News Update
July 22, 2009

Clean Water Restoration Act Threatens Ranchers, Small Business Owners, NCBA Says

Jim Chilton, a fifth-generation rancher from southeast Arizona, testified today on behalf of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC) during a House Committee on Small Business hearing on the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA). Chilton, whose family has been in the cattle business for more than 120 years, explained how the CWRA would threaten farmers and ranchers, in addition to small businesses, small communities, forestry, mining, and manufacturing on private and federally-managed lands.

“This is essentially a limitless national land and water use control effort that will regulate every activity in a wet area in the nation,” Chilton said. “It’s nothing more than a ‘nice-sounding’ name which masks an economically and culturally devastating power grab, flagrantly violating both the spirit and the words of the U.S. Constitution.”

The proposed Act — which passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last month — would drastically expand the Clean Water Act (CWA), giving the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) control over all watersheds in the nation, and all “activities affecting these waters.” Since all land in the nation is within a watershed, it means that the Corps and EPA would have land-use control over farmers’ and ranchers’ property and other businesses not currently under the jurisdiction of the CWA. This new Federal jurisdiction would include hundreds of millions of isolated, intrastate pools, stock water ponds, springs, small lakes, depressions filled with water on an intermittent basis, drainage and irrigation ditches, irrigated areas that would otherwise be dry, sloughs, and damp places located on farms and ranches that have no nexus with any navigable waters.

Under the Act, family ranchers and farmers may be required to obtain permits from the EPA or Corps before conducting common, everyday operations, such as watering their cattle or farming their land. The federal government is already struggling to handle a backlog of 15,000 to 20,000 existing section 404 permit requests. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the average applicant for an individual Clean Water Act permit spends 788 days and $271,596 in complying with the current process, and the average applicant for a nationwide permit currently spends 313 days and $28,915 — not counting the substantial costs of mitigation or design changes (Rapanos, 447 U.S. at 719, plurality opinion). Considering U.S. farmers and ranchers own and manage approximately 666.4 million acres of the 1.938 billion acres of the contiguous U.S. land mass, the massive new permitting requirements under this Act would be an unmanageable burden for the government, and could literally bring farming operations to a standstill.

Chilton shared from personal experience about a time his family ranch had to apply for a 404 permit to construct a road across a dry wash on their private property. The regulatory approval process took more than a year and cost his family nearly $40,000.

“As a rancher, I wholeheartedly understand the critical importance of a clean water supply; it’s necessary for the health of my animals and my land,” Chilton said. “Federal agencies have ample authority under existing law to protect water quality, and it’s essential that the partnership between the federal and state levels of government be maintained so states can continue to have the essential flexibility to do their own land and water use planning.”

For more information, visit: http://www.beefusa.org/NEWSNCBAPLCUrgeSenatetoStopFederalLandGrabProtectPrivatePropertyRights38922.aspx

— Release provided by NCBA.

Missouri Beef Tour Set for Aug. 29

The 2009 Missouri Beef Tour, Aug. 29, will provide an opportunity to see a broad range of cattle operations in south-central Missouri, said Justin Sexten, chair of the tour and beef nutritionist with University of Missouri Extension’s Commercial Agriculture Program.

The tour begins at 12:30 p.m. and will visit operations in Dent, Phelps and Crawford counties. Stops along the tour include a Hereford seedstock operation, a high stock-density operation, a managed intensive grazing system, a backgrounding operation and a silvopasture facility. The tour is free and advance registration is not required.

For more information, call Rex Ricketts at 573-882-4553 or Justin Sexten at 573-882-8154.

