STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH

Duane A. Lienemann
UNL Extension Educator

      It is still January as I write this column today and an amazing thing may be happening.  We might actually have a Farm Bill for 2014 in the near future, taking almost three years to get there. OK, we aren’t there yet but the members of the House and Senate have reached a bipartisan agreement on a five-year farm bill that will end months of uncertainty for farmers. If enacted, it would close the gap left when the previous farm bill expired late in 2013, after an emergency extension lapsed. It has passed the House and is now being considered and argued in the Senate. Of course it is not law quite yet and there is bound to be some negotiations before the final mark-up is done and it reaches the President’s desk. One thing is for sure, we are much closer than what we were a year ago. Let’s this week take a peek at what may potentially be in our future.
     On a thumbnail, the legislation eliminates the Direct Payments and limits producers to risk management tools that offer protection when they suffer significant losses. We will have to get used to the terms like - Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC). We also find out that it strengthens crop insurance, a successful public/private partnership that ensures farmers invest in their own risk management - or if you prefer, help producers manage risk. The bill also would establish permanent disaster assistance for livestock producers and will be funded at a higher level than in the past, and most importantly - payments will be made retroactively back through 2012. The farm bill, if passed by Congress, would compensate farmers and ranchers for losses in 2012, 2013, and beyond. The Livestock Indemnity program would cover 75-percent of the market value for excessive livestock losses because of adverse weather such as blizzards.
     While that seems like a good thing and farmers may soon be able to start making some decisions, there are a whole lot of livestock associations that are disappointed that two contentious issues were not addressed. Those groups, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Meat Institute and National Pork Producers Association and National Chicken Council are disappointed that a WTO-compliant resolution to mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) was not reached. They point out that our livestock producers were already facing drought and high feed prices, but now they will have to worry over retaliatory actions by the governments of Canada and Mexico. They contend that the failure to fix MCOOL at this juncture will lead to retaliatory tariffs on a host of commodities and it is only a matter of time before the World Trade Organization rules in favor of Canada and Mexico which could be devastating to livestock producers.  
     I found one item rather intriguing. This new bill creates a permanent subcommittee within the EPA Science Advisory Board to conduct peer review of EPA actions that would negatively impact agriculture. I hope that they will follow through with this, as I find the EPA regulations overreach troubling. However, it is a long way from the House version of the farm bill which passed last year, with language in it that prohibited the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from publicly disclosing personal information about owners, operators or employees of agricultural or livestock operations. You may want to remember that the EPA - twice last year released names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of farmers and their employees under the Freedom of Information Act to radical environmental and anti-ag groups. That to me is unconscionable--- and needs to be stopped! The Senate version of the farm bill did not include a similar protection and this “compromise” does little to protect our farmers and ranchers from EPA overreach and potential harassment and injury to our family farmers and ranchers. Activist groups should not be able to leverage their relationship with the EPA to get this information that could pose a threat! That is just wrong, regardless of your ideology.
     I was hoping to give an overview of the total 2014 Farm Bill, but it is pointless at this juncture as there will still be some negotiations, and probably some arguing and tweaking before it is eventually signed and put into law. It may take several installments to properly dissect what the Congress comes up with, so instead of getting started on that I want to discuss something that really sticks in my craw.  I will never eat there, so it won’t be the food that is stuck --it is the actions of this deplorable restaurant – Chipotle’s.  You may remember their notorious attack on the “factory farm” with their “Back to the Start” and “Scarecrow” videos. Well - now they are going to the next level and it is disconcerting to say the least.
     During the Super Bowl on Sunday, advertisers will deploy talking animals and A-list endorsers -- just about anything to reach the 100 million Americans expected to be watching. But Chipotle Mexican Grill is playing a different advertising game. Building on its unconventional marketing tactics, Chipotle will release a four-part comedy series called “Farmed and Dangerous” which, billed as a Chipotle original series, hopes to promote the company’s concerns about sustainable agriculture and the humane treatment of animals used for meat. This stealth marketing strategy, Chipotle executives say, is not about “product integration,” but “values integration.” Give me a break – and I do not find this comedic at all. The company hopes that preaching the gospel of “sustainable agriculture” will translate into consumers buying their fast food at Chipotle, whose slogan is deviously crafted - “Food With Integrity.” It promises, wherever possible, to “use produce grown organically, dairy products from cows that were not treated with synthetic hormones, and meats from animals raised humanely and free of antibiotics.”  Which makes it sound like every other farmer/rancher does not. Does that sound familiar?  And there is that ‘sustainable” word being used by McDonalds and Walmart for their beef. Hmmmm! You can watch a trailer of the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5_D0rdqeAs   But, be ready to be shocked!

   The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: http://www.webster.unl.edu/home