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October 17, 2014
Volume 14
Issue 29
STATE NEWS
HOUSE REPUBLICANS ANNOUNCE 2015 LEGISLATIVE AGENDA On Tuesday, House Republican leaders unveiled their 2015 legislative agenda. The primary elements of their proposal include improving public safety, ethics reforms, a balanced budget and education funding. They did not address additional tax reforms or same-sex marriage. The priorities as outlined by Speaker Bosma are:
- Education: Increase base funding for K-12 education, adjust the school funding formula in order to address broad disparities in per-pupil funding at schools statewide, craft and implement incentives for school districts to consolidate, and create a tax credit for teachers who buy classroom materials with their own money.
- Ethics reform: Improve disclosure laws to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
- Public safety: Look at toughening sentencing guidelines for dangerous criminals, increasing funding for local community corrections, adding funding to address domestic violence and providing incentives to the private sector to help reduce Indiana’s infant mortality rate.
The Speaker said that the current school funding formula creates a disparity of up to $4,000 per pupil that hits suburban and rural school districts the hardest. He also said consolidation needs to be encouraged to reduce overhead and administration costs. No figure was given as to how much increased funding would be dedicated to schools or how those dollars would be tied to consolidation.
In a statement, House Minority Leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, said the GOP agenda “sounded like they were reading from a book written by House Democrats.” He praised the GOP plan to boost funding for schools, but said GOP leaders were the same people who “took a meat cleaver to them time and time again.” He went on to say that, “vouchers and other think-tank experiments kept getting the tenderloin, while public schools got the gristle.”
GET OUT THE AG VOTE Message to Indiana Farmers: Please take time from a bountiful harvest to support ag-friendly candidates. Remind your farming friends, family and neighbors about the important election coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Remind them that agriculture especially needs friendly legislators in the Indiana General Assembly to address priority issues like rapidly escalating farmland taxes, unwelcome involuntary annexation, protection of water resources for agriculture and items in the state budget that impact ag and those living in rural areas.
Please refer to the election insert in the most recent issue of The Hoosier Farmer (dated Oct. 6) that lists all the candidates endorsed by Indiana Farm Bureau ELECT. These endorsements were based on their record of service to or potential to serve Indiana farmers and the agricultural sector.
RESPONSES NEEDED IN TAX POSTCARD CAMPAIGN BY MAIL OR ONLINE FORM The October 6 edition of The Hoosier Farmer also included a simple, self-addressed, postage-paid postcard that asks farmer members to provide Indiana Farm Bureau with their most recent property tax information. An online form is also available here.
Since most members will write checks to their county treasurer before the November 10 payment deadline, this information should be available without leaving home. The card asks for tax information on rented land because escalating property taxes are affecting parties on both sides of that relationship in very real ways.
Legislators need to hear the frustration farmers are facing with taxes that are way too high and prices for this fall’s crop that are very low – even though yields may be at record levels.
By completing the postcard, the information will then be ready when farmers ask legislators to support farmland tax relief. Indiana Farm Bureau’s lobbying team will use the information to give real life examples of the level of property tax paid by each farming operation – whether the land is owned or rented. These examples will illustrate the heavy tax burden that has materialized for farmers over the last few years, while other taxpayers have seen their bills go down or remain stable. The postcard does not request any information about income or income taxes and will only be used by Indiana Farm Bureau to emphasize the heavy burden property taxes have become for farmers across the state.
FEDERAL NEWS
It is also important to submit comments to Senators Donnelly and Coats asking them to urge the Senate to take action on HR 5078, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a bipartisan vote. HR 5078 would prohibit the agencies from finalizing this version of the rule and requires them to work with state and local government to address the issue of what legally should be considered federally regulated water. Farmers, homeowners, business owners and representatives of local government can submit comments here.
EPA ANNOUNCES FINAL DECISION TO REGISTER DOW ENLIST DUO™ The EPA this week made a final decision to register the herbicide Enlist Duo™ to manage the problem of resistant weeds. The pesticide is for use in controlling weeds in corn and soybeans genetically-engineered to tolerate 2,4-D and glyphosate. The agency’s decision reflects a large body of science and an understanding of the risk of pesticides to human health and the environment.
This assessment is the third time in recent years that EPA has evaluated the safety of 2,4-D and the safety finding is consistent with past assessments. EPA comprehensively reviewed 2,4-D in 2005, once more in 2012 and now again in 2014 in response to the current application.
