In this
issue: GF&P Commission
meeting
Government Operations &
Audit Committee
EQIP
discussion meetings
YF&R
SummerFest
AFBF
calls for expedited disaster
payments
Congress returns from
Independence Day break
Retail food prices rise
slightly in second quarter
In
Memoriam: Roy R. Stallman
Sr.
Quote of the Day
July 7,
2008
Upcoming events:
GF&P Commission meeting
– July 10, Rapid City
Ag Land Assessment Advisory
Task Force Meeting – July
28, Pierre
GF&P legislative interim
review – August 11-12,
Pierre
YF&R SummerFest – August 16,
Pierre
Dakota Fest – August 19-21,
Mitchell
Century Farms recognition –
August 28, Huron
Highway Needs & Financing
interim study – September
24-25, Pierre
SDFB Annual Meeting –
November 21-22, Sioux Falls
National Farm-City Week –
November 21-27
AFBF Annual meeting –
January 11 – 14, San
Antonio, TX
GF&P Commission meeting
The SD Game, Fish
& Parks Commission is
holding its July meeting
this Thursday, July 10, at
the Ramkota in Rapid City,
starting at 10 a.m. During
the meeting, the commission
is scheduled to hear
proposals dealing with
waterfowl hunting seasons
and depredation hunts. A
public hearing is set for 2
p.m. to finalize rules
governing mentored youth
hunts, as well as setting
hunting seasons for
antelope, East River deer,
refuge deer, early fall
Canada goose and youth
waterfowl. A meeting agenda
can be found on the GF&P
website at:
http://www.sdgfp.info/Commission/Meetings.htm.
Government Operations &
Audit Committee
GOAC is meeting
tomorrow, Tuesday, July 8,
in Pierre. Agenda items
include a discussion of the
school computer laptop
program, local checking
accounts for state entities,
audit comments with regard
to the Department of
Agriculture, the Corn
Utilization Council’s
airplanes, and a discussion
with the State Brand Board
on the transition of the
brand inspection program
from the Stockgrowers to the
Board.
EQIP discussion meetings
The newly-enacted
Farm contains many new
opportunities to participate
in USDA conservation
programs. Therefore, the
priorities and point
rankings previously used for
EQIP need to be re-evaluated
and adjusted to reflect the
new opportunities.
The SD Association of
Conservation Districts will
be holding a series of local
and area work group meetings
in the next couple of
months. The Federal
Advisory Committee Act
restrictions no longer apply
to the local or area work
groups.
What this means is that
anyone/everyone can now
participate in the work
groups. The work groups are
no longer restricted to only
government representatives.
Area Work Group Dates:
Prairie Area:
July 30 at 1:00 pm (CT) at
the courthouse in White
River
Vermillion-Big Sioux Area:
August 11 at 10:00 am
(CT) at Nicky’s in Madison
North
Missouri Area: August 11
at 1:00 pm (CT) in Faulkton
Coteau Area:
August 18 at 9:00 am (CT) at
the courthouse in Webster
Hills Area:
August 18 at 3:00 pm (MT) at
the USDA Service Center in
Rapid City
Northwest
Area: August 19 at 1:00
pm (MT) in Bison
South
James-Missouri Area:
August 19 at 5:00 pm (CT) at
the Chamber of Commerce in
Mitchell
For
more information, please
contact your local
Conservation District or the
SD Association of
Conservation Districts,
http://www.sdconservation.org/
YF&R Summerfest
You are invited
to the Farm Bureau Young
Farmer and Rancher
SummerFest. Don’t miss the
chance to cool off and enjoy
a day on the river with good
friends and great food.
Festivities will
begin August 16th at 11
a.m., with dinner at 1 p.m.
The event will be held north
of Pierre at the Oahe
Downstream Park. Entry into
the park is $5 per vehicle
unless you already have a
yearly parks pass. You can
reserve a camping site at
http://www.sdgfp.info/Parks/Regions/OaheSharpe/OaheDownstream.htm.
If you are not as one with
nature, there are a block of
rooms at the Pierre Days
Inn, 520 W Sioux Ave. The
phone number is (605)
224-0411. The rooms are
held under SDFB YF&R
Please RSVP to Kara Nagel @
605-494-0196,
knagel@pie.midco.net.
Or…if you want more
information, please contact
Kara.
Hope to see you there!!!
