Bruins Outlined Agriculture’s Challenges That Are Just Ahead

By Joan Sanstadt, News Editor
Friday, December 11, 2009 11:10 AM CST

Bill Bruins, president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation (WFBF), spoke Sunday at the WFBF’s annual meeting in Wisconsin Dells.

“For all of us to thrive in agriculture, we need to focus on what is happening beyond our farm gate,” Bruins said. While his entire talk focused on looking beyond that farm gate, the WFBF leader also talked about the organization’s priorities and the challenges it faces in 2010.

Certainly 2009 had its share of issues. “Lower prices wouldn’t be so bad if our input costs wouldn’t have skyrocketed,” Bruins said.

In addition, “Regulations seem to be increasing each year and to top it off, now we are under attack by the Sierra Club, PETA, HSUS and Michael Pollan n to name a few,” he continued.

Looking beyond the farm gate, Bruins recognized the involvement of county Farm Bureau groups in local activities such as county fairs, Breakfast on the Farm, and Ag in the Classroom.

Lobbying activities are important whether they are conducted in Madison or in Washington D.C., he said.

“When the state budget was changed at the 11th hour (in the State Senate version) to include a provision that would have eliminated the benefits of use value assessment on up to two million acres of ag land, Farm Bureau members stepped up and made calls and sent emails to their legislators.

“Thanks to all of you, and with the help of Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink (D-Milladore) and Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma), we were successful in having that provision removed from the budget,” Bruins said.

“Protecting Use Value Assessment of Farmland is still WFBF’s Number One Priority,” Bruins told Agri-View in a separate interview.

“Use value taxation of our ag land has saved billions on our property tax bills. Just as important, it slowed the loss of farmland to development to less than 9,000 acres last year. It is the most effective farmland preservation program we have n so far,” Bruins emphasized.

Dairy

“The impact of the world-wide economic meltdown can not be underestimated,” Bruins said. “We not only lost some domestic consumption we also lost half of our exports, which very quickly drove our prices down to support levels,” he noted.

The WFBF Dairy Committee discussed what could be done short-term and long-term, “to hopefully prevent this from happening again,” Bruins said.

“Short-term, we advocated for the full implementation of the Dairy Export Incentive Program, hunger assistance programs, herd reduction programs like CWT, and supported lowering somatic cell limits to 400,000.

“But of greatest concern was adequate credit availability for farmers and suppliers. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack was very proactive in responding to our short-term needs and we applaud him for setting up a dairy commission to study long-term changes needed to marketing orders and pricing,” Bruins said.

The WFBF Dairy Committee considered a number of remedies and while supply management was discussed, it failed to get a majority vote. “At a time when European dairy farmers are being weaned off of supply management (which wasn’t working), we are seeing a growing demand for milk proteins in the world markets. It seems logical to go after more of the marketplace,” Bruins said, acknowledging “change is scary; but life on price supports is a killer!”

Risk management plan

Bruins cautioned members to “remember, the same things that gave us $20 milk gave us $10 milk n the marketplace.”

To maximize the power and potential that is in that marketplace, Bruins urged dairy producers to develop their own risk management plan.

“Having such a plan allows a producer to become a world marketer. But the individual producer has to take responsibility for protecting his or her own price. On our farm, we hire our own marketer, who uses the forward marketing tools that are available (hedges, puts, etc.). We do this through our broker. Buying a put allows us to protect the upside potential (if price rises); we’re buying an insurance policy by establishing a floor price, regardless of whatever the cash market decides,” Bruins explained.

“We have to become better business people. While there is a role for government to play, individuals can do it on their own n but this means we have to have a change of mindset,” he added.

Food and education

Bruins praised the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) for arranging a forum for producers to tell their side of the food story at a time when the UW-Madison chancellor had established a book reading project for campus and faculty called “Go Big Read” n the selection was “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan.

“It didn’t take us long, after reading Pollan’s books, to realize he is no friend of modern agriculture,” Bruins declared.

The forum represented “a wonderful opportunity to showcase Wisconsin agriculture,” Bruins said.

While Pollan “advocates production methods that would dramatically reduce our food supply, in a world where a billion people go to bed hungry and 25,000 die of starvation every day, it would be morally wrong to throw away the technology that has allowed us to develop the greatest food system on the face of the Earth,” Bruins said.

Paying tribute to Norman Borlaug, “the Iowa farm boy turned hunger fighter, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and plant breeder credited with saving a billion people from starvation,” Bruins quoted from the last article Borlaug wrote before his death:

“Of history, one thing is certain: Civilization as we know it could not have evolved, nor can it survive, without an adequate food supply. Likewise, our children, grandchildren and future generations will not evolve without accelerating the pace of investment and innovation in agriculture protection,” Borlaug wrote.

Editor’s Note: This story is the first in a two-part series. The series will continue next week.

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