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IN THIS
ISSUE
1
114TH CONGRESS
U.S. Congress has convened, and agriculture is
hopeful.
2
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
3
PLANT SCIENCES
State lawmakers discuss
some of their agriculturefocused priorities.
The time is now to speak
up for NCSU’s initiative.
VOL 15, NO 2 | FEBRUARY 2015
Legislative action on agriculture could
be sparked during 114th Congress
The 114th Congress convened Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C. and agricultural leaders are hopeful that legislative cooperation could mean advancement
of some key issues for farmers and rural residents.
“There is an excitement, and we’re looking forward to meaningful legislation that we’ve not been able to move through the last few Congresses,” said
Linda Andrews, national legislative director for North Carolina Farm Bureau.
Among the issues that could potentially move this session is the TransPacific Partnership, which could open doors to trade for farmers in North
Carolina and across the country. However, NCFB has concerns about language in the agreement, as it stands now, regarding tobacco and pork—two
commodities vital to North Carolina’s agriculture industry.
While the 2016 Presidential election could continue to stall action on
comprehensive immigration reform, Farm Bureau remains committed to
seeking a workable solution to provide an adequate labor force for agriculture, Andrews said. One of the first actions by the U.S. House was a vote to
stop funding for President Obama’s recent executive order on immigration.
The leaders of the new Congress have also emphasized their desire to rein
in overreach by federal regulatory agencies. Andrews said that effort would
likely extend to keeping the current definition of “waters of the U.S.” in the
Clean Water Act, rather than adopting the broadened definition pushed by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers.
Last November, voters in several places across the United States considered legislation on labeling genetically modified foods. Several states are also
considering the issue for future ballots. During the last Congress, U.S. Rep.
G.K. Butterfield, 1st Dist.-NC, and U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, Kansas, introduced the bipartisan Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, which the House
passed but the Senate never considered. That bill would create uniform federal guidelines to prevent food companies from having to deal with a patchwork of regulations. Andrews said the issue impacts farmers, consumers
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who pay passed-along costs when companies have to relabel and segregate food products. The bill could be reintroduced
during the 114th Congress, according to some insiders.
These issues complement those identified in the strategic plan approved by board members during American Farm
Bureau Federation’s Annual Convention in January. The board-approved plan focuses the organization’s attention on advancing legislation that addresses agriculture’s long- and short-term labor needs; protecting farmers’ abilities to use biotech plant varieties and other innovative technologies; opposing expansion of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water
Act; and advancing legislation that reforms the Endangered Species Act.
“These are high-stakes issues that we must advance to help safeguard our members and their abilities to operate their
farms and ranches,” said Bob Stallman, president of American Farm Bureau Federation.
North Carolina also has majority Republican representation, which has resulted in status upgrades for several members of the Congressional delegation. New U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis was appointed to the Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry; new U.S. Reps. David Rouzer and Alma Adams were appointed to the House Committee on Agriculture. U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry is the new Chief Deputy Whip of the House and is now Vice Chairman of the House
Financial Services Committee. Also,
U.S. Rep. George Holding is joining the
influential Ways and Means Committee
in this Congress.
(Left and Right) North Carolina Farm Bureau’s
voting delegates evaluated policy areas of concern
during American Farm Bureau Federation’s Annual
Convention in January in San Diego, Calif.
N.C. lawmakers discuss legislative priorities for farmers and rural folks
The North Carolina General Assembly in January convened its long session, during which lawmakers are tasked
with determining the state’s financial budget for 2015-16.
North Carolina Farm Bureau is focused on several legislative priorities, which are based on policy areas of concern
identified by farmers: Fund the CALS Plant Sciences Initiative; preserve agriculture sales tax exemptions; preserve
the present use value tax program; and, fund transportation
infrastructure.
Legislators also weighed in with their priorities for agriculture and rural communities. N.C. Sen. Brent Jackson,
a Sampson County Republican and farmer, said he believes
the session will focus “primarily on continuing the successful reform initiatives we implemented over the last four
years.”
Jackson said that means following through on a commitment to raise starting teacher salaries to $35,000, while
taking steps to improve schools and ensure that students
are equipped to compete in a global economy.
At the same time, Jackson said “as always, we will pass
a balanced, fiscally responsible budget that meets the state’s
current obligations and continues to build the foundation
for a prosperous future.”
Jackson, a farmer and sponsor of the N.C. Farm Act of
2014, said lawmakers are now working on the Farm Act of
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2015 to support and encourage agricultural expansion.
In addition, he said lawmakers will continue to look for
new revenue streams for rural counties and municipalities
to replace the privilege license tax program, which expired
last year. Jackson also said, “outside of the budget, we plan
to continue our efforts to improve North Carolina’s business
climate by continuing our annual regulatory reform legislation.
N.C. Rep. Ken Waddell, a Columbus County Democrat
and hog farmer/former ag teacher, said the 2015-16 session
should be a continuation of strides made during the last session, to reduce regulation without endangering the environment or posing undue hardships on citizens.
“One area that I believe is very important and could
pose problems for agriculture, as well as other North Carolina concerns, is the growing use of drones for legitimate, as
well as questionable, uses,” Waddell said.
He added that he believes they need to protect the integrity of agriculture against possible uses of this technology
that would undermine private property, but do so without
overregulating.