Resistant weeds infest approximately 70 million acres of American farmland, challenging farmers’ ability to raise a healthy crop. Enlist Duo™ will help farmers control tough weeds while enabling them to continue using beneficial farming practices, such as conservation tillage.
EPA is registering the pesticide in six states: IL, IN, IA, OH, SD, and WI. The agency is accepting comments until Nov. 14, 2014 (30 days) on whether to register Enlist Duo™ in ten more states: AR, KA, LA, MN, MO, MS, NE, OK, TN, and ND.
To view Dow’s formal press release, click here.
RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO HELP FARMERS CHOOSE APPROPRIATE FARM BILL PROGRAM The new crop programs in the 2014 farm bill include Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC), which are cornerstones of the commodity farm safety net programs in the 2014 farm bill. To help farmers choose between ARC and PLC, USDA helped create online tools that allow farmers to enter information about their operation and see projections about what each program will mean for them under possible future scenarios. The new tools are now available at www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc
The USDA also provided $3 million to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri and the Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M (co-leads for the National Association of Agricultural and Food Policy), along with the University of Illinois (lead for the National Coalition for Producer Education) to develop the new programs.
Starting Monday, Sept. 29, 2014, farm owners could begin visiting their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices if they want to update their yield history and/or reallocate base acres, the first step before choosing which new program best serves their risk management needs.
USDA has formally announced the key 2014 farm bill dates that farm owners and producers need to know, which include:
- From Sept. 29, 2014 to Feb. 27, 2015, land owners may visit their local Farm Service Agency office to update yield history and/or reallocate base acres;
- From Nov. 17, 2014 to March 31, 2015, producers make a one-time election of either ARC or PLC for the 2014 through 2018 crop years;
- From mid-April 2015 through summer 2015, producers will sign contracts for the 2014 and 2015 crop years; and
- In Oct. 2015, payments for 2014 crop year will be made, if needed.
USDA ANNOUNCES CROP INSURANCE FOR DIVERSIFIED OPERATIONS Last week the USDA announced that a premium subsidy has been established to offer more affordable protection to eligible diversified farm operations, as part of the new Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance policy. The new policy will offer fruit and vegetable growers and producers with diversified farms selling commodities to wholesale markets, local and regional markets, farm identity preserved markets, or direct markets, more flexible, affordable risk management coverage options.
The new policy will offer a whole-farm premium subsidy to farms with two or more commodities as long as minimum diversification requirements are met. This will provide diversified farms a higher premium subsidy than previously available. Farms with only one commodity will continue to receive the standard subsidy rate used for basic units.
Whole-farm insurance allows farmers to insure all of the crops and livestock on their farm under one insurance policy rather than insuring each commodity separately. The coverage levels can range from 50 to 85 percent. The new Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Policy will be offered as a pilot program for the 2015 insurance year.
More information, including availability of the new policy, will be available mid-November at www.rma.usda.gov.
CLINE DISCUSSES INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY& Indiana Farm Bureau’s national policy advisor, Kyle Cline, participated in a panel discussion recently as part of Jobs and Economic Growth for Indianapolis: How the TTIP Will Help, a program sponsored by Eli Lilly and the Trans-Atlantic Business Council. Cline highlighted the importance of international trade and exports to the agriculture industry and the potential effects of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as a way to further expand market access. Other program speakers included Eli Lilly Senior Vice President Dave Ricks, Trans-Atlantic Business Council Director-General and CEO Tim Bennett, and U.S. Congressman Todd Young.
The TTIP is a comprehensive trade and investment agreement being negotiated between the United States and the European Union. The negotiations aim to expand the world’s largest commercial relationship with $1 trillion of trade in goods and services annually and $3.7 trillion in two-way direct investment. The U.S. exported $12 billion in agricultural products to the EU in 2013 while the EU exported $17.3 billion in agricultural products to the U.S. Indiana’s agriculture industry exported $3.4 billion worth of primary commodities and processed goods globally in 2010, accounting for 11 percent of all state exports. About half of all agriculture exports were soybeans and related products.
Read more about Farm Bureau’s efforts regarding TTIP here.
OTHER NEWS
October is the month to visit Indiana’s corn mazes and pumpkin patches. To find a maze or patch close to you, click here.
If you enjoy nostalgic or fun short stories of life on the farm, click here. Sit back and enjoy.
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