On June 8, the U.S. House of Representatives defeated legislation to maintain mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat and meat products by a margin of 187-240. As a result, the COOL implementation will be delayed until September 30, 2007. The rejected legislation was an amendment to the FY 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-MT) has offered to strike the COOL delay language from the spending bill. The COOL was authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill to label fresh meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, and peanuts with the country in which it was grown and processed by September 2004.

The Farmers Market Promotion Program is supposed offer competitive grants to agricultural cooperatives, local governments, non-profits, economic development corporations and others to establish, expand and promote all sorts of direct marketing opportunities. These include farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture markets, internet-based enterprises, and farmstands. The FMPP was authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill, however, it has never been funded up till now.

Recently, the House Committee on Appropriations included support for the Farmers Market Promotion Program at a very modest  $1 million in an Ag spending bill but the program needs far more to be effective in meeting demands around the nation. Therefore, the National Grange encouraged its members to urge their Senators to support for $5 million for the FMPP during the Senate’s debate on Ag appropriations. (To see the Grange’s action alert, click here) These funds would be very helpful to Grange Halls wishing to apply in the future to expand or start a farmers market in their communities.

A recent study shows that over 3 million consumers are visiting America’s 3,700 farmers markets weekly and buying from some 50,000 small farmers. Demand for farmers markets has grown in popularity with increased consumer interest in healthy food directly from the farm and it has helped boost farmers revenue and local economies.

“Farmers markets are important nationwide outlets for agricultural producers to increase marketing opportunities,” said Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns who opened the 2005 USDA Farmers Market season on June 3. “Today, more than 3,700 farmers markets operate across the country offering consumers farm-fresh, affordable, convenient and healthy products, while helping our farmers supplement their income.”

On May 12, Betsy Huber, PA State Grange President, was elected as the first female Agricultural Trustees of the Pennsylvania State University in its 150-year history. She filled in one of the six Agricultural seats on the Board of Trustees for Penn State.

“Betsy is an honest, caring and hardworking woman,” State Representative Art Hershey, Chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said in his nomination speech for Huber. “She has a long history of service with the Pennsylvania State Grange, where she has served as Secretary to the National Grange Women’s Activities Director, PA State Grange Office Manager and currently President…she is truly dedicated to her local residential community, the agricultural community as a whole, and the betterment of our Commonwealth.” The term of each trustee elected is three years, beginning July 1, 2005, and expiring on June 30, 2008.

USDA Secretary Mike Johanns on June 16 announced that Farm Bill Forums would be held across the country throughout 2005 to solicit public input for the 2007 renewal of the Farm Bill. The first Farm Bill Forum will be held in Nashville, Tenn. on July 7 from 6:00 to 10:00 pm CDT at RFD-TV Northstar Studios. The dates, locations and times of the forums will be announced as they are scheduled and be available on the USDA website (click here). The current 2002 Farm Bill, which authorizes many of the programs operated by the USDA, will expire with the 2007 crop year.

“The next farm bill will affect America’s entire agricultural community,” said Johanns. “That’s why I want to ask America’s farmers and ranchers how our farm policy is working and how we can make it better. I believe very strongly that they deserve a voice in this process.” Six questions presented by the USDA to provide a framework for the forums are:

Comments may also be submitted electronically via the USDA website (click here) or email to FarmBill@usda.gov. They also can be mailed to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Farm Bill, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-3355. The USDA will review the public comments received by December 30, 2005, which address the six questions.

The National Grange will post the six farm policy questions as hot topics on its online discussion board over the next six weeks – one question per week – to encourage its members to join the national debate in settling on the best way for a new Farm Bill. To visit the National Grange Policy Discussion Room, click on www.nationalgrange.org/legislation/discussionroom.htm

The fate of Senate Energy Bill had been at stake with some touchy climate change amendments but Senators refined the debate by giving an approval to the modest solution – voluntary greenhouse gas control programs. On June 21, the Senate endorsed Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) plan as an amendment to Energy Bill, on a 66-29 vote, to keep greenhouse gas emission control voluntary. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) on the same day withdrew his amendment requesting for a mandatory system of greenhouse gases emission permits. The next day, the Senate also defeated the McCain-Lieberman proposal to include a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 60-38. Opponents of the proposals by McCain-Lieberman and Bingaman, including the National Grange, have accused them of increasing gasoline prices and threatening the US Economy with microscopic impact on the climate.

The amendment by Sen. Chuck Hagel will reduce CO2 domestically by providing credit-based financial assistance (i.e., direct loans, loan guarantees, standby interest coverage, and power production incentive payments) for U.S. businesses that deploy advanced climate technologies or systems. Also, it calls on developing countries to participation in the greenhouse gas reducing efforts providing new authority for the U.S. to assist greenhouse gas reducing projects and technologies in developing countries.

“ The National Grange has been mainly concerned about the negative impact of higher energy costs on the farm industry which the mandatory caps on greenhouse gases will generate since U.S. agricultural production is an energy-intensive process,” National Grange Legislative Director Leroy Watson said. “We applaud the Senate’s decision as we support expansion of voluntary efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions and oppose the Kyoto Protocol until all major countries, developed and developing, agree to abide by the same standards.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to consider a radical flat fee method of collecting the money for the federal Universal Service Fund (USF). The USF provides financial support to provide basic telephone service for individuals living in high cost rural areas, for low income individuals as well as funding for special high speed internet connections for rural hospitals, schools and libraries. In part because of programs like the USF, more than 94% of all American households have basic telephone service.

