Perdue Announces USDA’s Farm Bill and Legislative Principles for 2018

Perdue Announces USDA’s Farm Bill and Legislative Principles for 2018 (Mifflintown, PA, January 24, 2018) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Bill and Legislative Principles for 2018 during a town hall at Reinford Farms in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. “Since my first day as the Secretary of Agriculture, I’ve traveled to 30 states, listening to the people of American agriculture about what is working and what is not. The conversations we had and the people we came across helped us craft USDA’s Farm Bill and Legislative Principles for 2018,” said Secretary Perdue. “These principles will be used as a road map – they are our way of letting Congress know what we’ve heard from the hard-working men and women of American agriculture. While we understand it’s the legislature’s job to write the Farm Bill, USDA will be right there providing whatever counsel Congress may request or require.” (Secretary Perdue holds a town hall meeting at Reinford Farms where he rolled out USDA’s 2018 Farm Bill and Legislative Principles) Download USDA’s 2018 Farm Bill and Legislative Principles USDA’s 2018 Farm Bill and Legislative Principles: FARM PRODUCTION & CONSERVATION • Provide a farm safety net that helps American farmers weather times of economic stress without distorting markets or increasing shallow loss payments. • Promote a variety of innovative crop insurance products and changes, enabling farmers to make sound production decisions and to manage operational risk. • Encourage entry into farming through increased access to land and capital for young, beginning, veteran and underrepresented farmers. • Ensure that voluntary conservation programs balance farm productivity with conservation benefits so the most fertile and productive lands remain in production while land retired for conservation purposes favors more environmentally sensitive acres. • Support conservation programs that ensure cost-effective financial assistance for improved soil health, water and air quality and other natural resource benefits. TRADE & FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS • Improve U.S. market competitiveness by expanding investments, strengthening accountability of export promotion programs, and incentivizing stronger financial partnerships. • Ensure the Farm Bill is consistent with U.S. international trade laws and obligations. • Open foreign markets by increasing USDA expertise in scientific and technical areas to more effectively monitor foreign practices that impede U.S. agricultural exports and engage with foreign partners to address them. FOOD, NUTRITION, AND CONSUMER SERVICES • Harness America’s agricultural abundance to support nutrition assistance for those truly in need. • Support work as the pathway to self-sufficiency, well-being, and economic mobility for individuals and families receiving supplemental nutrition assistance. • Strengthen the integrity and efficiency of food and nutrition programs to better serve our participants and protect American taxpayers by reducing waste, fraud and abuse through shared data, innovation, and technology modernization. • Encourage state and local innovations in training, case management, and program design that promote self-sufficiency and achieve long-term, stability in employment. • Assure the scientific integrity of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans process through greater transparency and reliance on the most robust body of scientific evidence. • Support nutrition policies and programs that are science based and data driven with clear and measurable outcomes for policies and programs. MARKETING & REGULATORY PROGRAMS • Enhance our partnerships and the scientific tools necessary to prevent, mitigate, and where appropriate, eradicate harmful plant and animal pests and diseases impacting agriculture. • Safeguard our domestic food supply and protect animal health through modernization of the tools necessary to bolster biosecurity, prevention, surveillance, emergency response, and border security. • Protect the integrity