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Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation® AG News Wire

WORKING LANDS INTIATIVE APPROVED BY BUDGET PANEL
This week the Wisconsin Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance approved the governor's proposed Working Lands Initiative with some changes. The Farm Bureau will continue to push for more improvements to the overhaul of how the state attempts to preserve working farmland. Those changes include making sure the state does not pro-rate the dollars available for farmers who sign farmland preservation agreements. Additionally, the Farm Bureau would like to see local municipalities have to be the party that applies for the proposed Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements (PACE), in conjunction with the individual landowner to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Further the Farm Bureau is requested local units of government should have to contribute a portion of the cost share amount for the easement, to ensure local support. The Finance Committee did make a number of changes to the Working Lands Initiative. They include: requiring that PACE only occurs in areas designated in their county's farmland preservation plans; requiring counties and towns to cluster higher-density housing developments in rural areas; and increased the number of Agricultural Enterprise Areas for the pilot program from 10 to 15 to ensure greater participation in the program across the state.  

MORE BUDGET ACTION SCHEDULED
The Joint Finance Committee is poised to take action next week on additional items of interest to rural Wisconsin. When the 16-member panel reviews the state's nonpoint pollution program, they will decide the funding levels for DATCP and County Land Conservation Department staff, as well as the cost share levels that farmers will receive for nutrient management projects. Also on the committee's long agenda is a review of the elimination of the Clean Sweep program, and levy limits for local units of government. 

OKLAHOMA PRE-EMPTION BILL NOW LAW...
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry (D) signed the livestock pre-emption bill (HB 2151) into law Wednesday. The measure establishes that the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture is the legal entity in the state responsible for overseeing animal well-being issues in Oklahoma. The measure prevents municipalities, counties, etc., from enacting orders or regulations on animal care that are more restrictive than rules outlined by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. Oklahoma Farm Bureau supported the bill. "We don't want an outside group coming into Oklahoma, mandating how we care for livestock," said Mike Spradling, Oklahoma Farm Bureau president. "Our producers have learned through experience and training the proper animal husbandry and they have every intention to care for animals in the best possible way." Passage of Proposition 2 in California, which outlaws the confinement of certain production livestock, prompted the Oklahoma bill. The Oklahoma legislation is attracting interest in other states as a way to protect agriculture from animal activists attempting to restrict livestock production methods. See the Oklahoma Farm Bureau news release.

...WHILE MAINE BANS CERTAIN FARM ANIMAL HOUSING METHODS
Maine's Governor John Baldacci (D) has signed into a bill into law that was backed by the Humane Society of the United States to regulate treatment of farm animals in that state. The new law, which takes effect in January 2011, will prohibit crates and cages for breeding sows and veal calves.

CROP NEWS
This week USDA issued its first official projections of this year's crops.  Since then the Wall Street Journal reported that chttp://www.okfarmbureau.org/news/htmArchive/showPage.aspx?page=3225.htm&id=3225" o "http://www.okfarmbureau.org/news/htmArchive/showPage.aspx?page=3225.htm&id=3225rop prices might not get as high as they were last year, but they might not come down too much either. Forbes reports on the supply squeeze seen on U.S. crops.

CWT TO CULL MORE THAN 100,000 COWS FROM NATION'S MILKING HERD
The dairy industry's self-help program, Cooperatives Working Together (CWT), announced this week that it has tentatively accepted 388 bids representing 102,898 cows and 2 billion pounds of milk production capacity. CWT officials will now begin the task of culling or "retiring" that many cows from the nation's dairy herd. It is the first in a series of herd-retirements planned over the next 12 months. The number of cows and pounds of milk represent the largest single herd-retirement carried out in the six-year history of CWT.  Dairy farmers in 41 states submitted a total of 538 herd-retirement bids by the May 1 deadline. The 388 bids tentatively accepted represent 72 percent of the total bids received by CWT. The number of cows now scheduled to be removed account for 64 percent of the total number of cows offered and the 2 billion pounds of milk account for 67 percent of the milk production offered. For more, see the Cattlenetwork.

