In this issue:
Blender Pump Tax talks continue
Department of GF&P
Review
AgraGate Carbon
Credit Update
YF&R gives safety
demo at Ag &Natural Resources Day
Pork Checkoff
releases three new YouTube videos
UNL study:
Ethanol responsible for 1.2% of food
price increase
Calling All
Century Farms
YF&R contests
Quote of the Day
May 27, 2008
Upcoming events:
SDFB Youth Camp – June 9-11,
Chamberlain
LRC E-Board meeting – June 9, Pierre
Legislative Interim Agency review: SDGF&P
– June 11, Pierre
Dakota Fest – August 19-21, Mitchell
Century Farms recognition – August 28,
Huron
SDFB Annual Meeting – November 21-22,
Sioux Falls
National Farm-City Week – November 21-27
AFBF Annual meeting – January 11 – 14,
San Antonio, TX
Blender Pump Tax talks continue
When the Executive Board of
the Legislative Research Council meets
in two weeks, they will receive
additional information on the debate
surrounding tax rates for ethanol blends
sold from Blender Pumps. The E-Board,
at its May 12 meeting, adopted the
following motion on a 10-2 vote:
“The Executive Board insists that
Governor Rounds rescind his direction to
the Department of Revenue to notify
South Dakota fuel retailers of a new tax
return for remitting fuel tax on blended
fuels, and that such fuel retailers are
to remit tax on any new mid-grade
ethanol products, which took effect on
May 1, 2008. It is further moved that
the interim study of South Dakota
Highway needs and financing be directed
to encompass into its study this very
issue of blended fuels and the
appropriate tax rate that should be
levied, and to define who should be
collecting the required tax.”
In making the motion, Senator Julie
Bartling pointed out that when the issue
was brought before the legislature last
session, the Senate Tax Committee chose
not to act on the issue. She believes
that the E-Board should request that the
Governor not act on the issue, but that
the legislature take time to study the
issue and bring in a bill next session.
There is concern that the Governor’s
action disregards the legislative
process.
The Governor points out that current
state law directs E-85 to be taxed at 10
cents per gallon and all other ethanol
blends to be taxed at 20 cents per
gallon. The Department of Revenue and
Regulation simply issued a new form for
reporting the amount of blended fuels
sold. In addition, the Governor cites
existing state law which takes away tax
credits for retail blending of fuel.
Blenders get a tax credit for blending
gasoline with ethanol but they lose the
credit for re-blending already blended
fuels. For example, blending E-10 and
E-85 at the pump, according to law,
would cause the tax credit to be
canceled and the fuel to be taxed at 22
cents per gallon.
The E-Board has asked for additional
information to be presented at its next
meeting.
Department of Game, Fish & Parks
The first meeting of the
interim legislative committee studying
GF&P is set for 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday,
June 11, in Pierre. Each year the LRC
Executive Board selects a couple of
agencies for a department-wide review.
This year, the two agencies selected are
Game, Fish & Parks and the Department of
Tourism and State Development.
AgraGate
Carbon Credit Update
AgraGate’s latest opportunity
to enroll carbon credit acres ended for
rangeland on April 4th, and your final
chance to enroll soil acres is
approaching on June 30th, 2008. South
Dakota is at the top of the list for
number of carbon credit acres enrolled.
From September of 2007 to April of 2008
there were 227,456 acres enrolled for
rangeland. Soils acres came in at
72,084 with acres still being enrolled.
The most current price for trading
carbon credits on the Chicago Climate
Exchange (CCX) is at an all time high of
$7.20. Just last week the CCX also hit
another record high for amount of carbon
credits traded, which came in at 3.1
million metric tons sold at $6.70.
Looking ahead to the next pool of acres
enrolled, AgraGate has done some
updating to both the rangeland and soil
worksheets to make them easier for
producers to complete. Producers will
still be required to have a signed soil
or rangeland offset contract, FSA maps
(highlighting acres to be enrolled), 578
FSA reports, CRP contracts for CRP new
grass acres, range management plan, and
a void check (which allows for direct
deposit of funds to your account).