of the USDA organic certified seal and deliver efficient, effective oversight of organic production practices to ensure organic products meet consistent standards for all producers, domestic and foreign. • Ensure USDA is positioned appropriately to review production technologies if scientifically required to ensure safety, while reducing regulatory burdens. • Foster market and growth opportunities for specialty crop growers while reducing regulatory burdens that limit their ability to be successful. FOOD SAFETY & INSPECTION SERVICES • Protect public health and prevent foodborne illness by committing the necessary resources to ensure the highest standards of inspection, with the most modern tools and scientific methods available. • Support and enhance FSIS programs to ensure efficient regulation and the safety of meat, poultry and processed egg products, including improved coordination and clarity on execution of food safety responsibilities. • Continue to focus USDA resources on products and processes that pose the greatest public health risk. RESEARCH, EDUCATION & ECONOMICS • Commit to a public research agenda that places the United States at the forefront of food and agriculture scientific development. • Develop an impact evaluation approach, including the use of industry panels, to align research priorities to invest in high priority innovation, technology, and education networks. • Empower public-private partnerships to leverage federal dollars, increase capacity, and investments in infrastructure for modern food and agricultural science. • Prioritize investments in education, training and the development of human capital to ensure a workforce capable of meeting the growing demands of food and agriculture science. • Develop and apply integrated advancement in technology needed to feed a growing and hungry world. RURAL DEVELOPMENT • Create consistency and flexibility in programs that will foster collaboration and assist communities in creating a quality of life that attracts and retains the next generation. • Expand and enhance the effectiveness of tools available to further connect rural American communities, homes, farms, businesses, first responders, educational facilities, and healthcare facilities to reliable and affordable high-speed internet services. • Partner with states and local communities to invest in infrastructure to support rural prosperity, innovation and entrepreneurial activity. • Provide the resources and tools that foster greater integration among programs, partners and the rural development customer. NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT • Make America’s forests work again through proactive cost-effective management based on data and sound science. • Expand Good Neighbor Authority and increase coordination with states to promote job creation and improve forest health through shared stewardship and stakeholder input. • Reduce litigative risk and regulatory impediments to timely environmental review, sound harvesting, fire management and habitat protection to improve forest health while providing jobs and prosperity to rural communities. • Offer the tools and resources that incentivize private stewardship and retention of forest land. MANAGEMENT • Provide a fiscally responsible Farm Bill that reflects the Administration’s budget goals. • Enhance customer service and compliance by reducing regulatory burdens on USDA customers. • Modernize internal and external IT solutions to support the delivery of efficient, effective service to USDA customers. • Provide USDA full authority to responsibly manage properties and facilities under its jurisdiction. • Increase the effectiveness of tools and resources necessary to attract and retain a strong USDA workforce that reflects the citizens we serve. • Recognize the unique labor needs of agriculture and leverage USDA’s expertise to allow the Department to play an integral role in developing workforce policy to ensure farmers have access to a legal and stable workforce. • Grow and intensify program availability to increase opportunities for new, beginning, veteran, and underrepresented producers

