Arkansas Agriculture Magazine - Summer 2017 by Arkansas Farm Bureau

SUM M ER 2 0 1 7

Beating the Odds Our Young Farmers And Ranchers Achievement Award Winner

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Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU â&#x20AC;¢ SUMMER 2017

FEATURES Beating the Odds Gregg Patterson | Page 6

Millions and Millions of Minnows Keith Sutton | Page 12

COLUMNS

Farm Bureau Perspective Randy Veach | Page 3

Faces of Agriculture

Gregg Patterson | Page 18

Policy Update Michelle Kitchens | Page 24

Rural Reflections

Page 28

ON THE COVER Rice and soybeans farmer Chris Damron recently earned Farm Bureauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Young Farmers & Ranchers Achievement Award. He and his family live in Jonesboro. Photo by Keith Sutton

SUMMER 2017

Edition 46

Farm Bureau Perspective by Randy Veach | President, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

A New EPA? Administrator’s visit a hopeful step forward

.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Commission. Pruitt made the point that EPA – which had Scott Pruitt came to Arkansas in late June, seeking to for far too long employed an adversarial position with state solidify a partnership with this country’s most active regulatory authorities – wanted to work more closely with environmentalists, our farmers and ranchers. states to achieve effective environmental outcomes in a I have, admittedly, been a consistent critic of the regulatory real-life example of cooperation. overreach of the EPA during the past 10 years, so I’m pleased Farmers and ranchers across this country are cheering to see Administrator Pruitt’s outreach to the men and women EPA’s proposal to ditch its flawed Waters of the U.S. rule. who tend the soil and raise our livestock. He has declared We know the importance of clean water, and farmers and that the days of “sue and settle” are over. No longer will ranchers work hard to protect our natural resources every environmental groups day. But this rule was never negotiate with the EPA really about clean water. It As a result of Arkansas’s efforts, behind closed doors, with was a federal land grab no public participation, to designed to put a straight76 percent of water bodies classified define regulatory priorities jacket on farming and private as impaired in 2008 are no longer and rules outside of the businesses across this nation. normal rule-making process. why our federal courts considered such. After the announcement, That’s There is actually not a blocked it from going into more obvious and logical 335 waters are now considered to satisfy effect for the past two years. partner than agriculture EPA Administrator Pruitt Arkansas’s water quality standards. and the EPA. We’re all recognizes the formerly about taking care of our proposed WOTUS rule for environment sensibly, what it is – an illegal and allowing us to use our natural resources in a way that enables dangerous mistake that needs to be corrected. us to feed, clothe and provide shelter for much of the world. Farm Bureau supports Administrator Pruitt’s proposal. Administrator Pruitt was the second Cabinet-level EPA should ditch this rule once and for all, go back to the appointee to come to Arkansas this year, following USDA drawing board, and write a new rule that protects water Sec. Sonny Perdue’s visit to view agricultural flooding in quality without trampling the rights of businesses and May. Sec. Perdue has also made it a priority to sit down the states. for face-to-face conversations with farmers and ranchers, Arkansas Farm Bureau represents all forms of agriculture, determined to find the best way for our government to big and small, row crop and livestock, throughout our state. support and undergird our industry, not regulate and The EPA has the ability to enable or hinder every type of restrict it in a way that stifles productivity. farming operation. So it was refreshing to have Administrator While in Arkansas, Administrator Pruitt announced Pruitt in Arkansas, not at odds with agriculture and with a that the EPA approved Arkansas’ 303(d) list of water quality good-faith hand, reaching out to affirm a partnership. standards, which sets forth Arkansas’ impaired waters. As farmers and ranchers, our commitment to the land and Arkansas’ list has been pending before the EPA since 2010. our environment is more foundational than conceptual. We As a result of Arkansas’ efforts, 76 percent of water bodies make our living from the land and our water. America’s farmers classified as impaired in 2008 are no longer considered such. produce the safest and most affordable food supply in the world, After the announcement, 335 waters are now considered to even while the EPA was applying unneeded regulation on our satisfy Arkansas’ water quality standards. backs in the name of environmental protection. Pruitt also met with Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Attorney It’s encouraging to know that the country’s most natural General Leslie Rutledge, Agriculture Sec. Wes Ward, Arkansas partnership – agriculture and the EPA – is on the right track. Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh Thank you for your visit, Administrator Pruitt, and we look and Bruce Holland, director of the Arkansas Natural Resource forward to your next trip to the Natural State. *

