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April 6, 2018
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Opinion
Editorial Board
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion
O ur V iew
Omnibus bill a home run for U.S. agriculture
W
ith the start of the
baseball season, it’s
time to take a swing
at the recently passed Omnibus
Spending Bill with the help of our
collection of metaphors related to
the national pastime.
Overall, Congress hit a home
run with the Omnibus bill, which
included dozens of sections related
to all sorts of issues. Not only did
Congress avert another federal
government shutdown with the
bill, it also scored big against five
problems plaguing the nation’s
farmers and ranchers.
The first save related to last
December, when Congress struck
out in its tax cut bill. In that bill,
tax deductions were granted to
farmers who sold their crops to
cooperatives but not to those who
sold commodities to independent
buyers. This threatened the
wellbeing of privately owned
grain elevators around the U.S.
In the Omnibus bill, Congress
called a foul ball and dropped the
deduction advantage.
Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians players and coaches line the baselines
during the National Anthem on opening day in Seattle. Congress gave farmers
and ranchers a 5-0 victory in the Omnibus Spending Bill.
The second save for Congress
in the Omnibus bill tosses out a
federal judge’s ruling that required
many farmers and ranchers to
report manure emissions to the
Coast Guard. The Environmental
Protection Agency had exempted
them from filing reports under the
Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and
Liability Act. That act was aimed
at industrial chemical companies
and others that in an accident may
emit exotic and poisonous gases
into the air, but an environmental
group convinced a federal judge
that it should apply to cow pies as
well.
Under the Omnibus bill, that
judge and the environmental
group were sent to the showers,
and livestock owners will again be
exempted from manure reports.
The Omnibus bill also
produced a double play on
another livestock concern, albeit
temporarily. The U.S. Department
of Transportation has been
requiring truckers to use electronic
logging devices and limiting
the number of hours they can
drive. That’s fine, except drivers
hauling livestock and poultry
cannot randomly pull over to the
side of the road to meet federal
requirements. In doing that the
drivers would put loads of cattle,
hogs, chickens or even bees worth
tens of thousands of dollars at risk.
Congress has called a time out
until Sept. 30, when the DOT will
figure out what the new game
plan will be. Another time out on
applying the rules to all agricultural
haulers lasts until June 18.
When is milk not milk? That’s
a question Congress also took
a swing at in the Omnibus bill,
when it ordered the Food and
Drug Administration to come up
with a standard of identity for
dairy products such as milk and
cheese. The dairy industry hopes
the standards will bench the use
of the word “milk” to describe
concoctions of ground-up nuts or
soybeans mixed with sugar water
and other substances.
In the late innings of the
Omnibus bill Congress also
managed to reduce the amount of
red tape some farmers encounter
when they sign up for USDA
conservation programs. They
no longer will have to obtain a
System for Award Management
registration or a Data Universal
Numbering System number. Such
requirements were aimed at big-
dollar government contractors, not
farmer or ranchers.
Like baseball manager Leo
“The Lip” Durocher from
years gone by, President Trump
complained about the Omnibus
bill even as he prepared to sign it.
For U.S. agriculture, that signature
made the score 5-0.
Too dry to burn
in parts of Kansas
O ur V iew
By JOHN SCHLAGECK
For the Capital Press
U
TRUMP
still falls short on his trade
PROMISES
resident Trump often talks about
the impact of bad trade deals
on American workers and the
towns and cities where they live.
This week we have the story of the
impact that no trade deal could have
on American farmers and the towns
where they live.
Since the U.S. pulled out of
the Trans-Pacific Partnership
wheat growers are worried about
maintaining strong relationships
with longtime foreign customers
in countries such as Japan, which
signed on to a revised version of
the trade deal March 8 in Santiago,
Chile, along with 10 other nations.
Nearly all of the wheat grown
in the Pacific Northwest is sold to
foreign buyers.
Worldwide, wheat production
has been going like gangbusters
the last few years. That’s pushed
prices here down even though
domestic production has fallen.
U.S. farmers who are having a
P
tough go find themselves facing
the prospects of losing market
share to competitors that are a
party to TPP.
The president campaigned on a
promise he’d dump TPP, and he did.
He also promised that he’ll work
out bilateral deals with individual
trading partners that will be better
than TPP. So far, as wheat growers
have noted, that hasn’t happened.
“The president has promised
to negotiate great new deals,” the
wheat industry said in a letter to
U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer urging the administration
to reconsider TPP. “American
agriculture now counts on that
promise and American wheat
farmers — facing a calamity they
would be hard-pressed to overcome
— now depend on it.”
More recently, the president has
slapped high tariffs on imported
steel and aluminum to protect the
jobs in those domestic industries.
