Variety of ag-related topics covered at TFB convention 

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Dec. 22, 2005 - Farm Bureau delegates from all over Texas gathered Dec. 3-5 in Waco for the Texas Farm Bureau 72nd Annual Convention. The convention was the policy-making meeting for Texas’ largest organization of farm and ranch families.

During TFB President Kenneth Dierschke’s annual address on Sunday, Dec. 4, he addressed specific problems and success stories affecting farmers and ranchers.

Dierschke, a grain and cotton farmer from San Angelo, spoke of the “Kelo versus New London” case in which a family in New London, Conn. had to give up their home so that a private developer could proceed with an economic development plan. 

This decision sanctions the use of eminent domain to take private property for economic development. 

�This is the first time that the court has allowed eminent domain to be used in such a way. The farmers and ranchers of Texas view this as a colossal mistake - one that farmers, ranchers and landowners could pay for with their livelihoods,� Dierschke said.

�This absolutely tramples upon the bedrock principle of private property rights, and we will not stand for it,� he said.

Dierschke said the Farm Bureau is calling for a new and stronger focus on protecting private property rights, because “people cannot sit by while legislative bodies ignore the freedom of owning and using private property.”

He said the Texas Farm Bureau continues to oppose the Trans Texas Corridor, which is a “costly and ill-advised monstrosity of a highway system.” Dierschke said the Governor of Texas and most of the Texas Legislature want the Trans Texas Corridor to be built.

�We have cut spending this year by about $3 billion dollars, with no concessions. The talks of the World Trade Organization have yet to bear fruit,� Dierschke said in a press release from the Farm Bureau. �U.S. negotiators deserve credit for insisting that substantial cuts in U.S. farm programs must be met by corresponding cuts in European Union subsidies and lowering of trade barriers in third world nations. Third world nations seem to want access to our markets and reductions in U.S. farm programs while keeping their tariff barriers mostly in place. This is a sure fire way of forcing American farmers out of business and guaranteeing that our nation�s food will be grown outside our own borders.�

Dierschke said that rapidly rising energy costs have threatened the ability of many farmers to plant a crop for 2006. Farmers have seen the price of diesel for tractors, combines and irrigation pumps rise in recent months, along with the cost of natural gas, a key component of fertilizer and other farm inputs. 

�Farmers engaged in the vital business of producing food and fiber for our nation are in real trouble, unable to afford the fuel to get them across their fields or the crop inputs they need,� he said in his press release.

On the last day of the meeting, Dierschke was elected to his fourth term as president of the Farm Bureau.

�Agriculture�s been good to me for a number of years,� Dierschke said in his acceptance speech. �I�ll work as hard as I can to give back to agriculture. First and foremost in my mind are the farmers and ranchers of Texas.��

Both U.S. senators from Texas also addressed the TFB delegates. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn each pledged to work towards ending the federal estate tax.

�It�s an immoral tax,� said Cornyn, Dec. 4. �It not only taxes income, but Uncle Sam shows up with the undertaker to take his bite.��

In her Monday morning address, Dec. 5, Sen. Hutchison commended the increase of exports as a result of new trade agreements, such as CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), and promised to continue the fight to reduce trade-distorting tariffs.

�I stand with you, and frankly, because of you, I started looking at trade with Cuba,� said Hutchison. �Forty years of isolation has done nothing. It is time to open markets. I think it will also enlighten and help the people of Cuba.��

Immigration reform that increases border security while providing a guest worker program is supported by both senators. Sen. Cornyn’s bill containing this two-pronged objective is slated for debate early next year. Hutchison also has a bill that will end the federal government’s “catch and release” program of illegal immigrants other than those from Mexico. It will also give local law enforcement the authority to detain illegal immigrants, as stated in a press release from the TFB.

�We�ve caught 150 Mexicans going across the border - and these weren�t people who were looking for jobs,� Hutchison stated. �If this is how many we�ve actually caught, there is no telling how many we haven�t caught.�

One important resolution voted to pass stated that “Country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef cattle and hoofstock in the United States should be delayed until after implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). 

Dan Dierschke from Austin, a TFB state director, cow/calf producer and member of the executive committee for U.S. Meat Export Federation, believes this is a good resolution.

�I think COOL should be voluntary. It�s not a simple process to track and it�s a radical change for the packing industry and retail sector. We worked to get an animal i.d. system and we can�t get that in place. Tracking an animal to 100 different pieces is difficult,� Dan Dierschke said. �Don�t make it mandatory until a workable system can be made and consumers can pay for it. My fear is that the cost will go to the cow/calf producer and they will get paid lower prices for their product. It�s unfair and it�s being imposed on the beef industry and not the poultry industry. The fact that no one�s done it tells me that they haven�t found any value in it.