Ag Secretary Vilsack Releases Climate Change Legislation Study, Testifies to Senate

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today will testify to the Senate Agriculture Committee on the role that rural America can play in addressing climate change, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In his testimony, Vilsack will announce the results of USDA economic analysis showing that “the economic benefits to agriculture from the cap and trade legislation will likely outweigh the costs in the short term, and that the economic benefits from offsets markets will easily outpace increased input costs over the long term.”
Below are excerpts from Secretary Vilsack’s prepared testimony:

“Although we realize there are a variety of specific approaches that can be used to achieve clean energy and climate goals, over the last several weeks, USDA has analyzed costs and benefits of the House-passed climate legislation for agriculture. Our analysis demonstrates that the economic opportunities for farmers and ranchers can potentially outpace — perhaps significantly — the costs from climate legislation.

“The agriculture sector will benefit directly from allowance revenues allocated to finance incentives for renewable energy and agricultural emissions reductions during the first five years of the HR 2454 cap and trade program. Funds for agricultural emissions reductions are estimated to range from about $75 million to $100 million annually from 2012-2016.

“HR 2454’s creation of an offset market will create opportunities for the agricultural sector. In particular, our analysis indicates that annual net returns to farmers range from about $1 billion per year in 2015-2020 to almost $15-20 billion in 2040-2050, not accounting for the costs of implementing offset practices.

“So, let me be clear about the implications of this analysis. In the short term, the economic benefits to agriculture from cap and trade legislation will likely outweigh the costs. In the long term, the economic benefits from offsets markets easily trump increased input costs from cap and trade legislation. Let me also note that we believe these figures are conservative because we aren’t able to model the types of technological change that are very likely to help farmers produce more crops and livestock with fewer inputs. Second, the analysis doesn’t take into account the higher commodity prices that farmers will very likely receive as a result of enhanced renewable energy markets and retirement of environmentally sensitive lands domestically and abroad. Of course, any economic analysis such as ours has limitations. But, again, we believe our analysis is conservative — it’s quite possible farmers will actually do better.

“What does this mean for the individual farmer? A Northern Plains wheat producer, for example, might see an increase of 80¢ per acre in costs of production by 2020 due to higher fuel prices. Based on a soil carbon sequestration rate of 0.4 tons per acre and a carbon price of $16 per ton, a producer could mitigate those expenses by adopting no-till practices and earning $6.40 per acre. So, this wheat farmer does better under the House passed climate legislation than without it. And, it’s quite possible that this wheat farmer could do even better if technologies and markets progress in such a way that allows for the sale of wheat straw to make cellulosic ethanol.

“We recognize that climate legislation will affect different landowners in different ways. This is an important point. USDA can help smooth this transition by using our Farm Bill conservation programs to assist landowners in adopting new technologies and stewardship practices. It is also worth noting that the House bill includes important provisions regarding how to adapt and increase resiliency to climate change effects, which will be important for our nation’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners. Ensuring that landowners and communities have the tools and information they need to adapt to climate change is a priority for this Administration.”

— Release provided by USDA.

USGC: U.S. Farmers Help Curb Global Hunger

“The Importance of Trade in an Uncertain World” was the theme of the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) 49th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting. More than 300 U.S. farmers, agribusiness representatives and international agriculturalists gathered in San Diego, Calif., this week to identify ways U.S. farmers and agribusinesses can help curb global hunger.

“How many presently low-income consumers are lifted out of poverty will be the most important determinant of the future global demand for food,” said Robert Thompson, Gardner Endowed chair in agricultural policy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Thompson told meeting attendees that developed countries are shrinking in population but underdeveloped countries like China and India continue to grow. The projected world population is expected to grow to 2.6 billion people by 2050.

“1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 per day, 1 billion of whom suffer from hunger and malnutrition. 2.1 billion people live on less than $2.50 per day. The growth in population creates the need, and the increase in purchasing power translates that need into market demand. As the incomes of these underdeveloped countries rise from $2 a day to $10 per day, people will eat more meat, dairy products, fruits, vegetables and edible oils, causing a rapid growth in the raw agricultural commodity demand,” Thompson said. “Not all countries are affected by the economic crisis. Asian countries are significantly less affected by the economic crisis. As they continue to grow, so will their need and ability to purchase more meat, milk and eggs.”