Producers that had previously enrolled
acres could see payments coming as early
as July, otherwise payments will be sent
out again in December.
If you are interested in learning more
about AgraGate, the Chicago Climate
Exchange or how to enroll acres please
contact Wayne Smith at 605-997-2346, or
Kara Nagel at 605-494-0196. You can also
find information at
www.agragate.com.
YF&R gives safety information at Ag and
Natural Resources Day
The Expo Center in Rapid City
was the location for the Ag and Natural
Resources Day held May 15th, 2008. There
were a total of 708 3rd graders from
grade school classes located in Rapid
City, along with 33 teachers, and 125
parent chaperones.
The Young Farmer and Rancher committee
was given the task of setting up a
safety presentation for the students
attending throughout the day. Josh and
Shasta Geigle and JT Moon explained
safety awareness on the farm and ranch
to 22 different 3rd grade classes. The
focus of their presentation was to make
the students more aware of what to do
and not to do when on a farm or ranch.
Stations were set up to cover
electrical, livestock, Power Take Off (P.T.O),
Fires, Falls, Grain Suffocation,
Rollover Protective Structure (R.O.P.S),
Slow Moving Vehicle (S.M.V), and
Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E).
After explaining each safety area the
kids were ask to play a matching game to
win prizes. Along with the farm and
ranch safety presentation the South
Dakota Farm Bureau was the biggest
contributor of funds for the event.
Donations were made by Meade and
Pennington / Jackson County Farm
Bureau’s as well as the Young Farmer and
Rancher Committee and the State Farm
Bureau Federation.
Pork
News Pork Checkoff releases three new
YouTube videos
The video-sharing Web site YouTube can
be a great place to observe the weird
and wacky, but now its visitors also can
learn something about pork.
The Pork Checkoff recently released
three new videos on YouTube to answer
consumers' questions about animal care,
feeding, transport and more, the
National Pork Board announced.
The
videos, which run one to two minutes
each, feature pork producers and
industry experts answering consumer
questions on animal care issues. They
include "Pig Farmers Take Action" (which
focuses on animal health and well-being,
including Pork Quality Assurance Plus),
"Ride Along with a Pig" (which shows why
transportation is an important issue for
pork producers) and "Pigs Are Hungry,
Too" (which addresses pigs' nutritional
needs and requirements for optimum
care).
"Sites like YouTube allow messages to
spread around the world faster than you
can blink," says Steve Weaver, vice
president of the National Pork Board.
"I'm extremely proud of the YouTube
videos the Pork Checkoff has created to
help us tell our story."
Univ.
of Nebraska Study: Ethanol responsible
for 1.2% of food price increase
Ethanol's increasing demand
for corn is responsible for about 1.2
percent of the increase in U.S. food
prices during the last two years, a
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
agricultural economist estimates.
However, Richard Perrin said, in poorer
parts of the world, ethanol's impact on
food prices likely is much higher --
perhaps accounting for as much as 15
percent of rising prices.
"The food bill of poor people in poor
countries is more sensitive to grain
prices, simply because grain constitutes
more of their food, and food takes more
of their income," the Institute of
Agriculture and Natural Resources
economist said.
Calling
all Century Farms
If there are any farms or
ranches in your neighborhood that have
been in the same family for at least 100
years with continuous ownership, that
family is eligible to apply for this
year’s Century Farms recognition.
To qualify as a Century Farm, there must
be at least 80 acres of the original SD
farmland owned by the same family for
100 years. The present owner must be
related to the original owner. This
recognition is a joint effort with the
SD Department of Agriculture and is not
limited to SDFB members.
The ceremony will be held at the SD
State Fair on Thursday, August 28.
For an application, or for more
information, go online to:
http://sdfb.fb.org/centuryfarm/centuryfarmapp.pdf
YF&R Contests
Information about the YF&R
Discussion Meet, Achievement Award, and
Excellence in Agriculture Award, is
available on the SDFB website. Go to
http://sdfb.fb.org/ and click on the
YF&R link under “Programs.”
Quote of
the Day:
“When
they discover the center of the
universe, a lot of people will be
disappointed to discover they are not
it.” – Bernard Bailey