From the Center for Consumer Freedom

From the Center for Consumer Freedom: This is a great organization!!! https://www.agweb.com/livestock/beef/blog/the_independent_cattleman_147/hsus_and_peta_18631/ Despite the words “humane society” on its letterhead, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is not affiliated with your local animal shelter. Despite the omnipresent dogs and cats in its fundraising materials, it’s not an organization that runs spay/neuter programs or takes in stray, neglected, and abused pets. And despite the common image of animal protection agencies as cash-strapped organizations dedicated to animal welfare, HSUS has become the wealthiest animal rights organization on Earth. HSUS is big, rich, and powerful – a “humane society” in name only. And while most local animal shelters are under-funded and unsung, HSUS has accumulated $113 million in assets and built a recognizable brand by capitalizing on the confusion its very name provokes. This misdirection results in an irony of which most animal lovers are unaware: HSUS raises enough money to finance animal shelters in every single state – with money to spare – yet it doesn’t operate a single shelter anywhere. In 1986, John McArdle, then HSUS’ Director of Laboratory Animal Welfare, told Washingtonian magazine that HSUS was “definitely shifting in the direction of animal rights faster than anyone would realize from our literature.” The group completed its animal-rights transformation during the 1990s, changing its personnel in the process. HSUS assimilated dozens of staffers from PETA and other animal-rights groups, even employing John “J.P.” Goodwin – a former Animal Liberation Front member and spokesman with a lengthy arrest record and a history of promoting arson to accomplish animal liberation. The change brought more money and media attention. It is said that a man named John Hoyt guided HSUS into the modern era, and he explained the shift in 1991, telling National Journal, “PETA successfully stole the spotlight…Groups like ours that have plugged along with a larger staff, a larger constituency…have been ignored.” Hoyt agreed that PETA’s net effect within the animal-rights movement was to spur more moderate groups to take tougher stances in order to attract donations from the public. “Maybe,” Hoyt mused, “the time has come to say, ‘Since we haven’t been successful in getting half a loaf, let’s go for the whole thing.’” Quote from The Peta Files blog site, comments discussing the subject: Do animals have a soul? “Of course animals have souls! And you know what's great about that fact? The scum who harm animals and treat them so thoughtlessly while munching on their tortured corpses will find out when they die. Then they will find (remember) that they can communicate with all beings via telepathy. Yes, they have been munching on the bodies of murdered beings with souls! Spiritual beings who are equal to them in every which way, and might I say, in many cases more advanced than the ignorant and presumptuous human being.” I once met personally with some PETA operatives from St. Louis, Mo., for a detailed discussion about animal rights and animal welfare. Following that meeting, I determined that like HSUS, PETA had a very selfish motivation: The individuals I met with actually believed all animals were reincarnated former humans. By spaying a bitch, I was performing surgery on a possible former relative and I was interfering with the karma of that animal. By slaughtering a fat lamb, I was slaughtering my possible former aunt. How do you deal with that kind of thinking? The long-range goal of both HSUS and PETA is to turn all animals loose on the land and let nature takes its course. Nature is so kind, isn’t it. Ever witness a group of hens gang up on a weaker pen mate? We don’t have the term “hen pecked” in our vocabulary for nothing! Ever watch a film of a lion seizing a little antelope by the throat and slowly choking it to death, while the other lions in the pride begin to eat the little antelope before it has actually choked to death? Yes, nature is so kind. Survival of the fittest is cruelty at its finest. Ruminant animals are prey animals and were created for that purpose, among others. Ruminants are a literal walking, breathing miracle. How do we, as livestock producers, deal with people whose goal is not animal welfare, but the elimination of all animal ownership, the establishment of rights for animals that will be equal to that of people, and the ultimate elimination of meat consumption? Well, you don’t ignore them! At the same time, national beef associations and their state affiliates are using the HSUS hysteria just as HSUS uses their own falsely generated hysteria to raise funds and focus attention upon itself. In Missouri, the Missouri Cattleman’s Association (MCA) has, in recent years, taken thousands of USDA (taxpayer) dollars to coerce their members into obtaining a premises identification number for the now-defunct NAIS system promoted by both the WTO and the OIE, while doing nothing to stop the consolidation occurring in the beef cattle industry that has caused producers in Missouri to sell off 400,000 mother cows since 2006. You can’t open a Missouri farm paper or periodical without seeing an article written by MCA’s executive director concerning the danger of HSUS to Missouri cattle producers, yet when asked about the massive loss of cows in Missouri, he simply responded publicly that the loss of mother cows is Missouri represented hobby farmers leaving the business. The average cowherd size in Missouri is 33 cows, so by that standard, we all are hobby farmers in Missouri. His response represented a complete laissez faire attitude about the anguish Missouri cattle owners are experiencing in the marketplace. My point is very simple: HSUS is a very real and current problem, and they must be addressed appropriately and forcibly. But focusing cattle producers primarily on the dangers of HSUS – while simply ignoring the fact that cattle producers are losing record amounts of equity, rapidly reducing cowherd size, and getting out of the business – is unforgivable. Having a ’business as usual’ attitude and philosophy while the house burns down around us is not the time to say “It seems hot in here.” It is time to call the fire department. Better yet, maybe some preventative action would have been the best plan. Shame on so-called beef industry and cattle industry leaders for focusing attention on HSUS while, at the same time, they do nothing to turn the tide of consolidation that is flooding the independent beef producers of the United States and Canada. Now don’t get me wrong here. We need to fight HSUS and PETA to maintain our constitutional rights to own and raise livestock. I know their ultimate goal is to eliminate ownership of animals within the United States, but if we are out business, like so many of my former dairy and swine clients are today, HSUS and PETA are immaterial. HSUS and PETA don’t count for those who don’t own animals. If we are forced out of business, what difference does it make? HSUS and PETA will have then ultimately won the battle, without firing a single shot. http://protecttheharvest.com/who-is-under-attack/animal-rights-vs-farmers/

