March 24, 2017
Critics
urge more
livestock
antibiotic
oversight
in Oregon
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Critics of the
U.S. Food and Drug Adminis-
tration’s oversight of livestock
antibiotics want the state of
Oregon to do it instead.
Over several years, the
FDA has phased out the use
of antibiotics for growth pro-
motion and feed efficiency in
livestock with the voluntary
cooperation of pharmaceutical
companies.
However, this approach
hasn’t satisfied critics who
say that antibiotics can still be
used excessively by livestock
producers for the prevention
— rather than treatment — of
disease.
“The loophole is they’re
still allowing these drugs to be
used on healthy animals,” said
Michael Hansen, senior staff
scientist with the Consumers
Union, during a recent legisla-
tive hearing.
Under House Bill 785, Ore-
gon livestock producers would
only be able to provide a “med-
ically important antibiotic” to
their animals if a veterinarian
determines it’s necessary to
treat or control the spread of a
disease or infection, or due to a
medical procedure.
Farms that are considered
“concentrated animal feeding
operations” — such as many
dairies and feedlots — would
have to submit information
about their antibiotic usage
to the state government, with
those records subject to disclo-
sure as public documents.
Opponents argue the bill’s
provisions unnecessarily in-
fringe on a solution devised by
the FDA at a federal level, cre-
ating state-specific restrictions
that will leave Oregon’s live-
stock industry at a competitive
disadvantage.
“They unfairly single out
livestock producers,” said Na-
than Jackson, president of the
Oregon Cattlemen’s Associa-
tion.
The record-keeping re-
quirements contained in HB
785 have also perturbed agri-
culture group representatives,
who say they’re overly bur-
densome without being useful.
Chad Allen, president of
the Oregon Dairy Farmers
Association, said he already
tracks antibiotic usage at his
dairy near Tillamook, Ore., but
objected to submitting records
to state authorities.
“It doesn’t serve the public
any good for me to hand that
over and bring a spotlight into
my business,” Allen said.
Supporters of HB 785 said
the FDA’s approach is ineffec-
tive because growth promotion
accounted for less than one-
fourth of antibiotic usage in
livestock production.
Roughly two-thirds of live-
stock antibiotic usage has been
devoted to disease prevention,
which isn’t affected by the
FDA policy and allows ani-
mals to be kept in “crowded,
factory farm conditions,” said
Hansen.
It’s also “blatantly false”
and a “mischaracterization”
to claim that FDA’s strategy
is binding on the livestock in-
dustry, said George Kimbrell,
senior attorney with the Center
for Food Safety, a nonprofit ac-
tivist group that supports HB
785.
The FDA has issued guid-
ance recommending certain
actions to pharmaceutical man-
ufacturers but these suggestions
are not enforceable, Kimbrell
said.
“What the FDA has done
here does not have the force of
law,” he said.
Opponents of HB 785 argue
it’s a misconception that FDA’s
policy is merely voluntary.
As of early 2017, all animal
drug manufacturers have com-
mitted to change the labeled
uses of antibiotics, so veteri-
narians cannot prescribe the
drugs for growth promotion or
similar uses, according to op-
ponents.
CapitalPress.com
7
Trump budget deepens cuts to USDA
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
President Donald Trump’s
preliminary “skinny budget”
would slim down resources
to farmers, ranchers and ru-
ral America, further cutting
USDA’s already trimmed-
down budget.
Trump’s FY2018 proposal
would cut discretionary fund-
ing to USDA by 21 percent,
a decrease of $4.7 billion to
$17.9 billion.
The current USDA budget
includes $25 billion in discre-
tionary spending for such pro-
grams as the special nutrition
program for Women, Infants
and Children called WIC, Ru-
ral Development, food safety,
the U.S. Forest Service, re-
search and conservation activ-
ities.
That’s on top of $130 bil-
lion in congressionally man-
dated spending for a current
overall budget of $155 bil-
lion. Of that total, 71 percent
goes to WIC and SNAP food
stamps for 44.5 million Amer-
icans, 16 percent goes to farm
and commodity programs, 7
percent goes to conservation
and forestry and 6 percent
goes to rural development, re-
Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press
President Donald Trump speaks
in the East Room of the White
House on March 7. Trump’s
“skinny budget” proposal would
cut funding to USDA discretion-
ary funding by $4.7 billion.
search, food safety, marketing
and regulatory functions and
management.
In a climate of serious
economic challenges in farm
country, it’s not the time to
cut programs and services that
have already been on the chop-
ping block the past few years,
said R.J. Karney, American
Farm Bureau Federation direc-
tor of congressional relations.
The significant cut in
USDA’s budget demonstrates
the importance of having the
secretary of agriculture at the
table to champion the needs
of farmers and ranchers. That
didn’t happen, as Trump’s
nominee for that position, Son-
ny Purdue, has been sidelined
by delays in the confirmation
process, he said.
