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12 CapitalPress.com January 12, 2018 American Farm Bureau Federation Regulation-averse Farm Bureau policies more realistic under Trump By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Many of the policy recom- mendations voted upon by the American Farm Bureau Federation’s regional del- egates at the end of annual conventions once seemed unrealistic. After all, how likely was it that the Obama adminis- tration would sharply curtail regulations on labor practic- es, pesticide usage and bio- technology? With a regulation-averse Trump administration and Republican-controlled Con- gress, however, these policy positions may not be so out- landish anymore. For example, during the Jan. 9 business session held at the organization’s con- vention here, the delegates recommended repealing the Obama-era “Worker Protec- tion Standards” that imposed stricter conditions on pesti- cides. They also decided the U.S. Department of Labor should provide seven days notice before performing a labor audit and that wages under the H-2A farm guest- worker program should be lowered to better reflect local conditions and reduce the fi- nancial burden on growers. Such goals are largely “aspirational,” but it’s not unfeasible for such federal rules to be mitigated, said Paul Schlegel, AFBF’s dep- uty director of public policy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an- nounced that it may revise several key provisions of the Worker Protection Standards and release them for public comment by September, he said. The Farm Bureau is hope- ful that EPA will allow states Courtesy American Farm Bureau Federation AFBF President Zippy Duvall and Vice President Scott Vander- Wal preside over the organization’s policy session during this week’s national convention. to determine the appropriate age at which workers apply pesticides, down from the Obama-era minimum of 18 years, Schlegel said. The agency may also change pesticide spray ex- clusion zones, which cur- rently require buffers that effectively take land out of production, to make the rules more workable for farmers, he said. It’s particularly important for EPA to revise the “des- ignated representative” rule, which forces farmers to re- lease two years of pesticide records to designated repre- sentatives of farmworkers, he said. As it’s currently worded, the provision could easily be exploited by anti-pesti- cide groups to sow fear about spraying certain chemicals, Schlegel said. As for labor regulations, such as the seven day notice before DOL audits, farmers just want to be treated fairly and not have the agency put them in a “gotcha” situation, he said. Such recommended poli- cies aren’t intended to allow growers to skirt the rule of law, Schlegel said. “I don’t think growers are looking for a get out of jail card.” Some policy recommen- dations proved more contro- versial than others during the Jan. 9 voting session. A couple delegates ob- jected to the recommended withdrawal of federal funds from “sanctuary” jurisdic- tions, which refuse to comply with federal officers’ requests to hold illegal immigrants ar- rested for crimes. Delegates from California and New York argued this policy would be similar to the sanctions imposed on rogue nations — they won’t much hurt the responsible politi- cians but they will adverse- ly impact farmers and farm workers. Despite these arguments, the delegates voted to ap- prove the sanctuary jurisdic- tion policy. Changing the Farm Bu- reau’s policy make manda- tory “country of origin la- beling,” or COOL, for meat also drew diverging opinions. Under current AFBF policy, the group prefers COOL to be voluntary. Some farmers said that with President Donald Trump renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agree- ment, or NAFTA, there’s the opportunity to make Canada and Mexico agree to this pro- vision. Opponents of the proposal said it would violate World Trade Organization rules and potentially disrupt exports, which are critical for beef producers right now. A proponent of the COOL provision declared, “I don’t mind wearing a Chinese T-shirt but I don’t want to eat a Chinese hamburger.” While the declaration got a hearty laugh, delegates voted against the mandatory COOL policy. The Farm Bureau’s exist- ing policy for solar develop- ment — which calls for pan- els to be installed on marginal or underused land — came under attack from property rights-minded farmers. One delegate said he un- derstood the intention behind the provision but was uncom- fortable with dictating what other growers should do with their land. Another farmer countered that the policy doesn’t bar solar development, but sim- ply suggests it not occur on high-value farmland. Solar projects can also be used as a strategy by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to cancel grazing leases on its property by declaring the land underused and then approv- ing solar facilities, the grower said. Ultimately, the delegates opted to keep the policy rec- ommending solar develop- ment on marginal land. Two votes were entirely uncontroversial: After prais- ing AFBF President Zippy Duvall and Vice President Scott VanderWal, the dele- gates unanimously re-elected the two officers for two more years. ‘I am proud to stand with you’ TRUMP from Page 1 assets to $11 million, was also included in the bill despite being “a tough one to get,” he said. Farmers gave Trump a standing ovation upon men- tion of the estate tax change, which led him to comment that they must love their fam- ilies. “It’s not going to help you much,” he said. “It’s going to help them a lot.” Trump briefly touched on the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying that he’s working hard to get a better deal. NAFTA was a common target during his presidential campaign but is generally popular in agricul- ture. He took a feistier approach to immigration, another sensi- tive subject due to labor