Bipartisan bill would block EPA GHG regulation

A bipartisan bill to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases has been introduced by Congressman Ike Skelton and Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, along with Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota.

Their bill would amend the Clean Air Act to take out regulation of greenhouse gases as they relate to global climate change, amend the 2007 Energy bill to stop EPA from using indirect land use calculations for renewable fuels policy and broaden the definition of “renewable biomass” to help strengthen the U.S. biofuels industry.

Chairman Peterson says he has “no confidence in the EPA” to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act “without severe harm to all taxpayers.”

Congressman Skelton suggests setting the clean energy bill that’s moving through Congress aside and pass this “scaled back bill”, what he calls a “responsible way to move forward”, that “gets the EPA under control” and “provides good things for American farmers.”

Congresswoman Emerson says “cap and trade energy taxes would be devastating for Missouri and the nation.”

The Missouri Corn Growers, Missouri Soybean Association, Missouri Rural Electric Cooperatives and other groups are among those that support the bill.

While the EPA’s energy plan announced last week decreases the amount of indirect land use “impacts” from corn-based ethanol and biodiesel in the Renewable Fuels Standard, it does not completely dismiss the theory.

USDA’s NAIS decision called “rare victory”

There are more positive reactions to last week’s announcement by USDA to pull back and regroup on its National Animal Identification System, NAIS. A farm policy research analyst says the USDA’s announcement that the NAIS will be replaced is a “victory of the nation’s family farmers over the political power of corporate agribusiness” that’s all too rare. Cornucopia Institute senior farm policy analyst Mark Kastel (in Wisconsin) says in this case, Secretary Vilsack “definitely listened to the will of the people.” He commends the secretary for addressing a variety of issues and says he’s proven himself to be a “a savvy and pragmatic political leader.”

Judith McGeary, executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance says they applaud Vilsack for listening to their concerns and deciding to “abandon the NAIS.” She says her group will urge the Secretary to involve a broad range of groups and people as it moves forward with developing a new framework for traceability.

The USDA’s new approach replaces NAIS with a focus on states and tribes setting up requirements for animal traceability for interstate commerce.

The Missouri Rural Crisis Center commends USDA for canceling the National Animal Identification System. Crisis center director Rhonda Perry says the decision to scrap the program is “a direct result of grassroots opposition by producers and concerned consumers across the country.” Perry says they knew all along that NAIS “was created by industrial livestock and meatpacking interests to shift the burden of animal disease and food safety onto the backs of family farmers.” Fifty-four of the 55 Missourians who testified during the USDA’s listening session in Jefferson City last year went on record opposed to NAIS.

Perry says the MRCC is grateful to Secretary Vilsack for listening and taking action and to Senator Claire McCaskill “for standing in opposition to NAIS” as the Senator urged Vilsack to hold a listening session in Missouri and expressed to him her concerns about the USDA’s proposed rule to fully implement NAIS.

Perry, a livestock and grain farmer in Howard County, Missouri, says it’s her group’s hope that moving forward the USDA will continue to consult with independent farmers.

NPPC still supports mandatory NAIS

The National Pork Producers Council has a lot of questions about the new USDA proposal for a scaled-back version of the National Animal ID Program. Last week, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a plan which would only require animal identification for animals which cross state lines. The plan would also be administered by states and tribal nations instead of the federal government.

The National Pork Producers Council has been on record in support of a national mandatory animal ID system and Dave Warner with NPPC says they still believe that is the way to go. Warner says while they are supportive of the USDA effort, they have concerns with tracing animals which are born, raised and slaughtered within one state. “What would happen if such an animal were to contract such a disease, what happens to all of the other animals within that state?” He wonders if all of those animals would then be quarantined.

Along with that, NPPC is very concerned about the possible loss of export markets if there is a case of one of these diseases with no way to trace it directly to a farm. If we can assure our export partners within a short period of time that meat from other farms, other areas would be safe we should be ok, “Without that ability, we will see some of our trading partners closing their markets to our meat exports.”

Meanwhile, Warner says NPPC will continue with their swine ID program which includes premises registration, “Through 2009 we have 85 percent of all swine premises in this country registered.”

AUDIO: Dave Warner comments on the proposed changes

NASS survey

Between now and March, field offices of the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) will be contacting 35,000 farmers nationwide to gather information for the annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).

