Shaffer Calls for Cooperative Approach to Bay Cleanup
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 4:55pm.
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
HERSHEY, Pa. — The president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau thinks the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new approach to dealing with the Chesapeake Bay is one that will harm agriculture in the long run.
Carl Shaffer addressed the media Tuesday during the bureau’s annual meeting at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center, saying that he favors a more cooperative approach to dealing with farms and the Chesapeake Bay — mainly working with local and state agencies on nutrient reductions.
“We want to be helpful, not confrontational,” Shaffer said. “I would say you’re going to go backwards instead of forward with a one-size-fits-all approach.”
The EPA has proposed regulating more farms as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs) along with the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program, which would essentially cap the amount of nutrients coming from point source and non-point source polluters to the Chesapeake Bay.
The agency is responding to an executive order signed by President Barack Obama earlier this summer, which mandates federal agencies use more of their resources to clean up the bay.
Along with the Chesapeake Bay, Shaffer took time to address other issues on the front burner including the struggles of both the dairy and hog industries.
When it comes to dairy, Shaffer said some farmers have told him that the steep decline in prices is the worst they have ever seen.
But he was optimistic that prices will pick up in 2010.
The federal government has set aside $290 million that will go to farmers in the form of direct payments. But Shaffer said he has not heard anything about when the payments would be made and how they would be made.
“The only thing I know for sure is that government progress is slow. Our dairy farmers are in desperate need of some help,” he said.
The H1N1 virus, often called swine flu, has added to the misery of the pork industry.
Since 2007, Shaffer said the industry has lost $5 billion, with H1N1 coming at a time when producers were already struggling.
Much of that is the result of export markets in China and Russia being cut off because of H1N1 concerns.
Shaffer reiterated that the virus cannot be passed by consuming pork products. China and Russia have since reopened their markets to U.S. pork, which Shaffer said will help the situation.
The current climate change bill being discussed in Washington, which includes a cap-and-trade system, is something Farm Bureau has opposed.
Why? Shaffer said it will lead to higher energy bills for farmers and will create an uncompetitive market where other countries that don’t comply with greenhouse gas standards can make food cheaper, thus harming farmers here.
He said economists at the American Farm Bureau Federation have estimated the cap-and-trade proposal will result in around 80 million acres of farmland disappearing.
“Nobody can sustain that kind of shrinking in agriculture,” Shaffer said.
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
HERSHEY, Pa. — The president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau thinks the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new approach to dealing with the Chesapeake Bay is one that will harm agriculture in the long run.
Carl Shaffer addressed the media Tuesday during the bureau’s annual meeting at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center, saying that he favors a more cooperative approach to dealing with farms and the Chesapeake Bay — mainly working with local and state agencies on nutrient reductions.
“We want to be helpful, not confrontational,” Shaffer said. “I would say you’re going to go backwards instead of forward with a one-size-fits-all approach.”
The EPA has proposed regulating more farms as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs) along with the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program, which would essentially cap the amount of nutrients coming from point source and non-point source polluters to the Chesapeake Bay.
The agency is responding to an executive order signed by President Barack Obama earlier this summer, which mandates federal agencies use more of their resources to clean up the bay.
Along with the Chesapeake Bay, Shaffer took time to address other issues on the front burner including the struggles of both the dairy and hog industries.
When it comes to dairy, Shaffer said some farmers have told him that the steep decline in prices is the worst they have ever seen.
But he was optimistic that prices will pick up in 2010.
The federal government has set aside $290 million that will go to farmers in the form of direct payments. But Shaffer said he has not heard anything about when the payments would be made and how they would be made.
“The only thing I know for sure is that government progress is slow. Our dairy farmers are in desperate need of some help,” he said.
The H1N1 virus, often called swine flu, has added to the misery of the pork industry.
Since 2007, Shaffer said the industry has lost $5 billion, with H1N1 coming at a time when producers were already struggling.
Much of that is the result of export markets in China and Russia being cut off because of H1N1 concerns.
Shaffer reiterated that the virus cannot be passed by consuming pork products. China and Russia have since reopened their markets to U.S. pork, which Shaffer said will help the situation.
The current climate change bill being discussed in Washington, which includes a cap-and-trade system, is something Farm Bureau has opposed.
Why? Shaffer said it will lead to higher energy bills for farmers and will create an uncompetitive market where other countries that don’t comply with greenhouse gas standards can make food cheaper, thus harming farmers here.
He said economists at the American Farm Bureau Federation have estimated the cap-and-trade proposal will result in around 80 million acres of farmland disappearing.
“Nobody can sustain that kind of shrinking in agriculture,” Shaffer said.