short- ages in agriculture, by reiter- ating tough stances from his presidential campaign. “We are going to end chain migration, we are going to end the (visa) lottery system and we are going to build the wall,” Trump said. Looking forward to the upcoming farm bill negotia- tions, Trump said he would push Congress to enact new legislation before the previ- ous version expires in 2018. Trump said he’d insist the bill should include crop insur- ance, “unless you don’t want me to,” he said. Hearing the audience ap- plaud, he remarked, “I guess you like it.” If the response was less Farm Bureau grateful to Trump but anxious on trade Nation’s largest farm group meets in Nashville, Tenn. By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Oregonian runner-up in Farm Bureau YF&R discussion meet Capital Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jenny Freeborn of Oregon was the runner-up in the Young Farmers & Ranchers Discussion Meet Jan. 8 at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2018 Annual Convention & IDEAg Trade Show. “We are so proud of Jen- ny. She worked very hard for this and did an outstanding job representing Oregon,” said Anne Marie Moss, Ore- gon Farm Bureau communi- cations director. Freeborn, who is from Rickreall, Ore., was elected chair of the Oregon Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee in De- cember. Her father, Dean Freeborn, is a member of the Oregon Farm Bureau board of directors, according to Moss. Her sister, Kathy Hadley, has served as YF&R chair as well. “Making the Final Four of this competition was literally a dream come true for me. It’s Oregon Farm Bureau Jenny Freeborn, representing Oregon, participates in the Young Farmers & Ranchers Discussion Meet at the Amer- ican Farm Bureau Federation convention in Nashville, Tenn. She was the runner-up. something I’ve wanted to do since I was 15 years old and participated in an FFA prac- tice discussion meet,” Free- born said in an Oregon Farm Bureau statement. “In 2009, I was in the audience watch- ing the Final Four round in Seattle, and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to be on that stage someday.’ And yet at the same time, I never thought it would actually happen. When my name was announced for the Final Four, that was both the most shocking and proudest moment of my life.” As runner-up, Freeborn will receive a Case IH Far- mall 50A tractor courtesy of Case IH. The discussion meet sim- ulates a committee meeting in which active discussion and participation are expect- ed. Participants are evaluated on their ability to exchange ideas and information on a predetermined topic, accord- ing to a Farm Bureau press release. In Freeborn’s four rounds of competition, the topics of discussion were: • Round 1 topic: With a growing demand for U.S. farm products abroad, how can agriculture overcome public skepticism of foreign trade to negotiate new trade agreements and open new world markets? • Round 2 topic: How can Farm Bureau help members with increasing legal and regulatory obstacles so they can focus on farming and ranching? • Sweet 16 round topic: How can farmers and ranch- ers maintain their buying power with the continued trend of input supplier and provider consolidations? • Final Four round topic: Farmers are a shrinking per- centage of the population. How can Farm Bureau help first-generation farmers and ranchers get started in agri- culture? Martha Smith of Colora- do won the discussion meet. Jared Knock of South Da- kota placed third, and fourth place went to Matt Jakubik of Michigan. The discussion meet was held along with the Young Farmers & Ranch- ers Achievement Award and Excellence in Agriculture competitions, the winners of which were also announced Monday. Farm Bureau members take up immigration reform, farm bill Agriculture suffers from labor shortage, depends on crop insurance By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Apart from international trade, the ongoing agricultural labor shortage and upcoming farm bill were dominant top- ics at the American Farm Bu- reau’s annual convention. President Donald Trump campaigned as an immigra- tion hardliner, but the nation’s largest farm organization is hopeful that a deal can be struck to alleviate agricul- ture’s labor crunch. It’s necessary to enforce the law, but not in a way that would stop many farmers from doing business, said Zip- py Duvall, the Farm Bureau’s president. Dairy pro- ducers, for example, can lose a signif- icant portion of their work- Rep. force when Jerry Moran U.S. Immi- gration and Customs Enforcement offi- cers come looking for a single criminal employee, he said. Congress should pass a bill that would allow U.S. farm- ers to legally access workers from other countries where they’re abundant, Duvall said. When asked if Trump stands to lose a large propor- tion of his strongest support- ers by signing such a bill, Duvall said the president is a businessman who understands the industry’s need for labor. The introduction of a bill by Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., which would create a new farm guestworker pro- gram, shows there’s a desire in Congress to address the prob- lem, Duvall said. Even so, it’s probably go- ing to be difficult to separate the farm labor shortage issue from the broader controversy about immigration, he said. “We’d like to deal with agricultural labor first,” said Duvall. “But I don’t think the country is going to let us do that without immigration re- form.” As for the farm bill, the Farm Bureau expects to advo- cate to the Trump administra- tion about the importance of crop insurance, without which many farmers would be unable to secure operating loans, he said, “Of course, Congress is go- ing to write that bill,” Duvall said. Farm bills are passed peri- odically by Congress to update programs that assist farmers and provide food assistance to the needy. When promoting the need for the farm bill, growers