| CASPER, Wyo. (AP) The director of the state Department
of Agriculture says Congress should implement a system of
state agriculture block grants instead of the current system
of commodities support.
Ron Micheli and Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., spoke at a
public forum Friday called The Future of Farm Policy,
where more than 100 farmers and ranchers had a chance to meet
national farm-policy experts.
Micheli said livestock, mostly cattle and sheep, account
for 70 to 75 percent of Wyomings agricultural income. Hay
ranks third.
Yet none of those commodities is covered by the federal
commodities support program, which instead protects grain and
row crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans and sugar beets.
The agricultural commodities that fall under the program
are not chosen by any objective criteria but are instead
selected on the basis of raw politics and political power,
he said.
How long are we going to put up with this? he asked.
Micheli offered two proposals for Congress to consider
under the 2002 Farm Bill.
Id like to see agricultural block grants that can be
administered by the states, he said.
The problem with the existing system, he said, is rules and
regulations that fit the Midwest do not always work well in
the West. He called the policy insane.
He believes individual states know local circumstances far
better than federal agencies and can do a better job of
allocating scarce resources.
Secondly, Micheli pointed out that people in general want
clean water, clean air, open spaces, conservation of soil and
protection of endangered species.
None of this comes free, he said. Public opinion
polls have demonstrated again and again that the public is
willing to pay for conservation. We can do that with block
grants to the states.
The government should be willing to pay private landowners
to raise and protect endangered species, he said, and he
himself would be willing to raise Prebles meadow jumping
mice, wolves and grizzly bears if paid to do so.
Im not quite sure how Id manage grizzlies, he
said to laughter.
He also called for the government to recognize that it has
had conflicting laws, such as the old homesteader policies
which encouraged ranchers and farmers to settle along streams.
Now, the federal Clean Water Act encourages ranchers and
farms to move their homes and operations away from streams to
protect water quality.
Micheli said the federal government should help correct a
situation it helped cause, perhaps also through state block
grants. |