“Not having the secretary
of ag at the table to help the
budget process was made clear
by the negative impact to the
(USDA’s) budget,” he said.
National Farmers Union
President Roger Johnson said
in a statement the proposed
cuts and message they send to
rural America are “deeply dis-
appointing.”
Family farmers and ranch-
ers are enduring the worst
farm economy in well over
a decade and an inadequate
safety net already hamstrung
by $23 billion in budget cuts,
he said.
“The last thing our mem-
bers need right now is more
cuts to agencies and programs
that provide incredibly im-
portant work, especially in the
middle of the current farm cri-
sis,” he said.
All the details have not
yet been released, but fund-
ing cuts would target USDA’s
statistical capabilities within
the National Agricultural Sta-
tistics Service and Economic
Research Service and USDA
Service Center Agencies —
Farm Service Agency, Natural
Resources and Conservation
Service and Rural Develop-
ment. It would also eliminate
the Waste and Wastewater loan
and grant program.
NASS provides roughly
400 reports annually on 120
crops and 45 livestock prod-
ucts, with estimates on acre-
age, yield and production.
That information is critical to
farmers and ranchers in deci-
sion-making, Karney said.
ERS provides economic
analysis on food, agriculture,
natural resources and econom-
ic development in rural Amer-
ica, which farmers, ranchers
and government officials rely
on to guide policy and farming
businesses, he said.
Other ag organizations are
concerned with funding cuts
aimed at conservation and ru-
ral development.
The National Association
of Conservation Districts said
without USDA’s conservation
programs, farmers, ranchers
and rural communities won’t
have the resources or assis-
tance they need to keep soils
healthy, water clean and wild-
life abundant.
The National Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition said
Trump’s budget request misses
the mark when it comes to the
needs of rural America – gut-
ting USDA’s ability to invest
in rural development, target-
ing rural water and wastewater
management programs and
moving to privatize conserva-
tion planning.
The National Young Farm-
ers Coalition said the budget
proposal dramatically under-
estimates the economic urgen-
cy facing rural America – re-
cruiting a new generation of
farmers to take over for Amer-
ica’s aging farming population
by making rural life a less-via-
ble option.
“Looking to the future, the
thing to keep in mind is that
Congress writes the budget,
not the president,” AFBF’s
Karney said.
House Ag Committee
Chairman Michael Conaway,
R-Texas, said Congress needs
to be extremely careful not to
exacerbate the current strug-
gles farmers and ranchers are
facing. He pointed out that the
latest estimates show the 2014
Farm Bill has saved more that
$100 billion, saying “agricul-
ture has done more than its fair
share.”
Ag pad will remain open at Pendleton’s airport
Blast wall to
assuage safety
concerns with
drone range
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
PENDLETON, Ore. — The
northernmost agricultural pad
at the Eastern Oregon Regional
Airport is open for business.
Members of the Pendle-
ton Airport Commission held
a special meeting Monday to
resolve safety concerns be-
tween the pad and nearby drone
operations. The city recently
purchased two 40-foot ship-
ping containers that will act as
a blast wall to protect sensitive
EO Media Group file photo
A RQ-7B Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle lands at the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport in May 2014 after a short inaugural flight
in Pendleton.
equipment. The containers
were expected to arrive at the
airport by Wednesday.
Darryl Abling, who man-
ages the Pendleton Unmanned
Aerial Systems Range, previ-
ously recommended the airport
temporarily close the ag pad
while UAS activities are relo-
cated to the north end of the air-
field. The concern, Abling said,
was planes kicking up rocks
and debris that could possibly
damage drones or injure flight
crews.
After meeting with stake-
holders last week, Abling
agreed a barrier would be an
effective solution in the short
term. Crop dusting pilots
stressed the need to settle the
issue quickly, since farmers are
already applying fertilizer to
their fields and the window for
work is finite.
Two pilots had expressed
interest in using the disputed ag
pad — Andrew Kilgore, of K2
Aerial Application, and Brad
Wahl, of Wildhorse Helicop-
ters. Kilgore hired an attorney
after he was denied use of the
pad, but never got to the point
of litigation.
There was some discussion
about making the pad open to
the public under a pay-as-you-
go system, though that raised
questions about who would
manage the pad and whether it
would open the city to liability.
As it is, the airport leases its ag
pads to single operators.
The airport commission ul-
timately agreed it would lease
the pad to Wahl, who would
share its use with Kilgore.
“I don’t think it has to be
complicated,” Wahl said. “I
think I can work with him,
he can work with me and that
would be fine.”
Kilgore’s attorney, Michael
Schultz, said he felt the agree-
ment was a step in the right di-
rection.
“I am heartened that we are
in the position today where
we are cooperating,” Schultz
said.
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