ganization’s position on federal regulations that infringe on private property rights, GMO labeling, tax issues, allowing the president trade promotion authority (often referred to as “fast-tracking”), immigration and federal risk management programs, including the Pasture, Range and Forestland program and revenue protection for avian influenza. During breakfast that morning, the group received policy briefings from American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) staff on key issues being considered on Capitol Hill. AFBF President Bob Stallman outlined the organization’s position on immigration reform, a GMO labeling bill that has been introduced in Congress, regulations under the Endangered Species Act and the EPA/Corps of Engineers rule defining the Waters of the U.S. “I am the most proud of Farm Bureau I think I’ve ever been on any issue with the way, last year, that we stepped up on the national and state level and talked about what that really meant,” Stallman said Sens. Isakson and David Perdue each spoke to the group during a breakfast on April 30, during which Isakson received his Friend of Farm Bureau award. Isakson gave details on a trade promotion authority bill, which would give the president power to negotiate trade agreements. The Senate has since passed the bill. At press time a similar bill awaited consideration in the House. Under both bills, trade agreements the president negotiates with foreign countries would be subject to Senate approval. Georgia Farm Bureau News
Peanut hay affecting Ga. land values under Pasture, Range and Forage program
Photo by Ashlee Wood
Photo by Jay Stone
Rep. Austin Scott, left, receives the Friend of Farm Bureau Award from GFB Middle Georgia Vice President Robert Fountain Jr.
By Jay Stone ________________________________________________________________________ Georgia Farm Bureau is among a group of livestock forage stakeholders asking the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to change the way peanut hay is counted as a factor in forage land values as a part of the RMA’s Pasture, Rangeland and Forage (PRF) program. Under PRF, forage landowners receive payments if rainfall drops below certain thresholds. The payments are based on the value of the forage produced. Peanut hay is considered a forage crop in the PRF program. Because Georgia produces about half the nation’s peanuts, the volume of peanut hay results in its overall forage land values being lower than in neighboring states. The current county base value for hay in Georgia is $160.17 per acre. In Florida that value is $372.03 per acre, while in South Carolina it is $210 per acre and in Alabama it is $208.20 per acre. UGA Extension Forage Specialist Dr. Dennis Hancock said Georgia forage land is not appropriately valued in the PRF program, noting that a tremendous volume of crop residues and mulch is baled and traded in the state. “The problem is that no distinction is made in NASS’s surveys between crop residues/mulch bales and a bale of Bermudagrass or ryegrass,” Hancock said. Hancock explained that when an NASS surveyor asks a producer to count “all hay” he produced, the producer reports every bale he made. For Georgia producers, “all hay” includes crop residue bales, mulch hay bales, and their bales of Bermudagrass, ryegrass, or other hay crops. In other states, the producers make a distinction between crop residue/mulch and their hay crops. “For example, a diversified farmer in Iowa who makes grass hay and bales up his corn stover doesn’t really consider both to be “hay” and NASS statistics essentially reflect that. But, in Georgia, if it is baled, it is called “hay” and reported as such,” Hancock said. “Because crop residue and mulch bales are sold for much less than what most producers would sell their Bermudagrass hay bales for, we end up with hay values being reported that are not representative of what our major hay crops’ bales are truly worth or selling for on the open market.” During the Georgia Farm Bureau county presidents’ trip to Washington, D.C., GFB members brought the issue to the attention of Georgia’s U.S. Congressional delegation. The stakeholder groups, including the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association, UGA Extension specialists and others, want to see peanut hay counted as a by-product in the same way corn stalks and wheat straw are counted. June-July 2015 / 7