2018 Livestock Scale Inspection Program

2018 Livestock Scale Inspection Program and 2019 changes to the livestock scale inspection program It’s that time of the year for inspectors from the New Mexico Department of Agriculture’s (NMDA), Standards and Consumer Services Division, to conduct annual livestock scale inspections. We are currently accepting livestock scale requests through March 31, 2018. Requests made after the March 31st deadline will incur a fee based on our current fee schedule. The inspection of livestock scales will begin April 1, 2018 and continue through December 31, 2018. Due to the cost of the program, we will be conducting the inspection of livestock scales by REQUEST ONLY. We have attached our livestock scale request form, public service announcement and our fees for weights and measures services. Also attached is information regarding changes to our livestock program in 2019. We would like to request your assistance in publicizing the new livestock scale inspection program in your county. As always, we thank you for your continued support with our program. If you have any questions, feel free to call our office at (575) 646-1616.

Two bound over to district court on pecan larceny charges

Two bound over to district court on pecan larceny charges Artesia Daily Press Staff Two Artesia residents have been bound over to district court on larceny charges following the attempted theft of pecans from a local orchard. At around 4:30 p.m. Nov. 26, 2017, Eddy County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to Forrest Lee Road in the Chase Farms pecan orchard. There, they were informed a pickup had been observed approximately one-and-a-half miles down Forrest Lee Road from Lake Road; only Chase Farms employees are allowed on that particularly roadway. Deputies made contact with the occupants of the pickup, identified as Fernando Franco and Melissa O. Madrid, who admitted to having come from the orchard. According to the criminal complaint, Madrid told deputies she had been contacted by Franco and asked to assist him in picking up pecans at the orchard. Franco granted deputies permission to search under a tarp covering the back of the pickup. Beneath was a “massive quantity” of pecans. Deputies proceeded to seize the vehicle and file for a search warrant. Following execution of the warrant the following day, the pecans were subsequently transported to the Chase Farms processing plant, and warrants were issued for Franco and Madrid’s arrest on charges of larceny (over $500 but less than $2,500). Franco was additionally charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession, delivery or manufacture of drug paraphernalia. Both subjects have been bound over to district court.

Pecan

There are some pecan related bills in the legislative session this short session still; a buyers licensure act, and an appropriations bill for pecan weevil eradication funding. Both bills are industry driven. Mr. Cavitt from Lea County actually got the ball rolling on the appropriations bill. I believe the bills have been assigned to committees and have some hearings this week. Mr. Lewis has been called on by Senator Leavell to testify on the appropriations bill at a hearing this week and some from the pecan industry I imagine will also be participating. Again, these are industry driven bills that I’m sure would help with taking a solid stab at eradication and hopefully, cut down on theft if law enforcement can participate more in the buyer licensing process. The appropriations bill is HB 184 and Senate bill is 160 carried by Senator Leavell in the senate and Representatives Townsend and Gomez, in the house. The pecan buyers licensure act is carried by Representatives Townsend, Gomez, and Herrell in the house and is HB 214. Feel free to look up other details on the legislature’s website if you have further interest in these issues. https://www.nmlegis.gov/Search

