Federal Ag Budget Focus of NAWG Hill Visits

Leaders and members of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, North Dakota Grain Growers Association, South Dakota Wheat Inc., and the Montana Grain Growers Association, joined wheat growers from other parts of the country in Washington, D.C. this spring to lobby federal lawmakers on issues affecting the U.S. wheat production sector.

The state wheat groups are represented in Washington, D.C. by the National Association of Wheat Growers, strategically located just blocks from Capitol Hill. Producers automatically become members of the NAWG when they join their respective state wheat/grain associations.

Briefing papers were prepared for the Hill appointments by the NAWG regarding crop insurance, railway competition, research, and other issues affecting the U.S. wheat industry. Briefings on trade-related issues were prepared by the Wheat Export Trade Education Committee. The federal ag budget remains a key NAWG priority.  Following are some of the points the NAWG made during the Hill visits regarding the federal ag budget.

The NAWG asserts that funding for farm bill programs should be sustained in the federal budget because:

• The farm program budget is roughly ½ of 1% of the federal budget, but helps sustain an industry that is responsible for 15% of our nation’s GDP, 25 million jobs, and a supply of food and fiber that is the safest, most abundant and most affordable in all the world. Reducing the baseline for agriculture could have negative impacts on other parts of our economy. 
• Negotiations to reduce and equalize worldwide agricultural subsidies and or tariffs are ongoing. Until these negotiations are resolved, changing U.S. policy undermines our negotiating efforts. U.S. farmers currently operate at a severe disadvantage in the world market relative to farmers in the E.U. (which, as recently as 2004 subsidized its farmers at a rate 6 times greater than the U.S.), and other countries where agriculture production is protected by an average worldwide bound tariff of 62% (which compares to an average U.S. tariff rate of less than 12%).
• The Federal farm programs act as a multi-year contract upon which hundreds of thousands of farm families across the United States make their business and investment plans. The stability provided by these 2002 farm programs (written to last through 2007) has allowed for unprecedented growth in farm income and spending.  To renege on this contract would be unwise and also would be unfair to the many who have made long range farming decisions through 2007.
• The farm bill also authorizes significant levels of environmental and conservation programs. The 2002 bill was hailed as the most important conservation action by both the administration and the Congress. Farmers and ranchers make matching investments to improve water and soil quality; protect open space and wildlife habitat as well as to prevent flooding, drought losses, erosion and other disasters.
• The 2002 farm bill was a fiscally responsible bill when it was written and passed, and it has since contributed significantly to budget savings by spending approximately $17 billion under projections. This proves that the bill is working as designed, but should not justify reducing the baseline; there may be years when the full baseline will be required.

The NAWG, in conjunction with the National Cotton Council and USA Rice Federation, prepared a series of backgrounders in the groups’ “Home Grown” campaign that helps break down misperceptions about farming, the farm program, and the economics of farming. For example, that today’s American farmers could be the only business people in the country asked to buy their materials retail, sell their product wholesale, and pay the shipping both ways. The backgrounders help explain the realities of farming, and are useful reference for issues such as defending the current farm program.  For more information, go the NAWG web site, www.wheatworld.org, and click on the Home Grown link.

First NAWG Leaders Conclude WOLF Leadership Program

The first class of the new Wheat Organization Leaders of the Future (WOLF) program concluded as NAWG leaders met this spring in Washington.

The program is designed for leaders in state wheat grower associations who have already had some level of leadership training and will be assuming roles on the NAWG Board of Directors.  The aims of the program are to refine and polish leadership, media, and advocacy skills. WOLF is a project of the NAWG Foundation, and sponsored by Bayer CropScience and the Shared Solutions^SM Agricultural Initiative of the Altria Family of Companies.

Participants in the 2005 class included Jon Stoner (Montana); Scott Osler (Nebraska); Calvin Haile (Virginia); Kendall Hodgson (Kansas); Jeff Krehbiel (Oklahoma); Dusty Tallman (Colorado); Jerry Snyder (Washington); Mike Noonan (Oregon); Wayne Hurst (Idaho); Greg Daws, (North Dakota); and John Thaemert, NAWG 2^nd Vice President.

Specific training elements included on-camera TV interview training, where participants were put through mock interviews, as well as training appropriate for print and radio interviews. This component of the program was consistently referenced by participants as a high point in the three-day program.