2009-2010
Nebraska Farmers Union (NEFU)
strongly believes in the values of family farm, owner-operated
agriculture. We believe strong rural
communities, the protection of our soil and water resources, and healthy
democratic government are linked to the economic well-being of family farmers
here and around the world. We believe in
more cooperation between farmers both in
A strong rural economic base linked
to parity prices is a key building block for a strong local, state, national
and world economy. We remain wholly
dedicated to the strengthening of the family farm system and resolutely opposed
to an industrialized type of corporate farming or to domination of farm
ownership and operation by off-farm or alien interests.
Family Farm Definition
A “family farm” is ideally one which
is owned and operated by a farmer and his or her family, with the family
providing labor needed for the farming operation, assuming the economic risk,
making most of the management decisions, reaping the gains or losses from the
operation, and depending primarily on farming for a living.
Rural Economic Development
NEFU is vitally concerned about the
continued deterioration of our rural communities. Land and the crops and livestock raised on it
furnish the rural community with its economic base. Any true rural development must recognize
this fact.
NEFU supports the only rural
development policy which will work: one
which focuses on vitalizing the family farm (not large industrial farms)
through the use of government programs, fair crop prices, credit, taxes,
conservation, and good stewardship.
We ask the state of
NEFU opposes the trend in state government of targeting rural programs for elimination or reductions in funding when state budget cuts are required.
Land Ownership
NEFU stands opposed to non-family
owned corporations engaging in farming.
They have access to capital from other industries that frequently enjoy
favored treatment, as well as subsidies, the ability to use tax advantages and
the ability to interfere with and manipulate markets for farm products to the
detriment of the family farmers.
Corporate farming should be restricted to family farm corporations. Our state must be kept abreast of the number
of corporate farms in
NEFU is opposed to the
factory-style, highly concentrated production of livestock and poultry.
Rural Zoning
We urge the state of
NEFU strongly reaffirms its support for rural
planning and zoning. We oppose any attempts by the state of
Eminent Domain
More restrictions should be placed
on the granting of eminent domain with provisions that provide farmers or other
landowners with adequate compensation that reflects future projected income
losses when they lose property through eminent domain proceedings.
We urge the Nebraska Legislature
limit natural resources districts’ (NRDs’) use of eminent domain authority when
acquiring land for single-purpose recreation projects. We prefer a willing buyer-willing seller
relationship to meet recreation needs.
We feel that land acquired by natural
resource districts, for single- or multi-purpose recreation projects, should
not be used for agricultural production.
We oppose the use of eminent domain for the purpose of acquiring property for private development and benefit.
Public
NEFU
encourages the state’s public power systems to utilize the discretionary
authority contained in LB629 to not use eminent domain authority against
bonified Community-Based Energy Development (C-BED) projects. We support maintenance of overall eminent
domain authority to protect
Support and Recommendations
We are opposed to any attempt to
amend and weaken the Capper-Volstead Act, which gives farmers the right to join
together in cooperatives to market their products or to purchase supplies. Farmer-owned cooperatives need to be strengthened. All farmers should help head off attacks on
the Capper-Volstead Act and provisions in the anti-trust laws that protect and
enhance cooperatives. NEFU has opposed such mergers as
Cargill-Continental, Smithfield-Tyson, Monsanto-Novartis and Cenex Harvest
States-Farmland, and also opposes the mergers of regional cooperatives. We believe cooperatives should not engage in
agricultural production activities in direct competition with agricultural
producers.
Cooperatives should become more
active in grain exportation. This would
lessen the stranglehold the large, multi-national grain companies have on
We support and encourage efforts by
large cooperatives to pool sales of wheat and other grains, cotton, soybeans,
dry edible beans and other commodities and urge producer cooperatives to
participate in such programs where available.
We believe in maintaining the co-op
principle of one vote per member.
Cenex Harvest States
We commend Cenex Harvest States for
its efforts in expanding its trade areas to
We also commend and encourage Cenex
Harvest States for its efforts in providing ethanol to its patrons.
We recognize the progress Cenex
Harvest States has made in serving farmers and ranchers in
Support and Recommendations
Our Congress should adopt a
comprehensive national energy policy that aggressively incents and grows
alternative energy sources. This should
include incentives for farmer- and community-owned ethanol, biodiesel and wind
energy. One important way is through
government incentives such as refundable tax credits directed at biofuels
producers. An excess profits tax could
be used for this purpose.
NEFU urges the Nebraska Legislature
to pass a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), also known as a Renewable Energy
Standard (RES), of 10% by the year 2015, which would require
Renewable
Fuels Standard
NEFU supports expanding the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to
set an ambitious mandate for production of biofuels to make up one-third of the
nation’s fuel supply as soon as possible.
This should include separate mandates of production for each form of
biofuel, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel.
This full
implementation of RFS legislation will supply clean-burning ethanol to reduce
air pollution, provide strict anti-backsliding requirements in the RFS to
ensure that air quality gains from the reformulated gasoline program are
preserved, provide incentives to expand use of other biofuels, and establish
separate requirements for non-gas fuels such as biodiesel.
NEFU supports
bipartisan legislation to ensure that
NEFU opposes the
importation of renewable fuels and ethanol import schemes that would thwart ethanol
import tariffs.
NEFU also supports the
$0.46 blender’s tax credit. This
incentive, 1). Helps to maintain the
competitiveness of ethanol in our nation’s overall fuel supply, 2). Keeps ethanol prices competitive at the pump
for consumers.
Ethanol and Alternative
Fuels and Lubricants
NEFU has been a steadfast supporter
of ethanol fuel production since its inception in the early 1970s. Ethanol provides a sustainable fuel source
for
We favor the retention of the
5.4-cent exemption at the federal level.
The government should assist in the development of domestic ethanol
fuels by permanently extending the tax exemption of ethanol blended fuel,
creating other tax incentives for fuel ethanol producers, guaranteeing loans
for fuel ethanol plants and requiring that all gasoline be a domestic blend.
NEFU shall provide any assistance
possible to help cooperatives and others who desire to build an ethanol plant.
We urge expanded research and
development of the use of ethanol products and by-products, as well as the use
of oilseed crops for lubricating oils and fuels. We further urge more state and federal
efforts to encourage the development and wide spread use of the oxygenated-fuel
additive ETBE and recommend that all tax credits and incentives now available
for ethanol production be extended to ETBE.
We oppose any use of ethanol funds
except for ethanol production or promotion.
We support the production of
automobiles using an 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline blend. NEFU urges the mandated use of at least a 10%
blend of ethanol in the
NEFU supports enactment of
legislation to require minimum standards for the use of oxygenated fuels in
gasoline made available for sale in
NEFU opposes any increase of
commodity check-offs in excess of the one-quarter cent per bushel rates used to
fund building of new ethanol plants.
NEFU encourages farmers to use
ethanol in all gasoline vehicles and in all gas-powered equipment. We encourage the use of ethanol in local,
county and state government vehicles.
We urge all farmers co-ops to offer
ethanol and biodiesel for sale and encourage them to pass state and federal
subsidies to consumers. NEFU supports
policy that encourages farmer-owned cooperatives to actively pursue ethanol and
biodiesel use and manufacturing development.
We urge the Nebraska Ethanol Board and the state of
NEFU supports an effective state and
federal level promotion and development strategy for biodiesel, similar to
We
oppose importation into and sales within the
In order to protect our underground water supply, NEFU supports the complete phase-out of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) as a fuel additive, and we oppose any liability protection for those who produce MTBE and sell it.
Alternative Bio-Fuel Sources
NEFU supports an effective state and federal level promotion, development, and policy strategy for cellulosic crops to produce ethanol.
Crude Oil Entitlements
A new crude oil entitlement program
is necessary to resolve the serious disparity in price between foreign and
domestic crude. Cooperatives and
independent refineries are almost solely dependent on foreign crude for their
refineries, and this disparity provides a serious competitive pricing advantage
for the major oil companies to the detriment of supply cooperatives. We urge the government take steps to provide
an equitable crude entitlements program for cooperatives and independent
refineries.
We support the continuation of the
Rural Utilities Association as the primary source of financing for the rural
electric and telephone systems. We
continue to support adequate funding for special low-cost loans for those
systems which operate in very difficult economic circumstances, including
serving sparsely settled rural areas. We
support the efforts of the rural public power districts and rural electric
cooperatives in their efforts to secure permanent capital for the Rural
Electric Association (REA) revolving fund.
We oppose any efforts to weaken the
ability of REA to assist the nation’s rural electric systems in their mission
to provide reliable, adequate electric service at affordable rates to their
consumers.
We oppose any legislation which would
result in the loss of electric service areas around the perimeters of
municipalities by the rural public power districts and any legislation aimed at
reducing payments to rural public power districts which may be made as
compensation for the loss of such customers through the course of territorial
annexation.
We oppose the sale of
government-owned power marketing associations (PMAs) to the private sector.
We oppose any merger in the field of
energy that does not benefit all consumers, especially small consumers.
Public Power
We support the state public power system and oppose any effort to privatize it. NEFU opposes federally mandated electric deregulation, as rural consumers will be required to bear the cost of large consumers, who, under deregulation, could shop across the country for the cheapest power and leave electric grids at any time without notice.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve
We support the program of storing crude
oil to provide an opportunity to offset regional and national oil-supply shortages. We urge release of these reserves to
cooperatives and other independent domestic refineries at equitable prices in
the early stages of any supply disruption in order to minimize economic damage
caused by disruption-driven price increases.
We support creation of strategic reserves in other fuel sources,
including ethanol.
Energy Management and Conservation
We urge consumer-owned utilities to
develop, demonstrate and increase the economic feasibility of the use of
renewable and other alternative energy systems, including wind energy.
We must halt the leasing of public
energy resources to the same private corporations who already monopolize our
energy supplies. Public resources
should, to the greatest extent possible, be publicly developed on a not-for-profit
basis. First preference should be given
to publicly and cooperatively owned utilities.
Second preference should go to private independent companies who do
engage in competitive practices.
Consumers need to be mindful of the public service organizations they
own. Beautiful buildings, high salaries
and lucrative expense accounts generally translate into excessive cost to the
consumer. The
NEFU calls for the auto industry to
help solve our energy problems by making cars and trucks that get better gas
mileage. The technology is available to make us energy independent.
NEFU supports
the development of wind energy. In order
to maximize both environmental benefits and rural economic development, we urge
the state public power system continue to support and expand their renewable
portfolio for all power sold in
NEFU supports efforts to modify the Nebraska Power Review Board’s criteria to approve new electrical generation that allows and encourages more renewable energy development, including wind energy.
NEFU supports state incentives that could be used in tandem with federal production tax credits to enable farmers, ranchers, non-profit organizations and community-based public entities to construct their own wind turbines.
NEFU calls for the prioritization of
aggressive modernization and upgrading of the
Wind Energy Education
NEFU supports
and endorses the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Wind Powering
Natural Gas
Natural gas is used for a wide
number of critical applications in agriculture beyond energy, such as
fertilizer production. Because natural
gas is a finite resource, we urge industries and power companies to look at
alternatives to natural gas.
We support legislation to provide
for mandatory allocation of natural gas to fertilizer plants. No nitrogen manufacturing plant should be
forced to operate at less than full capacity due to inadequate supplies of natural
gas as a feedstock.
Commitment
NEFU supports a
less partisan selection process and greater accountability for the members of
the Environmental Quality Council and the executive director of the Nebraska
Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ), to better protect the natural
resources and represent the interests of all the citizens of
We urge both the government and
private groups to squarely face the pollution problems that plague our country.
While we are firmly committed to
preservation of the environment, we are opposed to arbitrary and capricious action
taken by EPA to remove certain farm chemicals and pesticides from the market
unless their potential harm can be clearly demonstrated by a scientific process.
NEFU proposes that any and all
sanctions or controls (such as water special use areas) should apply to all
users – ag, industrial, commercial and municipal - and should not be
discriminatory.