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Arkansas Agriculture

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Beating the Odds Winning farm family bucks the norm by Gregg Patterson

ou can’t farm if you don’t come from a farming family. You can’t just start farming on your own. You can’t get started farming unless you’re fortunate enough to inherit or marry into some farmland. It’s just about impossible for a young farmer with nothing to get a farm loan. Chris Damron, 35, has heard all that and more. He got started farming his own crops in 2006 after graduating with an agriculture business degree from Arkansas State University. He’s a first-generation rice and soybeans farmer outside of Jonesboro where he now lives with his wife Breanne and their two children, Reese and Mason. He was recently named Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Achievement Award winner for 2017. The Achievement Award recognizes young farmers and ranchers who have excelled in their farming/ranching operations and exhibited outstanding leadership abilities within Arkansas Farm Bureau and their local community. When asked how he’s beaten the odds and crushed the conventional wisdom when it comes to starting – and surviving – as a newbie farmer, and whether he was even a little scared when he planted his first crop, Damron, with a self-deprecating grin and a shrug joked, “I’m too dumb to be afraid.” The farming bug bit Damron 24 years ago at age 11. A neighbor farmer needed assistance, and he answered the call. He hasn’t looked back. “He needed help putting spills in one week, and I went and helped him and fell in love with dirt, tractors and all that,” Damron said. For several years he worked summers for that farmer. “Never wanted to do anything else,” he said. “I loved farming, and it was my dream to farm on my own.” Damron grew up in a family involved in construction and heavy equipment. His parents told him if he wanted to farm he had to get a college degree, first, to fall back on if things didn’t work out. When he went to ASU, he fully immersed himself in agriculture. He graduated with

his ag degree in 2005 and began working as a farm foreman for another local farmer. Breanne attended ASU, too, earning her undergraduate degree in 2004 and her master’s degree in 2006. They married in December that year, and she works as a speech therapist. Daughter Reese was born in 2012 and son Mason in 2015. It was 2006 when Chris approached his parents about the chance to rent some acreage and start growing his own crops. His father put up a certificate of deposit as collateral, so Chris could get his first farm loan. He began with 33 acres of rice, 66 acres of soybeans and 35 acres of wheat, all on marginal leased land. “After my first year, I was hooked,” Damron said. He continued as farm forman for the farmer he’d been working with and added to the leased-land acreage he farmed. It wasn’t the best farmland by any stretch of the imagination. But he networked and talked to older, experienced farmers on how to deal with the challenges the land presented, and he persevered. He improved his financial position by getting a FSA Guaranteed Government loan. When Damron found out another farmer was getting out of the business, he bought his older equipment – three tractors, a combine, multiple headers and multiple tillage tools – and leased an additional 400 acres from him. Damron still worked for the farmer he always had, but eventually decided to go it alone on the leased acreage he’d built up for himself. He made another big jump in 2016 when he leased 1,250 more acres. He now farms a little more than 2,000 rented acres split almost evenly between soybeans and rice. Damron has purchased three grain trucks to haul his crops during harvest. When he’s not using them, he hires drivers and makes extra income with them hauling for others. There’s no quit in Damron even as he’s gone through trying times when the relationship he’d had with the farmer he’d worked with for so many years ended on a sour note. He continues to work to improve the land he’s farming.

The Damron family of Jonesboro earned the 2017 Young Farmers & Ranchers Achievement Award. Pictured are Chris and Breanne and their children Reese and Mason. Arkansas

Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU • SUMMER 2017

Damron believes if it’s daylight, he should be working. He started from nothing and now farms just over a thousand acres each of soybeans and rice. Photo by Keith Sutton

