November 2007 Newsletter

As the print version of this newsletter went to press, Senators Kent Conrad and Saxby Chambliss forced a phony payment limitation provision into the Senate Agriculture Committee farm bill proposal. Its purpose is to make it harder to pass true reform when the farm bill comes before the full Senate.

As we go to press the U.S. Senate is poised to take up their version of the 2007 Farm Bill. With any luck the bill will be either on the floor, or headed for conference committee by the time you are reading this. If the bill is on the Senate floor, a quick call to your U.S. Senators will help move the debate in the right direction.

The foundations, agencies, institutions, and churches that provide a majority of the funds for our ongoing programs are crucial partners, and to them we are exceedingly grateful.

However, in order to stand up for rural America when it matters most, we must be prepared to respond to new and unique challenges and opportunities as they arise. Our ability to respond depends on your individual gifts because other support often cannot be brought to bear in time.

One of the most pressing issues in the farm bill is whether or not conservation spending will be increased and those dollars targeted to beef up the Conservation Security Program (CSP) and improve the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) into a newly combined program called the Comprehensive Stewardship Incentives Program.

Since the House of Representatives passed their 2007 Farm Bill, the Center for Rural Affairs has roundly criticized its flawed provisions – especially regarding payment limits – while praising the good ones. In turn, we have been criticized ourselves for being too “confrontational” and not understanding the need for farm bill “compromise.” Evidently, we’re supposed to put in our two cents early in the farm bill process, and then sit back and be pleased with whatever crumbs our elected representatives feel like tossing our way.

That isn’t going to happen, and I can tell you why – because we live and work in rural America. So do most of our supporters. We see the effects of poorly designed rural policy every day. Our hometown of Lyons, Nebraska suffers because of misplaced priorities and decades of rural policy that has had the effect of decimating rural communities.

This year I reached a milestone. I’ve spent 30 years at the Center for Rural Affairs and learned some lessons along the way.

I have learned that I must summon the courage to say difficult truths that have to be exposed, even when it damages relationships and causes me personal pain and agony. The clearest example is the debate over farm payment limitation reform.

Last month I wrote an article looking at the ways communities can be successful, and I chose Hartington, Nebraska, as an example. Several factors make me think this is a community that is going to make it, and youth-driven leadership is one.

Years ago the Center for Rural Affairs partnered with Hartington in a community development effort called Project Hope. The project identified the community’s youth and how to work with them as an overlooked community capacity. As an outcome, three entities – city fathers, economic development, and the Chamber of Commerce – decided to ask young people to join their Boards.

California: Statewide water storage levels are a significant one-third less than a year ago. The shortage alone is not terribly daunting, but it is combined with new judicial rulings on water usage that could limit pumping in some areas. Much of California agriculture is dependent on irrigation.

North Dakota: State Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson went on the offensive in October by attacking print and radio ads that criticized state meat inspection programs for being less rigorous than federal inspection. Calling the ads “false and misleading,” Johnson asked that they be taken off the air immediately.

Businesses and organizations have a chance to tap into many outstanding marketing opportunities through a sponsorship to the second annual MarketPlace: Opening Doors to Success conference. MarketPlace is coming to the New World Inn in Columbus, Nebraska, on February 27, 2008.

Event sponsorship is one of the fastest growing segments in marketing today. Benefits include: enhancing your image, building new relationships and enhancing current ones, exchanging information and ideas with other professionals, promoting company expertise at an exhibit or during an educational session, increasing product and service recognition, and expanding sales opportunities with new prospects and existing clients.

The Center for Rural Affairs is seeking an Hispanic Business Specialist to deliver business development services to rural clients in western Nebraska. The specialist will join the REAP Hispanic Business Center.

We are looking for someone with experience in one or more of these areas: small business planning and management, training, or lending. The business specialist must live in the Nebraska Panhandle or South/Central Nebraska, be bilingual in English and Spanish, and have a reliable vehicle.

After a long five-year wait, the U.S. Department of Agriculture delivered family farmers and ranchers a victory!

On October 16, 2007, USDA Agriculture Marketing Service released the final standards for the voluntary grass-fed label claim as it would apply to ruminant animals and the meat products derived from those animals. The final published standard is much improved over the original issued way back in December of 2002.

All of us owe a debt of gratitude to our friends at Successful Farming. Every year their Pork Powerhouses® issue reports on the 20 largest U.S. pork producers.

Smithfield, having fully digested Premium Standard Farms, reigns supreme in vertically integrated pork production with 1,227,000 sows. Long ago people referred to Chicago as the “hog butcher to the world.” With over one million sows in the U.S., 96,000 in Mexico, 76,000 in Poland, and 51,000 in Romania, that title belongs to Smithfield.

Eight Nebraska rural businesses will receive over $680,000 combined in Value Added Producer Grants (VAPG). USDA announced grant recipients last month – 162 in all, from 40 states and Puerto Rico.

The total amount awarded nationally was $22.7 million. At over $3 million, Wisconsin received the most, with 15 recipients. Alaska was lowest, with one recipient receiving $31,500.

Registration is now open for the 7th Annual Iowa Organic Conference to be held Nov. 19, 2007, at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The conference will take place at the Scheman Building on the Iowa State University campus.

The Iowa Organic Conference’s reputation is growing. Martin Kleinschmit, the Center’s organic transition specialist and an organic farmer, said, “This is a very good conference, with workshops that fit the needs of those thinking about or beginning the transition to organic production.”

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced that Dec. 14, 2007, will be the cutoff date for funding applications in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP will provide an incentive payment ranging from $30 to $70 per acre for the conversion from a conventional cropping system to an organic cropping system. The cost share rate is dependent on geographical area and whether the cropland is dryland or irrigated.