Notes from the MN Farmers Union 12-22-08
Notes from the Minnesota Farmers Union Monday December 22nd, 2008
MFU comments on Vilsack nomination
President-elect Barack Obama has nominated former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as United States Secretary of Agriculture. "As the former Governor of a neighboring state, Mr. Vilsack knows the concerns of Midwest farmers," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. "He understands the resources of the Midwest, and the need to bridge our energy policy to the next generation of renewable fuels." National Farmers Union President Tom Buis said, "While rural America faces many challenges, President-elect Obama has prioritized numerous opportunities, including reducing our nation's dependence on foreign oil by advancing the development of renewable energy. Not only will this help our nation, it will help revitalize our rural communities. Wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, cellulosic, will all be produced in rural America." Vilsack is the former Governor of Iowa, where he was first elected in 1998 and re-elected to a second four-year term in 2002. What do you think of the pick?
MFU ready for Legislative session
MFU has begun meeting with legislators and staff on key issues that MFU will be working on when the legislative session begins on Jan. 6th in St. Paul. Among MFU's top issues will be the budget situation, fixing green acres, health care, bovine tb, extending the farmer-lender mediation, support for the Rural Finance Authority, addressing wind easements, and looking at some local food initiative
Green Acres Hearing/Meeting
While I am not sure if it was a hearing or a meeting the Senate held a session last week for groups to talk about concerns with the changes to green acres. The session was chaired by Sen. Rick Olseen and other Senators attending included: Lynch, Rummel, Dibble, Vickerman, Erickson-Ropes, Fobbe, and Skoe. MFU testified that our members support a full repeal of the changes made last year, but if that is not practicable, we would like to see several changes made including recognition of no-productive land and allowing for transfers without penalty.
Senate Green Acres Hearing
Sen. Vickerman's office has announced that the Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on Green Acres on Tuesday Jan. 27th at 3:00 p.m. MFU is working to coordinate its testimony for the day, if you are interested, please contact me.
Legislative Audit on MDA released
Last week the Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report on the MN Dept. of Ag. For the areas audited, the Department of Agriculture's internal controls were generally adequate to ensure it safeguarded receipts, accurately paid vendors and employees, produced reliable financial records, and complied with most legal requirements. However, the department had some weaknesses in its internal controls for travel, overtime, purchasing cards, cell phones, and limited aspects of its personnel and payroll transactions. Checkout the report here: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/fad/2008/fad08-35.htm
House wants your ideas
The Minnesota House of Representatives has created a Budget Solutions Comment Page on its website. It is an easy and direct way for Minnesotans to share their ideas as state leaders begin the task of erasing a more than $5 billion deficit. The link can be found at the top of the House website: http://www.house.mn.
Lobby Days set
Mark your calendars to attend one of two MFU lobby days. The first one will be Tuesday Jan. 27th from East Central, South West and South East Minnesota. The second will be Wed. Feb. 11th from Northwest and West Central Minnesota. Watch for post cards and check www.mfu.org for more information. MFU will be running vans from the various areas of the state or members can drive in on their own. Please contact me for more information.
Fobbe appointed to ag committee
Newly elected and sworn in Sen. Lisa Fobbe (DFL-Zimmerman) has been appointed to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee chaired by Sen. Jim Vickerman. Fobbe replaces Sen. Betsy Wergin who was appointed to the Public Utilities Commission. Among areas Fobbe represents are Sherburne County, who is #1 in potato production in Minnesota and Morrison County which is a top 5 county in the number of dairy farms.
Duerr is new Ag Committee Admin
Congrats to Andrew (A.J.) Duerr who has been selected to serve as the Committee Administrator for the House Agriculture Policy and Finance Committees. Duerr's has a strong rural background from growing up in Kanabec County to serving as a legislative assistant to several rural members.
Wolf and Elk Depredation
MFU attended a meeting at MDA recently to discuss the lack of funds in the state wildlife depredation account. The fund pays producers for losses associated with wolves and elk. There are a couple of issues MFU and the state are dealing with; the account is out of money, mostly due to growing elk claims and wolf claims are steady since they have been put back on the endangered list. MFU will continue to work on this issue, and encourages members who have thoughts or concerns to contact me.
USDA Announce Sign-ups
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said Friday that enrollment for the 2009 Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment (DCP) Program for farms with base acres will begin Dec. 22 both online and at local USDA service centers and will continue until June 1, 2009. Producers are urged to make use of the eDCP automated website to sign up; however, producers can visit any USDA Service Center or their administratively assigned center to complete their 2009 DCP contract. The FSA also announced that signup for the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC) begins Dec 22 and will continue through the program's expiration date, Sept 30, 2012.
Feed Ban Looming
MFU is working with the Department of Agriculture and others on the looming FDA Feed Ban Enhancement ruling and its impact on Minnesota's livestock industry. The FDA has issued its final rule which takes effect this coming spring and could have a large impact on the collection of dead animals namely beef and dairy cows. Members who have questions or suggestions about this issue should contact me.
Wheat check off change fails
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has announced Minnesota wheat producers voted against a referendum to increase their promotional check-off recently. The referendum was proposed by the MWRPC to change the present check-off rate of one cent per bushel to 0.5% of the net sale value. By rejecting the proposed check-off rate increase, the current check-off of one cent per bushel will remain in effect. Through the mandatory check-off program, farmers pay a percentage of their sale proceeds to their commodity council. Commodity councils use these funds to pay for promotion, communication and research activities aimed at increasing crop value for growers.
Corn producers to consider change
The Minnesota Corn and Research & Promotion Council are asking corn farmers to approve an increase in the state corn check-off from ½ cent to one cent per bushel. This would be the first increase in the corn check-off since it was approved in 1991. MN corn farmers who are subject to the corn check-off are eligible to vote in this referendum, which will be conducted on Friday Jan.9, 2009 at the Jackpot Junction Hotel in Morton. Polling hours are scheduled for 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. By state statute, no absentee or mail in ballots are allowed for this type of referendum.
Cow Tax not likely
Last week while attending the Midwest Dairy Expo in St. Cloud and I fielded a lot of questions about the so-called "burp-tax" on cows. Recently, many federal lawmakers have stated their opposition to a possible regulation suggested by the federal Environmental Protection Agency that would place a tax on livestock "emissions." In July 2008, the EPA issued an advance notice of a proposed rule in response to the a ruling made by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, which ruled that greenhouse gases, such as methane, are air pollutants under the federal Clean Air Act. According to a statement from the EPA "The Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making does not recommend the use of any particular Clean Air Act authority to regulate any emissions, nor does it commit to specific next steps to address greenhouse gasses." According to the EPA, the advance proposal is meant to explore the challenges in using the Clean Air Act to curb greenhouse gases. Basically from the officials I have talked to the issue has been blown out of proportion and that no one should think a cow tax is on the way.
MFU Year in Review
MFU Office Assistant Glen Schmidt has created an excellent video entitled "2008 MFU year in review" that was shown at the 2008 convention banquet. Check it out on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeNTX5dHXjE
Dairy Information
The latest numbers from the MN Dept. of Ag show an increase in Minnesota's cow numbers so that MN now has about 465,000 dairy cows. There are about 4,251 grade "a" farms, 524 grade 'b" farms and 20 can farms. For a total of 4,795 dairy farms.
That is all for now as usual, questions, comments and complaints to me!
Thom Petersen, Director of Government Relations, MN Farmers Union