“I’m 90 percent marginal ground just because I’m trying to get my foot in the door,” he said. “The ground is decent, but it’s labor intensive. I’m doing what the ground allows me to do. It takes a lot more work and hours in the day to do it.” However, he’s OK with that and lives by the motto “If it’s daylight, you ought to be working.” Time and labor are his biggest challenges. Damron is a big fan of talking to the older farmers he rents ground from and picking their brains about how to work the land properly. “That’s very important. These older men have done it for 50, 60 or 70 years, and they’ve seen the changes,” he said. “Everybody says farming is cyclical. It all comes in cycles, and I just like the knowledge and tips they can give me. I’d much rather ask somebody to tell me what they

know that I need to know instead of trying to have dumb luck and figuring it out myself over 10 years.” That’s also what he likes most about networking at Farm Bureau YF&R meetings, too. “It provides more networking with people my age and meeting people around the state who are going through the same hardships and challenges, because we’re all in it together,” Damron said, “It’s just nice to meet new people.” His long-term goal is to get better farmland, more fertile and more productive. And he’d like to be able to have a dependable fulltime farm hand. He has some part-time help, but reliable labor is always a challenge. Chris says Breanne helped plant a couple of hundred acres of beans this year. “I was thankful and proud of her and told her she gets to drive a combine next,” he said.

Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU • SUMMER 2017

He lost 90 acres of rice during this year’s spring flooding. “We had it worked, planted, fertilized and sprayed, and then it was underwater for twenty something days,” he said. “I’d never experienced anything like that. It was devastating. I learned real quick how things can turn on you.” Damron says winning the Achievement Award made him feel “good, honored. I’m tickled that they think so much of us.” The Damrons are active in Farm Bureau. Chris is a leader serving on the Craighead County board since 2012 along with several committees, and Breanne is involved with the county Women’s Committee. They’re also actively involved and passionate about raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation during the past seven years. The family attends Central Baptist Church. They won $35,000 courtesy of Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Co. and an expense-paid trip to Nashville in January to represent Arkansas at the American Farm Bureau annual convention. Tyler and Randi McDonald, who raise corn silage, hay and pecans near Lewisville, and Jamey and Sara Allen of Prattsville, who raise cattle, hay and corn silage, were runners-up for the Achievement Award. Both families won $5,000. Chris Damron has beaten the odds when it comes to being a young, first-generation farmer, and he’s certainly proven he’s neither dumb nor afraid. *

Damron has precision leveled approximately 350 acres in the last two years. He’s cleaned out and dug new ditches for tailwater recovery and installed flashboard risers to control flooding on fields and decrease erosion. He’s also rebuilding and modifying his reservoir. Photo by Keith Sutton

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Millions and Mil An inside look at Arkansas’ baitfish industry Article and photos by Keith Sutton

t’s not quite 6 a.m., but even in De Valls Bluff, a Delta farming community in Prairie County, people seem slow getting around on this June morning. Few are stirring. When I pull into a farm at the city limits, however, I find it bustling with activity. Trucks, tractors and forklifts race about. Equipment is being loaded, vehicles fueled, and supervisors are giving instructions for the day’s work. For Arkansas farmers, summer mornings often start this way. But this is no ordinary farm. There are no row crops, livestock or poultry. No fruits or vegetables to pick. No hay to bale or timber to

cut. You won’t find the farm’s commodities in grocery stores, farmers markets, feed troughs or lumber yards. They wind up instead on fishermen’s hooks. This is Harry Saul’s Minnow Farm, one of the country’s oldest and largest baitfish operations. The farm’s primary crops are golden shiners, fathead minnows and orange-colored fatheads called rosy reds. Anglers use these baitfish to catch crappie, catfish, bass and other sportfish. If you use live minnows when fishing, chances are good the bait in your bucket came from Saul’s. The farm’s owners, James and Margie Saul and their son

Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU • SUMMER 2017

Minnows are what it’s all about on Harry Saul’s Minnow Farm in De Vall’s Bluff. Each year, the farm owned by James and Margie Saul produces millions of fathead minnows, rosy reds (pictured here) and golden shiners for the baitfish market.

lions of Minnows William, have invited me for an inside look at this fascinating operation. In the 1950s, James’ late father Harry made a living selling wild minnows he caught in the White River. “The problem was he couldn’t get a year-round supply,” James said. “So he and two brothers decided to raise minnows in ponds. Dad started with 10 acres and built seven ponds. He then bought 56 acres nearby, then 60 more. Today we have 100 ponds covering 1,100 acres.” Harry Saul wasn’t your run-of-the-mill minnow man. He was a pioneer in the baitfish industry, along with his brother Darrell

Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU • SUMMER 2017

and half brother Bob Treadway. Harry helped develop culture methods and markets that would lead to Arkansas becoming the world’s biggest producer of farm-raised baitfish. According to the USDA’s “2013 Census of Aquaculture,” Arkansas’ 23 baitfish farms (more than any state) had sales of $18,360,000 in 2013, or 62 percent of the U.S. total. Arkansas farmers produce 6 billion baitfish annually, with a $300 million to $350 million economic impact. Suitable physical factors allowed Arkansas to become the hub for baitfish production.

