Will the new farm bill be passed in 2012? The possibility is fairly slim. In fact, American Farm Bureau Federation lobbyist Mary Kay Thatcher believes there is only a 15% chance of the law moving through Congress this year. If a new farm bill is not passed before the current one expires there will be an extension of the current law. That is not the best scenario, according to Thatcher.

“I don’t think we will get that extension without a price to be paid for it,” Thatcher said. “It could be $1 billion less in direct payments a year or $2 billion less in CRP payments per year.”

There is also a really good chance that Congress will get interested in the budget deficit again after the election, which may mean more cuts. Those cuts would result in an even more difficult time coming up with a good, viable safety net in a farm bill next year.

It was just April that the farm bill process seemed to be moving along just fine. A proposal glided through the Senate Ag Committee, and the House Ag Committee is currently working on their version, so what is the holdup?

“There just aren’t enough legislative days left this year,” Thatcher said. “There were a number of farm groups that have sent a letter to Senate leader Harry Reid to urge him to get the legislation to the floor as quickly as possible. It’s going to be a stretch, and I think if we can’t get it to the Senate floor fairly soon, it is going to make it absolutely impossible to get anything done this year.”

If the farm bill doesn’t get passed during this session and gets passed along to a lame duck session, things look bleak. There are almost 100 tax provisions that need attention before the end of the year and the lame duck Congress will only have about 13 days to work through those issues. So it looks as though, if Thatcher is correct, an extension of the current farm bill is almost inevitable, and not the best result for American farmers.

“You have to give farmers some type of certainty,” Thatcher said. “A very high percentage of the farm population would say if we can extend another year that would be fine. I don’t agree. I think there will be a price to be paid for that extension.”

Thatcher Knows her message may be one of doom and gloom, but she assures that her organization and others, including nutrition groups, are fighting for a farm bill passage this year and will not give up.

“There are now 46 million people in this country on food stamps,” Thatcher said. “They represent a very large sector of Americans that this legislation will affect. They’re nervous too as they are looking at a big hit to the food stamp program.”

The Senate Ag Committee’s version of the farm bill cuts $4 billion in food stamp funding, while the House is looking at a cut of $130 billion dollars. Thatcher sees this as an opportunity to team with those concerned groups to get the bill over the goal line.

“In the end, will we all be fighting for that last dollar? Yes,” Thatcher said. “Until then, we will all fight to move this bill forward.”

As E15 inches closer to being available around the country, the American Petroleum Institute is accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of not doing its homework before approving the sale of gasoline containing 15% ethanol.

An API-funded review of studies on equipment compatibility with E15 produced sobering results, according to Bob Greco, the Institute’s Director for Downstream and Industry Operations.

“An estimated half of the existing retail outlet equipment is not compatible with E15,” Greco said. “Unfortunately it may be hard for a station to know if its equipment is or is not compatible. This could discourage many of the nation’s 157,000 gasoline retail outlets from selling E15.”

Without a market for higher ethanol blends, Greco said the federal biofuels mandate could result in higher compliance costs or production constraints that could place upward pressure on gasoline prices for consumers.

API says EPA has done an inadequate job of answering questions surrounding E15, in particular dispensing equipment and other infrastructure implications. The Obama Administration plans to fund the installation of 10,000 blender pumps at retail fueling stations over the next 5 years.  Prentiss Searles, API’s Marketing Issues Manager, said that addresses only part of the problem.

“A gas station is more than the dispenser,” Searles said. “It is all of the underground storage tanks and everything that goes in to making that system, so even if you have the dispensers upgraded to be able to blend E15, you still haven’t addressed all of the other issues of concern that deal with environmental protection and safety for the consumer.”

The oil and auto industries have filed suit in federal court to overturn EPA’s approval of E15.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack got on the phone Monday with FFA students to discuss the need to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1. The Obama administration and Congress agree student loan interest rates need to stay low, but they can’t agree on how to pay for it.

