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‘King amendment’ is part of House bill

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The Farm Bill passed Wednesday night by the House Ag Committee includes the “Protect Interstate Commerce Act”, which would bar states from imposing their own animal-welfare standards on eggs, meat and other ag products brought in from other states.

The amendment is aimed at preventing farmers in other states from having to comply with measures such as California’s Prop 2 initiative that requires farms to provide more space to hens, hogs and other livestock. 

The amendment was introduced by Iowa Representative Steve King.

“I’m fine if California wants to say ‘if you’re going to bring an egg in here, it has to be egg-shaped—and if you want to bring some beef in here, it needs to be produced with the idea of the regulations of the USDA in mind’,” King said.  “But I’m not fine if California—and it isn’t just California, it’s other states–it’s a patchwork quilt of these issues and we need to draw the line now while we still can.”

California Representative Jim Costa objected to the amendment.

“Congress does not have the authority to regulate interstate commerce in a way that strips states—I believe—of their sovereign state authority,” Costa said. “In effect, it’s a federal takeover of a long-standing state’s internal legislative authority.”

The president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, warns that the King amendment could essentially “nullify” California’s Prop 2 and all state and local laws designed to protect farm animals.

AUDIO: Excerpts from House Ag Comm debate on King amendment (14:38 MP3)

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Livestock, News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , , ,

‘King amendment’ gains approval from House Ag Committee

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

In Wednesday’s House Ag Committee Farm Bill markup session, Iowa Representative Steve King was successful in attaching his “Protect Interstate Commerce Act”, which would bar states from imposing their own animal-welfare standards on eggs, meat and other ag products brought in from other states.

The amendment is aimed at preventing farmers in other states from having to comply with measures such as California’s Prop 2 initiative that requires farms to provide more space to hens, hogs and other livestock.

Here are some excerpts from the debate that took place Wednesday evening.  Speakers include King, Rep. Jeff Denham of California, Rep. Jim Costa of California, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, as well as committee chair Frank Lucas.

AUDIO: Excerpts from House Ag Comm debate on King amendment (14:38 MP3)

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MO lawmakers pass Right to Farm measure

May 14, 2013 By 1 Comment

The Missouri legislature has approved the much-debated Right to Farm proposed constitutional amendment that will now go to voters next year. The Senate passed the measure Tuesday, after language* was added back in to protect the rights of local governments to govern farms and ranches as already granted them in the state constitution.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says, on the whole, the measure sends an important message to animal rights activists in Missouri…

“We care about animals and we want to treat them humanely but don’t believe they have the same rights as you or I and I think it is an important step forward in that respect.”

Hurst tells Brownfield his group is pleased overall with the passage of the measure. He points out that counties have always had the right to zone, so in that sense, he says the added language is okay…

“We’re not, absolutely not putting county health ordinances IN the constitution and I don’t think that the language can be interpreted to mean that.”

But, there was another compromise that had to be made, Hurst tells Brownfield Ag News, “More importantly, we think, the original language had language to forbid the regulating of farms and ranches by initiative petition. That has been taken out, although we still feel that it does put some limits on what you can do by initiative petition.”

Hurst expects all in Missouri agriculture to get behind the ballot measure and expects voters to pass it next fall.

*[“To protect this vital sector of Missouri’s economy the right of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state subject to duly authorized powers of any conferred by Article Six of the constitution of Missouri.”]

AUDIO: Blake Hurst (4:00 mp3)

Filed Under: Crops, Livestock, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tennessee governor vetoes “ag gag” bill

May 13, 2013 By 1 Comment

Tennessee governor Bill Haslam has vetoed a bill that would require images documenting animal abuse to be turned over to law enforcement within 48 hours.  According to The Tennessean newspaper, the Republican governor said he is vetoing the bill because “it appears to be constitutionally suspect and urged the state legislature to reconsider the measure.”

Haslam’s office reportedly received more than 5,000 phone calls and 16,000 emails on the bill, most of which opposed the bill.  In addition, an online petition calling for a veto received more than 34,000 signatures.

Dubbed the “Ag Gag” bill, Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States says the bill is part of a national movement to silence whistleblowers and cover up animal abuse. 

As Haslam announced the veto, he also condemned hidden-camera investigations.  “Agriculture is the number one industry in Tennessee,” he said.  “Farmers play a vital role in our state’s economy, heritage, and history.  I understand their concerns about large-scale attacks on their livelihoods.  I also appreciate that the types of recordings this bill targets may be obtained at times under false pretenses, which I think it wrong.”

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, Human Interest, Livestock, News Tagged With: , , ,

Missouri Right to Farm gets new life

May 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The proposed right-to-farm constitutional amendment has been revived in the Missouri legislature after it stalled in the Missouri Senate earlier this week.

Kansas City Senator Jolie Justus had helped block the bill saying it needed to not only give farmers the right to farm but give local governments the authority to act on health, safety and environmental issues related to farming and ranching.  Now, she’s working to get that back into the proposal.

“Constitutionally we’ve set up political subdivisions under Article Six, so why don’t we refer to those in this thing and then have a streamlined sentence that basically says, ‘anything that the local political subdivisions already have they will continue to have,” says Senator Justus.