We support more local input from
those affected on decisions regarding hazardous decontamination projects.
We oppose efforts to weaken clean
air standards through the rollback of emission standards for existing power
plants.
Disposable Wastes
We urge manufacturers to limit the
use of hazardous materials where other alternatives are available.
We oppose any nuclear or hazardous
waste site being placed over any underground water supply or near any flowing
stream.
Residents of areas in the vicinity
of proposed hazardous waste disposal sites may have reasonable and just cause
to oppose such activities. Therefore, we
encourage the Nebraska Environmental Control Council to give highest priority
to the licensing of hazardous waste areas in locations which are most
environmentally acceptable for that purpose and to continue requirements
providing that hearings be held within the immediate vicinity of potential or
proposed waste disposal facilities to allow for reasonable public input.
Transportation of hazardous wastes
presents as much or more danger on rural roads as on the Interstate. Therefore, we oppose the present practice of
transportation of hazardous wastes on secondary highways and roads.
We encourage all agricultural
producers to practice recycling of pesticide containers, use of soluble
packaging and returnable and/or reusable containers.
Because of our concern over the
disposal of materials such as chemical containers, X-ray apparel and low-level
nuclear waste, we support research and development for a better way of treating
all waste materials that face us today, both hazardous and non-hazardous.
NEFU supports the removal of toxic
and hazardous waste from commercial fertilizers.
Livestock Waste Management
NEFU supports fair, appropriate and
reasonable enforcement of NDEQ regulations regarding Title 130. NEFU supports fair, appropriate and
reasonable regulations and penalties for air, water and dust pollution. No construction of any kind should be allowed
until a workable construction permit has been approved and issued. If any construction is started without a
permit, a permit will automatically be denied.
Inspections should be made on a regular basis on existing
facilities. We urge that allowable
limits be observed and/or established as to the amount of nutrients on the land
and not allow more nitrogen and phosphorous than a crop can use.
We support establishment of a
graduated scale of fees, regulations and inspection to move the focus to large
operations and to exempt small producers from fees, inspections and most
regulations. We call on NDEQ to deny any
permits to operations that have been labeled as bad actors in other states.
Large-scale operations should be
required to have financial assurance (such as bonding), including in the event
of bankruptcy, to cover closure and cleanup as a part of the permit process.
Dead animal disposal should be
limited to proper incineration, rendering or composting.
All existing large-scale operations
need to be brought into compliance with current regulations as they are
updated.
NEFU supports efforts to force NDEQ to hold community
hearings for large livestock facilities proposed in unzoned counties.
Title 130 should include:
1.
Identification
and purging of bad actors;
2.
Development
of regulations for site selection for confined animal feeding operations
(CAFOs); and
3.
Regulation
of large CAFOs as industrial sites, instead of as farms.
Global Warming
NEFU recognizes climate change and
global warming as clear dangers to our planet.
NEFU believes that agriculture can be the most powerful resource for
mitigating climate change and global warming, both through carbon sequestration
and through renewable energy production of all types that is carbon
neutral. NEFU supports international
global warming treaties that are binding on all countries, developed and
developing, and that incent agricultural based solutions to this serious global
challenge.
Climate Change Legislation
NEFU recognizes the 2007 Supreme
Court ruling that requires EPA to enforce regulation of GHG emissions in the
Carbon Sequestration
Evidence exists that increasing
levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide pose a threat to agriculture’s ability to
produce food. Proven ag practices are
known to trap (sequester) carbon dioxide in the soil, increasing soil organic
matter and so making the soil more resilient to erratic and severe weather,
particularly wind and water erosion.
NEFU sponsors a carbon credit program to compensate farmers and ranchers
for and encourage them to sequester carbon in the soil. Any carbon credit payments
by polluters should be paid to farmers and ranchers via the Chicago Climate
Exchange (CCX).
Cap-and-Trade
NEFU
supports a national mandatory cap-and-trade system to reduce non-farm
greenhouse gas emissions if the following conditions are met:
1). Agriculture is not considered a covered entity
and will not be subject to the emissions cap or the bill’s greenhouse gas
reduction requirements;
2).
USDA is granted control and administration of the agriculture offset
program, rather than EPA;
3).
Early actors are recognized;
4).
No artificial cap is placed on domestic offsets;
5).
Carbon sequestration rates are based upon science; and
6).
Producters are permitted to stack environmental benefit credits.
Recycling
In order to reduce environmental damage,
conserve natural resources and prolong the useable life of landfills, we
support and encourage programs at the local, state and national level that will
collect and recycle both solid and fluid materials. We urge that all retail outlets serve as
recycling collection points or work together to provide such points in the
community. If necessary, we support
passage of a container deposit and recycling law to promote and fund recycling
programs.
Alternative Agricultural Practices
Because of our commitment to
environmental quality, we support alternative agricultural practices that
prevent erosion and promote clean air, soil, and water, including organic
farming and ranching, crop rotation, streambank protection, grass-based
livestock production and phytoremediation.
We encourage organic farmers and their neighbors to work together to
promote responsible chemical application.
We call for consideration and respect of buffer zones between organic
farms and non-organic farms.
Parity
NEFU’s commitment to the parity
price formula, using the base years (1910-1914) established by law as the
standard to determine prices for agricultural commodities, is unwavering. NEFU believes that price supports for
agricultural commodities should be linked to the parity index so that the
levels of support of farm prices will be adjusted regularly to reflect changes
in costs to farmers producing farm commodities for family living.
We consider the parity system to be
as realistic, justifiable and up-to-date as the Consumer Price Index, upon
which almost 100 million Americans rely for adjustments in their economic
returns, wages, benefits or retirement pay as costs rise.
NEFU calls for a return to the Carl
Wilkin parity concept used in the Franklin Roosevelt-Truman administration to
maintain 100% of parity, plus or minus a 5% tolerance for all agricultural and
mineral productions, as the basis for stabilizing our economy.
We favor an “equity of trade” form
of foreign trade, whereby all trade between countries shall be conducted through
a computerized bartering system with prices based on our parity price for all
items of trade.
Our organization further commits
itself to working within the written framework of Farmers Union policy to
educate the public and policy makers on the parity concept.
NEFU calls for an ongoing National
Farmers Union campaign to press Congress to establish Commodity Credit
Corporation (CCC) rates based on
parity prices for storable farm commodities.
Need for Effective Farm
Programs
Farmers of our nation are plagued by
a “cheap raw material and low farm price” policy. This policy results in the devaluation of our
agricultural, energy and water resources, without compensation to either the
farmer or the nation. This policy
carries over into an international policy of refusing to cooperate with other
nations in developing international commodity agreements. As a result, the underdeveloped, as well as
some developed nations, may lose the incentive to produce agriculturally or
develop their rural economies. On a
global basis, this policy contributes to widespread unemployment, cheap labor,
malnutrition and political instability in developing countries.
More than 32% of the gainfully
employed people in
Delayed interest payments and
delayed principal payments, although helpful, are not the answer to our
problems. What farmers need now is a
fair profit from our products.
The answer to the problems of the
city, of joblessness, bank failures, agriculture lenders, other rural
businesses and the balance of payments is the establishment of full parity for
the American farmer, to put him on a level playing field with the rest of the
Recommendations
We support a supply-management
program that would keep supplies of grain in balance with demand and stabilize
prices at a level that would provide producers a reasonable profit and
consumers a dependable food supply.
We are opposed to “de-coupling,”
triple-base option, revenue assurance, block grants and other farm program
proposals which would phase-out farm programs in five to ten years.
We believe the acreage-reduction
program should be replaced with paid land diversion set-aside programs which
would do away with inequitable historical acreage bases and allow producers to
plant any crop they want as long as they comply with the prescribed set-aside
and paid land diversion requirements of these programs.
Since the production of crops for
feed, fiber and food has increased greatly in the world in recent years, and
since the prospects of the
We urge continuing support and
involvement in the Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture.
The 1996 Freedom to Farm Act severely undermined the farm economy. The 2002 farm bill is also inadequate. We call for a rewrite of current farm policy. The 2007 replacement farm bill, at a minimum, should sharply increase the CCC loan rates, institute a farmer-owned reserve, allow inventory management of excess stock, require mandatory price reporting and country-of-origin labeling (COOL), ban packer ownership of livestock, and include a permanent disaster provision and a strong competition title.
We urge the elimination of the LDP policy option in farm policy and urge its replacement with only a non-recourse loan.
In order for non-recourse loan rates to maintain the historical stabilizing effect on commodity prices, the short-selling of commodity futures contracts by hedge funds must be limited by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
NEFU opposes the release of CCC loan
balances of commodities still under loan, on a county basis. This information is used by grain buyers to
determine free stocks of grain in the area.
We
believe farm program payments should be based on updated base and yield data.
Price Support Loans
CCC loans should meet the following requirements:
1. Commodity loan rates should be the primary component of the price support system. Loan rates should be non-recourse and at least 90% of parity;
2. Wheat, feed grain and oilseed
producers should have the option to extend their price support loans for an
additional year and receive storage payments for doing so;
3. A revolving fund for CCC loans
should be established, similar to those used by other federal lending programs,
thereby eliminating the problem of CCC loans being called budget
expenditures. Commodity loans from CCC
are fully collateralized, and borrowers pay interest on these loans. Such loans should not be considered as budget
expenditures;
4. Disparities between county loan
rates should immediately be corrected, by either administrative or legislative
action by going back to the formula used to establish county loan rates in 1986
and prior years;
5. There should be no difference in
the CCC loan rates between states;
6. Posted county prices should be
based on local terminal markets rather than Gulf prices; and
7. Any legislation which gives the
Secretary of Agriculture the discretion to lower the CCC loan rates established
by Congress should be repealed.
Grain Reserve Program
NEFU supports the creation of a
Strategic National Food Reserve for national food security purposes and a
strategic national energy reserve for renewable energy production. The policy and objectives will be to ensure a
reliable source of food and renewable energy to the
1.
Loan rates should be the same as the regular non-recourse CCC loan and
not less than 100% of the cost of production;
2.
The trigger release level should be not less than 110% of the loan rate;
3.
Storage payments made to farmers should not be less than the average
commercial rate per year, paid in advance;
4.
The upper limits should be no more than two years production for any
producer;
5.
Farmers will have the option of one, two or three years participation in
this reserve;
6.
The CCC should reinstate the program for producers to build on-farm
storage with low cost loans. Farmers
should have the option to extend their CCC grain reserve loans for an
additional year;
7.
Producers will be able to substitute grain in this reserve as long as
the substitution occurs within the county or farm operations;
8.
Immediate entry into this reserve;
9.
Reserve grain will not accrue interest;
10.
The full compaction factor will be used when measuring farm-stored grain
and the
11.
The amount of grain in the FOR should include a minimum of 500 million
bushels of wheat and 1 billion bushels of feed grains. There should not be an upper limit; and
12.
Anytime the FOR does not reach the minimum level, the CCC will purchase
grain in order to maintain reserve levels.
Targeting Farm Program
Benefits
Target price and CCC loan coverage
should be limited to a sufficient volume of production (bushels, pounds, bales)
to yield a fair labor and management income to each producing family. Such an approach would include:
1. Within such an overall limit,
varying target prices for such farmers’ first block of production, then lower
target prices for successive blocks of production; and
2. Limiting the total amount
received from USDA payments to $175,000 annually.
Conservation Programs
NEFU supports the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), with a $30,000 cap over five years. The Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) and the Great Plains Conservation Program should be reinstated and fully funded, so that any producer who wants to do conservation work would be eligible to receive up to $5,000 in cost-sharing funds annually.
These programs are now being funded
by the dollar amounts that they were 50 years ago. The Gross National Product has increased 40
to 50 times since then.
We recommend that farmers be given
an option to construct new dams, regardless of crop history or acreage size,
and that land designated as a dam site be eligible for ACR acres. We believe this will provide adequate
financial incentives to encourage farmers to increase wetlands, create areas
suitable for tree planting, control flooding and improve water quality and
wildlife habitat.
