By Stephen Smoot
“I appreciate the opportunity to be in the land of Pendleton,” said Dwayne O’Dell, West Virginia Farm Bureau Government Affairs director. He added as he addressed the assembled Pendleton County Farm Bureau members and guests that “I appreciate your farm bureau membership.”
He also quipped that lobbyists have a six percent approval rating, “So I don’t know why you invited me.”
The summer drought took its toll on area farmers, but O’Dell saw even larger threats looming from government officials lacking knowledge and wayward activism.
He started his talk to the Pendleton County Farm Bureau attendees last Saturday night by saying, “I’m still proud of America. America will always be the land of the free as long as it’s the home of the brave.”
O’Dell also pointed out that even facing the burdens of overregulation and inflation sparked by government policies that America enjoyed the lowest food prices of any nation. Even though prices have jumped considerably in food even here, the Mountain State has the lowest average cost of food in the country.
He then spoke of his father’s military service and honored veterans among the attendees, saying, “We appreciate your service to America,” but then warned that “the liberties and freedoms that we enjoy in America today will have to be defended because they are under attack.”
Farmers face extraordinary problems from the natural world, but even more so from the inability of government to refrain from interfering in farming. He shared that “Reagan said it so well,” in terms of government attitudes toward the economy. “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.”
In his talk, O’Dell shared that 1.6 million Americans farm 900 million acres of land, but that 40 percent of farmers have reached their 65th year, an ongoing problem for a field of agriculture that focuses proudly on the high quality of family farm produced food.
He then started by speaking of agriculture on the state level, anticipating “a lot of changes in the Statehouse this year.” Governor Jim Justice will vacate the office in January of this year, having served the two consecutive terms permitted by the West Virginia State Constitution. He currently is running for United States Senate as the Republican nominee. Running to replace him are Republican nominee Patrick Morrissey of Jefferson County and Democratic nominee Steve Williams of Huntington.
Additionally, Craig Blair, Senate president, lost his primary and will vacate that office after this year. There are no indications yet on who might replace Blair as Senate president, an office that also places the holder as lieutenant governor and second in succession to the state’s chief executive.
O’Dell stated that the Governor of West Virginia “is an extremely powerful individual who sets the budget.” “Bills are starting to come due,” O’Dell said, from the largesse passed during Justice’s term of office. “The estimated $850 million surplus will have to pay for county reimbursements from the vehicle tax, the $100 million costs of added aides in schools,” and other pivotal issues.
He said that the farm bureau at the state level would like to “take the tax off meat processing and pork processing.” It raises a small amount in the grand picture of the state budget, about $450,000, but causes inconvenience and disincentives to producers.
The farm bureau’s consistent backing of landowner rights has underlain its positions on calling for a balance between carbon offsets and the timber harvest while also opposing the proposed elimination of the farmland protection program. O’Dell added that “solar will be an ongoing issue” and that the West Virginia Public Service Commission approved its use for poultry houses.
At the federal level threats lie on the horizon. First, the Trump Era 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will expire next year. O’Dell warned that “the estate tax is on the table this year.” One threat comes from some who “want to lower the death tax rate to $1 million,” which “would affect numerous operations in West Virginia.”
He said, “I hope calmer heads will prevail.”
The United States Supreme Court’s Chevron decision, which overturned a 40-year-old precedent, ended a situation in which “government agencies decided how much power they had.” The decision permitted Congress to cede its authority under Article 1 Section 1 of the United States Constitution and permit federal agencies broad latitude to craft regulatory laws, essentially without oversight.
“Those agencies no longer have final authority,” O’Dell explained. Congress must either take the brunt of public anger and write detailed statutes themselves if it wants stricter regulations, or the courts will make the interpretations on their own when questioned.
One of the major federal issues affecting agriculture comes in the Farm Bill. O’Dell stated that he saw three important issues here. The United States Supreme Court has taken a states’ rights approach in response to California laws imposing extreme regulations on pork production, with Massachusetts not far behind. He said “a hodge-podge of production rules” from state to state could follow.
Second, he expressed concern that “climate money in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act . . . could be thrown out the window on the Green New Deal.”
Finally, a Fair Market Rule considered by the United States Department of Agriculture could affect contracts in the poultry, hog, and beef industries. It proposes to allow “no possibility for incentives for superior animals or superior production practices.”
O’Dell then returned to his first point, thanking those present for their farm bureau membership. Adding to the numbers and paying the dues ensures that West Virginia farmers have a loud voice that may not always pass what it wants, but generally keeps harmful bills from becoming law.
“If you are not around the table,” O’Dell explained, “you’ll be on the table.”
O’Dell ended with the point that even those who have stayed on the sidelines until now can help achieve farming’s needed goals by participating now, by sharing a traditional Chinese saying that reads:
“The best time to plant a fruit tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.”
