Sizable crowd turns out for ag legislative discussion

WASHINGTON — Dozens of producers, farm finance experts and commodity brokers turned out for a legislative forum at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, where they met with State Rep. Heather Hora and Sen. Dawn Driscoll ahead of the upcoming legislative session.

Members of the crowd voiced a mix of support and criticism for the lawmakers’ votes over the next year, while others focused on what lies ahead. The event was billed as a chance to focus exclusively on agricultural issues, given both legislators’ positions on ag committees in their respective chambers, as well as their farming careers.

“We can talk to our colleagues and show them what we do and take them on farm tours and take them on tractors,” Hora said. “We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be up there … otherwise, we get legislators from urban areas who, they have no idea what the truth is.”

Anticipated issues include FFA, cattle fencing, hog producer relief

Asked about what legislative issues they expected to top the agricultural docket next year, both legislators gave a handful of the usual answers: livestock disease responses, slashing away red tape, and cutting taxes.

Driscoll said she hoped to take another shot at a bill requiring schools to excuse absences for FFA activities. A similar piece of legislation she endorsed early this year failed due to its mention of 4-H, which is not a school-sponsored activity.

“We heard from several schools across the state of Iowa that there were FFA members who did not get excused absences for FFA activities,” she said. “My belief is that if you can get excused to go to a football game, why can’t you get excused to an FFA event … because FFA is your stepping stone — and 4-H, quite frankly — how you start advocating for agriculture. That’s how I got started, (and) I think it’s crucial that everyone supports FFA.”

The senator added that she expected to look into cattle fencing regulations in the upcoming legislative session, specifically at rules that require builders to get a county permit before erecting a fence.

“We’re looking at putting an ag exemption on there, to prohibit the local counties from requiring a fence permit (from) the supervisors,” she said.

Hora, meanwhile, said she expected to spend the upcoming session forestalling federal regulations, though she wasn’t specific about what new rules she expected to see from lawmakers higher on the totem pole.

"One of our roles, really, is to protect Iowa farmers from federal regulation,“ she said. ”A lot of this stuff, we need to be pre-emptive … we try to stay one step ahead, so the speaker and the senate leader go to meetings over the summer, and figure out what those steps are … a lot of what we do is blocking a lot of stuff coming through, which I see as a role of the Republicans.“

Asked about the hog industry, the representative said she hoped to see lawmakers pass some sort of the support for producers currently selling pork at a loss, due to rising input costs.

Hora, who is herself a pig farmer, said she wasn’t sure what to expect, this far ahead of the session, but assured attendees that, “There will be something coming forward.”

“There’s a lot of different opinions out there, whether it be marketing programs similar to our renewable fuels infrastructure program … or something like that,” she said. “Whatever we do, we want to make sure that it is the best use of our time and our money, and would benefit our producers the most. Because times are tough in the pork industry, and as a state we need to take a serious look at what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what we can do to make it better.”

Sizable blowback on corn commodity checkoff

Corn checkoffs, a penny-per-bushel fee paid by corn producers to the Iowa Corn Promotion Board through a state-administered process, proved contentious at the meeting.

After the Iowa Grain Indemnity Fund — which protects farmers from fallout if their buyers go bankrupt — fell below its minimum threshold in March, Driscoll proposed a bill that would have temporarily diverted a fourth of the state’s corn checkoff payments to refilling the account.

While that bill never reached the floor, some members of the crowd on Tuesday said they were insulted by the mere idea of channeling money away from the checkoff’s usual uses, like promoting research, market development and ag education.

“I was really disgusted with the idea that you’d take money from the corn growers and put it in the indemnity fund,” said Wayne Humphreys, a Columbus Junction farmer and former President of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, which receives the checkoff funds. “The promotion board does a professional job of promoting corn all over the world, we do a tremendous job in researching new uses for corn.”

A handful of other farmers at the meeting expressed similar sentiments.

Driscoll defended the proposal, saying it was a viable alternative to an additional quarter-cent-per bushel fee that was eventually enacted to help refill the indemnity fund.

“Since we are in the market of cutting taxes, we want to make sure that we can take the pressure off especially farmers,” she said. “We were just trying to find a solution to prevent a tax from coming in. I personally don’t believe the checkoffs are a target at all. It was an idea.”

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Crowd split on water conservation attitudes

Members of the audience offered contrasting opinions on Southeast Iowa’s water quality at the meeting. While the state is praised for it top-tier usage of buffer strips, no-till practices, and various other conservation efforts, virtually all water quality initiatives are completely voluntary, and the state remains a lead polluter of agricultural runoff.

Eileen Beran, a Democrat who ran against Hora in the last general election, said asked legislators to speak on any “real solutions” to water pollution, adding, “When I hear our recreational areas are inaccessible, that gives me pause.”

Lawmakers, however, said they didn’t see a pressing need for change.

“There are success stories, and I don’t think that gets covered enough,” Hora said. “We are doing a lot in Iowa, and a lot of it is voluntary by the farmers. I think we will continue down that path and continue to monitor that situation as it is.”

Some producers said they felt public opinion on water quality gave farmers an unfair shake.

“Washington County is one of the highest in the state for the number of projects done using state funds,” said Kent Stuart, a farmer from West Branch. “I think it’s something to be proud of, the work that is going on here. We try and do our part with cover crops and such, but Washington County has really been a leader in conservation.”

Resistance evident to DNR rule changes

A handful of ag industry leaders at the meeting urged the legislators to rein in proposed changes to manure management rules from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Knee-Deep Solutions Owner Rachel Rinner said the suggestions were over-restrictive.

“They have reduced the wording, but quite a bit of the rules are more strict,” she said. “They’re asking for a lot more paperwork, and a lot less on-site policy … I’m going to have to get releases from farmers for a manure management plan, and that is going into an online database which will be accessible by any activist groups.”

Rob Brenneman, owner of the biggest swine operation in the county and one of the largest family-owned ones in the nation, said he felt the same way.

“We do not need the DNR regulations changed,” he said. “I have facilities in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The toughest regs are in Iowa. We keep more notes and books and facts in Iowa than we do in the other two states put together, so we don’t need anymore of those.

Hora accused the DNR of “legislating through rules,” something she hoped to crack down on in the coming session.

“We’ve got to hold their feet to the fire,” she said. “They’ve gotten away with it for years, and so it’s time to take back that power.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com