The survey will ask producers to provide data on their operating expenditures, production costs and household characteristics. The economic data will be released in August.

Vegetable production

At just 800 acres, tomatoes harvested for the fresh market in Indiana was down 11 percent in 2009. Yield per acre was down 6 percent and total production declined by 17 percent.

Processing tomato acreage in Indiana was up 18 percent in 2009 to 9,800 acres, production jumped 29 percent to 321,340 tons.

The Indiana field office of the National Ag Statistics service reports 2,200 acres of cantaloupes were harvested in Indiana in 2009, a 4 percent decline from the previous year, watermelon growers harvested 7,400 acres which was a 3 percent increase.

NCBA meets with sponsor of antibiotics bill

NCBA officials have met with New York congresswoman Louise Slaughter, sponsor of the House bill to ban the use of antibiotics in livestock.

They were joined by Kansas State University’s Michael Apley, a veterinary clinical pharmacologist.  Apley emphasized that animal antibiotics have passed a stringent FDA-approval process, which has demonstrated they are safe and effective.  And he said cattlemen and veterinarians must adhere to strict, science-based guidelines in using antibiotics.

Also participating in the meeting was Iowa congressman Leonard Boswell.  Boswell, who also has concerns with the legislation, was part of a recent congressional trip to Denmark to examine the impacts that their antibiotics ban had on the country’s swine population.  Boswell says Danish pork producers saw increased mortality and illness in their herds,  in addition to higher production costs, soon after the ban was put in place.  And he says many small Danish farmers who raised pigs went out of business after the ban.

Apley says he was encouraged by Slaughter’s willingness to discuss the issue.  He says she extended an offer to have NCBA involved in the discussions moving forward.

USDA announces replacement for NAIS

A new animal traceability system “framework” has been announced by USDA to replace the controversial National Animal Identification System, or NAIS. Dr. John Clifford is the chief veterinary officer for animal health for the Department of Agriculture and tells Brownfield the new system will deal only with interstate commerce of livestock – movement of animals from state to state. Clifford says, “We need capability to trace animals back to a state. So we’ll be working with the states as they identify the best way they want to accomplish that.”

Clifford says the new system will be more flexible and addresses many of the concerns – confidentiality, liability, cost and others – voiced at the USDA’s NAIS listening sessions last year, “We know there’ll still be concerns out there. But, it’s important for us to have animal traceability to protect the nation’s livestock population.”

Clifford says states and tribal nations will administer the program. USDA will have a rulemaking process and he says there will be plenty of opportunity for the public and livestock industry to comment.

AUDIO: Dr. John Clifford, Chief Veterinary Officer of Animal Services for USDA (9 min., MP3)

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

By Tom Steever:

USDA’s new flexible framework for animal disease traceability brought a reaction the agency is not accustomed to hearing from a frequent critic of NAIS.

“We feel very good about this,” R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard told Brownfield Friday. “This is a fundamental shift from the direction that USDA has been going for the last four years,” said Bullard.  “Much of the control will be vested in the states, [and] producers will have input in terms of developing the new disease traceability program.”

Bullard says R-CALF may have exerted some influence through the course of listening sessions held last year by USDA, but he says the group had help. “This is really an effort of cattle producers and other livestock producers across the country who stood up and said ‘no’ they were not willing to follow the USDA’s efforts to require a federal registry of livestock, to require producers to report to the federal government when livestock were moved, and importantly, to have a federal registry of every farm and ranch in this country,” Bullard said.

Bullard also expressed satisfaction that the Department is taking action to bolster protections against the entry and spread of disease.  “[USDA] recognized that they need to strengthen our import controls to prevent the introduction of diseases from foreign sources,” said Bullard.  “This is a key element of what R-CALF has been pushing for and we’re looking forward to a future announcement by USDA on exactly how they would do that.”

R-CALF is also pleased that the states have latitude in developing a system to meet federal standards but to still be consistent with practices in each particular state.  “USDA now recognizes that one size does not fit all,” said Bullard.  “That’s what we’ve been trying to emphasize for the past four years, and up until now it fell on deaf ears.”

AUDIO: Bill Bullard (5 min. MP3) 

By Julie Harker:

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says she’s excited about the USDA’s plans to move away from the National Animal Identification System that was borne of the previous administration. McCaskill says, “This is the way government is supposed to work.”

