February 24, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Trump a ‘mixed bag’ for ag, policy expert says
Flinchbaugh:
Wheat, cotton
must join forces
for farm bill
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
AIRWAY
HEIGHTS,
Wash. – President Donald
Trump’s first month in of-
fice proved he can do the
job when he wants to, says
a longtime agriculture policy
expert.
Trump so far is a “mixed
bag” for agriculture, said
Barry Flinchbaugh, profes-
sor emeritus for Kansas State
University’s Department of
Agricultural Economics.
Flinchbaugh spoke in
Airway Heights, Wash., as
part of a Washington Asso-
ciation of Wheat Growers
workshop.
Flinchbaugh gave Trump
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Kansas State University agricultural economics professor emeritus
Barry Flinchbaugh talks about agriculture policy under President
Donald Trump Feb. 21 during a Washington Association of Wheat
Growers workshop in Airway Heights, Wash.
an A-plus in deregulating
agriculture, an A in GMO
labeling and a B in immigra-
tion and biofuels.
Trump gets a D in climate
change, Flinchbaugh said,
lamenting that belief in sci-
ence appears to be declining.
“When you believe less in
science, you believe more in
political crap,” he said.
He said GMOs and cli-
mate change are scientific
issues that have no business
in politics.
“Today’s extremists want
it both ways — the food fad
extremist is absolutely con-
vinced that GMOs will kill
but climate change is abnor-
mal, comes from fossil fuels,
et cetera,” he said. “There
are some extremists in the
ag community who believe
that GMOs are not harmful,
but nothing is happening
with the climate. You can’t
have it both ways. You either
believe in science or you
don’t.”
Trump didn’t fare so well
in trade, receiving a C or
D for his positions on the
Trans-Pacific
Partnership
and the North American Free
Trade Agreement.
“He blew it right out
of the chute by pulling the
plug on TPP the first week,”
Flinchbaugh said. The trade
deal would have been “the
most lucrative trade agree-
ment ever negotiated” on
behalf of agriculture, adding
$5 billion per year and giv-
ing the United States equal-
ity compared to, or even an
advantage over China, he
said.
“We’re pulling the plug
on what we really needed,”
he said. “Whether we can
turn this around or not, I
don’t know.”
Flinchbaugh is hopeful
for Trump’s nominee for
secretary of agriculture,
former Georgia Gov. Sonny
Perdue, a veterinarian who
also knows the wheat and
feed grains business.
“In agriculture, all these
years, we’ve refused to learn
... that if you’re going to get
a (farm bill) that works, cot-
ton and wheat have to get
together,” Flinchbaugh said.
“He’s in a very unique posi-
tion to pull that off, because
he’s a grain farmer from cot-
ton country.”
Perdue is very capable,
Flinchbaugh said, but “I do
worry a little bit whether
or not he’s willing to look
Trump in the eye and tell
him he’s full of s---. It clear-
ly needs to be done some-
times.”
The biggest discussion
during the negotiations of
the new farm bill will be the
relationship between crop
insurance and food stamps
under the USDA’s Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP).
Food stamps and nutri-
tion programs make up 85
percent of USDA’s bud-
get, Flinchbaugh said, and
ag loses its position at the
bargaining table without
them.
“Urban
congressmen
will vote for crop insur-
ance if rural congressmen
support food programs,” he
said.
Washington dairies, environmentalists
appeal Ecology’s CAFO manure rules
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Washington Depart-
ment of Ecology’s new rules
for dairies are under legal at-
tack by farm groups and envi-
ronmentalists.
Both sides are asking a
state appeals board to order
Ecology to rewrite the regu-
lations for storing and spread-
ing manure.
The Washington State
Dairy Federation claims the
rules will financially cripple
dairies and actually raise ni-
trate levels in fields.
Meanwhile, a coalition of
seven environmental groups
allege Ecology didn’t go far
enough to keep nitrates from
polluting water.
Ecology
spokeswoman
Sandy Howard said Wednes-
day that Ecology stands by the
rules and will put them into
effect as planned March 3.
“There was a lot of dili-
gence that went into them,”
she said.
Under the rules, as many
as 230 dairies with at least
200 cows must obtain a con-
centrated animal feeding op-
eration permit, or risk pen-
alties. Dairies that discharge
pollutants into surface water
or groundwater need a permit,
according to Ecology.
Ecology has not identified
the dairies, but the department
maintains that manure seeps
from lagoons, even those built
to federal standards, putting
virtually all dairies at risk of
releasing pollutants.
Previously, few dairies
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Dairy cows in a barn in What-
com County, Wash. Both dairy
and environmental groups are
appealing the state Department
of Ecology’s new rules for
how dairies store and spread
manure.
needed a CAFO permit. Ecol-
ogy expanded the permit’s
scope to regulate dairies in a
fashion similar to factories
that discharge wastewater.
