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In this issue: Upcoming events:
DakotaFest On Wednesday, there will be a hearing screening service offered. That is also the day for the “Thresher’s Lunch 2008” where, for fifty cents, you can have a meal of burger or brat, chips, relish, and a beverage.
District Caucuses
Century Farms
recognition
Government Operations
& Audit Committee
The
agenda includes The meeting will be broadcast live over the internet at http://legis.state.sd.us/interim/2008/meetings.aspx. Click on the Pubic Broadcasting logo on the right side of the page.
Union Center Ag Summit SDFB President Scott VanderWal participated in a panel discussion dealing with property taxes, animal identification, and Country of Origin Labeling. Governor Mike Rounds was the final speaker of the day, and he fielded questions, mostly dealing with the brand inspection program. Farm Bureau was one of the event sponsors.
D.O.T. Says Get Hay
Off Highway Rights-of-Way
SDFB Resolutions
The deadline for
resolutions
from county Farm Bureaus dealing with State
and National issues will be Friday, September 26.
Please send them to: SDFB Resolutions Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 1, 2008, at the Farm Bureau Center in Huron. The committee is made up of one representative (county president or vice president) from each county Farm Bureau. It is very important to have all counties represented during the discussion of the resolutions sent in so all county resolutions can be represented accurately. The meeting is chaired by Wanda Blair, South Dakota Farm Bureau Vice President. Please make every effort to have your county represented at this important meeting. Policy Backgrounders Available This week, the policy backgrounder deals with Eminent Domain for Railroads. All backgrounders are available on the SDFB website (http://sdfb.fb.org/).
Dr. Kohl and the SDFB
Annual Meeting Also, the keynote speaker for the Saturday evening banquet during our annual meeting is V.J. Smith from Brookings, author of the book The Richest Man in Town. Be watching for additional convention information in future issues … but mark your calendars now for the annual meeting, November 21-22 at the Sioux Falls Ramkota.
USDA Seeks comments on
climate change- The draft sets four broad goals: understanding the effects of climate change on agricultural systems; developing knowledge and tools to adapt to climate change and improve resilience of these systems; developing knowledge and tools to reduce agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions; and delivering climate change technology to agencies and stakeholders for improved decision-making. Agriculture could be affected by climate change and climate related policy in a number of different ways. Growing seasons, cropping patterns and conditions are subject to alteration by changing climate. Additionally, producers may choose to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester greenhouse gases in the soil through sequestration. These reductions may become more important if cap and trade legislation is passed or if the United States enters into an international agreement for greenhouse gas reductions. USDA can play an important role through research and education to assist producers. This role will be defined by the strategic plan. The deadline for submitting comments is Sept. 19. AFBF will be submitting comments. AFBF asks state Farm Bureaus to review the draft plan and provide suggestions on how USDA can best help producers address climate issues. For more information contact Rick Krause at rickk@fb.org or 202-406-3664.
President Bush seeks
to relax species law The proposal could speed up commercial development, but environmentalists said the changes could threaten the protection of wildlife. The draft rules also would attempt to limit the use of the Endangered Species Act as a tool for fighting climate change. They would state that agencies don't have to consult one another in cases where a project would have only an indirect effect on a threatened or endangered species. Bush administration officials described that aspect of the proposal as a way to prevent the act from becoming a "back door" for regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions Administration officials said the proposed changes would limit the duration of such consultations and lend greater certainty to the process. The proposals would allow agencies to terminate consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service if it doesn't act on a request within 60 days. Currently, the Fish and Wildlife Service must tell agencies within 30 days of getting a consultation request whether it needs more information, but it isn't required to give agencies a formal answer on the request within a set time period. Business groups complain that the consultation process can last months or even years.
PETA wants to
advertise vegan message on border fence The billboards, in English and Spanish, would offer the caution: "If the Border Patrol Doesn't Get You, the Chicken and Burgers Will — Go Vegan."
New Jersey Supreme
Court rules against animal rightists Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court upheld several regulations that the state agriculture department had established as being humane. Among the practices in question were the use of gestation-sow crates, de-beaking, castrating animals without anesthesia and some steps to increase egg production. The court did, however, find one routine practice objectionable -- tail docking of cattle, where a lower portion of the tail is removed. The court did rule that the department needs to do more work to evaluate and define what routine husbandry practices are if they want to keep relying on it. "Because we find in those regulations both unworkable standards and an unacceptable delegation of authority to an ill-defined category of presumed experts, we conclude that the (state ag) department failed, in part, to carry out its mandate. We therefore conclude that some, but not all, of the regulations are invalid," wrote Justice Helen Hoens for a unanimous court.
