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CapitalPress.com
January 1, 2016
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opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion
O ur V iew
New position shows University of Idaho means business
T
he University of Idaho
means business, and in
Idaho business usually
involves agriculture.
UI President Chuck Staben has
created a new special assistant
position that will focus strictly
on issues and projects involving
agriculture.
John Foltz, now the interim
dean of UI’s College of
Agricultural and Life Sciences,
will fill the new role once the new
dean, Michael Parrella, takes over
next month.
The new special assistant will
allow Parrella to focus on college-
level issues — always a handful
for administrators new to a job.
In the meantime, Foltz can
concentrate on big-picture projects
and ideas that require more
attention than administrators with
a full plate can devote.
And he will have a direct line
to UI President Staben instead of
being subjected to a bureaucratic
chain of command. That
presumably means things will
get done without sinking into the
morass of academia.
Among the projects at the
top of Foltz’s to-do list is a
livestock research center. Both
the university and the livestock
industry have talked about it for
more than a decade.
Idaho is one of the top dairy
and beef cattle-producing states,
so it only makes sense to build
on that momentum to address
livestock issues.
“The need for this center
has not gone away but in fact
... it’s really increased in terms
of nutrient management, waste
management, labor and all the
issues the industry faces,” Foltz
told the Capital Press.
We are impressed that Idaho
leaders are ready to accept the
challenge of serious research on
livestock-related issues, including
nutrient management and manure
lagoons.
In his new job, Foltz can
devote his full attention to
developing a plan for the
livestock research center — and
making it a reality.
He will also be able to tackle
other agriculture-related issues
and opportunities as they arise,
including research focused on
the development of drones and
precision agriculture.
The state of Idaho and the
University of Idaho have long
impressed many with their
laser-like focus on building the
state’s economy in general and
agriculture in particular.
This new position is one more
piece of evidence for how a state
with a “can-do” attitude can
maintain its role as a leader in
agriculture.
Idaho’s robust economy
is proof that when the state
government, University of Idaho
and agriculture work together, all
things are possible.
This new position at the
University of Idaho will continue
to demonstrate that in the future.
Photos tell ag’s story more
than 1,000 words at a time
By JESSICA WHARTON
For the Capital Press
’T
Rik Dalvit/For the Capital Press
O ur V iew
Saving frogs, killing farms one lawsuit at a time
nvironmentalists have filed
a lawsuit to save the Oregon
spotted frog, and it could cost
4,600 farm families their livelihoods.
The Center for Biological
Diversity is suing the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation, which operates the
Crane Prairie and Wickiup reservoirs.
The reservoirs are an important
water source for the 3,650 farmers
and ranchers of the Central Oregon
Irrigation District and nearly 1,000
more belonging to the North Unit
Irrigation District.
The dams are nearly 100 years old,
and have not wiped the frogs from
that stretch of the river. Plaintiffs say
that the frogs are only surviving on
the margins of their natural habitat,
and that they are further threatened by
the current operations.
The lawsuit alleges the reservoirs
have altered natural water flows in
the Deschutes River to the point of
interfering with the frog’s life cycle.
It alleges that the frog’s egg
masses are flushed out when the water
levels in the reservoirs rise rapidly.
When water is later released from the
E
reservoirs for irrigation, other egg
masses along their margins are dried
up.
River flows are reduced as water
accumulates in the reservoirs,
stranding adult and juvenile frogs
on dry land. Their populations are
isolated, resulting in in-breeding, the
group claims.
Plaintiffs maintain that the bureau
has violated the Endangered Species
Act by operating the reservoirs in a
harmful manner before it completes a
required consultation about the effects
on the frog.
Plaintiffs say that the government
can deliver water to the irrigators, it
just has to manage the operation of
the reservoirs in a way that doesn’t
harm the frogs.
And there’s the rub. If you accept
the plaintiffs’ argument, more water
would have to be stored in the
reservoir during irrigation season,
reducing the amount available for
agriculture, and more water would
need to pass through dams during the
winter, decreasing storage levels.
“They can still deliver water to the
irrigators, they just need to do it in a
more careful way,” Noah Greenwald,
endangered species director for the
Center for Biological Diversity, told
the Capital Press. “They have to do
things more gradually and at different
times of the year.”
In other words, they can’t have
as much as they need, and they can’t
have what they can get when they
need it.
The irrigation districts are not
deaf to the plaintiffs’ cries. They
want to take steps to save water and
be less dependent on the reservoirs.
But they say holding water back and
reducing stream flows in the summer
might in turn harm salmon and other
endangered species in the river. More
work for the environmental bar.
It seems to us the farmers and
ranchers are in greater danger than the
frogs.
The frogs have found a way to
survive the ebb and flow as it has
developed over the last century.
Nature has found a way. But if you
cut off their water, the farmers and the
ranchers won’t fare as well.
is the season for ag-
ritourism — horse-
drawn
carriages,
countryside views and, of
course, social media pictures
capturing the scenery and bus-
tling activity of holidays on the
farm.
Consumer interest in agri-
culture, especially during the
fall and winter, provides farm-
ers and ranchers with a unique
opportunity to connect with
non-ag consumers like never
before. It’s said that a picture
is worth a thousand words,
but when that picture is shared
online by a farmer or rancher, it
can be worth a million “likes.”
With the holidays here,
social media campaigns and
hashtags, such as #ThankAF-
armer, are a quick and easy way
to educate people about where
their food comes from and how
it’s grown. The season offers
unlimited options for engaging
photos, from snow covering the
fields to families sitting at the
dinner table with the food they
grew: Personal photos impact
consumers.
Sharing high-quality photos
with informative or personal
captions on Facebook, Insta-
gram and Twitter can increase
followers as well as consumer
trust.
