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May 2, 2014
Volume 14
Issue 15
ACTION NEEDED
ANNEXATION NEAR YOU? KEEP INDIANA FARM BUREAU IN THE LOOP Indiana Farm Bureau staff has focused efforts to help members deal with the rash of annexation proposals occurring across the state. We need to hear from you.
Farmers within a few miles of an annexation may think they will not be affected, but the “two-mile fringe” of even very small towns pushes out proportionately when an annexation occurs. Towns are being advised to look far beyond their borders to their area of urban influence, which hardly seems appropriate for rural Indiana. No one in rural Indiana thinks they can live without the goods and professional services that are generally congregated within a municipality, but it’s time to remember that the people and economic activity inside the town are supported by the rural areas already, through the normal course of commerce.
Even though legislative efforts to curb involuntary annexation failed by a couple of votes in the Senate in March, it is important for farmers across the state to be paying attention to any chatter or official notice about a proposed annexation in their area. Please email Katrina Hall with any details about annexations occurring near you. There is a lot of work to do with legislators this summer. Read More
EPA PROPOSES EXPANSION OF FEDERAL JURISDICTION OVER WATER On March 25, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a proposed rule that would assert CWA jurisdiction over nearly all areas with any hydrologic connection to downstream navigable waters, including man-made conveyances such as ditches. This rule, if implemented, would directly contradict prior U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which imposed limits on the extent of federal CWA authority, and it would bypass Congress and supersede its original intent of the law. The rule is flawed in a number of ways. The most problematic of these flaws concerns the significant expansion of areas defined as “waters of the U.S.” by effectively removing the word navigable from the definition of the CWA and creating ambiguity in interpretation.
AFBF has created a webpage for information on the rule. Indiana Farm Bureau is also developing our own information for our website and will be submitting comments on behalf of many Indiana agriculture organizations. We also need your help in collecting photos to show the expansive reach of the proposed rule. Please send your before-and-after photos of ditches and swales, ponding in driveways, water flowing in gullies on hillsides (preferably with a ditch or creek in the background) and flooded lawns to askus@infb.org, Kyle Cline or Justin Schneider. We will use the pictures to show that normally dry, productive farmland and residential areas are subject to temporary flooding. Your identifying information will not be used with the pictures.
STATE NEWS
SATELLITE MANURE STORAGE RULE COMMENTS DUE IDEM issued a draft proposed rule for the regulation of satellite manure storage structures. Farm Bureau will be jointly submitting comments with other agricultural organizations. Farm Bureau adopted policy several years ago supporting the regulation of manure storage structures, which are built to take manure from livestock and poultry farms and store it until it can be applied to fields as fertilizer.
STATE WILDLIFE ACTION PLAN DISCUSSED The Department of Natural Resources continues to hold meetings to meet the federal requirement for developing a state wildlife action plan. The purpose of the plan is to develop strategies for managing habitat to reduce the number of animals that are threatened or endangered. Farm Bureau is participating in the meetings with the goal of ensuring that farmers do not face an undue burden in trying to comply with extremely difficult regulations under the Endangered Species Act.
FOCUS ON WATERSHED PROJECTS Over the past few weeks, Farm Bureau’s Justin Schneider and an environmental mediator and consultant who works with Farm Bureau have been meeting with researchers and government officials to gain a better understanding of research and data collection focused on nutrients in water. The meetings have identified some sophisticated efforts to identify the sources of pollution in water, as well as to calculate the effectiveness of different agricultural practices on nutrient loss from fields. Opportunities have also been identified to partner with different agencies and organizations to enhance some of the projects so that the information can be more useful to farmers in management decisions. The outreach is one step in the nutrient management/soil health strategy to identify priority areas for work to reduce the likelihood of additional regulation on nutrient and water management activities.
FEDERAL NEWS
EPA REGION 5 STAFF VISITS WITH AG ORGANIZATIONS AND AGENCIES An EPA Region 5 staff member, who also serves as the nonpoint source national expert from EPA, recently spent time with the steering committee for the nutrient management/soil health strategy to discuss implementation of the plan. The meeting was productive, in that he was able to offer insight into practices that had been successful in other states and was able to discuss the type of research and data needed to identify ag’s success in taking voluntary steps to reduce nutrient loss. The meeting included a site visit to farms in School Branch Creek, just west of Indianapolis, where ongoing research and monitoring is being done to determine how intensive conservation cropping systems impact nutrient loss and water management.
CONGRESS MOVES CLOSER ON SECTION 179 SMALL BUSINESS EXPENSING LEGISLATION On April 29, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee passed H.R. 4457, which would permanently extend the Section 179 small business expensing limitations that expired at the end of last year. Last year, the maximum Section 179 deduction was set at $500,000 of purchased property reduced dollar for dollar when investments exceeded $2 million. The maximum deduction shrank to $25,000 for 2014 upon expiration.
Earlier this month, the Senate Finance Committee approved the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act. The bill extends, for two years, all but two of the tax provisions that expired at the end of last year. All of the expiring provisions supported by Farm Bureau were included in the two year extension, including Section 179, bonus depreciation and biodiesel tax credits, among others.
Both bills are expected to reach the floor in both chambers sometime in May. Members are urged to contact their representatives to express their support for the Farm Bureau-supported provisions during committee consideration of the tax extenders and the ongoing debate of tax reform. For more information about tax reform, or to learn how to engage on the issue, contact Kyle Cline, national policy advisor, 317-692-7845.
EPA SEEKS COMMENT ON PROPOSED DECISION TO REGISTER DOW ENLIST DUO HERBICIDE The Environmental Protection Agency is making available for a 30-day public comment period a proposed regulatory decision to register Dow AgroScience's Enlist Duo herbicide, containing glyphosate and the choline salt of 2,4-D, for use in controlling weeds in corn and soybeans genetically engineered (GE) to tolerate 2,4-D. Data from late last year showed that more than 86 percent of corn, soybean and cotton growers in the South and 61 percent in the Midwest reported “hard to control” weeds on their farms, according to Dow. The proposal imposes requirements on Dow to include monitoring and reporting to EPA, and would allow EPA to add more restrictions on the use of the pesticide if resistance develops.
“In its review, the EPA acknowledged the significant scientific advancements Dow AgroSciences has achieved with Enlist Duo herbicide” said Damon Palmer, U.S. commercial leader for Enlist, Dow AgroSciences. “Enlist Duo herbicide will help solve the weed control challenges growers are facing, and will be another option to further reduce the potential for development of herbicide-resistant weeds.” The draft label for Enlist Duo includes proposed registration for Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin, a Dow announcement said today. The company is working with EPA to expand the list of states.
FAA OPENS FIRST UAS TEST SITE The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration announced the opening of the North Dakota Department of Commerce test site for unmanned aircraft systems research, the first of six such sites. According to the FAA, “These congressionally-mandated test sites will conduct critical research into the certification and operational requirements necessary to safely integrate UAS into the national airspace over the next several years.” The FAA will use the data provided from the test sites to aid in the development of UAS integration in U.S. airspace. There will be a total of six test sites, but no time table has been released as to when the remaining five test sites will be operational. The remaining test sites are:
- University of Alaska.
- State of Nevada.
- New York’s Griffiss International Airport.
- Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.
- Virginia Tech.
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