The National Grange joined over 30 other associations in a joint letter to Congress urging support for the Agricultural Disaster Assistance Bill. Virtually every state in the nation has been impacted by significant weather related and disaster losses since 2005. In that year alone, about 80 percent of U.S. counties were declared disaster or contiguous disaster counties due to devastating hurricanes, fires, floods, excessive moisture and severe drought. Besides heavy crop and livestock losses and increased production costs associated with rapidly escalating input costs, many producers also faced contaminated fields and infrastructure losses that posed serious, long-term challenges to economic recovery.

The letter informed Congress that past assistance in 2005 helped some victims of the 2005 hurricane season. Unfortunately, however, the assistance was not available to all farmers and ranchers who suffered devastating losses due to hurricanes. Furthermore, none of the assistance was available to producers who suffered significant losses to crop and livestock operations as a result of fires, flooding, drought, excessive moisture and the record-high energy costs brought on by natural disasters. The letter was effective in convincing bi-partisan majorities of Congress to send the legislation to President Bush for his signature.

Leroy Watson, Legislative Director for the National Grange, recently wrote to members of the U. S. Senate urging them to oppose an amendment allowing the importation of prescription drugs from outside the U. S. unless they required the U. S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to certify their purity and safety. The measure, offered by Senator Dorgan, would allow the importation of drugs from Canada that are not identical to those manufactured for the U.S.  Moreover, this measure would, after one year, expand importation to include every country in the European Union as well as a number of other countries, whether or not safety problems have been encountered with their medications and whether or not there is an adequate system to guarantee safety for American consumers.  This would expose American consumers not only to medicines that do not meet current safety standards but also expose them to possible harm from the many counterfeit drugs that have flooded the world market including the EU.

Watson stated, “As our nation currently faces a public health and animal health crisis related to the unregulated importation of contaminated animal feed that has remarkably worked its way through the chain of commerce to reach tens of thousands of companion animals and pets as well as to animals produced for direct human consumption, it is inconceivable that the U.S. Senate would seriously consider deregulating the importation of potentially adulterated prescription medications without any safe guard, consumer information or oversight mechanism for basic consumer safety.”

The National Grange has steadfastly opposed unrestricted importation of medicines that threaten the health and well being of family farmers and rural Americans who disproportionately rely on the integrity of mail order or Internet based pharmacy services.  The U.S. Senate subsequently followed the recommendation of the National Grange and adopted an amendment to require the U. S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to certify the purity and safety of imported medicines.

National Grange Legislative Director, Leroy Watson, recently wrote to members of the U. S. Senate concerning current legislation that would dramatically increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and trucks. Existing CAFE programs have been an effective incentive for auto and truck manufacturers to invest in alternative fuel technologies derived from American’s family farms and ranches, like ethanol and biodiesel.

Before making a final decision, Watson urged Senators to give thoughtful consideration to how excessive CAFE requirements will impact America’s family farms and ranches. The idea that heavy and medium-duty trucks, such as grain trucks, cattle carriers and others, should be subject to CAFE standards that will increase annually by 4 percent is completely unreasonable and means that farmers will no longer be able to accomplish the work they do today.

The National Grange believes that the best approach is to let the technical experts at the Department of Transportation set future CAFE standards – incorporating data on vehicle safety, available technology, impact on the economy, etc. – rather than have the Senate pick arbitrary levels of fuel efficiency.

The National Grange believes that the Senate should focus CAFE reform legislation on expanding the existing technological partnership with auto and truck manufacturers to invest in alternative fuel technologies like ethanol and biodiesel through expanded CAFE credits for such investments that would reduce our nation’s consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels and would increase national energy security.

The National Grange recently thanked Representatives Eliot Engle (NY) and Dan Burton (IN) for their recent letter bringing the issue of the Treasury Department’s involvement in U.S. court cases litigating the circumstances of Argentina’s sovereign debt default, quite possibly the largest sovereign debt default in recorded history, to the attention of the Secretary of the Treasury. The National Grange believes that the Administration's policy on trade promotion and the efforts of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in opening foreign markets for America’s family farmers are being significantly thwarted by the decisions made by the U.S. Treasury to support the Argentine government in its debt default cases currently working their way through the U.S. courts. The National Grange strongly urged the Congressmen to seek further clarification of the Administration’s apparent policy of promoting sovereign debt default by one of our major export competitors. The National Grange believes that this debt default is being used by the government of Argentina as a tool to manipulate the value of their national currency in order to gain unfair competitive advantage in world markets against U.S. family farmers.

Previously, the National Grange has strongly supported the United States’ efforts to reach consensus between sovereign borrowers and debt holders for restructuring programs that alleviated short-term cash problems and allowed national governments to reform their economies by adopting pro-growth and pro-prosperity policies. However, until now the U.S. government has not been an advocate for unilateral sovereign debt repudiation of the size and scope of that proposed by Argentina, a major competitor of U.S. farmers in foreign markets. The National Grange supports Congressional oversight of our government’s policies of supporting trade distorting practices of other nations.

A number of organizations representing rural Americans including the National Grange wrote to Congress expressing deep opposition to the closings of many Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices. The coalition also asked members of Congress to co-sponsor and support of H.R. 1649, which states that t he Secretary of Agriculture may not close or relocate any county or field office of the Farm Service Agency until at least one year after the date of the enactment of an omnibus law .

