Agricultural News
ARA's Daren Coppock Says They will Continue to be a Voice for Ag
Fri, 27 May 2022 11:01:28 CDT
During the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Washington Watch, KC Sheperd, Farm Director, visited with Daren Coppock, the president and CEO of the Agriculture Retailers Association talking about policy issues and the top regulatory issues the agricultural supply is currently facing.
"We are focused a lot on transportation issues right now and a lot that is around drivers," Coppock said. "Because our members, and I think the farmers themselves are also having trouble finding people that can operate those big vehicles, and so you get yourself into a situation where everybody is trying to move everything all at the same time to get the fertilizer out the door and the spring crop protection positioned, and you just don't have enough people and it gets tough."
In the agriculture industry, producers are having a harder time than ever finding help.
When the administration was discussing the mandatory mask mandate, Coppock remembers ARA members being concerned because they were already having trouble filling 20% of their positions but enforcing a mandatory mask mandate would add an extra 15% to the positions unfilled.
"We made that point to the administration, and I don't know that our argument is the one that saved the day, but I think it was influential and I think that they understood," Coppock said. "Whether it is based on science or not, that is not the point. The point is we can't find people."
Coppock recalls a recent situation when Union Pacific announced that their top 30 customers were required to reduce their shipments by 20%. Half a dozen of those companies, Coppock said, were fertilizer shippers.
"So, when we are trying to get fertilizer moved to the market in the spring, the busiest time of the year, to have that happen is not helpful," Coppock said.
Thankfully, Coppock said those companies were able to go to Union Pacific and get a little flexibility back in their schedules.
"When you've got railroads that can just do that to you without regards for existing contracts or market needs, it is a signal to us that we have got to push even harder for some rail reforming to serve the transportation board," Coppock said.
As for the farm bill coming up in 2023, Coppock said most of ARA's work is in the conservation area.
"We have got grower customers who rely on farm insurance, farm programs and equipment, and all of those things," Coppock said. "We are generally supportive of all those tools that they need in their toolbox."
Where ARA directly plays, Coppock said, is being able to offer conservation assistance to growers, and help them write conservation plans, which may eventually turn into helping them monitor greenhouse gas emissions or other sustainability-type reporting.
"For any of those kinds of things where our members have agronomy trained staff out on the field, they need to be able to offer that service to growers and to be able to be part of the program to get paid for it," Coppock said. "Growers have to be experts in so many things these days. Everything from agronomy to business management, to mechanics, to you name it. Some of those areas they aren't going to be experts in, and they need help."
For areas growers are not experts in, Coppock said they can rely on ag retailers to fill those gaps and find solutions.
Coppock said memberships in associations like ARA are important because farmers don't have time to come to Washington and make the case for their own business, so it is better to leverage their voice with others and make the case on behalf of the whole industry.
"Anything we can do to help them with these supply chain issues, producers are eager to have that help," Coppock said. "So, I think that is probably the one we hear about the most often."
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