What’s Really Pumping
Up Food Prices? * A $3.39 box of Wheaties contains 19 cents
of wheat and putting Tiger Woods’ picture on the box
adds 10 cents.
2008 Women in Ag
Conference SDFB is one of the sponsors of this year’s Women in Ag conference. The leadoff speaker for the conference is Matt DeMarco from AFBF, speaking on “Team Building/Communication.” More information is available at http://www.sdwia.org/ Ag economists forecast steady cattle prices through 2009 The 2008 survey of American Agricultural Economics Association members showed they expect fairly steady cattle inventories and prices through 2009, according to University of Missouri's weekly Cattle Outlook report. Prices forecast for Choice steers by quarter were: $96.55 per hundredweight for third quarter 2008; $100.42 per cwt for fourth quarter 2008; $100.36 per cwt for first quarter 2009; $103.16 for second quarter 2009, $98.72 per cwt and $102.72 per cwt, respectively, for third and fourth quarter of 2009. The economists forecast beef production would be up 1.3 percent for the third quarter of 2008; down 1.8 percent for the fourth quarter; down 0.5 percent for the first quarter of 2009; down 2.5 percent for the second quarter; and the same as a year earlier in both the third and fourth quarters of 2009. They forecast that prices for 750- to 800-pound medium frame Number One steers at Oklahoma City will average $105.13 per cwt for 2008 and $107.28 per cwt for 2009. "Even with higher feed prices, these price levels are likely to hold the cattle herd close to current levels," University of Missouri economists Glenn Grimes and Ron Plain wrote in their weekly report. "In other words, unless we have a drought in beef cow country, the herd is not likely to reduce very fast at this price level for feeder cattle."
PROPOSITION 2 SUPPORTERS SUE AMERICAN EGG BOARD,
USDA The lawsuit claims the Egg Board adopted a motion at its fall meeting last year that the $3 million be held in reserve to assist opponents of Proposition 2. However, the Egg Board said this is based on an inaccurate report in a trade publication, and the board adopted no such motion. Its board did pass by unanimous vote a motion to hold the money in reserve "for a consumer education campaign to educate the public about current production practices." The motion does not specify any one state and does not suggest any kind of lobbying or other efforts to influence policy. Proposition 2 would make cage housing illegal in egg production, which, if passed, would end nearly all egg production in California.
World Record This record will be entered in the Guinness Book of World Records. Proceeds of this crop is to be sent to a kids camp.
Quote of the Day:
SDFB Policy Development
Eminent Domain for
Railroads Issue: The 2008 SD Legislature passed a bill clarifying a 1999 state law dealing with eminent domain for railroads. Railroads are held to a higher standard than other entities with eminent domain authority, by having to first prove to the Governor or the Transportation Commission that any proposed railroad project is a public necessity and that the railroad has negotiated in good faith with landowners. Other entities with eminent domain authority are not required to receive prior approval from the administrative branch of state government before exercising eminent domain. The bill which passed corrects a loophole in the 1999 law which was used by railroad opponents to create a nonstop delay cycle in getting to the approval-granting hearing before the Transportation Commission Background: Eminent domain is a legal precept dating to the earliest days of our nation. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires landowners to receive “just compensation” if their private property is to be taken for a public use. The Fourteenth Amendment contains a due process requirement, and deals specifically with a state or local governmental body, or a private body exercising delegated power, taking private property for a public purpose. South Dakota’s Constitution declares that railways are public highways, and that all railroad and transportation companies are common carriers and subject to legislative control. The SD Constitution also grants “any association or corporation organized for the purpose” the right to construct and operate a railroad between any points within the state and to connect at the state line with railroads in other states. Article 17, Section 18 reads: “Municipal and other corporations and individuals invested with the privilege of taking private property for public use shall make just compensation for property taken, injured or destroyed, by the construction or enlargement of their works, highways or improvements, which compensation shall be paid or secured before such taking, injury or destruction. The Legislature is hereby prohibited from depriving any person of an appeal from any preliminary assessment of damages against any such corporation or individuals made by viewers or otherwise; and the amount of such damages in all cases of appeal shall, on the demand of either party, be determined by a jury as in other civil cases.” Voters rejected an attempt to repeal this section during the 1976 General Election. SD Farm Bureau Policy: Land Use Property Rights Railroads Questions: 1) Since railroads are for-profit corporations, does the policy referring to a prohibition of eminent domain by “private profit corporations” conflict with the policy on property rights or the policy supporting railroad upgrade projects? 2) What should Farm Bureau policy be with regard to privately-owned public utilities, such as railroads, utility transmission lines, and pipelines? |
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