Trade will play a significant role in improving the lives of people around the world, said Thompson, providing a better standard of living. “Obtaining goods that others can produce at a lower cost in exchange for things we can produce cheaper will strengthen the households’ purchasing power ability and the country’s gross national product by employing its land, labor and capital where they are the most productive.”

Thompson believes the projected world food demand will double in the first half of the century due to the 50% increase in world population growth and the 50% increase from broad-based economic growth in low-income countries.

“It is in our economic self interest to focus on the completion of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round. They are the only potential growth markets for agricultural products, but only if and when they can afford to eat meat, fruits, vegetables and edible oils. Trade is a more powerful engine of growth than aid. With almost half the world’s population living on less than $2 per day, it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

— Release provided by USGC.

MU Greenley Center field day set for Aug. 13

Tours at Greenley Memorial Research Center traditionally feature research on crops, weeds and beef, but Randall Smoot, center superintendent, hopes to present some new things this year at the 32nd field day, Aug. 13. The University of Missouri (MU) research farm is in Knox County, one mile east of Novelty.

A new drainage system on farm plots and a wind-turbine tower are in the works. “We hope to have something to show,” Smoot said. “If not, we will discuss design and display a prototype.”

Wagon tours start at 8 a.m. In a lunchtime talk, Lori Wilcox, research and operations program director at the MU Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, will discuss cap-and-trade rules in the climate-change bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and now under consideration in the Senate.

The afternoon will feature drainage and subirrigation research at the Ross Jones Farm, located 11 miles southeast of Novelty on Highway 15.

With extensive rainfall the last two years, the drainage plots have proven their value, said Kelley Nelson, MU agronomist at the Greenley Center. The subsurface tiles carry off excess water in wet years; in dry years, the tiles can function in reverse, supplying irrigation to parched fields.

MU will let bids for addition of similar drainage and irrigation plots north of the Greenley headquarters. Smoot said he hopes to be able to show progress on the ground by the field day.

MU Extension weed specialist Kevin Bradley and graduate students will discuss new products for corn and soybeans, as well as management of glyphosate-resistant waterhemp and marestail. Farmers can see and compare the weed control.

MU weed scientist Reid Smeda will talk about management of volunteer corn. With new varieties resistant to herbicides, corn-in-corn control becomes a problem.

On the beef tour, Craig Payne, MU Extension veterinarian, will talk about new efforts to regulate livestock production.

Justin Sexten, nutritionist with the MU Extension Commercial Agriculture Program, will talk about nutritional considerations of weaned calves.

Zach Erwin, extension regional livestock specialist, Monticello, Mo., will deliver a presentation titled “Forage Sampling, Analysis and Interpretations.”

Another tour stop will examine feedlot results on steers from the Greenley beef herd, produced by high-accuracy sires.

The crops tour will highlight results of two experiments by students of MU soil scientist Peter Motavalli.

Pat Nash will describe nitrogen loss in cornfields, comparing slow-release nitrogen fertilizer to conventional urea fertilizer. The loss of nitrous oxide is a concern because of greenhouse-gas effects, Motavalli said. For the farmer, nitrogen loss can reduce corn yields.

John Shetley will describe his study of applying potassium fertilizer in cornfields at the same time as fungicide.

Max Glover, Extension regional agronomist, Shelbyville, Mo., will present a talk titled “Diagnostic Services for Crops.”

The field day is free and open to the public. Wagon tours will be repeated all morning, so people will be able to take part in all four tours, Smoot said.

Early arrivals will receive a book of research reports.

Greenley Center is named after the late Lee Greenley Jr., whose children donated his 700-acre farm to the University of Missouri in 1969 as a memorial to Greenley and his wife, Grace.

For more information about Greenley Center, visit http://aes.missouri.edu/greenley or call 660-739-4410.

— Release provided by MU.

— Compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.