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California Association of Wheat Growers (CAWG)

September 15, 2005

DISASTER PROGRAM SIGNUP ENDS - $2.8 MILLION PAID TO CALIFORNIA WHEAT GROWERS. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) ended signups for the disaster relief program, which provided payments to farmers who experienced major crop or quality loss in 2003 or 2004 due to weather-related issues. According the FSA headquarters in Davis, California wheat growers received a total of $1.13 million for 2003 losses and $1.64 million for 2004. In response to the stripe rust disaster of 2003, CAWG began meeting with members of Congress to advise them of the losses suffered by many of our growers. The California Wheat Commission worked closely with Agricultural Commissioners in affected counties to obtain disaster declarations. As a result of these efforts, we were able to insure that 2003 losses were included in the special disaster relief bill passed by Congress last year.

FSA OFFICES MAY BE REDUCED NATIONWIDE. The Sacramento Bee reported that USDA is considering closing up to one quarter of the FSA offices across the country. In response, JB Penn, Undersecretary of Agriculture, said the department is looking at ways to modernize the FSA structure and improve service. CAWG and CWC will follow this issue closely to insure that our farmers receive the best service possible.

HOUSE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE TO HOLD HEARING ON FARM ECONOMY. The Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management of the House Agriculture Committee has announced a hearing on the state of the farm economy to be held on September 29, 2005 in Washington, DC. The National Association of Wheat Growers has sent out a call for information on the impact of the rising cost of fuel and other farm inputs on wheat growers. California wheat growers are encouraged to call the CAWG office with information on this subject. As Congress considers the overall effect of Hurricane Katrina, ways to mitigate the impact of the high cost of fuel may be included in future legislation.

HEARINGS HELD ON EMINENT DOMAIN. This week the House Agriculture Committee held the first hearing in the House of Representatives on the potential effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 23rd decision in Kelo v. City of New London. The controversial ruling gives local governments greater eminent domain power, and could represent a direct threat to the property rights of wheat growers.

The committee also analyzed the merits of H.R. 3405, the "Strengthening The Ownership of Private Property" (STOPP) Act of 2005, bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Henry Bonilla (R-TX), Stephanie Herseth (D-SD), House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Collin Peterson (D-MN), the committee's ranking member, and a number of other House Members.

This legislation mandates that if a state or local government uses eminent domain for economic development and takes land from one private entity to give to another, then that state or locality will not be eligible to receive federal funding for any projects receiving federal economic development assistance.

Under H.R. 3405, state and local governments would be subject to the Uniform Relocation Act, which provides fair market value and moving expenses for citizens relocated by abusive eminent domain proceedings. This measure was referred to five separate committees of jurisdiction: Agriculture, Education & the Workforce, Financial Services, Resources and Transportation & Infrastructure.

NEW WHEAT RUST STRAIN APPEARS IN AFRICA. According to an article in the New York Times, a new strain of wheat rust has emerged in East Africa which has the potential of destroying up to 10 percent of the world’s wheat production if not contained. The new strain, Ug99, was first discovered in Uganda in 1999, hence its name.  It has since spread to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. 

Wheat rust caused huge losses and even famines in the first half of the 20^th Century, but thanks to the work of renowned biologist Norman Borlaug in the late 1950’s and 60’s resistant strains of wheat were developed to control it.

At a press conference in Uganda held to draw attention to the emerging threat, the 91 year Dr. Borlaug said: “Nobody’s seen an epidemic for 50 years, nobody in this room except myself.  Maybe we got too complacent.” Released at the news conference was a report on Ug99 prepared by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center which warned that “It is only a matter of time before Ug99 reaches across the Saudi Arabian peninsula and into the Middle East, South Asia and eventually East Asia and the Americas.”

However, remedial action has been taken to prevent this dire outcome.  A Global Rust Initiative has been established in Nairobi to monitor the progress of the disease and develop Ug99 resistant varieties of wheat.

WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON CONSERVATION. The White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation held recently in St. Louis, Missouri had in attendance many high level Bush Administration officials including Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, Department of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Steve Johnson.  Congressional leaders such as Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) addressed the Conference. Also in attendance were NAWG board members Jerry McReynolds, President of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and Terry Wanzek, President of the North Dakota Grain Growers Association.

Secretary Rumsfeld, while noting that the Defense Department’s mission and conservation were not often linked in public perception, underscored the Bush Administration commitment to conservation and joked that "He [the President] is even using a recycled Secretary of Defense."  EPA Administrator Johnson evoked the image of President Teddy Roosevelt in stressing the idea that environmental protection should not be pursued to the exclusion of continued economic opportunity.

USDA Secretary Johanns used the occasion to preview possible administrative steps to process some 28 million acres of Conservation Reserve Program contracts which are due to expire between now and 2008.  While details remain under discussion, Secretary Johanns confirmed that automatic re-enrollment of contracts would focus on those lands with the highest environmental benefits index (EBI) rankings.  Expiring contracts on lands with lower EBI rankings may be offered contract extensions from two to four years.

Information previously provided by Administration officials suggested that expiring CRP contracts on land ranking in the top 20th percentile of EBI rankings would be offered automatic CRP re-enrollment at a revised rental rate that more closely reflects local market rates as will rental rates for a new general sign-up. Those lands ranking in progressively lower 20 percentile increments would be offered four, three and two year contract extensions respectively at existing rates. Pending a final decision, no changes are anticipated before spring of 2006.