Grange Delegates from across the nation gathered in Springfield, IL on November 14 –18 2006 to conduct the business of the 140th National Grange Convention. Delegates and officers discussed a variety of legislative issues including conservation issues, agricultural issues, energy issues, taxation, and immigration. Grange members have been meeting annually at this event since 1867.

Below is a summary of the major policy issues addressed by the National Grange delegates at the Springfield Convention.

National Grange President William A. Steel addressed immigration, rural safety, and the 2007 Farm Bill, three legislative issues pertinent to rural America in his annual address at the National Grange Convention held in Springfield, IL November 14-18, 2006.

Steel stated, “One issue that will have a long term impact on our communities over the next forty years will be immigration.” In October, Congress passed, and the President has signed, legislation that would authorize the construction of 700 miles of fence along much of the border with Mexico. The National Grange President stated that he does not believe this alone will solve our illegal immigration problems. Consequently, he will be monitoring the new Congress, encouraging them to develop an agenda for control of illegal immigration.

“The task will not be easy,” Steel said. “For example, between 25 percent and 35 percent of all of the people who lack permanent health insurance coverage and who must rely on charity health care are illegal aliens, a fact that argues for solutions to quickly reduce the illegal population in the United States. However, more than 50 percent of all the non-family farm labor in the country is estimated to be provided by illegal aliens, a fact that suggests caution before taking drastic action for fear of disrupting our food system.”

A second pertinent issue President Steel discussed during his address to National Grange delegates, members, and guests was the growing public safety crisis in rural America of methamphetamine (meth) use in our rural populations. The National Grange has discovered that abandoned farm buildings become havens for meth labs, and legitimate farm chemicals become the ingredients for making this poison. “The cost in cleanup of busted and abandoned labs is astounding. Additionally, these costs do not begin to measure the cost in human terms on lives ruined by users, and second-hand effects on those in their households. We need to become more aware and more pro-active in sustaining our rural communities against threats like meth so that two generations hence, our rural communities are places where people want to live and work,” President Steel concluded.

President Steel also discussed the 2007 Farm Bill and its ramifications for rural America. Steel stated that lawmakers need to set a goal of increasing agricultural production in the 2007 Farm Bill. He believes all agricultural producers should receive direct benefits of federal farm programs or international trade. The 2007 Farm Bill should support farm programs that provide credit, risk management, income support, and environmental stewardship for family farmers and ranchers, regardless of the crop or livestock they produce. Farm programs should encourage sound conservation techniques, preserve prime agricultural land in the face of strong development and preservationist pressures, assure compliance with our existing international trade agreements and facilitate the introduction of cost saving and environmentally beneficial new technologies for all segments of the agriculture sector. According to President Steel, the next Farm Bill should recognize and promote adoption of innovative farming practices like part-time, new uses, low investment expense, direct-to-consumer, biotechnology, bio-energy and organic farming. Additionally, the Bill should incorporate strong legal protections for farmers who rely on traditional commodity markets or contract production from the antitrust threats that arise anywhere along the production and distribution chain from farm to consumer. Finally, according to President Steel, the 2007 Farm Bill must provide new tools to prevent coercion, combat market manipulations and breakdown the existing legal barriers to freedom of commerce, in both foreign and domestic markets, that keep farmers from receiving appropriate compensation for the fair value of their input into the agricultural production process.

Steel concluded, “Additional concrete steps should be taken in the 2007 Farm Bill to divest authority for agricultural and rural development policy decisions away from the federal government and down to the regional, state and local government level where local citizens, both farm and non-farm alike, feel a greater sense of efficacy and commitment to an open and fair decision making process that will be appropriately tailored to the needs of their communities.”