HB161: Agriculture & Vegetable Seed Preemption

This bill would prevent any political subdivision in NM from making it illegal to grow GMO Crops. Supported by the NMDA and the NM Farm Bureau. If you agree please let our Legislators hear from you. We need phone calls and emails to the committee. It will be heard Tuesday morning. There are lots of folks lined up against this bill. Please call and pass to your customers. Read below. I am headed up there this week. The umbrella organization for our Industry, BIO, is engaged as is our Lobbyist and Governmental affairs folks but nothing like home grown people weighing in. Some of you will receive this in duplicate, I apologize for that. Regards Greg House State Government Indian and Veterans Affairs Committee Georgene Louis 986-4327 Georgene.louis@nmlegis.gov Rudy Marteniz 986-4248 Rodolpho.marteniz@nmlegis.gov Sharon Clahchischilliage 986-4453 Sharon.clahchischill@nmlegis.gov Yvette Herrell 986-4210 Yherrell@yahoo.com Wonda Johnson 986-4236 Dwonda.johnson@nmlegis.gov Derrick Lente 986-4433 Derrick.lente@nmlegis.gov William Rehm 986-4214 Bill.rehm@nmlegis.gov Dennis Roch 986-4227 denroch@hotmail.com Andres Romero 986-4435 andres@nmlegis.gov HB161: Agriculture & Vegetable Seed Preemption sponsored by Rep. Bill Rehm & Rep. Jimmy Hall prohibits political subdivisions from adopting or continuing in effect any ordinance, rule, regulation or statute regulating agricultural or vegetable seeds, including cultivation, harvesting, sale, testing, transporting, possessing and 15 other uses. This law maintains private property rights. NMF&LB believes it should be the right of the farmer to decide what crops make sense for their business and the tools (tools approved by the federal and state governments) to use to cultivate those crops. NMF&LB supports this bill. NMF&LB supports HB161 giving the New Mexico Department of Agriculture regulatory control over which seeds can be planted in our state. Farmers in certain counties in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington cannot "propagate, cultivate, raise or grow seeds or crops of genetically engineered organisms" due to the passage of local ordinances. In New Mexico this would affect not only corn, cotton and alfalfa growers who use Roundup ready seeds, but would also leave open the door for a future ban on seeds with a neonicotinoid coating. As was mentioned in yesterday’s CALL TO ACTION, we know of several environmentalist groups, pueblo governments and acequias associations preparing to oppose HB161. We must have OUR voices heard! Please continue to contact the committee members and urge them to support the bill for these reasons: • HB161 Seed Preemption would ensure that farmers are not navigating a patchwork of county and municipality rules related to seeds. Passing HB161 would give NMDA control over seeds and give famers the predictability they need. • HB 161 ensures the consistent statewide regulation of seed, just as is the case with pesticides. The measure simply ensures that the authority to regulate seed lies with the experts at the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. Thirty fives states have seen the wisdom of one, state-wide body regulating seeds and have passed similar laws. • Seed standardization legislation maintains private property rights. Farmers are seed experts and they should decide which crops make sense for their family farm. • The bill provides for regulatory consistency, creating an environment where the marketplace drives business decisions, not a patchwork of regulations that creates burdensome roadblocks for family farms. • Codifying the uniform regulation of seed by the statewide experts - well credentialed officials at NMDA - provides long term certainty for growers and farmers. This is especially useful given that there are 136 municipal governments (county, city & town) in New Mexico. • Farmers and growers in New Mexico may own or lease land in multiple jurisdictions. Being forced to comply with varying regulations across city and town lines, even though a farmer is on his or her private property, is cost prohibitive and burdensome.

NMSU to host annual fruit growers workshop at Los Luceros Ranch March 1

NMSU to host annual fruit growers workshop at Los Luceros Ranch March 1 NMSU By Jane Moorman Trees in northern New Mexico orchards may be dormant during the winter months, but the fruit growers are looking ahead to next spring when the blooms will be forming on the plants. Part of the preparation is learning tips for managing the trees, pollinators and pests, as well as what research New Mexico State University is conducting at the Sustainable Agriculture Science Center at Alcalde. NMSU’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension Service is hosting the annual Fruit Grower Workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1, at the historic Los Luceros Ranch north of Alcalde on County Road 41…Registration is $12 per person before Feb. 20 and $15 after Feb. 20. Fee includes lunch and materials. Participants are encouraged to register before Feb. 20 to ensure enough food is prepared for lunch. To pre-register, call Joy at the Santa Fe County Extension office, 505-471-4711