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
The Conservation Management Tool
(CMT) used by the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) needs to be expanded
and revised in order to recognize and reward different conservation practices
that are appropriate for different climatic and production regions.
The
CSP needs to rank existing conservation practices equally with enhancements for
purposes of scoring.
The
list of enhancements available under CSP needs to be expanded to provide an
adequate number of regionally appropriate enhancements.
For
producers who are otherwise practicing sound conservation, and who are unable
to obtain payments for carbon offsets under proposed climate change
legislation, the CSP needs to provide assistance to help offset increased
production costs that may result from carbon mitigation.
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
CRP has helped protect our more
fragile soil and water resources and provides benefits to all commodity
producers because it prevents price-depressing overproduction on fragile
land. NEFU supports increased funding
for CRP and expansion of the number of marginal acres eligible to be protected.
NEFU urges examination of the
process now used to enter land into CRP.
NEFU opposes the early withdrawal of
CRP land by USDA to increase commodity production, since CRP is not designed to
be a supply-management program and since doing so would undermine the
protection of fragile land and wildlife habitat.
Normal Cropland Acreage
To maintain flexibility in cropping
systems, we favor reinstating the Normal Crop Acreage (NCA), which would allow
a producer to plant any crop he chooses after complying with set-aside and
land-diversion provisions for each crop grown on the farm. Normal cropland acreage should include
legumes and tame grasses.
We also favor a provision that says
that NCA cannot exceed 90% of the total cropland on the farm. NCA base should not be lost due to the
under-planting of program crops.
Crop Insurance Planting Dates
The final planting dates for Nebraska for
wheat, grain sorghum, soybeans and corn are currently inequitable in some
areas, comparable in some cases to final planting dates in Colorado (where
elevation and climate are significantly different), instead of final planting
dates in Kansas (where elevation and climate more nearly resemble ours). We recommend that the final planting dates
for crop insurance for
We recommend extending the acreage
reporting dates to be more reasonable.
Dairy Program
NEFU believes the dairy industry
should be included in supply-management legislation.
We believe the Dairy Termination
Program was very successful in reducing CCC purchases and further believe a
supply-management program must be instituted to keep production in the long run
in line with demand.
We believe the special milk program
should be reinstated in schools at 1980 levels.
NEFU supports breakfast being offered in all K-12 schools in
We support the 36-member Dairy
Promotion Board.
We also believe that our nation’s
dairymen should not lose needed revenue when more than $846,000,000 of dairy
products other than casein and $2.2
billion of meat and meat products are imported annually.
We
believe that:
1.
CCC-stored non-fat dry milk should be offered to the bakeries of our
country for domestic consumption at the world market price;
2.
The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should increase the federal minimum standards
of fluid whole milk to 8.7% milk solids non-fat; 10% for low fat; and 9% for
skim solids non-fat; and further, that the FDA, in the best interest of both
consumers and dairymen, should do everything in its power to ensure that all
milk marketed as fluid milk meet or exceed these standards;
3.
Since
products containing imported casein, such as non-dairy creamers and whipped
toppings, displace domestic sales of dairy products, we urge USDA and FDA
inspection and regulation of casein, milk derivatives and milk adhesives
imported for food use. The federal
government should establish tariffs on the import of all dairy ingredients that
displace domestically produced milk usage, including animal feed ingredients;
and
4.
Imported
milk protein concentrate and ultra-filtered milk products have created a
significant loophole in
Any new farm bill must include an inventory-management program and must set dairy price supports at levels that ensure producers receive a fair return on their labor and investment. Dairy price supports should be adjusted annually to reflect inflation and long-term productivity. Never again should a farm bill be passed that continually lowers the price of a commodity, as the dairy section of the 1985 farm bill did to the milk producer. Dairymen were forced to milk more cows and work more hours to be able to cash flow their operations. Some dairymen, as a result of negative cash flow, brought about not because of inefficiency but because of a lower value of milk support levels allowed in the 1985 farm bill, were forced to quit dairying and lose what had been a lifetime of investment in their operations.
Supply management should include
two-tier pricing with the domestic price at 100% of parity.
We support the creation of a
National Dairy Farmer Production and Reserve Board.
NEFU supports inclusion of a
Livestock Title in all farm bills.
NEFU
favors legislation that would correct the present price inequity in the meat
industry, which causes the unnecessarily large price spread between the
producer and consumers.
We urge the exploration of
alternatives to implement competitive pricing in the meatpacking industry, such
as farmers pooling livestock and different types of farmer networking to
increase the value of livestock prices for the producer.
NEFU supports inclusion of a Competition Title in all farm bills.
The
concentration of ownership of the nation's resources and wealth, particularly
in the food industry, threatens family agriculture, small businesses and
ultimately all consumers. Such
concentration and agribusiness consolidation reduces or eliminates competition
for both farmers and consumers, thereby destroying the proper functioning of
our marketplace. Such concentration also
interferes in the democratic process of developing sound national farm, food,
and trade policy.
Therefore,
we support a broad range of measures to restore marketplace competition,
promote new competition, provide fairness to farmer/agribusiness relationships
and reduce anti-competitive mergers. Such measures should include the
following:
1.
USDA should help guard against monopolistic unfair trade practices, especially
in the food industry. We call for a
merger moratorium on all large agribusiness and retail food business mergers,
until new effective anti-trust and competition policies can be enacted.
2.
Extend consumer protection laws, that prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or
practices, to farmers in their marketing relationships with agricultural
companies.
3.
Regulate captive supplies of livestock through limiting the amounts of captive
supplies and/or requiring that such captive-supply arrangements be put out to
bid in an open and public manner. We
support prohibiting packers and processors of red meats from owning or raising
livestock more than seven days prior to slaughter.
4.
Farmers’ should be able to choose arbitration, mediation or a civil trial in
any and all disputes between farmers and agribusinesses. We oppose agricultural or marketing contracts
that force farmers to give up rights to mediation or civil trial.
5.
Key information in an agricultural production contract should be fully
disclosed in plain English on the cover page prior to farmers signing the
contract.
Support and Recommendations
NEFU
has consistently attempted to adhere to the philosophy and practice so ably set
forth in the Preamble to the Constitution and in the Constitution of the
Having set forth this standard for
the consideration of the posture, structure and activity for the World Trade
Organization (WTO), we submit the following:
We
support the concept that we the people are now living in a progressively
smaller, more confined space, in which the facilitation of trade can lead to a
better life for all people. Trade as a
tool for the accommodation of all people is desirable; however, as a tool to
exert power to control, it is destined to create long-range cataclysmic
destruction.
With the above in mind, it is
evident that the deliberations of the representatives, who should be chosen for
their ability to represent all people within their sovereignty, must be open
and available to all people. The deliberations must be directed to the
enhancement of all people’s common desires of tranquility, peace and love. Recognizing that geography, culture and
personal interest and capabilities are divergent to an extreme, we believe the
rules, regulation and control of any trade process must be flexible, tolerant
and arbitratable. It must be kept in
mind that any trade is only as good as the satisfaction derived by all parties
involved.
International Marketing Agreements
NEFU disapproves of the WTO and the
international trading organizations that support the WTO’s march to
globalization. We urge the Secretary of Agriculture, the president and Congress
to support a new trade negotiation process outside the WTO to negotiate a
system of shared production cuts between the major agriculture-exporting
nations of the world in time of burdensome supply. In addition, they should negotiate a shared
international food reserve, which would stabilize agricultural commodity stocks
while protecting food security interests.
Such agreements could raise and stabilize world grain prices at fair
levels and reduce overall trade tensions.
NEFU opposes Fast Track negotiating
authority or any similar authority for the president.
The
If, for any reason, an international
grains agreement cannot be reached, we ask that grain-exporting countries form
an agreement to provide minimum world trade pricing levels that provide a
return to producers to cover the costs of production and a reasonable profit.
We also oppose any trade agreement
that does not protect farmers from the negative impacts of import dumping. NEFU is opposed to any trade agreement that
allows export dumping. NEFU feels that
export subsidies only cheapen the world price and will be met and lowered by
the other grain-producing countries. We support trade and farm policies that
raise the price levels of
Any international trade agreement
should include international mechanisms to equalize the impact of relative
rates of currency.
We oppose any trade measure that in
any way restricts any country from being able to develop or implement internal
income supports for their ag producers.
We oppose the demolition of tariffs, quotas and other mechanisms that compensate
for the differences in cost of production, standard of living and relative
value of currency between the various ag-producing nations.
We support as a goal in any trade
agreement the concept of mutually beneficial trade for both producing and
consuming countries. We believe that the
food producers in all countries should work together to be involved in the
trade policy development in their countries.
Such agreements should promote a stable system of family farm food
production, both in the
Any trade negotiations dealing with
the movement of agricultural commodities must take into consideration the
highest possible standards to ensure a safe and healthy product is delivered to
the consumer, with a vigorous inspection system to safeguard these high
standards. We cannot accept any risk
that the safe and abundant food supply developed in the
All farm products imported for sale
in the
NEFU urges the renegotiation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), using a monetary exchange rate and
a foreign subsidy program for the basis of the agreement.
NEFU demands that any agricultural
trade agreement address the obvious market-distorting influence of monopolistic
and transnational private grain-trading companies. We also disapprove of the
loss of any
NEFU is opposed to any export
controls on farm commodities which have the effect of driving farm prices down
at the marketplace, with little effect, if any, on the price of food at the
grocery market. However, if export
controls are established, they should not be effective when the cash prices of
their commodities are less than 120% of parity.
We support the grain reserve program
for consistent grain availability for export with these exports priced at 100%
of parity.
We oppose grain embargoes due to the
unfair burden placed on the American farmer.
We support continued funding of the
PL480 program and implementation of the Export Credit Program. We are concerned about the effect of U.S.
Cargo Preference on the prices of our farm commodities by the time they reach
their destination.
We oppose Export Payment-in-Kind
(PIK) and Cargo Preference.
We oppose using the elimination of
farm subsidies as a bargaining tool with foreign countries.
NEFU supports the extension of
guaranteed export credits to the Commonwealth of Independent States and
requests that a significant portion of the guaranteed credit be allocated to
feed grains.
NEFU favors the rigid application of
the counter-cyclical formula.
Meat promotion funds shall not be
used to promote foreign meat. We insist
that imported meat be subject to the same sanitation, drug residue and quality
standards as
USDA should reinstate the
sugar-import quotas to limit foreign sugar imports; this would stimulate
investment and employment in the sugar-refining industry. It would help the
We oppose
We support a mechanism to implement price reporting on all agricultural commodity imports and exports.
NEFU is unalterably opposed to any
further fragmentation of the USDA.
Agriculture is the lifeblood of this country with an essential need for
the cabinet-level department in our nation’s government.
Farm Services Agency (FSA)
NEFU opposes any effort to further
consolidate FSA offices, which would force farmers to travel unnecessarily long
distances to handle their FSA business.
Due to complexities caused by the
current farm program and the corresponding workload on staff at the local
level, we support funding to maintain adequate staffing at the local FSA
offices with current technology in communications. All producers shall have the option to confer
with FSA technicians via electronic data transfer, as needed, for the purposes
of answering questions, make agreements, resolve differences, and plan for
their farming future.
Producers shall have the option to
purchase federal crop insurance through
Farmers should be paid interest on
payments due to them if those payments are 30 days or more past due.
Farmer-Elected Committees
We strongly support the integrity
and independence of FSA Farmer-Elected Committees and support their continuance
in every agricultural county. To allow
for the appointment of local committee members or to encourage merging of
committees over a regional basis will decrease democratic participation in this
grassroots system and will increase the power and influence of career USDA
bureaucrats.
We oppose efforts that would expand
the
NEFU urges the USDA to change the
regulations to allow qualified persons to serve on county committees without
discrimination toward those who serve in general farm organizations at the
national level.
We support increasing both funding
and involvement of Farmer-Elected Committeemen in carrying out the farm
program.