The Democrat tells Brownfield she’s heard a lot of complaints from farmers and ranchers about NAIS, “As I was campaigning in rural Missouri I encountered so many producers that were so frustrated with the federal government not understanding that the National Animal ID system was expensive, it wasn’t necessary, it was invasive, it was really a dumb idea.”

She says the proposed new system will affect cattle moving between states, which she says makes more sense, “For many of the small producers that are just producing in-state and not shipping, it’s not even going to be focused on them. So, I think this is a situation where we’re taking this decision OUT of Washington, putting it on a state basis, keeping in mind that we can’t dictate ag policy because of a couple of huge producers want to have their way at the Department of Agriculture and that’s what was going on before.”

McCaskill, a former state auditor, says the previous administration wasted about 130-Million dollars on the “deeply flawed” NAIS. She says this new system makes much more sense.

AUDIO: Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), (4 min., MP3)

By Bob Meyer:

The American Veterinary Medical Association does not like the idea. AVMA Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ron DeHaven says, “If each state is allowed to develop and implement its own program, important questions arise concerning communication and coordination. Clearly, the USDA must create a system that allows for quick and accurate trace-back across state borders in an animal disease emergency, or there is no point in the new system” DeHaven adds, “There are many unanswered questions that must be addressed as this new animal disease traceability program is being developed. For that reason, the AVMA cannot consider endorsing this concept at this time.”

AVMA president, Dr. Larry Corry says they support the creation of an animal disease traceability program and fear the creation of any such program will be delayed several years by the formal rule-making process this new system will require. “During that time, the U.S. will continue without an animal disease traceability program.”

American Veterinary Medical Association

By Ken Anderson:

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is pleased with the USDA’s new framework for animal disease traceability in the U.S.  NCBA president Steve Foglesong says the plan appears to lay the foundation for a flexible approach to traceability, including greater state involvement and more choices in the use of technology.

Foglesong says it’s important that the system is workable for producers—and that it accomplishes the goal of increased animal surveillance by enabling state and federal animal health officials to respond rapidly to animal health emergencies.  Foglesong says NCBA has, and continues, to support a voluntary, market-driven animal identification system as an important tool for producers to improve herds, monitor disease, and better market their cattle.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

ICGA president critical of RFS2

Illinois Corn Growers president Tim Lenz says there is “no silver lining in EPA’s storm clouds.” The Strasburg, Illinois Farmer says at first glance, the EPA’s renewable fuels standard released Wednesday looks like “good news on a sunny day for corn farmers.” But when you look closer, he says there’s a storm hanging low over producers’ heads. Lenz says that’s because the final rule includes the controversial International Land Use theory that penalizes corn-based ethanol. Lenz says the RFS2 rule is void of “common sense, logic and science.” Lenz calls the decision to leave it in, giving corn based ethanol credit for only a 21 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, an example of an “environmental elitist agenda” that’s an insult to those “waiting for their chance at a green job.”

Illinois Corn Growers Association

Beef from Missouri plant recalled

A Rockville, Missouri, packing plant is recalling about 14,000 pounds of fresh boneless beef that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

The USDA says the problem was discovered at West Missouri Beef, LLC, during a Food Safety and Inspection Service verification review at the plant.

The recalled beef was distributed to wholesalers in the Chicago area and there are no reports of illness from the recalled meat. That strain of E. coli, however, can cause harm, especially among youngsters, seniors and people with weak immune systems.

The beef was produced from late October to mid-January and is in containers marked “EST. 5821.”

The USDA recommends cooking ground beef to 160 degrees to kill harmful bacteria.

Graham slams idea of no cap-and-trade

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham slammed the idea of energy legislation that doesn’t include a cap and trade provision. According to the New York Times, the Republican said carbon pollution and pricing carbon are “interconnected” and by not dealing with both, Congress would be “putting off to another Congress what really needs to be done comprehensively.” Senate Ag Chairwoman Blanch Lincoln, Budget Chairman Kent Conrad are among several moderates pushing the president for an energy-only approach, unlike the House-passed bill that includes a carbon emissions pricing system, also known as cap and trade. The Times says President Obama is still pressing for that provision.

Graham has been working with Senator John Kerry on a bipartisan climate change bill.

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