China has responded with new
tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S.
goods, including agricultural
products. Fruit growers in the
Northwest will be particularly hard
hit.
Anyone who complains about
the trade deficit the United States
has with China and other trading
partners should note that agriculture
is America’s export leader.
American agriculture is built on
trade.
There probably isn’t a farmer
anywhere in the United States that
doesn’t empathize with American
workers displaced by foreign
manufacturing. They would love
those industries to be great again.
But to the extent that rural
America and farmers voted for
Trump, they didn’t sign a suicide
pact.
It’s time for the president to
make good on the second half of his
promise on trade.
PHOTO: President Donald Trump’s trade “strategy” threatens farmers and ranchers more than did the status quo.
Associated Press File
nless something chang-
es in the moisture sit-
uation, Barb Downey
and her husband, Joe Carpen-
ter, will not burn their grass-
land in the Kansas Flint Hills
this season. The ranch couple
report no (moisture) run-off
event in more than a year on
their native grassland in Riley
and Wabaunsee counties.
Every spring across the
vast, open Flint Hills grass-
lands, fires blaze for miles. The
flames lick at the blue Kansas
sky as the brown, dry grass
crinkles, crackles and bursts
into orange.
Cattlemen
like
this
east-central Kansas couple un-
derstand that controlled burn-
ing remains a range manage-
ment tool that helps maintain
the economic viability of the
Flint Hills. Fire remains an es-
sential element of the ecosys-
tem.
Long before civilization
came to the prairie, fires were
ignited by lightning storms and
the charred prairie restored the
health of the native grasses.
Native Americans set the first
prairie fires. They used the fire
to attract bison for easier hunt-
ing.
Controlled burning by
those who live on the tall-grass
prairie of the Flint Hills is an
annual event designed to mim-
ic nature’s match. It’s part of a
tradition — part of the culture
of the communities and the
people who inhabit this region
of the state.
This annual pasture burn-
ing only occurs for a few days
each year. It is not a procedure
that is drawn out and lasts for
weeks. Weather conditions
dictate the length of the burn-
ing season most years.
Not every cattleman burns
his pastures every year. In-
stead, individual ranchers and
landowners survey and decide
each spring which pastures will
benefit and produce a healthi-
er, lush grass for livestock after
burning. Often neighbors plan
and burn together, giving them
more hands to ensure a safe,
controlled burn.
Because of continued dry
conditions, Downey and Car-
penter fear they would not be
able to control the burn this
season.
“It’s so dry and the winds
blow nearly every day,” Barb
says. “At the ground level,
there’s no humidity in the
thatch in our native grasses.”
Downey believes her Flint
Hills region remains in an
extended drought. She’s not
counting on moisture any time
soon unless this weather pat-
tern turns around drastically
Guest
comment
John Schlageck
— and right away.
For weeks the ranchers
have watched forecasts serve
up the possibility of rain in
the seven to 10-day forecasts.
By the time that period passes,
there’s nothing. No moisture
for the bone-dry Flint Hills.
“The overriding reason we
will not burn our grasslands
this spring is because we’re
going to need every little bit
of forage we can get our hands
on,” Barb explains.
“We don’t care if it’s last
year’s grass. At this point we
need forage of any kind for our
livestock.”
Downey is the fourth gen-
eration in the ranching busi-
ness. Her daughter represents
the fifth. Decades of experi-
ence have provided this cattle
family with the know-how and
knowledge to plan for their
cattle enterprise.
The current drought condi-
tions began on their Riley and
Wabaunsee county ranch back
in 2005. Except for a couple
of years of adequate moisture,
drought has been a way of life
for more than a decade.
“Twenty twelve marked the
peak of this extended drought
here in the Flint Hills,” Barb
says. “Right now, we’re al-
ready worse this year than in
2012.”
Continued dry conditions
indicate burning this March or
April would ensure little, if any,
pasture regrowth. Downey and
Carpenter are already operat-
ing in “drought-crisis mode.”
Irrigated land that would ordi-
narily soon be planted to corn
will be planted to forage this
spring.
“We’re beyond the idea of
burning,” Barb says. “Con-
ditions today remain too dry.
We’re not even receiving what
I call ‘band-aid’ rains or brief
showers, to help us along.”
Some of the older cows
will be culled earlier this year
on the Downey and Carpenter
ranch. They continue to look at
options to lighten the feed load
for their herd.
“We’re planning for the
worst, and hoping for bet-
ter times ahead,” Barb says.
“Without continued moisture
— and soon — we’re headed
for trouble.”
John Schlageck is a lead-
ing commentator on agricul-
ture and rural Kansas. Born
and raised on a diversified
farm in northwestern Kansas,
his writing reflects a lifetime
of experience, knowledge and
passion. This column appears
courtesy of the American
Farm Bureau.