The bill has been sent back to a conference committee to add the local-control language.

Senate sponsor of the right to farm measure, Mike Parson, says that change can get the bill to next year’s ballot. If it passes in the remaining week of the legislative session, the amendment will go before Missouri voters in 2014.

~Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy contributed to this report~

MISSOURI RIGHT TO FARM HITS SNAG

Filed Under: Crops, Human Interest, Livestock, News, Top Stories Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Missouri Right to Farm hits snag

May 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

In a state where ag industry groups and legislators have successfully fought off animal rights activist measures, legislators are now stalled on a “right to farm” proposal designed to block any future activist threats.

Missouri House and Senate negotiators have advanced a proposed right-to-farm constitutional amendment which would go to the voters next year if passed. The Missouri House passed the measure on Wednesday.  But Senate Sponsor Mike Parsons has been unable to get a final vote and sooner or later, he says, the court system would decide what the right to farm means.

Parsons said, “We’ve tried to talk to corporate lawyers, to attorneys, to judges, everybody we could possibly think to say – ‘What does this mean? Is this good/bad?’ And, at the end of the day you could throw all the answers in a hat and nobody really knows.”

Senate Minority Leader Jolie Justus says she is FOR the right to farm but is opposed to the measure because it removes county control.

Senator Paul LaVota of Independence says he agrees, “Let’s not put something in the constitution that ties the hand of local control that a CAFO or any other type of operation can pollute the land, upset the neighbors, and then hide behind the constitution saying ‘I’m doing farming.’”

Senator Parsons promises to keep trying to advance the right to farm measure. The Missouri legislative session ends next Friday.

~Missourinet contributed to this report~

Filed Under: Livestock, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Defining sustainable agriculture

May 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

A lot of discussion in agriculture these days over the definition of “sustainable agriculture”. Molly Jahn is a professor in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and works with the Wisconsin Animal Agricultural Sustainability Coalition.  Jahn says we in agriculture have a great opportunity right now to be at the table when the standards for sustainable agriculture are established.

AUDIO: Jahn talks about the opportunity 3:59 mp3

Filed Under: Feature Programs, Managing for Profit Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Right to Farm advances but not a sure thing

May 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Missouri House and Senate lawmakers working on a compromise on a Right to Farm constitutional amendment have adopted a proposed change. They’ve taken out a version that would have protected local government ability to pass laws regulating farming at the local level.

Representative Linda Black says that would have created a greater threat to farming.  Black says, “Then they could do a more narrowly defined effort on a local level because if you have a drive in each county to put something on a local ballot you could actually kill the right to farm on an individual county-by-county basis, so we’re right back where we’ve started. And there has been – we see that there may be an effort out there to do that.”

But, State Senator Jolie Justus of Kansas City says several members of her Democratic caucus have said they will kill the bill if it comes back without that local control language.  While some have said Right to Farm is dead for the year, Senate Ag Committee Chair Brian Munzlinger tells Brownfield he’s optimistic.

“I certainly hope we can get it out of the Senate and I’m sure the House can get it out over there,” Munzlinger says.

If the Right to Farm proposal passes the legislature it would go on the general election ballot for voters to decide in 2014.

~Missourinet contributed to this report~

Filed Under: Livestock, News Tagged With: , , ,

Indications House will take up a farm bill

May 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The leadership of the U.S. House reportedly intends to bring a farm bill up for debate this summer, according to a memo from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to House Republicans last Friday. Markup of a farm bill in the House Agriculture Committee could begin May 15th – according to Committee Chairman Frank Lucas.

Last year, that Committee passed a farm bill but it was never allowed to be brought to the House floor for debate by House leadership.

Meanwhile, the Senate Ag Committee could begin its farm bill markup as early as this week. At issue are concerns over the federal Egg Bill possibly being made a part of the measure, although there are reports that Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow may be backing away from that idea.

Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns says that including the egg bill – which would require colony cages for all egg laying hens nationwide – would kill the farm bill as other livestock groups are opposed the measure crafted by the United Egg Producers (UEP) and the Humane Society of the U.S.

UEP president Chad Gregory says egg producers “desperately need a federal standard for egg production” which has nothing to do with any other livestock production.

Filed Under: News, Top Stories, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The market potential for cage-free eggs

May 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

A new report on the market potential for cage-free eggs predicts accelerated growth in cage-free egg sales and profits. 

The report was written by Oklahoma State University ag economics professors Dr. Jayson Lusk.  It is based on Lusk’s own research and his analysis of a consumer survey on egg buying practices commissioned by a group called the World Society for the Protection of Animals.   

In the report, Lusk examines consumers’ food purchasing behavior related to their level of knowledge of production methods and pricing structures and makes predictions on market-share trends for cage-free eggs.   

In this interview with Brownfield, Lusk discusses the mindset of consumers when it comes to animal welfare and the food products they are purchasing—issues that apply to other segments of the livestock industry as well.

AUDIO: Dr. Jayson Lusk (11:51 MP3)

Filed Under: Feature Programs, Rural Issues Tagged With: , , , , ,
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