Since 1996 funding for the USF has been based on long distance telephone usage. Individuals and businesses that make greater numbers of long distance calls make larger contributions to the USF as part of their monthly bills. However, two changes in the long distance telephone market in recent years have caused the base of revenues going into the USF to decline. First is the popularity of blanket or one charge monthly fees for telephone service that include unlimited long distance calling. These types of plans are most common with cell phones but are also a popular option with regular phone users as well. The other change in the market is the emergence of new technology, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), that do not use the traditional phone system to place calls. Because it uses a different technology than regular phone service and relies on high-speed Internet connections, VoIP technology has been largely exempt from USF requirements. Even with these new changes in the long distance market, the vast majority of callers still use metered (cost per minute) services to make their long distance phone calls.

To address this problem, the FCC is considering scrapping the existing fees on metered long distance services and instituting a new tax on telephone numbers. Phone customers would pay the same monthly fee regardless whether they used their phone one or one thousand times in any month. Current private estimates predict that the telephone number flat tax would be $1-2 per line per month. But in reality, the FCC has not made any public commitments as to the final monthly phone charge it is considering. The final figures could be higher than $2 per month.

The FCC’s proposed monthly flat fee system would transfer the financial burden of supporting our nation’s commitment to universal phone service away from high volume business and corporate phone users who benefit the most from phone service to low volume callers who rely on phone service as a “lifeline” to the rest of the world. Farmers, small business owners, students and minorities who are least able to afford it will be hurt tremendously. The Keep USF Fair Coalition forecasts the flat fee proposal would increase the annual USF cost for millions of low-volume users by well over 1000%.

“Rural residents, living in high-cost and hard to serve areas, would be adversely affected by these proposed changes,” National Grange Legislative Director Leroy Watson said. “Rural communities are already lagging behind in access to advanced telecommunications and a new FCC tax on telephone numbers to fund the USF would not improve this situation and could actually further delay the deployment of advanced telecommunications services to rural America.”

As a founding member of the Keep USF Fair Coalition, the National Grange has supported the current revenue-based USF collection system as well as reforms to better incorporate VoIP and flat fee monthly calling plans into the current revenue based USF system. Legislative Director Leroy Watson has been making visits to key congressional offices to deliver this message. Most recently, Mr. Watson visited with the staffs of Rep. Eliot Engel (NY) and Rep. Bart Gordon (TN) to discuss USF issues.

To date more than 141,000 Americans have told the FCC and Members of Congress to oppose the USF flat fee proposal via the Keep USF Fair Coalition website (www.keepUSFair.org) alone. Also, more than 275,000 letters have been sent to the Hill and the FCC since the start of the campaign by concerned Americans. 

The 2005 North Carolina Legislative Ag Day was held on June 15, at the Halifax Mall outside of the legislative buildings in Raleigh, North Carolina. Sponsored by the North Carolina State Grange and the North Carolina Agribusiness Council, members of both organizations attended the event. The day started with an invocation, led by NC State Grange President, Jimmy Gentry, followed by a large, delicious breakfast buffet for organization members, legislative representatives and speakers. As everyone gathered under the tent for the feast, Erica Peterson, NC Agribusiness Council, gave a welcome and introduced speakers.

Dr. Johnny Wynne, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University, and Dr. Alton Thompson, Dean of North Carolina A&T State University both gave updates of their latest research projects such as organic mushroom farming. Also, North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Troxler, updated the state agriculture news and addressed the need for agriculture awareness and a new advertising technique for the NC Agriculture Department, in which they are publicizing agriculture on the sides of large transfer trucks. Comments were also made by NC Senator Charlie Albertson and House Representative Dewey Hill, both chairs of the Ag Committee.

David Meredith, the NC State Grange Legislative Director, and Erica Peterson, the NC Agribusiness Council Executive Director, also discussed some current legislative issues primarily focusing on the ones mutually agreed by both organizations. The issues covered o pposition to an education lottery in NC, opposition to increasing the cigarette tax, support for limits on the liability for agri-tourism activities and support for the NC Agriculture Department’s exclusive authority for banning plants in the state. In addition, Mr. Meredith articulated support for a bill that encourages Farmland Preservation, which would establish an NC Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. The NC State Grange is included in the bill as a member of an Advisory Committee that would be established by the Fund.

The group was then dismissed to meet with their State Senators and Representatives in the General Assembly. Most members lobbied with their local representatives, thanking them for their support and speaking about agriculture, as well as other relevant issues facing their local communities and the state.

	During Legislative Ag Day, Grange members had the opportunity to visit members of the NC General Assembly and discuss relevant issues regarding their communities, NC agriculture and State Grange policy. Shown here with State Senator Phil Berger are (l to r): Charles Davis, Mark Davis, Senator Berger, Deb Welch and Jimmy Welch.

View from the Hill Editors: Leroy Watson & Chilsook Hwang |