Volume XCVI, NO. 6
Huron, SD
July 2013
South Dakota
Union Farmer A PUBLICATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA FARMERS UNION Golfers hit the links for 11th annual ‘Dakota Prairie Open’
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State Campers Gather in the Black Hills
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Welcome to the 2013 SDHSRA State Finals
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U.S. House votes down farm bill, future uncertain For the second time, the United States House of Representatives has failed to pass a long-term farm bill. In a 195-234 vote, the House struck down the measure that had previously passed the House Agriculture Committee with bipartisan support. In 2012, the year the 2008 farm bill was set to expire, the U.S. Senate passed a farm bill. The House Agriculture Committee passed its version, but the House leadership failed to even bring the legislation to a full vote on the House floor. This year, it got the floor vote, but failed to garner enough support for passage. The disappointment among agricultural groups was swift. “It’s a sad day in rural America,” said SDFU President Doug Sombke upon hearing the news of the failed farm bill. “The House of Representatives, the people’s house, has failed to pass one of the most important pieces of legislation for our rural communities, the farm bill.” National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson also expressed his disappointment. “With the failure to pass a farm bill, the House has let down rural America,” Johnson said. “We are
deeply disappointed that the House voted against the best interests of family farmers and rural America.” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture had some harsh words for members of the House that voted against the farm bill. “There ought to be outrage,” Vilsack said. “Figure it out. Work with the other side. It can be done. It needs to be done. The time for excuses is over. The finger pointing began early after the vote was cast as well. Republicans, who hold a majority in the House, blamed the 172 Democrats who voted against the bill because of steep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps. Democrats pointed to the 62 Republicans who wanted deeper cuts to food assistance than the $20 billion included in the bill. Republican leaders haven’t announced what
their next move will be when it comes to the farm bill. It remains in limbo. Both the Senate and House versions of the farm bill streamlined conservation programs, eliminated direct payments and expanded federal crop insurance support and both cut SNAP funding, although the Senate’s $4 billion cut in food stamp funding was far less than the $20 billion in cuts proposed in the House legislation. Last year, after the 2008 farm bill was allowed to expire, a deal was brokered as part of the “fiscal cliff” debate to extend the 2008 farm bill until Sept. 30, 2013. With that date fast approaching, it’s difficult to know what might be done between now and then. In a speech at the National Rural Assembly, Vilsack called for rural America to stand up and fight for a farm bill.
Grain transaction experts discuss laws in S.D. and N.D. In the community where Anderson Seed Company’s insolvency last year cost some farmers tens of thousands of dollars, grain transaction experts from South Dakota and North Dakota explained current laws and rules governing grain sales and compared the state’s laws while discussing how South Dakota could better protect farmers who sell grain in the state.
Minnesota-based Anderson Seed Company’s facility in Redfield went broke in February 2012 and ended up costing producers an estimated $2.6 million in unpaid grain. The meeting in Redfield Monday, June 17, at the American Legion hall was hosted by South Dakota Farmers Union. The family farm organization invited South Dakota Public Utilities Commission vice chairman Chris Nelson, PUC grain warehouse division director Jim Mehlhaff and North Dakota Public Service Commission Licensing Division director Sue Richter to discuss with farmers and those in the agriculture industry the current situation involving grain buyers and warehouses. “In Anderson (Seed Company), we learned some things,” Nelson said. “And what we learned was that
we had some areas of our statute that weren’t what they needed to be. There were some tools that the PUC needed to find problems like Anderson much, much sooner than what we were able to.” The PUC brought a bill to the Legislature during the 2013 session to help the regulatory commission be better equipped to deal with grain buyers who might be in financial trouble. House Bill 1017, which passed easily with bipartisan support, gave what Commissioner Nelson called several ‘new tools’ to handle grain transactions. It gave the PUC authority to get more current financial information from grain buyers. Before the new law was passed, the company would have to give the PUC its last audited financial statement.
See GRAIN BUYER MEETING Page 11