VILSACK STANDS UP FOR LIVESTOCK FARMS
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended the livestock industry against a lawmaker's allegations that crowded conditions and antibiotic usage in modern farms are endangering human health. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) told Vilsack at a House appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that livestock are "jammed together" in "very, very nasty circumstances." In response, Vilsack said the "vast, vast, vast majority of farmers who are raising livestock are very sensitive" to the need to be careful about the management of their animals. "First and foremost, they're concerned for the safety of their consumers. Without consumers, they don't have a market, and without a market they don't have money," Vilsack said. Read more in the Des Moines Register.

CRS REPORT SHOWS $400 MILLION LOSS TO PORK INDUSTRY
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report on Tuesday titled, "Potential Farm Sector Effects of 2009 H1N1 ‘Swine Flu': Questions and Answers," that points out predictions by some analysts that the U.S. pork industry could lose up to $400 million in the next few months due to lower market prices. Estimates show that 25 percent to 33 percent of U.S. hog producers may be adversely impacted by the H1N1 flu. "Reduced demand for pork could have adverse ripple effects throughout the hog sector, resulting in production changes as producers respond to lower prices," the report states. "Hog producers may choose to curtail planned farrowing and/or decrease their demand for weaned feeder pigs; or they may choose to liquidate or reduce herd sizes, if lower prices result in low/negative meat-to-feed profit margins."

BEEF DEAL INKED WITH EUROPEANS
United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and the European Commission (EC) regarding a beef hormone dispute.  The agreement, which was signed in Switzerland, will provide U.S. producers significant additional access, at zero duty, to the European Union (EU) market for high-quality beef produced from cattle that have not been treated with growth-promoting hormones.  The EU import quota would be set at 20,000 tons in each of the first three years, and this would increase to 45,000 tons in the fourth year.  Under the MOU, the United States and the EC will seek to use experience gained in the first phase to enter into the second phase.  Before the end of the second phase, they would seek to conclude a follow-on agreement that will extend the arrangement for a number of additional years.   

VILSACK: GOVERNMENT MUST HELP CREATE BETTER RURAL JOBS
The government needs to work with rural America to create not only more jobs, but better-paying jobs, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday.  "We sometimes undermarket and undersell rural communities as a place to live and raise families," Vilsack said. The nation's economic downturn has affected communities big and small, but the rural economy has been particularly hard-hit. A recent study by the University of Missouri Rural Policy Research Institute indicated that rural areas are losing jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the nation. Non-metropolitan counties lost 3.4 percent of jobs for the 12 months ending in January, compared to a 2.8 percent drop in metro counties, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. See the USDA news release and articles from Brownfield and the Associated Press.

FOOD SAFETY GROUP HOLDS FIRST SESSION
The Obama administration's newly formed food safety working group held its first listening session on Wednesday and discussed how to improve food safety in America, outlining five food safety principles as a starting point. Those principles are: focus on prevention; strengthen surveillance and risk analysis; expand risk-based inspection and enforcement; rapidly respond to outbreaks; and facilitate recovery and target resources effectively. In opening remarks, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius both emphasized the need to focus on prevention and to develop and expand the use of risk-based inspection and enforcement. Read the USDA news release and view the Working Group Web site.

GRASSLEY TAKES ON EPA ON ETHANOL'S CARBON FOOTPRINT
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has asked the Environmental Protection Agency not to rate the carbon footprint of ethanol based on what foreign farmers are planting on virgin grasslands. Sen. Grassley contends that method ignores science. Read more at Agriculture Online.

STARTING AT THE SOURCE
Johne's Disease and bovine tuberculosis can have devastating effects on livestock herds, but according to the Agricultural Research Service, researchers in Iowa are doing genetic research that might help them target how the diseases infect cattle. 

NEW ALICE TO BE CROWNED TONIGHT
Wisconsin's 62^nd Alice in Dairyland will be selected tonight in the Racine County community of Burlington.  The program will be webcast at www.wisconsinagconnection.com. A press release will be posted at www.datcp.state.wi.us  immediately afterward.