James and Margie Saul stand by one of the 100 minnow ponds on their 1,100-acre baitfish farm in Prairie County. Margie serves as chair of Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Aquaculture Division. Both she and James drive transport trucks several days a week, delivering their Arkansas-grown minnows to other states.

“Soil in counties like Lonoke, Prairie and Craighead, where most baitfish farms are located, is ideal for holding water in ponds,” James said. “There’s also an adequate water supply, which is critical for growing fish. The things that enable Arkansas farmers to grow rice also work great for aquaculture.” Anglers pursue their favorite sportfish year-round, so raising and selling baitfish is a year-round business. Many minnows also go to feeder markets such as zoos and aquariums where the small fish are fed to other animals. “We stay busy seven days a week, January through December,” said Margie, who serves as chair of Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Aquaculture Division. “Some months are slower than others, but we’re feeding, seining, grading and transporting baitfish every day.”

William Saul uses a forklift to load minnows on a truck destined for Texas. Baitfish raised at Saul’s Minnow Farm are sold through distributors and bait shops in 17 states.

When I arrive, crews are seining minnows from ponds and loading them into trucks. These fish will be purged of food, graded by size and transported to out-of-state distributors. Some are destined for Texas on a truck I watch the workers load. Grading frames are pulled through concrete vats bristling with thousands of minnows. Then, when the right-size baitfish are corralled, they’re caught using hand-held dip nets, transferred to holding tanks and loaded in cool, aerated compartments on the fish truck. James and Margie drive similar but much larger trucks, delivering baitfish to dealers in 17 states, from New York to Louisiana. “Some distributors pick up their baitfish here,” said William, a full partner in the business. “But we have three trucks almost constantly on the road for deliveries. One truck runs our New York route 44-45 weeks a year, often multiple times each week. Without mom and dad driving, we couldn’t make ends meet.” Growing and selling baitfish presents many challenges. Adults spawn in April and May. Females lay eggs on special mats or beneath lengths of polypipe. These are then transferred to an indoor hatchery where the eggs are incubated. After hatching, the fry are moved to ponds where they are stocked at rates from 10,000 to 1.5 million per acre, depending on the size of baitfish desired. “Minnows reproduce only in spring, but we must have appropriately sized baitfish ready for sale year-round,” William said. “We do this by controlling fish density in each pond. With more fish per acre, the minnows remain smaller like those preferred for crappie fishing. Lower densities produce bigger baitfish like those bass anglers want. Controlling density and other factors assures we have the size fish our customers want every month.” Work never stops. Fish must be fed and kept disease-free. Water quality must be monitored. Aerators, pumps and other equipment must be kept working. Weeds must be controlled, ponds fertilized, levees mowed and fish-eating birds scared away. Fish farmers can’t control weather, but adverse conditions can have huge effects on minnow production and sales volume. For

Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU • SUMMER 2017

example, if inclement weather keeps anglers home for extended periods, they’re not buying bait, and sales suffer. If bad weather sets in, producing and harvesting minnows can be tough. The biggest challenges the Sauls and other baitfish growers face, however, involve regulatory issues. A 2016 study by the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff found substantial regulatory costs for Arkansas fish farmers. Together, the state’s baitfish and sportfish producers spend $7.3 million annually on regulatory compliance, an average of $260,000 per farm or $420 per acre. Money spent to comply with regulations regarding environmental management, legal/labor standards, fish health and interstate transport accounts for 18 percent of farm costs. Indirect costs associated with compliance include lost sales, increased manpower requirements, fish health testing and permit costs. Unfortunately, these financial burdens have caused many farms to close. In 2005, there were 257 baitfish farms in the U.S. Eight years later, there were 166. Arkansas fell from 51 baitfish farms covering 21,965 acres in 2005 to 23 farms on 12,891 acres in 2013. “Regulations hurt the industry tremendously,” Margie said. “For example, when the EPA began requiring special fuel tanks and inspections at mom-and-pop gas stations, many went out of business. Some had been selling bait for years to boost their income. James and I traveled through several states to visit bait shops and distributors that might be new customers, and many places were abandoned or converted into other businesses.” “We came home very discouraged,” James added. “We went to 17 places and 13 were boarded up or no longer selling bait.” Regulations also can lead states to ban baitfish imports from areas found to be sources of diseases or nuisance species. This could have devastating effects on producers like the Sauls who sell most of their bait outside Arkansas. Baitfish farmers also must ensure they don’t transport injurious, protected or state-regulated fish, wildlife or plants, which would violate the federal Lacey Act.