Appointees to the state FSA
committee which administer farm programs should have previous
We oppose program-restricting
consolidations of USDA agencies within counties or otherwise that would impede
their ability to fulfill their congressional mandate.
We ask that agriculture committees
of the
Emergency Feed Programs
We support a program to make feed
grain and hay available at federally subsidized prices to livestock producers
stricken by drought and other natural disasters, to enable them to preserve
basic herds of breeding livestock, with safeguards to assure that program
benefits go to bona fide family farmers and ranchers.
Emergency Disaster Assistance
Future farm bills must have
permanent provisions built in to provide emergency disaster assistance. One or more years of natural disaster can and
have recently caused many problems for producers in
National Animal ID Program
If USDA establishes an animal
identification system to prevent and contain animal disease outbreaks in the
1. Costs of
implementing the program remain uncertain.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stated the necessity of a
national animal ID program to combat terrorism; therefore, we urge DHS to
provide the full funding necessary to create and maintain the database and
provide compensation to producers for their costs of implementing the program;
2. Mitigation of
producer liability for contaminated food products. Current processing and handling practices are
often the cause of food-product contamination, yet with an ID program, packers
and processors could try to transfer liability to the original owner of the
animal. A seamless system should be provided at all retail levels that ensures
the information gathered through an ID system is complementary with that
provided through mandatory country-of-origin labeling;
3. Use of the
proprietary information should include clear limits to ensure the information
is not used by packers to discount producer prices, be subjected to a Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) request or passed to telemarketers, etc. Access to
producer information should be available only in times of animal disease
outbreaks or bioterrorism attacks;
4. Ensure
uniformity of the ID system with tracking technology and database management;
and
5. Control of the
database needs to remain under the control of the federal government. The concerns we have with USDA’s proposal to
allow a privately managed database system include:
a. It forces
producers to bear the financial burden, one they cannot afford;
b. This public
database will create a revenue source for private entities seeking to make a
profit;
c. It does not
contain oversight to protect confidential producer information;
d. It does not
mitigate producer liability;
e. It will create
opportunities for packers to condition the purchase of livestock upon
participation in a voluntary ID program;
f.
It assumes coordination among a complex web of
data with no guarantee of success; and
g. It assumes all
sectors of the livestock
Livestock
We demand more responsible research
and reporting to the public of information from the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) concerning nutrition and health hazards. Inaccurate information concerning the
nutritional health of certain foods can permanently affect the diets of
Americans.
Subtheraputic drug use in livestock feeding has been found to pose a potential threat to the health of human beings. Therefore, we support legislation that bans the use of subtheraputic drugs for growth stimulation in livestock.
We urge the USDA to resist any and
all efforts being made to label and treat the cattle in the
Meat Import/Export Inspection
We deplore the current
Portable Abattoirs
We support the development and use
of portable abattoirs, or mobile slaughterhouses, which will allow small-scale
and remotely located meat producers access to USDA-inspected facilities in
order to effectively process their products for retail markets.
We support state legislation that
accomplishes these same objectives. We
also require that such legislation provide strong enforcement mechanisms.
Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL)
NEFU
strongly supports mandatory COOL of all food products at the retail level.
Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH)
We oppose the use of BGH. We call for the labeling of milk produced
from non-BGH treated cows.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
USDA
announcements of suspected BSE cases has often been unsubstantiated, but these
announcements nevertheless cause sharp downward pressure on cattle prices and reduce
public confidence in our beef supply. NEFU calls on USDA to only publicly
release actual fully confirmed cases of BSE, and at the same time, announce all
information concerning country of origin of the infected animal.
NEFU
supports voluntary BSE testing of beef intended for human consumption;
furthermore, NEFU supports beef producers in their efforts, including testing
and labeling, to ensure the safety of their products and to assure potential
customers of their safety.
NEFU
urges the nations of the world to come together with open minds to learn the
true nature of the causes and transmission of BSE.
Wool
NEFU strongly supports renewed
funding of the National Wool Act. We
encourage congressional field hearings to review provisions of the National
Lamb and Wool Promotion Act.
Federal and State Grain Inspection
Services
We support the active and aggressive
enforcement of grain-quality standards.
NEFU opposes any efforts at the
federal or state levels to privatize grain inspection services. Privatization
will not reduce the cost of inspection services, but will reduce the quantity,
quality and integrity of our grain-inspection services. In the past, privatized
grain inspection has led to grain-quality scandals, lost the confidence of all
grain buyers, including export buyers, and severely hurt
Grain Quality
We recognize that grain quality has
been a problem for
We urge a shift to a positive
grain-grading system, with price based on the protein content, oil content and
dry weight of sound grain, etc., rather than on meeting minimum standards.
NEFU commends the work of the
Interstate Grain Compact (IGC) and we urge the Nebraska Legislature to
reinstate the IGC.
We ask that the USDA outlaw the
introduction or mixing of foreign materials and grossly inferior grains with
the exported products. We ask that a
minimum grade for exported
NEFU
urges that more specific health implications be explored concerning the
long-term effects of genetically engineered organisms (GMOs).
NEFU supports federal legislation
requiring that foods containing ingredients manufactured from genetically
engineered commodities be labeled as such so that consumers have a choice.
NEFU
opposes the initiative proposed by the National Grain and Feed Association to
legally modify grain contracts in a way that places the ultimate liability on
farmers for assuring that the grain they deliver does not contain GMOs. Contract provisions should place the ultimate
liability on the seed and genetics companies from whom farmers purchased their
seed.
Due to the economic and marketing problems associated with the GMO StarLink, NEFU supports the following guidelines be applied to the biotech industry, USDA and biotech regulatory agencies:
1.
Any
damages caused to farmers through lower prices, lost markets or contamination
should be fully reimbursed to farmers by the company producing the genetically
modified product at fault;
2.
Government
regulatory agencies should not license genetically modified products that are
not acceptable for human consumption and animal feed;
3.
Government
regulatory agencies and marketing agencies should ensure that farmers are
informed of all potential market risks and segregation requirements associated
with planting any licensed genetically modified crop;
4.
Government
regulatory agencies should consider domestic and foreign consumer acceptance of
the product when licensing genetically modified crops; and
5.
Congress
should support a moratorium on the patenting and licensing of new transgenic
animals and plants developed through genetic engineering until the broader
legal, ethical and economic questions are thoroughly explored.
Warehouse Protection
We urge the passage of legislation which reduces the time of settlement of innocent party claims in the occurrence of a grain elevator bankruptcy, segregates stored grain from other grain in a bankrupt facility and gives priority over other creditors to farmers who have sold grain for cash but have not been paid. We urge that there be a rating system established for grain elevators so that farmers not be jeopardized financially if the elevator is closed because of bankruptcy.
We urge the establishment and
original financing of a federal storable commodities insurance corporation to
guarantee that each farmer will be protected for each commodity stored,
delivered or contracted to licensed commodity dealers. Continued financing of this corporation
should be by each licensed commodity on the basis of the number of bushels
handled.
We support the warehousing act
updated in the 1987 session of the Nebraska Legislature as LB164. Every section of that law must be enforced by
the Public Service Commission and other authorities. If funding is not adequate to do this, we
urge the legislature to provide the necessary funds.
Support and Recommendations
USDA should continue in its
market-development efforts. Since
agricultural exports contribute to a favorable balance of payments, foreign
market-development programs ought to benefit the agricultural economy, as well
as the entire nation.
Expanded long-term export markets
will depend upon successful and broad-based economic development in poor
nations. In most instances, this will
mean short-term competition for
We favor negotiations of long-term
agreements for purchase of our grains.
We recommend inviting all commodity
groups to present their resolutions to state and National Farmers Union policy
in the hope that we can present a united front to our elected officials.
We support direct shipments of grain
from farm to foreign buyers with state help.
NEFU supports fair international
trade.
Commodity Check-Off Programs
Our
attitude toward producer-financed commodity research and promotion programs is
determined by the extent to which producers control the programs.
NEFU
will support research and promotion programs financed by mandatory deductions
from proceeds of sales by producers of agricultural commodities, only if the
following criteria are met:
1.
Disbursement of funds collected is controlled solely by boards of
producers elected by the producers assessed, and the operations of the program
are controlled solely by those producer boards;
2.
Approval is by two-thirds of producers voting in a referendum by mail
prior to implementation of the order, with spouses allowed to vote individually
and with no block voting allowed;
3.
The outcome of producer referenda be determined solely on the basis of
one-person, one-vote;
4.
Criminal penalties are provided for using funds for personal, political
or lobbying activities, and no funds should be donated or contracts provided to
organizations that carry out political or lobbying activities;
5.
Changes in existing check-off programs, including changes in check-off
levies and/or administrative and operational changes, should be submitted to
producers affected and subject to approval by a two-thirds vote;
6. After a federal check-off program is in effect, that periodic review referenda should be held each third year with such referenda financed and conducted by the federal government; NEFU strongly supports a national referendum on the pork and beef check-offs.
7.
Whenever a commodity check-off is assessed against
8.
General farm organizations should be allowed to appoint a
producer-voting representative to each promotion board;
9.
Periodic independent, outside audits should be conducted to ensure that
the benefits of the program outweigh the costs to producers, with copies of the
audits available to all who pay the assessments;
10.
Procedures should be provided to enable producers to obtain annual
refunds of the check-off funds they were assessed. Such refund requests should be processed
without delay and made available at point of sale;
11. Check-off funds should be
available through grants or other methods for sustainable, producer-driven,
on-farm research;
12.
All members of check-off boards should receive the majority of their
income from production of the commodity they represent and anyone who does not
fit this restriction should be removed from the board; and
13. Check-off assessment refunds should be offered in those years in which national average commodity prices fall below national average costs of production, as determined by USDA.
Because the current check-off
programs do not nearly meet all these criteria, we urge Congress to amend these
programs. The new programs lack producer
control and allow the confiscation of assessment funds by non-governmental
entities without due process of law. If
Congress fails to act, we call for an immediate referendum on all these
check-off programs. We oppose any effort to combine research and promotion
boards, funded by producer check-offs and assessment programs, with private,
membership-based political lobbying organizations.
Voluntary commodity check-off
programs, which allow producers to refuse to pay assessments, should be
considered on their merits. Whenever producers
reject a mandatory assessment, they should be entitled to full refunds at the
initial point of collection.
We call on the Secretary of
Agriculture to use oversight authority to completely review the operations of
federally sanctioned commodity check-off programs and issue an independent
public report on their effectiveness, including a complete accounting of all
funds collected and disbursed. As part
of this study, we request the Secretary of Agriculture hold public field
hearings to allow producers an opportunity to participate.
For all mandatory check-off programs
in
NEFU opposes the use of agricultural
commodity checkoff dollars to satisfy any general fund obligations or
responsibilities.
Natural and Organic Marketing
Cooperatives
We support the development of
producer cooperative marketing systems for natural value-added
commodities. Producer-owned and
-controlled value-added marketing cooperatives can establish new market
opportunities, replacing the traditional handler control of farm commodity
marketing and pricing. We urge NEFU to
cooperate with existing organic producer organizations and other state Farmers
Unions in the furtherance of these new marketing efforts.
We support state legislation that
would create organic standards for the state of
NEFU supports organic standards that
are approved by the existing organic certifying agencies and organic growers.
We request that the
The
Farmers Union symbol is a triangle constructed of education, cooperation and
legislation, and Farmers Union is historically a leader in farmer-owned and
-controlled cooperative development and has become active in new cooperative
development. NEFU shall partner with
farmers and other organizations and be actively involved in the renewed
interest and efforts, through legislative policy, education and expertise, to
develop family farm, value-added, direct marketing enterprises.
Agri-Tourism
NEFU supports the inclusion of
agri-tourism as part of the definitions of agriculture and encourages USDA to
recognize the value agri-tourism plays in small, diversified farms throughout
the
USDA should develop and implement a
program to educate producers about liabilities associated with agri-tourism
operations. Subsequently, a limit should
be placed on the maximum liability exposure, thus making liability insurance
protection more attainable and affordable.