The National Grange is requesting that Congress take a serious look at the method for milk pricing to reflect a reasonable margin of return on farmers’ investment and to provide for a reasonable living standard as a result of policy recommended by the Grange Agriculture Committee. National Grange delegates also opposed any proposal that calls for a “milk tax” or cuts in commodity payments. Other recommended provisions of the future Farm Bill include requiring import and export policies that ensure a level playing field for all producers, price support payments paid on a counter cyclical basis increasing the per unit payment to the producers suffering the largest loss below the normal yield, and reducing the per unit payment for producers whose production is over a normal yield.

National Grange will encourage Congress to continue and expand the Conservation Security Program (CSP), and are supporting the use of federal farm disaster payments only if federal crop revenue coverage insurance is not available. The organization will also recommend that Congress create a new farm savings account plan that would allow deposit of pre-tax dollars for future use to offset farm expenses. Additionally, the delegates voted in favor of increasing the wheat target price to $5.29 per bushel, and direct payments to $1.19 per bushel in the 2007 Farm Bill.

The National Grange supports implementation of a national, voluntary animal identification program for livestock and poultry. One of the strong tenets of the program supported by the organization’s members is that strict privacy protection must be included in the national identification program at all levels of government. To help ensure open international trade, the National Grange believes there should be an animal trace-back framework developed and administered by the USDA in case of a health emergency. Finally, the delegates supported changes to the proposed Farm Bill that would encourage greater reliance on conservation payment programs and explore other types of payments via block grants for states in the proposed 2007 Farm Bill.

At the recent 140th annual National Grange Convention the delegates voted on a number of social issues affecting rural America.

Realizing the need to continue children’s programs on public television, the National Grange voted to support current federal funding levels for quality, commercial-free, educational children’s programs. The Public Broadcasting System provides these children’s programs, which have helped children develop pre-reading, reading, language, math, science, and critical thinking skills. Unfortunately Congress is considering the elimination of public funding within two years, beginning with a 25% cut in the current budget. Grange members felt strongly that these educational programs are important in the growth and development of young children and should continue to receive public financial support.

The Grange also reiterated its stance for efficient telecommunications services in rural America. The Grange supported expansion of broadband Internet, wireless Internet, cable, and cellular services in our communities. If properly implemented, video choice will provide competition in pricing and improve the quality of services.

The reliance by family farmers and rural residents on a sound national transportation infrastructure made transportation concerns a priority at the 140 th annual National Grange Convention. Because ports have long been considered the most vulnerable targets for a terrorist attack, the National Grange voted to support legislation preventing foreign companies from controlling U.S. port facilities. Likewise policy was passed in opposition of foreign ownership of domestic toll roads or bridges. To combat and detect potential terrorism in all transportation methods, the National Grange voted to support increased transportation funding and training at all governmental levels.

The National Grange continues to support federal surface transportation legislation, now known as the SAFETEA-LU Act, covering highways, highway safety and mass transportation. The Grange also voted to support legislation providing incentives to promote greater use of agriculturally derived fuels such as ethanol and bio-diesel, as part of our national transportation program. These incentives will help ensure that rural Americans can continue to enjoy their freedom of mobility well into the 21 st Century. Finally, Grange delegates voted to encourage the development of increased petroleum refining capacity to avoid extreme price increases for fuel during natural disasters.

Meanwhile back in Washington DC, the Agriculture Coalition on the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC), including National Grange and 20 other agricultural organizations, recently wrote to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Steven Johnson, expressing concern about the status of the proposed changes to the SPCC regulations that will soon be finalized. The Coalition has been working with the EPA since 2002, but has not heard from the EPA concerning this rule for almost a year. The Coalition urged EPA to issue a guidance to regional and local EPA offices suspending SPCC regulation for agricultural and agribusiness operations until more data has been collected and evaluated. Currently in some states, regional EPA offices are treating agricultural enterprises as any other operations regardless of the oil storage capacity and compliance status.

EPA promptly responded to the Coalition letter stating that they have been, and will continue to consult with USDA on the SPCC rule. EPA stated that the final rule should be published in the near future and that it will include action on the proposed compliance extension for farms.