Photos are proven to be the
most engaging type of content
on Facebook, with an 87 per-
cent interaction rate from fans,
according to Social Media Ex-
aminer.
And photos on Twitter can
boost retweets by 35 percent.
While followers might not al-
ways agree with the message
attached to photos, they will al-
ways believe what they see with
their own eyes.
Guest
comment
Jessica Wharton
Knowing that consumers
believe the stories farmers and
ranchers tell, especially when
supplemented with “behind-the-
scenes” looks at everyday life
on the farm and real-time pho-
tos, is key to creating meaning-
ful connections and constructive
dialogs about agriculture. As the
gap between urban and rural
lifestyles widens, it’s crucial that
everyone involved in agriculture
advocates for ag and connects
farm to food for consumers.
This year, the American
Farm Bureau, in conjunction
with the American Farm Bureau
Foundation for Agriculture, is
hosting a photo contest to accu-
rately portray today’s agriculture
and the safe practices of farmers
and ranchers.
With four submission cate-
gories — Farm Families, Farm
Labor, Technology and Con-
sumer Outreach — holidays
on the farm are an ideal time to
snap a few pictures that reso-
nate with consumers. For more
information on how to register
and to view the contest rules and
regulations, visit the 2015 Farm
Bureau Photo Contest webpage
at http://www.fb.org/programs/
photocontest/.
The holidays are the perfect
opportunity to connect with
consumers and start real conver-
sations about food and where it
comes from. Whether sharing
photos though the Farm Bureau
photo contest or on social media,
each photo is worth much more
than just a thousand words.
Jessica Wharton is a
communications assistant at
the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
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End of year priorities clear the way to focus on trade in 2016
By PHILIP ELLIS
For the Capital Press
C
attlemen and women can
rest a little easier as they
move into the New Year
knowing several policy victo-
ries were contained in the Om-
nibus Appropriations bill.
For NCBA, top among
these was country of origin la-
beling. Cattle producers have
long known that consumers
were unaware COOL labeling
existed, and it had no discern-
able impact on the price or de-
mand for U.S. beef. However,
the largest issue remained the
threat of retaliatory tariffs and
the long term damage that vi-
olating our trade agreements
would have had on future trade
negotiations.
While NCBA continued to
urge action to avoid these out-
comes, unfortunately it took
within hours of implementation
Guest
comment
Philip Ellis
of tariffs for Congress to act.
While COOL certainly cap-
tured the headlines, the Omni-
bus bill contained many more
priorities for cattle producers
including language to continue
congressional oversight of the
dietary guidelines process. With
passage, Congress made it clear
that the current and future di-
etary guidelines will be based on
scientific agreement and limited
to nutrition and dietary informa-
tion.
The bill also increases
scrutiny of beef imports from
regions with known animal
disease issues, funds wildfire
reserves, continues prohibitions
on environmental permitting
and reporting and blocks the
Department of Interior from
designating de facto wilderness
areas.
Just as timely, Congress also
passed tax extenders legislation,
which always seem to fall to the
last minute, forcing producers
to either make decisions during
the year speculating on the tax
ramifications or push major
decisions to the last days of the
year in order to take advantage
of these provisions. While that is
again the case this tax year, the
good news is Section 179 was
made permanent at $500,000,
50 percent bonus depreciation
was extended through 2019 and
the Conservation Easement Tax
Credit was permanently extend-
ed.
This was remarkable news
for NCBA, as we’ve been work-
ing on certainty in the tax code
for a number of years, and with-
out the appetite by Congress to
take up full tax reform, it sub-
jected many of these critical pro-
visions to short-term extensions.
Now with permanent and multi-
year extensions, producers will
be able to plan with their finan-
cial adviser to grow and expand
their operations.
This end to 2015 puts the
cattle industry in a great place
to set our sights on expanded
trade and access to Asia and the
Pacific Rim in 2016. While the
priorities for the industry will be
set by our producer leadership
in San Diego, Calif., we know
that passage of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership will be a major fo-
cus for the year ahead.
The cattle industry has al-
ready lost over $100 million
in trade into Japan, thanks to a
preferential trade agreement be-
tween Japan and Australia. That
gap will continue to grow as the
Japan-Australia Economic Part-
nership Agreement continues to
ratchet down Japan’s tariff on
imported beef.
The good news is the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, ne-
gotiated by the U.S. trade repre-
sentative, would reduce Japan’s
tariffs on imported beef below
Australia’s preferential agree-
ment upon passage. That would
instantly level the playing field,
and allow U.S. producers to
seize and build on our lost mar-
ket share. The cattle industry
cannot afford to push passage of
TPP back. Every day without an
agreement costs us market share
in the Pacific.
With over $7 billion in U.S.
beef exports in 2014, exports
help stabilize our markets, allow
our producers to fetch a premi-
um for muscle cuts internation-
ally, and add value to variety
meats that otherwise would sell
for little to nothing domestical-
ly. Trade represented $350 in
value per head in 2014, and it
represents the future of the prof-
itability of the beef industry.
I hope you’ll visit our web-
site at www.TPPNow.com to
see more benefits to the cattle
industry from trade and learn
how this agreement will impact
your bottom line.
We were pleased to see so
many priority issues the Omni-
bus bill. While this wasn’t an ag
bill, it addressed the industry’s
top concerns and will allow the
NCBA to focus on passage of
the TPP in 2016. I look forward
to seeing many of you at the
Cattle Industry Convention and
NCBA Trade Show in San Di-
ego, Calif., Jan 27-29. For more
information and to register, vis-
it www.BeefUSA.org, or call
(303)-694-0305.
And from my family to
yours, we wish you a Happy
New Year.
Philip Ellis is president of
the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association.