NEFU supports programs that would
incent development of agri-tourism enterprises on
NEFU supports the
legalization and promotion of research and development of industrial hemp for
the purposes of industrial composites, automobile body parts, building
material, carpet, etc., and in the textile and food industries, as other
democratic nations are currently producing and exporting to the
National Marketing and
Bargaining Agreement
NEFU favors the extension of a
National Marketing Agreement Act that would strengthen market power of farmers
by extending marketing order authority to all commodities, providing for good
faith bargaining and market supply controls.
We support the Marketing Order
concept.
The federal government’s
price-support and supply-management programs, when adapted to prevent
oversupply of particular commodities, can provide a basic framework of
protection for farmers in the marketplace.
We support the establishment of a
state or regional producer-owned marketing pool, similar to the Canadian Wheat
Board. We encourage other organizations
and legislators to seriously consider this type of marketing structure.
Bargaining Power
Farmers need to gain a stronger
bargaining position in order to obtain fair prices and income. Our members are encouraged to cooperate with
other general farm organizations that have the means and know-how to have a
definite impact in the marketplace.
NEFU reaffirms its support for
enabling legislation to establish a National Agricultural Relations Board or
separate board for single commodities or groups of closely related commodities,
with authority to bring farmers and farm cooperatives together with handlers
and processors for the purpose of bargaining over prices received by
agricultural producers. Farmers need and
are entitled to a firm legal procedure that will enable them to manage the
production and marketing of their products.
Such legislation would preserve, unimpaired, the long-standing rights of
farmers to participate in bargaining associations and cooperatives without
being subject to antitrust action.
We support amendment of the
Agricultural Fair Practices Act of 1967 to require buyers of agricultural
products to bargain in good faith with associations of producers.
Conservation and Management
There is an extreme importance in
preserving our natural resources for all members of society. NEFU urges the continuation and expansion of
soil and water conservation programs as a means of controlling non-point sources
of pollution. Records in the past
indicate that when the government refused to share costs in soil and water
conservation, these efforts suffered a serious setback.
We support the concept of a soil
sediment and erosion bill in order to maintain water quality, protect the soil
and encourage farmers and landowners to keep the conservation practices already
in use.
Where conservation practices have
been instituted using tax funds, we call for enforcement of legislation that
will require mandatory repayment with interest of those public funds by the
landowner if a conservation practice is destroyed.
We realize that some of the burden
must fall on farmers to protect our resources.
We urge all farmers to replant and retain shelterbelts to provide
windbreaks and animal shelters.
When and where highly erodable
native prairie is plowed and tilled, this organization is concerned about
erosion. We are especially concerned
about this practice in the Sandhills, but it is occurring statewide as well. We are in favor of controlling development of
these marginal lands in order to stop excessive erosion. NEFU would support legislation introduced
into the Nebraska Legislature that would limit the ability of individuals or
corporations to abandon or remove center pivots on marginal land prone to erosion
problems before permanent vegetation is established.
FSA should provide landowners with
instructions regarding the most effective methods of closing waterways
following excessive rainfall periods and should further provide cost-share
assistance to those who implement those instructions.
Natural Resource Districts
We call for NRDs across the state to
stay true to their primary reasons for being, soil and water protection. NRDs should keep land treatment and other
conservation work the major focus of their budgets, and recreation projects
should be a lower priority.
We oppose the reduction of farmer
and rancher representation on the NRDs.
We encourage everyone to make sure
that all of their irrigation wells are registered with the NRD.
We
encourage NRDs to use their authority granted under LB665 to treat wells
drilled before January 1, 2001, differently than wells drilled after that date.
Erosion Control Act
In the present erosion control law,
the cost-share is 90%, with the cost-share percentage for concerned farmers
practicing conservation by themselves varying in the 60% to 75% range. NEFU believes the cost-share should be set at
the same level as the average cost-share in the state, for conservation required
due to silt or other damage from a neighbor.
Encourage Tree Planting
NEFU encourages the planting of
appropriate trees as a renewable energy source such as cellulosic ethanol, a
method of pollution control, an energy-conservation technique and an
improvement in our quality of life. We also
encourage the use of energy-efficient landscaping to conserve energy. Low-maintenance plants should be used as part
of the landscaping of public buildings and right-of-ways.
Water Policy
The historic positions on the
distribution and use of water must be adjusted in light of an expanding
population and technological and engineering advances. We must realize that this precious resource
may be in short supply and can easily become unsafe for human consumption. We submit that the first step in consideration
of both short- and long-term water policy must be the recognition that water is
not an entity unto itself but a part of the complex ecosystem. All influences within this system must be
understood and recognized for their full value.
As the demand for water increases,
we as farmers compete against each other and against other members of
society. When the competition
intensifies, positions become entrenched, and alternate methods and systems are
overlooked in the mad scramble for the lion’s share of the resource.
Water is a basic necessity for human
existence. With this in mind, it becomes
apparent that no individual should be denied it. There are secondary uses of water –
manufacturing, transportation, recreation, waste disposal and the like – which
must receive consideration.
The function of government is to
provide the climate for equitable availability and distribution of this natural
resource. The NRDs, being the closest to
the source and use of water, should be the governmental jurisdiction to oversee
soil and water projects. The development
of delivery systems of water usage should be paid for equitably by those who
receive the primary benefit and those who receive the most valuable secondary
benefits.
We should retain as much of our rainfall
and snowmelt where it falls as possible.
The use of some form of minimum tillage will help maintain adequate
cover on our soil. Terraces should be
installed and maintained wherever practical.
Storage structures, private and public, should be constructed where
needed.
We recommend efforts to promote less
intensive use of water in urban areas such as lawn watering and other
residential, business and government use.
We support statewide riparian
(streamside) clean-up and restoration efforts to conserve water and increase
stream flow.
Irrigation
Water is the resource crisis upon
entering the 21st century. An
estimated 2 million acre-feet of surface water flows into
NEFU opposes proposed legislation in
the U.S. Congress that would have water users from irrigation districts pay
more for their water if they want to participate in the federal farm program.
NEFU opposes any taxation of surface
and underground water in the state. Increased costs of mitigation, litigation
and settlements should be paid out of the state general fund.
Since underground water is
Nebraska’s most valuable resource for agriculture and for humans, and since the
U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that unless you can show irreparable harm, you
cannot deny water, NEFU opposes the sale of underground water by individuals or
by the state for agricultural or industrial purposes or for human consumption
(excluding local independent water bottlers) or for uses not known to us today
but brought about by advances in technology.
We support the right of
Conjunctive Water Use
We recognize the differences between
the ground- and surface-water management systems and legal basis.
When a conflict exists, we prefer
that the natural resources district system of resource management have
preference over the Department of Water Resources.
We believe it is better to set a conjunctive water-use policy through legislation than through court-mandated policy.
We support legislative efforts to
limit or eliminate the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s ability to apply
for surface-water appropriation rights or permits.
Nitrate and Herbicide
Levels in Water
The measurable nitrate and herbicide
levels are reaching alarming proportions in parts of
Water runoff from lawns and gardens
in our cities and towns, as well as excessive quantities and untimely
application by farmers, have all had a part in contaminating our soils, streams
and drinking water. NEFU insists that all people using chemicals on their soils
do so responsibly by limiting, reducing, or eliminating chemical use whenever
possible.
The general public, in problem
areas, should be notified of high nitrate and herbicide levels. Our members should work together with the
Cooperative Extension Service and the NRDs to organize meetings to inform the public
of the possible solutions.
We urge all farmers to use extreme
caution when using farm chemicals and fertilizers, which have the potential for
polluting surface and/or ground water.
The use of safety devices, such as check valves in chemigation systems,
which are required by law, should be enforced.
Both equipment and practices should be regulated and maintained.
We encourage the fair and effective
enforcement of the Chemigation Act of 1986.
We urge farmers to annually test
their soil and irrigation groundwater for nitrogen and for chemicals in order
to better manage their fertilizer application rates, including careful
management of application rates and timing, especially fall application.
We urge the public to encourage
their NRDs to more aggressively carry out their water-quality monitoring and
management responsibilities.
Perspectives and
Recommendations
Economical and efficient
transportation is a necessity for the function of a complex and orderly
society. Although there are local and
regional differences in transportation requirements, the modes and regional
requirements must be molded together into one national program. Therefore, a federal agency under the
jurisdiction of Congress must be held responsible and accountable.
Present transportation facilities
are outmoded and inadequate. A new
program is needed to devise and construct new and improved systems, just as the
interstate highway system was created during the 1950s. The new system must further develop both the
gathering and delivery potential for the distribution of agricultural products,
coal and other fuels, as well as all other goods and services required in our
complex society. Further development of
rail, water and truck usage must be coupled with economy and efficiency, and
projected plans must include the overall cost in terms of the capitalization, upkeep
and environmental impact.
Rural Transportation
Because of the importance of
agriculture to our nation’s economy and strength, NEFU resolves that efforts be
made to halt the deterioration of rural transportation systems so that economic
community and business development may be possible.
Abandonment of rail lines, reduction
of bus and air service and the inability of state and local governments to
finance the cost of repair and maintenance of bridges and secondary roads pose
serious threats to agriculture and to community and economic development in
rural
Due to the huge
increases in rail and barge freight rates during the 2005 fall harvest, NEFU
strongly recommends that freight price gouging be investigated and in the
future monitored to prevent basis-widening, which causes huge monetary losses
to producers.
Railroads
To protect agricultural shippers,
NEFU asks the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to address the following issues:
1.
That
the STB require consolidating railroads to preserve competitive options rather
than requiring them to propose remedies to mitigate and offset competitive
harms;
2.
That
the STB prohibit carriers from charging shippers higher tariffs to recover the premiums
paid for the acquired railroad or to take advantage of their increased market
power;
3.
That
antitrust statutes be applied more rigorously to those Class I railroads
proposing further consolidations;
4.
That
the STB require consolidating railroads to reimburse shippers and other
railroads fully for any damages caused by service degradation; and
5.
That
the STB monitor negotiations between applicants, on the one hand, and shippers
and connecting railroads, on the other, to prevent unfair discrimination against
smaller shippers and railroads.
Other concerns shippers have include:
1.
Full
disclosure of terms of contract rates;
2.
Required
mandatory joint line rates and routes between rail carriers;
3.
Establishing
new procedures permitting entry of additional rail carriers onto lines
dominated by a single carrier;
4.
Granting
agricultural shippers the right to reciprocal switching at reasonable cost; and
5.
Continuing
the STB’s moratorium on major rail mergers.
Amtrak should be adequately funded
in order to become a viable part of our transportation system, and no other
cutbacks initiated. We recognize the
possibility that federal subsidies are needed to maintain Amtrak service.
Our local cooperatives should be
encouraged to provide modern facilities in order to accommodate larger hopper
cars and unit trains.
We request that railroad cars have
reflectors on the side in order to make them more visible at crossings in the
dark. We believe that this would prevent
many of the accidents that occur when drivers fail to see the train at the
crossing. NEFU also supports the mandatory installation of red lights on the
end car (or engine, when the end car is an engine) of a train.
We support the requirement of the
railroad’s responsibility to keep their right-of-ways clear of weeds and
bushes.
Further closing of rail branch-lines
should be discouraged. We believe that
every mile or rail closed or torn up in this country will be deeply regretted
in the future. Losing a railway system
will further undermine the viability of small communities and increase
transportation costs of products moving through these areas.
We support more efforts at the state
and national levels to encourage increased use of rail transport of grain.
NEFU supports
adjacent landowners’ first right of refusal to acquire abandoned rail lines.
Roads
1.
NEFU is opposed to any attempt to divert money from highway trust funds
for purposes other than alternative fuels production and highway construction
and maintenance, including farm-to-market roads;
2.
The
3.
We urge the highways through small towns be at least 26 feet wide in
order to allow safe driving;
4.
We urge further testing and use of rubber asphalt to make our roads last
longer;
5.
