorado. The CWC [...]
19 Mar
HB 1188 Passes with Amendments
The ‘Right to Trespass’ bill passed the full Senate today on an amendment that directs the Colorado water Congress to study the issue. The amendment states that the State “recognizes the need to study and potentially clarify the existing law concerning civil and criminal trespass by boaters on rivers and streams flowing through private property [...]
18 Mar
Kentucky House Committee Passes Farm Animal Care Bill
Kentucky’s House Agriculture and Small Business Committee on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a revised version of a Senate bill that establishes a commission to set care standards for farm animals. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration. Kentucky Senate Bill 105 seeks to prevent extremist animal rights groups from setting policy, while also [...]
18 Mar
Details of Climate Bill Revealed in Closed-Door Meeting
Details of a new climate change bill were revealed in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill between lawmakers and industry groups on Wednesday. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) shared an eight-page outline of their draft legislation that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next four decades, including provisions [...]
18 Mar
ALERT: Colorado Legislators, Vote NO on 1188
HB 1188 on Senate Floor this Week…Urge a “NO” Vote! HB 1188 (the right to float and trespass on private property) has unfortunately passed the House and now we need to turn our attention and focus to the Colorado Senate. The bill passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 4-3, straight party line [...]
18 Mar
In Celebration of National Ag Day
The Colorado Agriculture Council celebrated National Agriculture Week /Day today by spotlighting agriculture’s value to Colorado’s economy and sharing its bounty with those in need. Together with Colorado Department of Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp and State legislators, the Colorado Agriculture Council held a news conference on the West steps of the Colorado State Capitol to [...]
16 Mar
Judge Denies Sugar Beet Injunction
Capital Press has the story… A federal judge in California has struck down an effort to block the planting of genetically engineered sugar-beet seeds this spring. In a ruling filed today, Judge Jeffrey White denied a motion by the Center for Food Safety for an injunction that would have prohibited beet growers from using Monsanto’s [...]
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