Vilsack told the FFA members the administration prefers the Senate’s approach to paying for it, closing tax loopholes, over the House’s desire to offset the extra spending by eliminating a women’s preventative health program in President Obama’s health care overhaul.

“There are some concerns on the part of the administration that preventative healthcare ought not to be cut,” Vilsack said. “Particularly for those in rural areas where we are dealing with a healthcare system that has not favorably treated rural residents. We end up paying more out of pocket and having poorer results and less access. Preventative care is becoming extraordinarily important, particularly for women in rural areas.”

Why is the USDA Secretary entering the student loan debate? Vilsack points out the importance of agriculture’s next generation as the cause for him to speak up.

“For those who are interested in participating in production agriculture and being able to continue to produce commodities that are needed in this country and around the world, we’re going to have to continue to have great researchers,” Vilsack said. “We need young folks to learn how to alter seed and learn farming practices so that we can continue to be as productive as we have been in the past.”

He said that’s why the White House has increased the number of and monetary amounts of Pell Grants as well as supported improved access to less costly community colleges.

“Even though we are dealing with tight fiscal circumstances we need to do everything we can to make college affordable and make community college affordable,” Vilsack said. “This is a historic opportunity that the country has, with strong commodity prices, to revitalize the rural economy and to provide new options and opportunities for young people.”

Vilsack fielded questions from FFA members in Nebraska, North Dakota and Ohio. He said the growing emphasis on science and math proficiency at the high school level should not be used as an excuse to phase out agricultural education courses.

Producers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin can apply at their local USDA office for funding through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP), and the Conservation Technical Assistance Program (CTAP). NRCS specialists provide farmers and ranchers with technical assistance to help determine the best conservation practices to improve and protect the resources on their land.

All eight states are using the same dates for the sign-up. Interested landowners should contact their local USDA office before June 8, 2012, to apply. Of the $24 million, $10 million will be directed at reducing phosphorus loading in three specific watersheds in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. The Maumee River (Upper Blanchard) watershed has been selected as the priority watershed in Ohio, which includes portions of: Hancock, Hardin, Seneca and Wyandot Counties. The following counties are included in the entire GLRI watershed: Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, Defiance, Williams, Fulton, Henry, Putnam, Allen, Auglaize, Hardin, Marion, Wyandot, Crawford, Seneca, Sandusky, Ottawa, Wood, Lucas and Hancock.

“The GLRI is a multi-agency group working together to improve and protect the waters of the Great Lakes Basin,” Cosby said. “NRCS is proud to be able to work with farmers and landowners on private lands who are doing their part to improve the resources.”

This year, GLRI focuses on practices that have the highest benefit for reducing water quality degradation due to agricultural runoff, and practices that establish and improve fish and wildlife habitat and assist in controlling invasive species.

Examples of these practices include waste storage facilities, residue management, no-till, nutrient management, tree planting, wetland creation, upland wildlife management, and brush management, among others.

“The farmers and landowners who come to us for help are really the ones that deserve the credit,” Cosby said. “We provide them with information on the scientifically-proven practices and where best to use them, as well as financing to help pay for them, but it’s their land and they make the decisions.”

The proposed rules would have banned children younger than 16 from using most power-driven farm equipment without first taking a specific training course. But even with the legislation shelved, Dee Jepsen said all of the discussion has raised awareness of current regulations and likely will mean organizations such as OSU Extension will see more young people signing up for existing training.

“The people have spoken and they don’t want the new regulations, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have any youth safety regulations,” she said. “Even though the Labor Department rescinded the stronger proposal, there is still legislation for 14- and 15-year-old students wanting to work outside their parents’ farms.

“We want to remind people of those rules and let them know that training is available. It’s just as important for farm managers and employers to be sure the students they hire under the age of 16 are trained.”

The proposed rules, which were supported by child labor advocacy groups, would have also restricted youths younger than 18 from working in feedlots, grain bins and stockyards. The rules were withdrawn following criticism from agricultural groups. The Labor Department said it had received thousands of comments about the rule and its effect on small family farms.

