Volume XCVI, NO. 1
Huron, SD
January 2013
South Dakota
Union Farmer A PUBLICATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA FARMERS UNION Jon Crane is Fundraiser’s Featured Artist
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Kayser Re-Elected to CHS Inc. Board of Directors
Farmers Union Donates 800 Pounds of Cat Litter to Local Animal Shelter
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Farm Bill Extended in late night ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal
SDFU president calls nine-month extension a ‘Major Disappointment’ for producers, rural America It was last summer when the U.S. Senate passed its version of a five-year farm bill. Then the House Agriculture Committee passed its version a short time later. But in the end, the House never voted on the bill, and it was allowed to expire Sept. 30, 2012. Fast forward to December when the nation was locked in the so-called “fiscall cliff” debate, where Congress needed to act before the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31 to avert a series of automatic tax increases and major budget cuts that many experts thought would send the country into another recession. The farm bill, it seemed, was caught in the middle. In the end, with back room deals, a five-year farm bill was substituted by an extension of the 2008 farm bill with many programs stripped of guaranteed funding. Farmers across the country were disappointed, to say the least. “This farm bill extension is a complete disappointment for rural America,” said South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke. “Our elected leaders have let us down, and everyone in
rural America will be impacted by the lack of a five-year farm bill.” Sombke says the nine-month extension doesn’t have a lot of positive impacts on agriculture. It continues direct payments to farmers, which both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill would’ve eliminated. “It’s incredibly disappointing that the full U.S. Senate and the House Agriculture Committee both passed separate versions of a five-year farm bill, and now all of that hard work is being ignored,” Sombke said. “Leadership in the U.S. House failed rural America by refusing to even hold a
vote on the farm bill. The result is now a piecemeal approach via the fiscal cliff deal by picking and choosing which programs get continued funding, others that will have only discretionary funding, and some that are cut altogether. Farmers and ranchers need certainty, and an extension doesn’t give us any.” One of the biggest disappointments is in disaster assistance for agricultural producers. It provides no mandatory funding for disaster assistance, but authorizes discretionary funding which means it could be authorized, or it could be cut. It also terminated the McGovern-Dole International Food Program, survey and report requirements regarding foods purchased by school food authorities, pending rural development loan and grant applications, value-added agricultural market development program grants, the National Sheep
See FARM BILL EXTENDED Page 7
SDFU County Councilors Discuss Policy Farmers Union county leaders from across the state gathered in Huron Jan. 4, 2013, for the annual County Councilors meeting. It’s a time for grassroots policy discussion as the county leaders looked over the Farmers Union policy program to recommend and debate any changes or additions to the policy. County Councilors
began with a discussion about the upcoming legislative session with two members of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. Republican chair of the committee, Sen. Shantel Krebs of Renner, and Democrat Sen. Jason Frerichs both discussed a number of pressing issues the Legislature will deal with in the session. Farmers Union policy discussion followed which included provisions on grain warehousing, which will be a major discussion
County Councilors look over the policy program during the annual meeting at the State Office in Huron Jan. 4.
See COUNTY COUNCILORS Page 3