Agricultural News
AFR's Terry Detrick Worries About Attitude of USDA Secretary Vilsack Towards Production Agriculture After Private Meeting With Him
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 4:12:39 CDT
American Farmers & Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union(AFR/OFU) was successful in getting several initiatives included in the policy statement of National Farmers Union (NFU) during the NFU Convention which concluded earlier this month. The policy becomes the lobbying direction for the organization for the next year.
"We were able to get provisions included in both permanent policy and special orders which are relative to current national agriculture issues originating at our Oklahoma AFR Convention," said AFR/OFU President Terry Detrick. "While we did not get everything accomplished which we wished to do, we in fact were reasonably successful overall." We talked with Detrick about some of the highlights of what he saw at the NFU meeting, attended by just a handful of AFR delegates here in 2010, and you can listen to our conversation by clicking on the Listen Bar below. In particular, he expressed a lot of concern about the attitude of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack towards production agriculture after meeting privately with the former Iowa Governor while there in Rapid City.
In early January when the committee began crafting a policy statement for consideration by convention delegates, AFR member Paul Jackson of Ringling,Oklahoma, was able to get several AFR positions inserted in the draft as a member of the national policy committee.
"I want to compliment NFU President Roger Johnston for being very open-minded with respect to issues impacting producers in the southwest U.S. With almost an entirely new staff hired over the last year, they are very interested in representing the diverse interests and what is good for the future of all of agriculture," stated Detrick.
With respect to the climate change debate, the organization got language inserted to:
* Oppose "considering international indirect land use changes" when determining U.S. carbon and energy policy"; and
* Support the inclusion of provisions that are advantageous to agriculture while minimizing potential negative effects to agriculture and rural communities such as increased input costs, elevated electricity costs and decreased global competitiveness should a climate change bill be passed.
AFR also worked with a coalition of states to modify language in current policy relative to a national animal identification system because of the uncertainty of a number of unresolved issues, but maintained that "any national animal identification program should be administered by USDA with key involvement by the state departments of agriculture."
Several other AFR/OFU provisions adopted included:
* Opposing the deletion of the word "navigable" from the federal Clean Water Act which would expand the taking of private property and provide additional intrusiveness;
* Opposing the defining of animal manure, waste or nutrients as being considered hazardous and regulated under federal "Superfund" law, the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA);
· Supporting promotion of animal welfare, as opposed to animal rights initiatives;
· Opposing the imposition of mandatory restrictions on traditional methods of animal agriculture production;
· Supporting the development and implementation of patent rules and regulations which promote and maintain free market competition in regard to generic production (of expiring chemicals);
· Opposing conservation programs which exclude or penalize producers who are early adopters of good stewardship practices;
· Support an import fee on foreign-produced energy, to fund the development of renewable energy;
· Support the development and promotion of renewable energy sources appropriate to its territory; and
· Support the USDA National Appeals Division to being the final decision on producer appeal cases.
"All-in-all we were pleased with our success in promoting the major concerns included in the grass-roots policy passed by AFR's February, 2010 convention delegates," concluded Detrick.
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