AFBF Calls for Expedited
Disaster Payments
The American Farm
Bureau Federation has
written Agriculture
Secretary Ed Schafer to ask
that USDA make advanced
payments under the new
Supplemental Disaster
Assistance Program created
in the 2008 farm bill.
Otherwise, farmers will have
to wait until October 2009.
A new
Supplemental Disaster
Assistance Program (SDAP)
was included in the 2008
farm bill. Given the current
flooding that has devastated
crops in the Midwest and
other potential
weather-related agricultural
disasters this year, it is
critical that payments under
this new program be made in
a timely and efficient
manner.
Payments under
the program are based on
2008 season average prices,
so USDA has stated that
payments for the program
will not be made until at
least October 2009. However,
USDA has a long history of
making advanced disaster
payments based on early
price projections. Often
these payments are only for
part of the estimated
disaster payment, with the
remainder calculated after
final season average prices
are available. Alternately,
full estimated payments can
be made with either
supplementary payments at a
later date or a reduction to
future program payments for
any initial overpayment
under the disaster program.
In the letter,
the AFBF urged Secretary
Schafer to use advanced SDAP
payments.
Congress returns from
Independence Day break
The Senate
returns to work today at
5:30 p.m. when it will hold
a cloture vote on the second
section of the housing bill,
while the House returns
tomorrow with a limited
schedule. The only major
measures expected to reach
the House floor are the FY09
Military
Construction/Veterans
Affairs appropriations bill
and a measure from House
Oversight and Government
Reform Chairman Henry Waxman
(D-Calif.) addressing an
effort to subpoena White
House e-mails.
On Tuesday, the Senate will
vote on amendments to the
Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act. The bill
is expected to pass, but
Democratic senators
prevented completion because
they opposed shielding
telecommunication companies
from lawsuits related to
their participation in the
National Security Agency’s
warrantless electronic
surveillance program. An
amendment on tap for next
week would strip the bill of
that provision.
On Wednesday, the House
Agriculture Committee will
begin three days of public
hearings to review
legislation amending the
Commodity Exchange Act. The
impact of speculative
investment money pouring
into commodity markets,
which are traditionally used
to hedge price risks, has
caused widespread concern.
Several pieces of
legislation have been
proposed to address the
issue, including a bill that
would give greater authority
to the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission.
Committee chairman Rep.
Collin Peterson, who's
committee has jurisdiction
of the CFTC, pledged to take
up a comprehensive review of
the futures markets in July.
The hearings are scheduled
for July 9 at 2:30 p.m.,
July 10 at 10 a.m. and July
11 at 10 a.m., all in
Washington, D.C. They will
review legislation to amend
the Commodity Exchange Act
and will be webcast live at
www.agriculture.house.gov.
Retail
food prices rise slightly in
second quarter
Retail food
prices at the supermarket
increased in the second
quarter of 2008, according
to the latest American Farm
Bureau Federation
Marketbasket Survey. The
informal survey shows the
total cost of 16 basic
grocery items in the second
quarter of 2008 was $46.67,
up about 3.5 percent or
$1.64 from the first quarter
of 2008.
Of the 16 items surveyed, 14
increased and two decreased
in average price compared to
the 2008 first-quarter
survey. Compared to one year
ago, the overall cost for
the market basket items
showed a gain of roughly 8.5
percent.
“Prices of many food items
continue to creep upward,”
said Jim Sartwelle, an AFBF
economist. “Those increases,
however, pale in comparison
to the huge increases in
energy costs – for fuel,
natural gas and electricity
– that American families
have become accustomed to
over the past two or three
years.”
Cooking oil, flour and bread
prices continue to respond
upward to historically tight
world stocks of grain and
oilseeds.
In Memoriam: Roy R. Stallman
Sr.
Roy R.
Stallman Sr., 82, of
Columbus, Texas, father of
Bob Stallman, passed away
peacefully on June 28 while
asleep at his home. In lieu
of flowers, the family
requests that donations to
commemorate Roy’s life be
made to: St. Paul Lutheran
Church, P.O. Box 267,
Columbus, TX 78934 or
Columbus Community Hospital
Foundation, P.O. Box 865,
Columbus, TX 78934 or a
charity of your choice.
Expressions of sympathy may
be sent to: Bob Stallman and
Stacey Bryan, P.O. Box 909,
Columbus, TX 78932.
Quote of the Day:
“They that can give up
essential liberty to obtain
a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor
safety.” – Benjamin
Franklin