Cover crops combined with nitrogen applications produced higher yields in an ISU study. page 3
Monday, January 26, 2015
Tossing aside your winter coat may be a doable plan given the latest weather outlook. page 4
How does your dairy stack up? Check out results from a recent University of Illinois study. page 5
Two sections Volume 43, No. 4
BARREN WINTER LANDSCAPE
Scant snowfall remains visible around grain bins in southern McLean County. State climatologist Jim Angel says mild winter conditions could remain the norm. Read more about below-average snowfall on page 4. (Photo by Cyndi Cook)
WOTUS, Section 179 among IFB top priorities BY DEANA STROISCH FarmWeek
Periodicals: Time Valued
Ditching the proposed rule defining “waters of the U.S.” and extending Section 179 tax deductions at the $500,000 level for another year rank among Illinois Farm Bureau’s top federal legislative priorities this year. IFB’s Board of Directors last week approved 10 national priorities during its monthly meeting in Bloomington. Adam Nielsen, IFB’s director of national legislation, said there may not be much time to get controversial issues passed. Presidential politics could make it
difficult for the GOP-led Congress and the White House to agree on much — particularly after the August recess. “Last year was very productive,” Nielsen said. “This year we have to remind people you have to have some patience.” IFB’s 2015 federal priorities include: • Ditching the proposed “waters of the U.S.” rule. A priority issue from last year, IFB will continue to fight the proposal introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers. Opponents say the proposal expands federal jurisdiction
beyond what Congress intended. The current federal spending bill repealed the “interpretive rule” related to the “waters of the U.S.” proposed rule. Agricultural groups said the interpretive rule would have required voluntary conservation practice standards to become mandatory. EPA expects to publish a final rule this spring. “We expect to see a lot of the same legislation introduced that was in the last Congress, and hopefully, we’ll be able to address this through the appropriations process,” Nielsen said.
• Getting Section 179 at the $500,000 level extended for at least another year. Congress last month approved a oneyear, retroactive extension of expired tax breaks, including Section 179. The deduction limit dropped back to $25,000 as of Jan. 1. IFB plans to encourage the new Congress to extend the provision at the $500,000 level for at least another year. IFB supports making the provision permanent, but Nielsen said that likely won’t happen under the current president.
IFB opposes president’s tax proposals
BY DEANA STROISCH FarmWeek
Illinois Farm Bureau opposes President Barack Obama’s proposals to increase the capital gains tax and repeal the “stepped up” provision, recommendations outlined during his State of the Union Address. IFB President Richard Guebert Jr. urged Congress to consider those proposals “dead on arrival.” Meanwhile, the organization supports the president’s call for Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba. The White House said Obama’s tax plan attempts to simplify the tax code and make it fairer by eliminating “unfair loopholes that are only available to the wealthy and big corpora-
See Priorities, page 7
tions.” His proposal calls for increasing the total capital gains and dividend rates to 28 percent. Guebert said the capital gains hike would “dramatically increase” the tax bill for any farmer who sells land, buildings or breeding livestock. “The impact of capital gains taxes on farming is significant because production Richard Guebert Jr. agriculture requires large investments in land and buildings that are held for decades, during which land values can more than triple,” Guebert said. See Tax, page 2
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