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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 5, 2022
U.S. capitalizes on
Sprawl, low-density development
contribute to Idaho’s farmland loss global beef demand
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Low-density residential
development continues to
contribute substantially to the
loss of farm and pasture land
in Idaho.
Continuation of recent
development patterns in the
state will result in losing,
fragmenting or otherwise
compromising 113,100 acres
of farm and ranch land by
2040, the American Farmland
Trust said in its “Farms Under
Threat” 2040 report.
That is roughly equivalent
to losing 700 farms, $72 mil-
lion in farm output and 1,500
jobs. And 83% of conversions
are expected on some of the
state’s best agricultural land.
Farmland loss in Idaho
will be 29.3% higher by 2040,
up to 146,300 acres, if “run-
away sprawl” prevails in con-
trast to recent business as
usual, the trust said.
The loss would be 42.7%
lower, down to 64,800 acres,
if policymakers and land-
use planners promote a “bet-
ter-built cities” approach that
is more compact and aims to
reduce sprawl.
The hardest-hit counties
are Ada and Canyon in the
greater Boise area and Koote-
nai in the Coeur d’Alene-Post
Falls area.
“How Idahoans choose to
develop will shape the future
Capital Press File
Sprawl and low-density housing developments are two
ways Idaho is losing farmland, a report found.
of farming,” the
It is important
report said.
“to get zoning codes
Low-density res-
up-to-date, protect
idential
develop-
working ag and make
ment is of particular
room for more peo-
ple,” he said.
concern in the state.
The trust said
Substantial pressure
David
problems
with
comes from large-lot
res-
homesites and scat- Anderson low-density
idential
develop-
tered
subdivisions
that are farther from town and ment, along with adding rela-
affordable for many of the tively few residences per acre
new in-migrants from other of land, include fragment-
ing the agricultural land base
states.
“Rural areas are more and in turn limiting remain-
affordable than where a lot of ing ag operations’ production,
people are coming from right marketing and management
now,” said David Anderson, options.
Anderson said this type
American Farmland Trust
of development also acceler-
Idaho program manager.
Agricultural land remains ates fragmentation and con-
plentiful from a developer’s tributes to future sprawl.
viewpoint, he said. Many After low-density projects
local codes are outdated and fill, higher-density develop-
“we’re no longer that quiet, ments emerge nearby and also
attract residents. Space runs
rural state.”
out and sprawl resumes.
Meanwhile, the rising cost
of housing drives “commuter
development” farther from
town, “and the vast major-
ity of that is low-density res-
idential,” he said, adding that
resort communities see this.
The trust said it encour-
ages compact development
to minimize sprawl, protect-
ing farmland with voluntary
conservation easements, and
helping current and new gen-
erations of farmers run suc-
cessful businesses.
Anderson said there are
opportunities in “planning
for ag, supporting a robust
ag economy with better-built
cities” and creating “a more
resilient, sustainable commu-
nity overall.”
For example, counties
could integrate farm succes-
sion planning into their for-
ward-looking comprehensive
plans, he said.
Curtis Elke, USDA Natu-
ral Resources Conservation
Service Idaho state conserva-
tionist, said that while there is
no single solution to agricul-
tural land conversion to other
uses, partnership and collabo-
ration are key. He said agen-
cies could provide landown-
ers with a menu of options for
reducing conversion and pro-
vide more money for agricul-
ture easements.
“No one is going to save
ag land if they don’t value it,”
Elke said.
How will Ukraine, Russia
export deals impact prices?
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Market analysts say the
deals Ukraine and Russia
signed with Turkey and the
United Nations to export
grain could push world
wheat prices downward.
“It’s going to allow wheat
to more freely move out of
the Black Sea,” said Dan
Steiner, grain merchandiser
with Morrow County Grain
Growers in Boardman, Ore.
Steiner estimated 10
to 20 ships were in Black
Sea ports. Those ships will
be able to load and depart
quickly. The wheat has
already been sold, Steiner
said.
The agreements last 120
days, Steiner said.
“So this is not like the
end of the war,” he said.
“...There’s been grain
leaking out of Ukraine
since the war started,” he
said. “Some of it’s going
overland on trucks, some
is going by rail. ... Rus-
sia’s been stealing some of
it. Who knows where it’s all
going?”
Soft white wheat ranged
from $8.90 to $9.35 per
U.S. beef exports have
been robust thus far in 2022,
with sales tracking 35%
higher than in 2021.
January through May
exports were valued at $5.1
billion, compared to $3.8
billion during the same
period in 2021.
The National Cattle-
men’s Beef Association has
been trying to capitalize on
strong foreign demand for
U.S. beef, said Kent Bacus,
NCBA senior director of
international trade and mar-
ket access.
“When you see tight
global supplies, you see
opportunities for exports,”
he said, speaking from
NCBA’s Summer Business
Meeting in Reno, Nev.
“We’re able to capitalize
on that demand, especially
countries like Japan, Korea,
China, because we have
good trade policies in place
that give us access there,” he
said.
NCBA has been trying
to implement the terms of
access into those countries
but is also looking forward
to being able to engage in
new opportunities, he said.
The Biden administra-
tion is not as eager as pre-
vious administrations to
talk about removing tariffs,
but it is looking to engage
in on some of the non-tar-
iff issues. So NCBA will be
looking for opportunities to
remove more non-tariff bar-
riers to capitalize even more
on the strong global demand
for U.S. beef, he said.
The Biden adminis-
tration has also “kind of
walked back” trade negotia-
tions with the United King-
dom, he said.