“As a result, the Department of Labor is announcing the withdrawal of the proposed rule dealing with children under the age of 16 who work in agricultural vocations,” the agency said in a statement.

To prepare for the expected increase in students interested in the training courses, OSU Extension plans to expand its farm safety course offerings and will offer more courses starting this summer, Jepsen said. Currently, teens younger than 16 who want to work on farms other than their parents’ farms have to go through a 24-hour training program and earn a certificate.

Each year, Ohio certifies nearly 300 students in local training courses, she said.

Updated courses will soon be offered online, Jepsen said, which will be helpful for teens in smaller communities that don’t offer any similar youth farm safety training courses.

The withdrawal of the proposed rules actually increases the need and support for youth safety training, she said.

“We want to keep our young farm workers safe,” she said. “If public policy remains unchanged, then we need to rely upon education to teach the dangers of farm work.”

Jepsen said it’s important to consider that the previous legislation was enacted 40 years ago.

“So perhaps there was a need for an update,” she said. “Agricultural practices have changed, the technology has changed and there is new equipment, so we do need to update the training materials that students use.

“Ohio State has a good track record on what should be in these programs. Through our outreach and research, we have learned what should be included in the training.”

Through a CSA program, customers purchase memberships, or shares, in the farm in exchange for fresh produce throughout the growing season. CSA’s have become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a grower, enabling benefits for both parties.

Jessica Nagel, agriculture project specialist, Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities, will educate and prepare those looking to join (or start) a CSA program during her presentation, “Community Supported Agriculture: Connecting the Producer and Consumer” at the monthly Northwest Ohio Ag-Business Breakfast Forum, Thursday, May 17 from 7:30 – 9 a.m. The program begins at 8 a.m. with informal networking prior, hosted by the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) at the Agricultural Incubator Foundation, north of Bowling Green, Ohio.

Nagel will also provide a look into Wood Lane’s involvement with a CSA. Their farm employs individuals with developmental disabilities to help the community access fresh, local produce.

The Northwest Ohio Ag-Business Breakfast Forum is an educational networking opportunity to provide information on current issues, trends and programs available to the agricultural community and those who support its advancement. Farmers, agribusiness owners and supporters of Ohio’s agricultural economy are encouraged to join CIFT on the third Thursday every month for this forum. The cost is just $10 per person (cash or check at the door) which includes a delicious breakfast and great informal networking opportunities.

The Agricultural Incubator Foundation is located at 13737 Middleton Pike (St. Rt. 582) in Bowling Green. Directions: I-75 to St. Rt. 582, exit 187 (Luckey/Haskins). Travel west on St. Rt. 582 approximately 2.2 miles. The Agricultural Incubator Foundation is located on the south side of St. Rt. 582. Walk-ins are welcome, but guests are encouraged to reserve a seat in advance by emailing rsvp@ciftinnovation.org.

J D Equipment began this commitment to the Stefanie Spielman Fund in 2011. A $26,000 check for the company’s 2011 donation was recently presented to Chris Spielman by J D Equipment’s CEO Jeff Mitchell, and Vice President John Griffith.   The Company is anticipating its 2012 contribution will exceed $30,000.

All donations made to the Stefanie Spielman Fund are used to support vital breast cancer research and patient assistance at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. The fund just reached a milestone of $10 million raised amongst the community to support breast cancer research.

J D Equipment is a family-owned business with a long history of supporting several charitable causes in the communities where its customers and employees reside.  J D Equipment was founded in Plain City, Ohio in 1982. Over the past 30 years, they have grown to become Ohio’s largest John Deere dealer, with eight locations and more than 250 employees. They pride themselves on their commitment to their customers and their employees.

You can watch the donation total grow throughout the year at www.jdequipment.com.  For information about purchasing a 100, 300, 500 or 700 series John Deere lawn mower, contact the store nearest you by calling London (614-879-6620), Easton (614-475-0707), Hilliard (614-527-8800), Lancaster (740-653-6951), Marion (740-389-5458), Washington Court House (740-335-2071), Wilmington (937-486-5211), or Zanesville (740-450-7446).