“I am hopeful that we can find some common-sense
measure that will both protect producers and businesses
while making sure that all producers and businesses are operating in a responsible manner,” he said.
Plant Sciences Initiative time is now
The next few months will be critical in the planning for a proposed
Plant Sciences Research Complex at N.C. State University, and organizers need those in and outside the state’s agriculture industry to speak up
for the project.
The North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative calls for a state-of-theart, interdisciplinary plant sciences research center on the N.C. State
Centennial Campus that would have leasable corporate lab and startup
spaces; an atrium collaborative space; labs and offices, incubator and
startup faculty; a 30,000 square-foot rooftop greenhouse; Partners II
building greenhouse access; a plant processing laboratory for integration with the Golden Leaf Biomanufacturing Training and Education
Center; and more.
Project lead Dr. Steven Lommel, associate dean for research, said
that to move forward, the project needs a commitment of $18 million
(10 percent of the $180 million cost) to launch the building project, by
July. Project leaders are doing something unusual—they’re raising half
of that needed money from interested parties to show the high level of
stakeholder support.
“Stakeholders and commodity groups are stepping up to the table to
show the state legislature how important this project could be in growing agriculture in North Carolina,” Lommel said.
The commodity groups for small grains, soybeans, corn growers,
sweet potatoes, the peanut industry and other supporters across the
state have already pledged almost $7.5 million to get the complex off
the ground. Stakeholders from around the state are hoping that the
N.C. General Assembly will see the importance of the Plant Sciences
Initiative this session and help support the effort. Lommel said the work
done at the complex will create a better life for farmers, make them
more profitable and put more money into farm communities.
“At the end of the day, this is a strong economic development tool,”
Lommel said. “The goal of the Plant Sciences Initiative is to replicate
the story of the North Carolina sweet potato.”
Today, the sweet potato is one of the state’s top crops, and North
Carolina is the nation’s leading producer of sweet potatoes. Twentyyears ago, sweet potatoes were a much smaller part of the state’s ag
picture, but N.C. State research and breeding programs led to disease
resistant varieties well suited to North Carolina soils and better handling and storage, and the industry invested in better marketing and
development.
Sweet potatoes are now a $350 million industry and are found on
menus and in grocery stores, even in pet treats, across the country in a
number of products. Lommel said the collaborative research and study
at the proposed research center could lead to similar stories for other
fruits and vegetables, as well as the development of value-added products for many North
PhotoCarolina crops.
The state’s distinctive plant sciences research assets can help repliplacement
cate this success. North Carolina’s diverse agronomic environment is
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Notice
TOBACCO FARMERS
During the late 1970s, for flue-cured
tobacco crops from 1967 through and
including 1973, Flue Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corporation (Stabilization) issued Certificates of Interest
in Capital Reserve (Certificate) to members who delivered flue-cured tobacco to
Stabilization for any year listed above.
Stabilization is pleased to offer to redeem the Certificate of any Certificate
holder who voluntarily accepts this offer.
This is not a mandatory redemption; it is
an offer, which may be accepted only at
your election.
You are under no obligation to accept it. If you elect not to accept it, you
will retain all rights in and to the Certificate, and your Certificate will be subject
to redemption in the same manner as if
there had been no offer.
Any Certificate holder (including
heirs, beneficiaries and/or estate administrators of deceased Certificate holders)
who would like to accept this redemption offer should call 1-877-277-7422 for
more information.
To obtain a redemption application
form, you can go to the following website: www.tobaccocheck.com. Click on
the Application Form at the top of the
page. You may also request a redemption
application form by mail, by sending a
self-addressed, stamped envelope to the
following address:
Certificate Redemption
P.O. Box 12300
Raleigh, NC 27605
THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING A PROPERLY DOCUMENTED
REDEMPTION APPLICATION IS
February 28, 2015. Applications postmarked after February 28, 2015, faxed or
emailed after February 28, 2015, or not
properly completed or sufficiently documented by February 28, 2015, will not be
processed.
Tommy Bunn President/Secretary
U.S. Tobacco Cooperative Inc.
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Field Notes by Larry Wooten—A Call to Action!
The North Carolina General Assembly, during its 2014 short session, approved $350,000 for an economic feasibility study for the Plant Sciences Initiative at North Carolina State University.
North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and N.C. State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Richard Linton submitted
the findings of the study to lawmakers in January. The full report is available
online at harvest.cals.ncsu.edu.
The report advised lawmakers that North Carolina is blessed with several
advantages that make it ideal to become the global hub for advanced plant sciences research and for the application of that research to expanding agricultural
productivity.
Currently, the state of North Carolina and NCSU do not have the space,
modern resources, or the structure to host the research needed in order to address the big challenges in agbioscience. In fact, the university has not had a new
plant sciences building since the 1950s.
Now is the time for North Carolina Farm Bureau’s volunteer leaders to share
the importance of the Plant Sciences Research Complex with their elected officials. We are also working with Commissioner Troxler and Dean Linton on the
upcoming Ag Day at the N.C. General Assembly, March 18, which will provide
an opportunity for farmers to discuss that and other issue with legislators.
The initiative is vital to the future of North Carolina State University, as
well as the state’s farmers and their rural communities.
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