Irrigation equipment spraying water on county roads creates hazards that
can be prevented. We urge that the law
forbidding irrigation water from reaching county roads be enforced to prevent
needless accidents;
6.
Because of declining revenues, we suggest allowing farmers to mow or put
up hay on county roads and highways bordering their farms. “Men Working” signs must be posted. Farmers must be liable for hay bales left in
ditches. If hay is not moved (by the
time the county mower comes along), the farmer automatically loses the right to
put it up. If a neighbor wants to make
hay, he must have the farmer’s written consent and accept all liabilities;
7.
The Gas Tax Fund must assume that the tax on diesel and gas used for off-road
agriculture be refunded to farmers. We
ask that a fair portion of gas tax funds be returned to rural states. We oppose
paying state road taxes for on-farm-produced biodiesel destined for off-road
use;
8.
We oppose any proposed formula for redistribution of state road funds
that would favor urban areas over others;
9. We oppose the state Department of
Roads taking over the maintenance of county roads and in return turning over
the maintenance of state roads to the county, as this causes an economic burden
on the county; and
10. We call for the enforcement of
laws that prohibit fencing of ditches along roadsides for pasturing.
Highways
We support the state Department of
Roads Twenty Year Road Plan proposed for state expressway and primary roads.
We support the development of
Highway 81 and the Heartland Expressway into a four-lane road to help the
economy of this state.
We support the development of HWY
281 into a 4-lane highway from HWY 58 to HWY 92 just south of the
We support a system of identifying
county roads to assist fire departments, enhance 911 service, etc.
Anhydrous Ammonia
Transportation
We oppose any changes in labeling
anhydrous ammonia in a way that would cause any additional licensing on
vehicles, both commercial and private.
Waterway User Fees
Waterways for navigation have long
been a very important link from the heartland of the
Monetary Policy
NEFU questions the idea that the
marketplace and private sector will ever meet the economic, social and
environmental needs of a complex society.
We challenge the idea that a free market system can ever be achieved and
can ever fulfill the aforesaid economic, social and environmental needs,
especially when one major part of that so-called free market system, money and
credit, is arbitrarily managed and kept in short supply by means of usurious
interest rates and can only be replaced or expanded in the economy by borrowing
on the part of the U.S. Treasury from the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank.
High deficits on the part of the
federal government are having disastrous effects on the national economy and
are the largest factor in causing high interest rates.
The U.S. Congress should assume its
constitutional responsibility to manage the nation’s monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Act should be terminated.
The money system must be changed and
corrected to fulfill its only rational purpose to facilitate the selling of
goods and services.
Congress should not pass any laws
that increase interest rates on loans to farmers covering operating costs. We urge the reinstatement of agriculture in
the Truth in Lending Law. Most farmers
are good credit customers and have a basic right to loan protection.
We oppose governmental use of
advertising. This includes public
service agencies, power districts telephone companies, etc. Legal monopolistic agencies have no business
placing “public service” ads as such. It
all comes back on consumers, who foot the bill.
This may help limit the practice of bestowing favors on decision makers
within these agencies as well.
NEFU is also concerned about the rapidly declining
value of our currency. A strong nation
should have a strong and stable dollar.
Policies to ensure a stable dollar should be encouraged such as balanced
trade policies, balanced budget policies, and decreased reliance on imported
oil.
Banking Reform
NEFU favors returning to the
Glass-Steagall Act of 1934. While we
favor allowing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to borrow enough
money for the U.S. Treasury to remain solvent, we oppose further deregulation
of the banking industry, which allows interstate banking, interstate branch
banking and international banking.
Non-banking corporations should not be allowed to own banks.
Balanced Budget
We favor the
We in NEFU are concerned about the
size of the national debt. The president and Congress should take immediate
steps to balance the budget by reducing spending. The president and Congress should take the
necessary action to cut spending and, if necessary, increase taxes on
individuals with high income, whose taxes were lowered during the Bush
administrations. We also favor a tax of
0.5% on the transactions of the stock exchange.
National Deficit
We resist the principle of tax cuts,
until the budget is balanced and legitimate needs and obligations are met. We propose that spending be cut by reducing
waste and the duplication of services at all levels of government.
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund’s
(IMF’s) current policy is to devalue foreign country currencies as part of
their plans for improving foreign economies.
Devaluing currency in competitor countries subsidizes their export competitiveness
against the economic interests of
Therefore, NEFU opposes the
unrealistic position, which contends the current use of IMF funding will help
alleviate the farm crisis by eventually improving export opportunities.
Mediation
We support mandatory mediation and
making it illegal for lenders to require a signature waiving mediation.
We support the Nebraska Farm
Mediation Service and the Nebraska Rural Response Hotline.
Rural Economic and Community Development (RECD, formerly the Farmers Home
Administration [FmHA])
The RECD, formerly FmHA, since its
authorization in 1946, when it replaced the Farm Security Administration, has
been increasingly responsible for a wide range of activities for serving rural
We therefore welcome the
reorganization of FmHA into RECD, or FSA Farm Loan Division, or whatever they
decide to call it. Its responsibilities
in rural development, such as housing, community facilities, business,
industrial, etc., should be consolidated.
Its farm loan programs should be brought together, with additional
authorities as follows:
1. Be restricted to the assistance
of family farm units, as the lender of last resort;
2. Provide supervised loan programs
for the recapitalization of family farms;
3. Have authority to provide
long-term real estate loans, with variable interest rates and flexible
repayment schedules in accordance with the producer’s annual net farm income;
4. Have authority for production
(operating) loans at variable interest rates and flexible repayment schedules;
5. Be authorized to develop
innovative programs of finance and assistance for land transfer between
generations and the establishment of new farm units, including programs such as
the Saskatchewan Land Bank;
6. Work closely with state programs
designed for beginning and under-capitalized family farmers and be able to
supplement and guarantee such state programs; and
7. Become the primary agency within
USDA for researching and developing programs and policies serving the goal of
providing security for the family farm system of agriculture.
This new consolidated agency should
promote limited resource loans by publicizing their availability, that
operating loan and ownership loan limitations should apply to all agency loans
(emergency, etc.) and that the agency should speed up processing loan
applications.
Due to the economic problems facing
agriculture, we favor legislation that would provide that interest rates be
subsidized on farmers’ debt when they reach a level at least 3% over the annual
inflation rate; the legislation must:
1. Apply only to past debt;
2. Have an upper limit of $250,000;
3. Assist beginning farmers if they
have farmed one year; and
4. Require all participants to have
indebtedness insurance to cover the loan;
We have reservations about the shift
from direct to guaranteed loans. Such
loans tend to be selected by private lenders and overlook the special needs of
the traditional borrowers.
Beginning Farmers and
Ranchers
The number of young people entering
agriculture is declining, and primary causes have been low farm prices and income. NEFU supports increasing the number of young
farmers and ranchers involved in production agriculture to help ensure adequate
human resources as we transition to producing food, fiber and fuel for this
nation. We support accelerated state and federal tax incentives to encourage
existing landowners to sell or rent farm assets to beginning farmers and
ranchers. NEFU supports capital gains
tax reduction to retiring farmers who sell land to beginning farmers. We also commend and support organizations in
their efforts to educate, encourage and enable beginning farmers and ranchers.
Federal Farm Credit System
We oppose any effort to weaken the
federal Farm Credit System (FCS). Steps
should be taken to prevent the failure of the FCS, but such actions should also
assist financially stressed family farm credit system borrowers.
We support local control of
FCS. Steps should be taken to prevent
the failure of FCS and oppose concessional sales of FCS landholdings to
investors and larger-than-family-sized farms.
We oppose diverting lending
resources away from the small-to-medium-sized agricultural producers the FCS
was created to serve, and so we oppose proposed rules changes that would expand
borrower categories.
Foreclosure Information
Distribution
NEFU, recognizing the emotional
trauma, as well as the lack of legal information, for those facing foreclosure,
will work to facilitate the distribution of information in cooperation with
other agencies presently working in this concern.
Cost-of-Living Increases
Cost-of-living increases have
historically been a percentage of the past year’s salary. This policy has increased the gap between
high- and low-income people, rather than helping those with low average income
keep up with inflation. These cost-of-living
increases should be based on the inflation factor times the national average
wage. Dollar amount cost-of-living
increases should be the same for all without regard to their present salary.
Wherein, it is the duty and the
honor of leadership to lead, we recommend the administration and members of
Congress accept reductions in their own lifetime benefits and provide a portion
of their own security costs upon retirement.
They should do this before asking the old, the sick and infirm, etc., to
accept cuts in their benefits.
Citizens of this country are in
favor of a balanced national budget to check the runaway national debt and to
retard inflation. However, members of
Congress have voted themselves pay and retirement increases regularly that are
unrealistic and above the inflation rate or national growth rate. To focus Congress’ attention on the effects
of inflation, NEFU proposes freezing the salaries, pensions and benefits of all
elected and appointed federal government officials at the present level until
the national budget has been maintained at a balanced level for one entire
fiscal year.
Restructuring Farm
Indebtedness
We support the continuance of a federal program to help restructure nonserviceable farm debt owed by operators of potentially viable farms. Such a program might include write-down of interest and/or principal and/or deferral of principal and/or interest payments. Losses would be shared by the lenders in exchange for guarantees.
Farm Liens
Farm liens on commodities or property remain attached indefinitely unless canceled by the lien holder. We urge that if no action has been taken on a lien within a reasonable time that the lien be removed from the record to make for a clear title. This would especially apply to companies that merge or dissolve and fail to clear all old or non-existent liens.
We ask that National Farmers Union actively address the problem of obtaining continuing operating funds for farmers in Chapter 12 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 12 Bankruptcy should be extended in perpetuity. We call upon the Nebraska Legislature to protect the farmer/dealer who sells seed or ag supplies with a seedsman’s lien similar to a mechanic’s lien on real estate. We also call on the Nebraska Legislature to protect the farmer/dealer who custom harvests or does mechanic work in the event of bankruptcy.
Income Tax Reform
We call for the elimination of remaining tax shelters, especially those which grant a competitive advantage to large corporate farms over family farmers, move agriculture toward a system of bigger and fewer farms and encourage overproduction. We support changes to make the tax code more progressive and fairer to family farmers and fluctuating incomes.
Specifically, we support:
1.
Elimination
of the provision which defines large corporate farms with sales as high as $1
billion as family farms eligible to use cash accounting;
2.
Replacing
accelerated depreciation with a depreciation schedule based on the useful life
of the property, including a 15-year depreciation term for single purpose
agricultural structures;
3.
Income
averaging for family farmers with fluctuating incomes;
4.
A
deduction of 100% of health insurance costs of self-employed taxpayers
5.
A
higher tax rate for high income taxpayers; and
6.
A
reform of the alternative minimum tax (AMT), so that it will not affect middle
class families.
We oppose efforts to reinstate tax
shelters such as the investment tax credit, the capital gains exemption,
unlimited prepaid expense deductions, and the deduction of farm losses by
nonfarm investors.
We oppose replacing the progressive
income tax with a flat rate or a modified flat rate.
We
oppose replacing the progressive income tax with any regressive national sales
tax.
We propose replacing personal income
tax exemptions with a tax credit of $300 per taxpayer and dependent.
We urge allowing deductions for
those who itemize on: all medical and dental expenses (fully deductible); first
$2,000 of state and local taxes, all charitable contributions; first $5,000 of
personal interest payments.
We support efforts to allow some
sort of reduction in IRS liability for farmers in financial hardship cases
selling depreciated assets.
We support raising the personal exemption deduction to more accurately reflect the cost of living.
Federal Estate Tax
NEFU opposes the repeal of the
Federal Estate Tax. NEFU supports estate tax relief for
family-owned farms, ranches and small businesses in order to facilitate the
transfer of those enterprises to the next generation. We also recommend the following:
1.
Increase
the federal estate tax exemption per estate to $4 million immediately;
2.
Index
the exemption annually;
3.