Since the new rules were an-
nounced in January, no dairy
has applied for a permit,
Howard said.
The appeals by the dairy
industry and environmental-
ists will be heard by the Pollu-
tion Control Hearings Board.
The three-member state board
hears challenges to Ecology’s
decisions.
The dairy federation,
joined by the Washington
Farm Bureau, said in a written
complaint that Ecology low
balled how much the rules
will cost farmers.
An Ecology report said
permit fees, testing fields,
and assessing and repairing
manure lagoons could range
from about $2,000 to well
over $300,000.
The federation says Ecolo-
gy failed to consider significant
costs related to holding more
and spreading less manure.
Farmers will lose crop pro-
duction, especially because
of increased riparian buffers,
and may have to reconstruct
lagoons, reduce herds and ac-
quire more land, according to
the federation.
Organic farms that can’t
substitute commercial fertiliz-
er for manure will have lower
yields, the federation stated.
The federation also com-
plained that spring soil tests
are unnecessary and could de-
lay planting, leading to more
crop failures and leaving more
nitrate in the ground.
Environmentalists claimed
dairies should be required to
double-line manure lagoons
with synthetic material and
install groundwater monitor-
ing wells.
They also criticized Ecol-
ogy for not naming which
dairies need a CAFO permit
and for issuing two permit
types.
One version will be avail-
able to dairies that don’t dis-
charge pollutants into surface
water, but may discharge into
groundwater. Since the feder-
al Clean Water Act does not
apply to groundwater, envi-
ronmentalists would not be
able to sue dairies in federal
court, alleging permit viola-
tions.
Environmentalists argue
groundwater and surface wa-
ter are connected and regulat-
ing them separately amounts
to “scientific fiction.”
The groups filing the ap-
peal are the Puget Sound-
keeper Alliance, Friends of
Toppenish Creek, Community
Association for Restoration of
the Environment, Sierra Club,
Waterkeeper Alliance, Cen-
ter for Food Safety and RE
Sources for Sustainable Com-
munities.
Courtesy of WSDA
Washington marijuana farmers want to be included in the state’s right-to-farm law.
Pot growers in Washington
seek right-to-farm protection
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Washington
marijuana growers want to
take another step toward join-
ing mainstream agriculture,
though their presence may
raise questions about taxes
and labor law.
Cannabis advocates are
championing legislation to in-
sert marijuana into the state’s
right-to-farm law.
The law bars new neigh-
bors from claiming dust,
odors and noise from an exist-
ing farm’s lawful operations
are a nuisance.
Outdoor marijuana farms
in particular need protection
from disgruntled neighbors,
the advocates say.
“We are intimately aware
that there are people who do
not like cannabis,” said Lara
Kaminsky, executive director
of the Cannabis Alliance, an
advocacy group.
Washington voters legal-
ized recreational pot in 2012,
and production and sales are
flourishing. The state has
1,128 licensed marijuana pro-
ducers. Retail pot sales totaled
$972.7 million for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 2016,
according to the Washington
State Liquor and Cannabis
Board. Sales for this fiscal
year already have topped
$984 million.
Currently, however, Wash-
ington’s right-to-farm law
specifically excludes mari-
juana. The House agriculture
committee recently voted
11-4 to reverse that policy.
House Bill 1692 prime
sponsor Rep. Vincent Buys,
R-Lynden, said the law
shouldn’t discriminate against
marijuana — anymore than
it does against beer-essen-
tial hops or wine-producing
grapes.
“Regardless of how we
feel about the end product, it
should be considered agricul-
ture,” he said.
The bill could affect more
than nuisance lawsuits.
As passed by the agricul-
ture committee, the bill makes
it clear that marijuana growers
would continue to pay busi-
ness and occupation taxes.
Farmers who sell other ag-
ricultural products are exempt
from paying the tax on whole-
sale income.
More controversially, the
Democratic-led committee
excluded marijuana growers
from the state’s farm labor
law.
The law exempts farms
from having to pay overtime.
Buys and other Republi-
cans objected to the amend-
ment, which was suggested
by United Food and Commer-
cial Workers lobbyist Seamus
Petrie. The union is seeking to
organize the marijuana indus-
try’s workforce.
One marijuana grower tes-
tified that in an emergency he
needs workers to put in long
hours, just like other farms.
So far, mainstay farm
groups have been largely
absent from the debate. The
Washington Farm Bureau re-
mains mostly silent on mari-
juana. “We don’t advocate for
crops that are illegal under
federal law. Simple as that,”
Tom Davis, the Farm Bu-
reau’s director of government
relations, said.
The issue may get more at-
tention, however, if the House
passes over to the Senate a
bill that would bring marijua-
na farms into the agricultural
fold, but set a precedent by
excluding its workers from
farm labor law.
“That will probably raise
some red flags for the ag
folks,” Davis said.
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