Wednesday, November 30, 2016
East Oregonian/Hermiston Herald • 7
HERMISTON FARM FAIR
TRUMP ON AG
Groups assess president-elect’s impact on range of policy questions
EO Media Group
With the surprise elec-
tion of Donald Trump to the
U.S. presidency, agriculture
groups expect the reversal
of environmental policies
enacted under the Obama
administration.
“He’s very much in
line with us on regulatory
reform,” said Cody Lyon,
director of advocacy and
political affairs for the
American Farm Bureau
Federation.
The Republican pres-
ident-elect is expected to
nullify the controversial
“waters of the U.S.” rule,
or WOTUS, which groups
such as AFBF and the
National Milk Producers
Federation considered a
drastic expansion of federal
jurisdiction over private
property.
“That’s basically sunk,
so to speak,” said Chris
Galen, senior vice president
of communications for
NMPF.
Apart from overturning
WOTUS, Trump is likely to
take a less “confrontational”
approach to enforcing the
Clean Water Act, Clean
Air Act and Endangered
Species Act, said Lyon.
Republican control over
Congress also raises the
possibility of reforms to the
Endangered Species Act,
depending on the priorities
of lawmakers, he said.
“The law itself has a poor
track record of recovering
species,” Lyon said.
Another positive factor
for farmers and ranchers is
the potential for a pro-ag-
riculture chief of the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency, he said.
The Obama administra-
tion will likely try to push
through new regulations
before
leaving
offi ce,
which would require time
to reverse, but the Trump
administration can overturn
“guidance documents” for
how to enforce existing
rules, he said.
“We hope he’ll remove
a lot of those guidance
documents that would be
harmful to farmers and
ranchers,” Lyon said.
Many
of
Trump’s
agricultural advisers are
familiar faces among farm
Northwest, California presidential results by county
(Results as of Nov. 9)
While Hillary Clinton carried more populous counties in the four-state region represented, most rural counties voted for Donald Trump for president.
For Trump (R)
For Clinton (D)
Idaho turnout: N/A
Trump (R)
Clinton (D)
Other
407,219
189,677
91,359
Seattle
Spokane
Washington
turnout: 48.2%
California
turnout: 51.2%
Clinton (D) 1,118,772
Trump (R) 750,719
Other
117,723
Clinton (D) 5,481,885
Trump (R) 2,965,704
Other
471,928
San Francisco
Oregon
turnout: 72.3%
Portland
Clinton (D) 911,359
Trump (R) 722,920
Other
189,732
Boise
Salem
Eugene
Los Angeles
San Diego
Sources: Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California secretaries of state; realclearpolitics.com
John Locher/Associated Press
President-elect Donald Trump gives his acceptance
speech during his election night in New York.
groups, which bodes well
for the industry’s positions
being heard by top federal
offi cials, said Galen.
“He’s got a good
sounding board going into
his administration,” he said.
Despite the potential
upsides of the Trump presi-
dency, agriculture groups do
have some concerns about
some potential policies.
Trump’s vow to deport
illegal immigrants poses a
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
threat to many employees
in the dairy industry, for
example.
“Farmers have got to
have a reliable workforce,”
said Galen. “Not knowing
what will happen to their
workforce, that’s a deterrent
to growers.”
Even so, Galen said
he’s optimistic that busi-
ness leaders can infl uence
Trump’s thinking on immi-
grants and the economy.
“We just have to see
where the rhetoric may
differ from the reality,” he
said.
Republican control of the
White House and Congress
is bringing some optimism
to agricultural leaders who
for years have been working
on immigration reform to
help labor-intensive agricul-
ture.
“For an industry built by
and reliant on foreign labor,
the big question that looms
is labor and immigration.
Optimists are hopeful that
Trump will behave like a
pragmatic businessman. If
so, our task is to educate,
educate and fast,” said
Craig Regelbrugge, national
co-chair of Ag Coalition
for Immigration Reform
and senior vice president of
AmericanHort.
“Pessimists,” he said,
“don’t see how he walks
back the populist tough talk
that propelled him across
the Rust Belt.
Trump’s
pledge
to
terminate or renegotiate the
North American Free Trade
Agreement may affect
farm exports to Canada and
Mexico, which are major
buyers of U.S. crops.
The total value of U.S.
agricultural exports has
been steadily increasing,
peaking in 2014 at $152
billion while U.S. farm
imports were $109 billion
“There is a concern with
trade,” said Lyon.
Nonetheless, Lyon is
hopeful Trump understands
the importance of trade
to agriculture, and simply
wants U.S. manufacturing
to benefi t from it as much as
the farm industry.
University of Califor-
nia-Davis
agricultural
economist Daniel Sumner
believes trade deals such as
the Trans-Pacifi c Partner-
ship have a better chance
of being implemented by
Trump despite his campaign
rhetoric.
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