“We think that there’s
still a lot of need and a lot of
interest on both sides of the
pond to engage in those dis-
cussions.
So we’re
taking the
oppor-
tunity
to reach
out
and
Kent Bacus find like-
minded
interests in the UK and to
really educate them about
our industry…,” he said.
Turning to Southeast
Asia, he said there’s a tre-
mendous amount of growth
in potential protein exports
there.
“We see a lot of oppor-
tunity, but we still have a
lot of barriers in countries
like Vietnam, Malaysia and
Thailand.
NCBA is continuing to
look for different trade pol-
icies that will help open
those markets, he said.
Animal health issues,
such as foot-and-mouth
disease and African swine
fever, make it hard for a lot
of those countries to supply
enough domestically pro-
duced protein to feed their
growing consumer base, he
said.
“This creates a great
opportunity for U.S. pro-
ducers, and so we really
want to use trade policy
to try to capitalize on that
growth and to maximize our
presence in those markets,”
he said.
Trade agreements aren’t
about immediate gains;
they’re about long-term
advantages, he said. This
year marks the 10th anni-
versary of U.S. trade agree-
ments with Korea, Colom-
bia and Panama, and a lot
has changed over the years,
he said.
“In each of those coun-
tries, we faced massively
high tariffs and had very
restricted sales, and now
we’re a growing source in
a lot of those places,” he
said.
Legislation targets assistance
for small cattle producers
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
123rf
bushel Friday on the Port-
land market.
The day the deals were
announced, wheat futures
dropped 50 cents, then
rebounded about 40 cents,
said Byron Behne, North-
west Grain Growers senior
merchant in Walla Walla,
Wash.
That demonstrates the
volatility in the market, he
said.
“We can’t really seem to
string together more than
a couple days in a row of
higher prices,” he said.
The deals seem mostly
focused on the ships that
have been trapped since
the war began, and not nec-
essarily loading out new
grain, Behne said.
Behne pointed to indus-
try “consternation” about
how the ships would be
insured. He thinks insur-
ance
companies
will
likely be game, so long as
there’s official government
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backing of some sort for
premiums.
“It doesn’t really help
that Russia continues to
fire missiles at and around
the ports that these things
are supposed to be shipping
from,” he said. “The mar-
ket’s taking it as fact that
this is going to happen —
it might happen, but I don’t
think it will be at a pace that
really significantly changes
the global balance sheets.”
Prices could still go
down, Behne said, point-
ing to a large white wheat
crop. A delayed start to har-
vest means farmers and
landlords haven’t yet begun
selling their wheat, which
would put pressure on
prices, he said.
“If futures don’t find a
reason to rally, white wheat
prices will probably be
under some pressure at some
point,” he said. “As volatile
as things are, you’re talking
a dollar either way, proba-
bly, depending on the head-
lines of the day.”
Steiner
recommends
growers watch the cash mar-
ket. The trade deals make
good headlines, but don’t
necessarily translate into
more sales, he said.
House
Agriculture
Chairman David Scott on
Friday introduced a bill
to help small-scale family
farmers and ranchers in the
cattle industry with financial
assistance, increased com-
petition and market access.
The efforts are directed
at producers with 100 head
or less.
Among other things, the
Small Family Farmer and
Rancher Relief Act, H.R.
8590, would increase the
premium subsidy for small
cattle producers in the Live-
stock Risk Protection insur-
ance program and create an
indemnity program when a
producer’s share of the retail
dollar drops below 51.7%.
“As I have said time and
again, it is a crisis in this
nation that we have lost
an average of 17,000 cat-
tle ranchers per year. The
drivers of this loss are com-
plex and multi-faceted, and
I applaud many of the efforts
my colleagues have taken
to try and improve the cat-
tle industry,” Scott said in a
press statement.
But he hasn’t seen
enough emphasis on direct
help for small farmers and
ranchers, he said.
The bill is perplexing to
National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association.
“NCBA is committed
to working with the House
Agriculture Committee to
protect our most vulnerable
producers, and we appre-
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S235809-1
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chairman’s
attention
on
this
import-
ant issue,”
E t h a n
Rep. David L a n e ,
Scott
N C B A
vice presi-
dent of government affairs,
said in a press statement.
“Unfortunately,
H.R.
8590, the Small Family
Farmer and Rancher Relief
Act, as introduced prompts
more questions than it pro-
vides answers,” he said.
Chief among those ques-
tions is “where did this 100-
head figure come from?”
Tanner Beymer, NCBA
senior director of govern-
ment affairs, told Capital
Press.
What about producers
that are also small, those
that have 101 to 250 head or
those who derive their sole
income from 350 head? he
asked.
“Where are we getting
the idea a small producer is
100 head or less?” he said.
The bill would leave
those other small producers
by the wayside. NCBA has
a long-standing policy that
opposes giving advantage to
one group of producers over
another, he said.
NCBA also questions the
trigger for indemnity pay-
ments — 51.7% of the retail
dollar.
“Where did that come
from … why is it the mark
we’re using on a program
like this?” he said.
The bill provides a lot of
things, but NCBA questions
the numbers used to base the
formulas on, he said.
“We want to have more
of a dialogue with Chairman
Scott and his team,” he said.
Cattle producers of all
sizes are still struggling with
profitability. But it’s no lon-
ger coming from cattle
prices. Calf and feeder cattle
prices are pretty strong, and
fat cattle prices are improv-
ing. But input prices for feed,
fuel and fertilizer are high,
some are up 14%, he said.