Workers hand-load minnows into a transport truck. Much of the work on Arkansas baitfish farms still must be done the old-fashioned way by men and women with strong backs and powerful hands.

Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU • SUMMER 2017

Kenny Alexander, Margie Saul’s brother, uses a hand-held dip net to scoop up minnows that have been sorted by size and are ready for delivery. . “If we weren’t constantly vigilant to keep things like zebra mussels and Asian carp out of our ponds,” Margie said, “an undesirable species could be found during a truck inspection, and that would be a Lacey Act violation. It could put us out of business. In fact, a problem on just one farm in Arkansas could destroy everyone’s markets.” Fifteen years ago, Arkansas’ major baitfish farms, including the Saul farm, voluntarily adopted the Bait and Ornamental Fish Certification Program overseen by the Arkansas Agriculture Department. AAD personnel inspect each farm twice annually to ensure all fish are farm-raised and free from certain aquatic nuisance species and diseases. Farms that meet the program’s stringent qualifications for two consecutive years carry certification that assures the public and customers get a high-quality, biosecure product. “We want people to know if they’re using our minnows, they’re getting the best product possible,” Margie said. “Our fish are raised on a farm and not removed from wild stocks. They are certified to be free of particular diseases and nuisance species that could cause problems. We work hard year-round to remain certified as we have since the program began.” Her biggest wish now, Margie says, is that more people will go fishing and pass on the joys of fishing to their children. “It’s easy to entertain a child indoors for hours with an iPad or smartphone,” she said. “It’s also easy to make excuses not to go fishing, because we have to work two jobs or are single parents. But we need to be taking our kids outdoors and making memories. We need to teach them food doesn’t come from a grocery. Fishing is a great way to accomplish those things.” Thanks to the Sauls, their employees and the millions of minnows they raise, thousands of Americans will thrill to the pull of a fish on their line this year, helping foster in them a love for our great outdoors. That will surely be a good thing for all of us. *

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Faces of Agriculture

Hard Work and Family Living and loving the farm life by Gregg Patterson

ou can’t help but smile for insects, weeds and diseases when you’re around that could damage the rice Jenna Martin. She is plants. You just can’t get this a bundle of positive energy, kind of hands-on knowledge and she loves to talk about in a college classroom. how important agriculture is, “It’s really a learning especially rice farming. Martin experience, because I learn is a former Miss Arkansas Rice, something new every week so she has a lot of experience out there,” Martin said. She being in front of people and says Wimberly and Baker will telling them the rice story. then lay out everything the Martin loves living on the three of them collect in front farm and spending time with of her and quiz her, asking her dad, Dennis. “I’ve always Martin to identify insects lived on a farm ever since I was and weeds. On this day, they adopted. You learn more about use their collection nets to hard work, and you learn about sweep for stink bugs, and family,” Martin said. She was they also check the base of adopted from Russia when she the plant around the roots for was 16 months old. sheath blight. Martin was home-schooled. Martin spent her year as This afforded her more time Miss Arkansas Rice sharing out on the farm with her father. the story of rice production And when she talks about in Arkansas. “I’ve always had being out on the farm, she’s a passion for agriculture and not kidding. “I was able to farming, and I believe more take off from school, go help people need to know about him and come in later that it. If you eat, you’re involved night and do my homework,” in agriculture, and I believe she said. “I get to work with everyone needs to know what dad. This is a family farm. It’s farmers do,” she said. “Arkansas Jenna Martin is a young woman who is all about farm life. is No. 1 for rice (production), our headquarters, It’s where The former Miss Arkansas Rice wants to partner with her dad and a lot of people here don’t we work every day,” she said. and eventually take over running the rice, soybeans and milo “He’s always teaching me new even know that.” operation. Photo by Keith Sutton things, so it’s always a learning Martin has operated just experience.” about every piece of farm The Hickory Ridge farm is 1,850 acres with parts in Cross, machinery, laid poly pipe and spills in rice fields. She’s never Woodruff and Jackson counties. They grow rice, soybeans and afraid to learn something new. “Learning and doing stuff on milo. Now in college, Martin is pursuing degrees in agriculture the farm builds your self-confidence. It prepares you for so communications and ag business. many things,” she said. Vivacious, delightful and well spoken, Martin is a perfect Jenna Martin has a bright future in front of her. She blend of beauty and brains who doesn’t mind getting dirt knows exactly what she wants to do with her life. “In the under her fingernails. She looks forward to regular visits from future, I plan to still be a part of the farm. I want to be in Cooperative Extension Service agent Rick Wimberly and Ron a partnership with dad then eventually take over,” she said. Baker. The Martin farm has a Rice Research Verification Field “Everyone is supportive of me going into farming. She’s that’s part of the University of Arkansas’ ag research program. also interested in a career in ag communications and the Donning knee-high boots and armed with a long-handled opportunities her college degrees will open to her. “No collection net, she nearly disappears into a rice field, looking matter what I do, it’s going to be in agriculture.” *

Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU • SUMMER 2017

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Policy Update

Focus on Fed Legislation by Michelle Kitchens

he 115th Congress and President Donald Trump are working on several issues that will impact agriculture significantly. While health care and tax reform consume most of the national headlines, several bills and executive orders related to agriculture are moving forward. Cuba In June, President Trump rescinded the executive orders of former President Barak Obama, reverting U.S. policy back to the long-held embargo with Cuba. This disappoints many Arkansas farmers and agriculture businesses who have advocated for decades to open trade. Cuban President Raul Castro has announced he will step down later this year, and a new president will be elected in October. Losing ground in the decades-long battle to open trade is a setback, but the U.S. will keep its embassy and diplomatic channels open. Rep. Rick Crawford has a bill (H.R. 525) to allow credit purchases for agriculture exports to Cuba. Rep. Crawford and Sen. John Boozman believe there’s an opportunity to pass that legislation and continue progress with Cuba. North American Free Trade Agreement Certain U.S. House and Senate members are signing onto a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer urging him to prioritize the interests of American agriculture during the NAFTA renegotiation process. NAFTA is the most important U.S. trade agreement, solidifying access to two top markets for American goods. Since 1993, Canada and Mexico have been two of the top five destinations for U.S. agriculture products. Last year, the two countries accounted for 28 percent of the total value of agriculture exports from the U.S. As the U.S. begins negotiations to update NAFTA, market access must remain open because of economic importance of agricultural trade with our neighbors to the north and south. Forest Management Rep. Bruce Westerman has reintroduced H.R. 2936, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017. The bill has bipartisan support, and there’s a Senate companion bill. H.R. 2936 is designed to implement more proactive forest management practices to lessen wildfire danger and improve forest health. The bill has advanced from the House Natural Resources Committee. The House in the 114th Congress passed a similar bill, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015, with bipartisan support, so the outlook for this bill is positive.

Drones The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has given a positive recommendation for H.R. 2997, the 21st-Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act. The bill is expected to pass out of committee once the committee addresses all the proposed amendments. This is a six-year reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, which includes the oversight of unmanned aircraft systems, more commonly called drones. The Senate Commerce Committee has considered S. 1405, the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017. The Senate bill is only a four-year reauthorization. Both bills offer some possible relief for agricultural use of drones. 2018 Farm Bill Congress is also working on the 2018 farm bill. The first hearings were in February, but the arduous task is only beginning. Farm Bureau set some initial policy priorities for the 2018 farm bill at its national convention in January. American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall also created a Farm Bill Working Group tasked with developing guidance for our membership on writing the next farm bill. The AFBF Council of Presidents will review its extensive report this summer and provide input on the organization’s direction for the drafting of the 2018 bill. Important legislative and regulatory work looms for Arkansas Farm Bureau and our allies with a new congress and president. It’s critical to establish the best policies on key issues of trade and the farm bill in particular. It will define the agriculture economy for the next generation of farmers. *

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Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU â&#x20AC;˘ SUMMER 2017

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Arkansas Agriculture

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Arkansas Agriculture

ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU â&#x20AC;¢ SUMMER 2017

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