Simplify
the exemption qualification rules and requirements;
4.
Implement
graduated rates; and
5.
Stop
shifting tax liability from the estate tax to the capital gains tax through the
elimination of the “step-up” in basis.
NEFU supports raising the
Progressive Federal Income Tax
The progressive income tax system
has become substantially less progressive as a result of tax legislation in the
last 30 years.
As a result, The national debt has
increased tenfold since 1980. The
progressive income tax should be adjusted immediately to begin the process of
decreasing the federal debt. NEFU
strongly supports the concept of levying taxes on the ability to pay.
Capital Gains Tax
Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue
Code creates a tax shelter which unfairly gives a buying advantage to those
with capital gains income to shelter, distorting market prices paid for farm
real estate, affecting valuation of farm real estate for property tax
assessments and making it more difficult for producers to compete in the
bidding process for farm and ranch land.
NEFU supports the repeal of Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code.
NEFU favors modifying the capital
gains laws to encourage sale of farm property to beginning farmers.
Cash Accounting
Current law prohibits corporations
with sales exceeding $5 million from using cash accounting. However, large
farming and vertically integrated poultry and livestock enterprises lobbied
Congress into exempting these corporations from the $5 million restriction.
We believe the use of cash
accounting gives large integrated farming an unfair competitive advantage over
the family farmer. Cash accounting
provides enormous tax incentives for livestock expansion in direct conflict
with government payments to reduce livestock numbers, as in the dairy buyout
program.
NEFU urges Congress to close this
tax loophole shelter by applying the cash accounting restriction to all
corporation and family farms having sales over $5 million.
Prepaid Feed and Input
Deductions
Presently prepaid feed and inputs
cannot exceed 50% of legitimate deductions except in extraordinary
circumstances. They are not to exceed
the limit in aggregate in a three-year period.
Expanding these deductions for corporations having sales of over $5
million provides a very unfair advantage for large farms over family farms.
NEFU favors maintaining the present
tax rules on prepaid feed, seed, fertilizer and chemicals.
Balancing Tax Load
We support all public schools
Classes I-VI receiving fair state aid.
Tax revenue should be divided as equally as possible between local
property taxes, state sales taxes and state income taxes with not more than
40%, nor less than 30%, coming from each of the above tax sources for
education. The cost of education should
be shared as evenly as possible by all.
Presently, property owners are paying the majority of school taxes
regardless of their debt or their ability to pay.
We support increased public funding
for K-12 education. We support increases in state sales, income and corporate
income taxes to reduce property taxes.
Property Tax
We are opposed to a general
homestead exemption.
We support a progressive property
tax.
If not prohibited from owning
American farmland, foreign landowners shall be subject to the same taxation as
are resident landowners at a minimum.
The mineral rights have been
permanently separated from the surface rights on some property. NEFU endorses charging a part of the property
tax to the mineral rights owner with the provision that if the mineral rights
owner does not pay his or her share of the property taxes, the mineral rights
will revert to the surface right holder.
NEFU calls on the Nebraska
Legislature to establish a fair method of valuing ag land for tax purposes
based upon earning capacity. In cases of mandated irrigation restrictions, NEFU
calls for state mechanisms that require counties to re-assess affected farmland
to reflect resulting lower values.
We call for the removal of community
colleges from the property tax roles and recommend that they be funded from the
We urge the legislature to modify the state school aid formula to recognize the unique needs of rural school districts and reduce or eliminate the need for local property tax overrides.
Sales Tax
NEFU urges the exemption of
agricultural equipment, repairs and supplies from city and/or county sales
taxes where they apply.
We further urge the discontinuation
of state sales tax on used farm equipment and repair parts.
We oppose a sales tax on services.
We oppose a sales tax on farm
auctions.
We favor the continuation of the
sales tax exemption on energy used in farming.
We are opposed to city sales taxes that are used solely for city property tax relief.
We support a continuing exemption of food from sales tax.
Personal Property Tax
NEFU calls for the elimination of
personal property tax.
State Lottery
We oppose existing gaming and its
expansion in the state of
Value-Added Tax
We oppose any type of value-added
tax (VAT), which is essentially a hidden sales tax. This would place an extra burden on people
with the least ability to pay.
Special Use Tax
The cost of maintaining safe water
should be shared by everyone, not by a special use tax on chemicals and
fertilizer. We are opposed to the
current discriminatory and environmentally damaging
State Aid to Education
We favor more state aid to school
districts for property tax relief on the local level.
We adopt as a goal that no more than
one-third of school district budgets be financed by local property taxes.
We believe that LB806, the school
finance reform act enacted by the Unicameral and approved by the voters in a
referendum, should be amended to provide that half of the funds be allocated
based upon the present formula and half of the funds be allocated on a basis of
pupils as related to net income. State
funding of school operating budgets should be maintained at not less than 60%.
NEFU deplores moves by the state
legislature to force more K-12 education costs to property taxes. We call on the legislature to return to the
original intent of LB1059 and subsequent legislation, which required the state
to participate as a dependable partner in funding K-12 education, with the goal
to provide real and lasting property tax relief. NEFU calls for the exploration
of alternative state funding mechanisms for K-12 education, which provide more
stable and predictable funding streams, such as an “K-12 Education Trust Fund,”
funded by state taxes devoted solely to K-12 education.
Losses From Farming and
Non-Farm Income
We recommend that net losses from
farming operations not be used to offset taxable income from non-farm income
sources, with two exceptions;
1. Farmers/taxpayers who use accrual
accounting; or
2. Farm families having limited
non-farm income.
The maximum loss from farming which
any taxpayer may use to offset taxable income from non-farm sources shall be an
amount equal to the national median income reduced by the amount by which the
taxpayer’s taxable non-farm income exceeds the national median income.
Membership Responsibility
The best hope for family agriculture
is for producers to join together to build NEFU.
Building the Farmers Union means
reaching out to thousands of farmers who are suffering during the agricultural
depression and who need the message of hope, which our organization can
provide. Many producers are more
receptive to Farmers Union’s philosophy and goals than ever before. They will
sign up if our policies are explained to them and they are asked to join.
Every NEFU member should help enroll
new members; however, it is the duty of leadership to lead. Officers should consider it their
responsibility to recruit new members and encourage others to do the same.
Legislative Responsibility
NEFU members recognize the
relationship that exists between building an effective legislative program and
expanding our educational and membership programs. We urge that our program be actively pursued
in the national and state capitals.
We urge that candidates for public
office be evaluated on the basis of their records and campaign pledges as
measured against Farmers Union programs.
We further urge our members
continued participation in local, county, district, state and National Farmers
Union in maintaining contact with their elected officials. We support publishing the voting records of
our elected officials by state and National Farmers Union.
We recommend that the NEFU president
decide with the board of directors what action our legislative lobbyist should
follow in the event our position is not formally stated in the policy.
Religious Freedom
We believe our nation will survive
only by perpetuating the great religious principles upon which it was
founded. We oppose any measure that
would infringe upon religious freedom.
We vigorously defend the concept of
separation of church and state as stated in the Constitution of the
Work Ethic
We believe in the work ethic and believe that counties
should provide a system whereby all able welfare recipients would be required
to work in order to receive a welfare check.
Welfare recipients with children should be aided with work training and
childcare to improve children’s welfare.
Parade of Flags
NEFU supports the tradition of the
Schools
Government regulation should be
reduced so local boards have more control over their own programs. If outsiders force alterations in our schools
by regulation, then it ought to be their responsibility to find and collect
money required to make the necessary changes.
Unfunded state mandates to school
districts are a contributing factor to the crisis in rural education and to the
continued property tax burden on farmers and ranchers. NEFU supports a
statewide school finance system that provides resources adequate for every
student to have an equal opportunity to meet the standards set by the state of
Nebraska, no matter the size or wealth of the school district in which each
student resides.
We oppose state aid to education
being tied to compulsory reorganization of our schools. We favor passage of legislation protecting
Class VI school districts (Rural High Schools) from annexation by Class III
districts without a vote of the people involved.
NEFU believes that history text
books at all levels should include more information on the role of religion in
our country’s development and that identifiable classes should be taught on
morals and ethics and their effect upon individuals and society.
We believe the words of George
Washington in his farewell speech in 1796 are still of value: “Of all the
dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and
morality are indispensable supports. . . . reasons and experience both forbid
us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle.”
We support the re-establishment of Class I
schools where appropriate. We believe that all children, urban and rural, are
entitled to a quality education. We believe that the state of
NEFU supports accreditation of
public schools only after a review by the State Board of Education to make
changes in current accreditation standards with the intent to provide needed
services through cooperative means and alternative structures.
At
present, multi-school systems report performance by school system. All schoolhouses in the state should report
their individual test scores and cost per pupil, to be fully accountable as to
their individual performance.
Teachers
NEFU recognized that quality
education depends upon the maintenance of quality teaching staff in
schools. NEFU believes that in order to
more effectively attract and retain quality teaching staff, more teacher
benefits programs need to be established.
Government programs such as education loan deferment, education loan
interest forgiveness, and
Rural Distance Learning
Program
Federal programs have not adequately
invested in educational development of rural areas. Due to low population and the great distances
that characterize many rural areas, our communities, and particularly our young
people, have been educationally disadvantaged. Current telecommunications
technology would enable the delivery of quality educational services to the
remotest parts of our nation. The use of
such technology would improve the education of rural students and adult
education and provide health education to rural citizens.
We support current legislation
calling for the establishment of a “Rural Distance Learning Program.” It is in the best interest of our nation to
fully develop and utilize the human resources of rural
School Lunches
Our public schools should provide
nutritious meals through the school lunch program. A balanced diet includes red meat; therefore,
we oppose any substitute of red meat with textured vegetable protein (TVP) in
our school lunch programs.
Many schools today have vending machines
filled with “junk food” which allow students to have inadequate diets. We believe these machines should either be
removed or filled with nutritious foods only.
We demand that meats and other food
supplies to the schools by USDA meet rigid USDA inspection standards and be of
proven quality.
We urge legislation that supports locally produced meat, dairy and other foods be utilized in school lunch and other state and federally funded programs.
We recommend, with reservations,
that the
University of
NEFU believes the Veterinary
Assistance course offered at the
Since many businesses in seeds,
plants and trees recruit graduates in horticulture, and since businesses in
central Nebraska recruit graduate students from the Curtis school and all the
courses are for two years, and since Nebraska’s young people would have to go
out of state to receive training in courses offered only at the Curtis school,
NEFU believes the governor, legislature, and the Board of Regents should retain
the technical college services that weigh heavily in the economic development
of Nebraska.
Public Information
We demand more responsible research
by the FDA of products that are potentially hazardous to the public’s health,
especially cancer-causing elements. The
FDA is then responsible to release the results of research to the public. The FDA should increase efforts to test and
disseminate information pertaining to both processed and unprocessed imported
foods.
Technology Fund for Schools
New technologies are developing
rapidly, and they are expensive to acquire and maintain. We believe our
children need to be taught about new technologies and our public schools should
provide this service. However, it is
extremely difficult to fund such education with existing funds under current
tax laws. Therefore, NEFU favors the
creation of a statewide fund to finance the integration and maintenance of new
technologies in our public schools. This
fund could be financed with a 0.5% income tax or a 0.25% sales tax.
Our Right to Quality Health
Care
Health problems of rural Americans
are among the nations most severe. The
needs of nearly 60 million people living in rural areas are often
overlooked. Rural areas have only:
12% of the nation’s doctors
14% of the nation’s pharmacies
18% of the nation’s nurses
with 1/3 of the nation’s population
A large number of
Rural residents travel farther for
health care and often are less able to afford it when they find it. We must maintain an adequate supply of rural
health care providers. Our medical
facilities must be identified and supported through federal, state and local
programs as well as private initiatives.
Universal Health Care
The
Public Health Insurance Option
NEFU supports a public option health care
provider as a means to compete with private insurance, to reduce costs for
Needed Improvements
NEFU
encourages the adoption of federal legislation aimed at providing equitable
Medicare reimbursement procedures in order that vital rural medical facilities
may survive.