should avoid explaining it as a “safety net,” he said. When described that way, people in other industries won- der why they aren’t entitled to a similar protections, he said. “We have to stop calling it a safety net and start calling it what it is: a food security bill,” Duvall said. Legislation aimed at pro- viding aid to cotton and dairy producers who suffered from natural disasters last year will likely serve as a prelude to the overall farm bill, said Sen. Jer- ry Moran, R-Kan. “It will be a sense we’ve at least gotten those two is- sues out of the way,” he said. The current farm bill will expire in 2018, but that doesn’t necessarily set a deadline for the legislation, which has routinely been de- layed in the past, Moran said. enthusiastic, he joked, “forget it.” Growers can also look for- ward to road and infrastruc- ture projects being completed “under budget and on sched- ule,” Trump said, urging them to follow these developments on his Twitter account. “It’s the only way to get around the media,” he said. “Fake media.” At the conclusion of his speech, Trump told the crowd they could anticipate a new era of patriotism and pride under his tenure. “I am proud to stand with you, and I will be standing with you for many years to come,” he said. The event was punctu- ated by Trump signing two presidential orders aimed at improving rural broadband service. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue also presented the president with the findings from his Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Ru- ral Prosperity. The report recommends improving “e-connectivity” to increase rural productivity with high-speed internet ac- cess, enhancing rural quality of life with modern utilities, transportation and housing, as well as providing training and other services to develop the rural workforce. “Harnessing technological innovation” in agriculture, manufacturing and other in- dustries is also recommended in the report, as is overall eco- nomic development through tourism, energy, logging and technology. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Make no mistake about it: The folks at the American Farm Bureau Federation are grateful to President Donald Trump. For agriculture, the atmo- sphere in the nation’s capital has much improved in the year that Trump has been in office, said Zippy Duvall, the organization’s president, during the Jan. 7 opening ses- sion of its annual convention in Nashville, Tenn. “There’s no question we have a seat at the table in this Trump administration,” he said. Duvall went on to recount the blessings that Trump has bestowed on agriculture. Foremost is the pending rescission of the Obama ad- ministration’s “waters of the U.S.” rule, or WOTUS, which the Farm Bureau feared would expand federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction. “Our land is our heritage and nothing gets us more riled up than when someone comes onto our land and tells us how to do a job we’ve been doing for generations,” Duvall said. The installation of Scott Pruitt to head the Environ- mental Protection Agency has restored a sense of com- mon sense stewardship to that agency, he said. Likewise, the reduction in size of certain national mon- uments by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has reassured ranchers who depend on those public lands for grazing, Du- vall said. Under the direction of USDA Secretary Sonny Per- due, the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Ru- ral Prosperity will scale back a federal bureaucracy that stands in the way of a thriving farming industry, he said. “He knows how to farm in the face of bad weather, bad markets and bad regulations,” Duvall said. Beneath this jubilation, though, was an undercurrent of anxiety about where the ad- ministration may be heading on international trade — par- ticularly regarding the North American Free Trade Agree- ment, or NAFTA, which low- ered trade barriers between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Before the opening ses- sion was held, for example, large buttons proclaiming, “I Support NAFTA,” “I Support Trade,” and “Farmer For Free Trade,” were placed on every seat in the ballroom. Trump has already proven he’s willing to act boldly on trade by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal forged during the Obama administra- tion. During his presidential campaign, Trump disparaged NAFTA for sending U.S. jobs overseas. Upon becoming president, he was persuaded not to dissolve the agreement in favor of revising it. Duvall said the president had promised him and oth- er agriculture leaders that NAFTA will be renegotiated to be even more beneficial for American farmers, who export heavily to Canada and Mexi- co. “I take the president at his word,” he said. During a later press confer- ence, though, Duvall acknowl- edged the farm industry is “nervous” about the possibil- ity of the NAFTA talks going awry. “Nobody really knows what is going on behind closed doors,” he said. It’s also troubling the U.S. is focused on renegotiating an old trade deal like NAFTA, which was enacted more than 20 years ago, while other countries are actively pursuing new agree- ments, he said. “We’re very concerned about that.” Duvall said he planned to ask Trump to reassure the in- dustry about international trade during the president’s Jan. 8 ad- dress to the Farm Bureau. The organization also came upon another idea to nudge Trump toward seeing the trade issue its way. In a cavernous hall packed with Farm Bureau members, Duvall and other several em- ployees instructed the growers to engage with the president us- ing his preferred mode of com- munication: Twitter. Ultimately, more than 2,300 members connected their smartphones to a Farm Bureau website and sent out a tweet that alerted the pres- ident to a message: “Donald Trump delivered from Day 1. Keep working on issues BENEFITING farmers & ranchers: Trade, RegReform, Farm Bill #AFBF18.”