Under the plan currently being deployed in several states, FSA offices are being closed while the other field delivery agencies (Natural Resource Conservation Service and/or Rural Development), which were co-located with the FSA, are remaining intact. This selective office closing plan undercuts the USDA “Service Center” structure and eliminates the “one-stop-shopping” concept established by USDA for farmers. If allowed to proceed, this plan will force many farmers to travel to two or more locations to conduct their USDA business.

National Grange Legislative Director, Leroy Watson, wrote to the Chairman of the Texas Civil Practices Committee urging the Texas Legislature to support HB 1927, the Low-Emission Fuel Act (LEFA). This legislation will bring needed stability to fuel product markets that are currently subjected to numerous frivolous lawsuits that unjustifiably drive up the cost of fuels to consumers. The bill promotes price stability of gasoline and diesel fuel at the pump.

Family farmers and ranchers in Texas are particularly hard-hit by increasing fuel prices and the National Grange urged the Texas Legislature to protect family farmers and ranchers from artificial upward price pressures in fuel markets resulting from frivolous litigation.

The National Grange applauded the bipartisan agreement reached by the Bush administration, Speaker Pelosi and Congressional leadership, to move forward with free trade agreements that will significantly increase exports of U.S. agricultural products. The Administration and Congress agreed to add, through legally binding mechanisms, standards on labor and the environment to pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, Peru and South Korea, as well as to future trade agreements.

“Grange members, family farmers and ranchers all appreciate the hard work of US Trade Representative, Ambassador Schwab, Speaker Pelosi and other Congressional leaders in breaking the deadlock on trade issues,” said National Grange Legislative Director Leroy Watson. “The National Grange believes that negotiating trade agreements between nations on a basis that is free and fair to all parties involved and that increases access to U.S. produced agricultural products in markets around the world will be a key to building a solid foundation of prosperity for family farmers and ranchers in the U.S. in the 21 st Century. We call on Congress to approve all four pending free trade agreements prior to this year’s August recess,” Watson added.

National Grange President William A. Steel recently sent out an “Op-Ed” to news media around the country concerning rural phone use. In the article, Steel stated, “Farmers and those living in rural and remote areas of the country need access to wireless technologies not just for personal convenience but, so too, for their livelihood and safety during emergencies and natural disasters.”

A federal-state advisory board (Joint Board) recently recommended to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) an ill-thought and discriminatory set of proposals that would severely limit the very technology that has permitted farmers to finally gain access to wireless services that urban and suburban residents have enjoyed for years. The Joint Board proposed freezing the Universal Service Fund, or USF, at 2006 levels for wireless providers. The Board asserted that this would have minimal impact on the ability of wireless providers to maintain and expand services.

Instead of rejecting the recommendations, the FCC has opted for public hearings on the Joint Board’s declaration that the USF has become financially strained in recent years because of the dramatic upsurge in competitive wireless services offered to residents in rural areas of the country.

“Family farmers and small businesses and people living in rural areas need reliable wireless services as much as they need reliable fixed line telephone services. The National Grange strongly believes there is absolutely no financial, moral or public policy justification to recommend reducing the level of USF support to wireless telephone companies serving rural communities when the wireless telephone industry, as a whole, is annually contributing three times as much to the USF as is being spent to assist wireless phone companies meet their obligations to provide service to rural America,” Steel concluded.

A Coalition of agriculture groups, including the National Grange, recently wrote to House and Senate Agriculture Committee members opposing the idea of an Animal Welfare Title in the 2007 Farm Bill. The organizations representing America’s farmers and ranchers, the industries which serve and rely upon them, and the nation’s veterinary medical and scientific organizations believes such provisions are unnecessary and redundant to existing on-farm producer developed well-being programs, as well as existing federal and state regulations.

At a recent hearing, a number of producer groups explained in detail the decades of individual and collective program development aimed at maintaining and enhancing the well-being of the animals in the care of farmers and ranchers. The hearing showed the dangers of emotion-based decisions to farming and ranching, especially when it comes to the housing and handling of farm animals, with the American Veterinary Medical Assn. (AVMA) emphasizing the importance of science, research and on-farm experience in determining how best to care for and treat food producing animals. For these compelling reasons, the Coalition urged the Committees not to write a separate Farm Bill title to appease the animal rights movement that is unnecessary and redundant to existing protections.

The National Grange recently wrote to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees concerning the 2007 Farm Bill. Leroy Watson, National Grange Legislative Director, told Committee members that the goal of the 2007 Farm Bill should be to build a solid foundation of prosperity for America’s family farmers and ranchers. Further, National Grange members believe the purpose of the Federal Farm Program is to ensure Americans an adequate supply of safe and wholesome food, fiber, and fuel, provide some income protection to the producers of these products, and protect our environment by providing incentives for soil and water conservation. Watson stated it is paramount that the 2007 Farm Bill stimulate interest and appreciation for an expanding agriculture industry that is profitably providing an abundant supply of reasonably priced food, fiber, and fuel to meet our domestic needs and still export products into world markets.

Watson shared the National Grange 2007 Farm Bill Summary Position Paper with Committee members stating that he believes this document will be beneficial as they craft the bill.