NEFU recognizes the hardships placed
on the military and their families including veterans. Health care is a primary concern lacking for
many soldiers and veterans. We propose a
voucher system to allow veterans to seek health care wherever they desire in
lieu of traditional veteran’s hospital care.
Federal
health policies should be developed to assist and encourage health care
providers to serve rural areas. The
financial health of our hospitals is essential to attracting and retaining
physicians and other health professionals in rural areas. Access to health care can and should be
improved by making health care and insurance more available and affordable to
all Americans.
Farmers and ranchers who have to
provide their own medical insurance should continue to be allowed to deduct
100% of the cost from income tax. Small
businesses should be encouraged to provide health insurance to their
employees. Unincorporated businesses
should be allowed a full deduction for the costs of health (medical) care
insurance.
The
Privacy Act should be amended to allow hospitals and nursing homes to post
patient and resident names to better allow visitations.
We
support changing the law regarding insurance agents and consultants. A consultant should not be allowed to sell
insurance, and an insurance agent should not be allowed to be to be licensed as
a consultant at the same time.
We urge the support of alternative
health care delivery systems that recognize the special nature of rural
communities. These can include health
care clinics staffed by nurse practitioners and physicians assistants, improved
emergency transportation facilities, training rural people to provide health
services in their own communities and making available in-home health care
services for the handicapped for more than eight hours per day. The continuing spiral in health care costs
has made it increasingly difficult for families to have adequate health care
coverage through insurance or other sources.
Other
alternative health care services that should be available and covered by health
insurance include acupuncture, natural health care, and other disease
prevention measures. These preventive
services would reduce the cost of health insurance.
We urge Congress to uphold our right
to purchase and use nutritional supplements as non-prescription health choices
and oppose any efforts to regulate these supplements as prescription drugs.
We support legislation to approve
nurse practitioners and remove legislative barriers that would prevent doctors
and other health care practitioners from using any health care treatment option
that is safe for their patients.
We support the option of
homebirthing and midwifery.
Labor
NEFU
emphasizes the need for adequate state oversight of labor standards on
livestock farms. Too often, the
government has ignored the needs and safety of laborers in production
facilities. The government provides
consistent oversight of livestock packing facilities which should continue. More resources should be directed at the
production facilities of livestock and the laborers who work there.
Congressional Salaries
We urge the elimination of all
automatic pay raises for congressional members.
NEFU supports returning the ability
to regulate telephone rates to the Public Service Commission where it
belongs. We urge that all telephone
companies provide equal access to all telephone carriers.
Broadband High Speed
Internet Access
We support affordable high-speed
Internet access for all Nebraskans, including rural Nebraskans. We also support
the use of all appropriate technologies in order to achieve that end, including
the use of public-power owned infrastructure (also known as “the backbone”)
where appropriate.
Drugs
We support this seven-point drug program:
2.
Drug-free
schools and colleges;
3.
Improved
treatment and rehabilitation centers;
4.
Stepped
up drug law enforcement;
5.
Drug
education in schools and communities;
6.
Expanded
public awareness of the growing drug abuse; and
7.
Any
theft of anhydrous ammonia for the production of methamphetamine shall be
prosecuted as a serious federal offense.
Ritalin is a Class II drug, the same as cocaine and morphine. We discourage the overuse of this drug to modify student behaviors.
Drugs, which include alcohol, are
detrimental to the health of people, especially pregnant women, and making
money through the sale of drugs does not make it right or compensate for the
harm it does to society. NEFU asks that
law enforcement officers and the courts enforce anti-drug laws more vigorously
and that the public help and back up enforcement officials. We urge Farmers Union leaders to initiate and
assist other community leaders in preventive programs to address the problems
of alcohol and drug abuse.
Election of Public
Officials
We urge Congress and the administration
to limit campaign spending in a manner that cannot be abused by anyone seeking
public office, and to limit the period of campaigning for public offices.
NEFU supports a reasonable cap on
spending in state and federal races. We
also support partial public financing if this is necessary to place an
effective cap on campaign spending.
We support legislation that would
restrict the media from broadcasting and predicting election results prior to
polls being closed across the nation.
NEFU supports legislation to require
that all election recounts be conducted manually.
NEFU
calls for the repeal of federal and state laws that permit the use of
electronic voting or vote-counting devices, which replace bipartisan
vote-tallying committees, the intention being to maintain the integrity of the
democratic voting process.
We support closing loopholes on
candidate spending and trying to develop integrity in campaigning. We need less negative campaigning and more
focus on the important issues.
Court Limitation
The maximum number of years that
U.S. Supreme Court justices can serve should be limited to 15.
Food Assistance
We should encourage economic
development in poor countries. American
food and fiber program costs should be charged to the State Department when
they are used to support foreign policy objectives, rather than the farm
program. We recommend maximum use of
food and fiber programs for foreign aid.
Retail Food Price
Monitoring
NEFU strongly urges that the
government monitor food wholesalers and retailers so that food prices in the
store are reduced when farm raw food prices go down just as quickly as they
rise when farm prices go up.
We
call for an anti-trust investigation into the pricing practices employed by the
few companies that dominate the food wholesale and retail industry.
NEFU urges state senators to support a Wildlife Services
bill authorizing funding to all counties requesting Wildlife Services officers
to eliminate predator problems, even though some counties do not now have
Wildlife Services officers.
There is an overpopulation of deer
in many areas of
Major insurance companies should be called upon to exert pressure on the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to issue more deer licenses to limit the number of vehicle/deer accidents, so insurance rates can be maintained at a reasonable level.
The Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission shall permit the killing of mountain lions, bobcats and other
predators by livestock producers to protect their domestic animals without
special license or restriction by seasons and at the discretion of the
livestock producer as to the threat to his animals.
Petitions
NEFU favors repeal of the state law
making it lawful to pay circulators of petitions in the state of
NEFU urges that the legislature
reduce the number of signatures required in the initiative-petition process to
be 5% of the number of actual votes in the last gubernatorial race to put a
citizens’ initiative proposal on the ballot before voters and 7% to stay
implementation of any bills passed by the legislature before the election.
Right to Bear Arms
We are against any gun regulation in
Rural Crime
Theft and vandalism of property and
equipment from and in homes and businesses in rural areas is a serious problem
because of the high value of farmers’ equipment. We support any program to identify farm
property in case of theft. We also urge
that penalties for theft of farm property be raised to at least twice the value
of the stolen property, and that restitution be made to the victim.
Rural Crisis Awareness
We recommend expressions of
gratitude to persons in the entertainment business who help or have helped make
the public aware of the rural crisis. We
support Farm Aid.
NEFU expresses its continuing
concern about stress and related problems that are very much a part of our
communities. We express the need for
continuing education for those in the ag community to understand and deal with
stress, including workshops and seminars developed by those in the ag
communities. We express our willingness
to help those in the caring professions in our communities with our support
whenever and wherever we can serve to help deal with this dilemma.
Safety
We recommend that Congress provide
for continued exemption of small farms and small businesses who have 10 or
fewer employees from the inspection provisions of the Occupational Safety and
Health Act (OSHA).
We recommend a deadline of April 15
for removal of studded snow tires.
We support required lights on all
slow-moving vehicles or equipment used or driven on roads at night. The lights could be permanent, temporary or
portable, and vehicles following shining their lights on the equipment would be
an acceptable substitute.
We support an effort to get
splashguards on all trucks, similar to those that are standard equipment in
We encourage Farmers Union
educational efforts to promote farm youth safety.
We recommend that traffic violations
committed within defined road construction areas be subjected to a fine of
twice the amount stated under current law.
Services for the Elderly
We recommend that the nutrition site
programs for the elderly be expanded so the elderly in need of programs can
receive this service.
An increasing number of retirees
ought to be encouraged to avail themselves of volunteer programs of assistance
to their peers.
We support the energy-assistance
programs administered by the state of
Social Assistance
Eligibility
Many governmental programs are based
on a formula of need. Two sets of
figures are presently used in this formula:
a lower amount of income is used to determine eligibility for farmers. This discrimination is based on an unfair and
unjustified assumption that farmers can live more cheaply than others. This practice of denying assistance to
families of farm people who have the same income as other families constitutes
class discrimination.
NEFU requests that assistance
programs for medical help, school grants, food stamps, etc. use the same income
amount for farm families as others and that the discriminatory formula that
qualifies farmers for such programs only at a lower level of income than others
be discontinued.
NEFU requests that farmers who do
not have the necessary income should qualify for food assistance programs.
Social Service programs should be
administered so that they not only help the needy but also encourage them to
become productive members of society.
We believe all people are entitled
to have access to nutritious food in amounts necessary to sustain good health
at a cost that is affordable. No one
should go hungry because they are without money, too old, too young, too ill or
too incapacitated to secure a proper diet for themselves. Food is a basic right, and events, programs
and policies that promote this right deserve our complete support.
Social Security
NEFU opposes the privatization of
Social Security, because it will reduce benefits.
Because farming is more hazardous to
the health and a more strenuous occupation than most, many farmers need to
retire at 65 years of age. Therefore, we
oppose any change in the retirement-age requirements for Social Security.
Full parity for agriculture and full
employment of our other citizens can easily cure any so-called shortfall in
Social Security, so we recommend this method be used to increase Social
Security funds.
We oppose “double dipping” by
federal civil servants and other government pensioners and recommend that
special funds for elected officials and civil service employees. Pension funds
should be incorporated into the Social Security System. Our country can no longer afford double, and
often times triple, pensions for one individual. Federal civil service recipients constantly
remind us they are paying taxes on their federal pensions, forgetting that
their average monthly pension is more than double that of Social Security. Also, civil service employees should be
educated on the true sources of income for their pensions – namely the
Since inflation affects most people
alike, Social Security increases due to inflation should not be on a percentage
basis, but rather the same for all.
We call for an investigation of the
practice whereby non-citizens of the
We urge the U.S. Congress
investigate and control the USPS, especially in the areas of rural
service. Rural communities and their
residents are entitled to full mail service.
We encourage any action necessary to assure Saturday mail delivery. We stand opposed to any further postal rate
increase until USPS inefficiencies are corrected.
Weather
Our organization supports the
National Weather Service. We oppose any
and all attempts to weaken or eliminate this essential service system.
Animal Rights
NEFU will be actively involved
protecting the interests of farmers and ranchers during the debate of any
proposed legislation concerning animal rights.
World Peace
NEFU opposes the current
We
advocate the need for all regions of the world to operate their own healthy
production agricultural sector in their own unique way. This has always been a key in order to maintain
political and social stability.
NEFU
advocates that all nations of the world join in an effort to reduce the
proliferation of nuclear weapons. We
oppose the use of nuclear weapons.
NEFU supports the land mine program
of the United Nations and the Decade of the Child.
Homeless
NEFU believes more attention should
be given to the homeless, This is a regional problem and a national problem,
and should be addressed as such.
We believe most importantly that
intermediate shelter should be made available to people and families who have
been displaced from their homes.
NEFU supports programs on a federal
level that will enable people to purchase homes with low-cost loans.
Tractor Testing
The Nebraska Tractor Testing
Laboratory has served the farmers of
Local Control
It is the firm belief of NEFU that
those who live and work in a community are the best judges of what is
acceptable and necessary for that community.
NEFU advocates as much control as possible be vested at the local level
for such areas as zoning, education, water use, cooperatives, the FSA and the
FCS.
Brand Inspection
NEFU supports the current brand
inspection system in
Direct Milk Marketing
NEFU supports the following options
to improve diversity and profitability for the dairy industry:
1.
Advertisement,
delivery, and direct sale of raw milk from “Grade A” dairies; and
2.
State
regulations that are simplified to encourage local processing yet meet the
safety standards for public health.
These processing facilities would be allowed to retail products within
the state of
Unicameral Government
We
support the Unicameral form of
Class IV Combines
NEFU recognizes a significant
percentage of